2016 Tour of Croatia (19-24 april)

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Are you saying Cav isn't trying? It seems like he would appreciate some wins...even if it is here.

I'm saying I've not seen Nizzolo or Cavendish go at anything approaching full gas - in each of the last three stages it looked like nobody knew quite where the finish was until the last 50-75 metres by which point the winner could just hold on without sprinting. The stage Cavendish did win, himself and Renshaw rode pretty much side-by-side for the last few hundred metres, no leadout, no sprint, just pure positioning. And all this is because...

It seems that they do not understand the basic concept of cycling (making a sprint finish so twisting that riders cant sprint normally just so that they make the finish in the center of a nice town). All the approaches to the finish are extremely dangerous (example stage 2 going through the woods of Marijan) and the turns in the last 100 meters.

 

[TMP402]

First time I've seen WIGGINS on a climb, and it turns out they have some capable climbers.

 

[maltiv]

Never thought I'd see Holst Enger, a sprinter, attacking on a climb like this...

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Never thought I'd see Holst Enger, a sprinter, attacking on a climb like this...

Indeed

 

[Cro racing]

last 2 km
kvasina,zoidl,de la parte

 

[Gigs_98]

Yes yes yes, gemma Richie

 

[TMP402]

Stuff collapsing on the road in the last km.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Zoidl made that look quite easy. Nice week for Trek here so far.

 

[gooner]

Now that was a nice climb.

 

[TMP402]

Scott Davies I think with a top 10 for WIGGINS there.

 

[VanBsr]

Trek vs Synergy Baku in TTT

 

[Cro racing]

Stage

Overal

 

[TMP402]

The professionalised (2004) Tour of Britain waited until 2013 for a first British winner. The Tour of Croatia has a good chance of a first Croatian winner in only the second edition. Ouch. Tour Down Under current kings of home winners.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Re:

The professionalised (2004) Tour of Britain waited until 2013 for a first British winner. The Tour of Croatia has a good chance of a first Croatian winner in only the second edition. Ouch. Tour Down Under current kings of home winners.

I'd say there's a higher chance that no Croatian finishes on the podium.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Riders and spectators were like skittles in the last 2km.

Well, this year they've obviously managed to attract WT teams and a big name in Cavendish but they are still very Third World in terms of course design and TV presentation so far.

TV presentation is fine but course design leaves much to be desired.

Well, I've seen km remaining about three times in the whole race so far - and it's yet to be accurate - and they don't even bother telling you the gap to the break. Perhaps not the camera footage but the graphics.

Ah - But Kirby would be onto the lack of a 'ticker' throughout the coverage.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

The professionalised (2004) Tour of Britain waited until 2013 for a first British winner. The Tour of Croatia has a good chance of a first Croatian winner in only the second edition. Ouch. Tour Down Under current kings of home winners.

I'd say there's a higher chance that no Croatian finishes on the podium.

A Croation can podium but doubt a win with the TT tomorrow.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

The professionalised (2004) Tour of Britain waited until 2013 for a first British winner. The Tour of Croatia has a good chance of a first Croatian winner in only the second edition. Ouch. Tour Down Under current kings of home winners.

I'd say there's a higher chance that no Croatian finishes on the podium.

A Croation can podium but doubt a win with the TT tomorrow.

TTT - not TT

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

The professionalised (2004) Tour of Britain waited until 2013 for a first British winner. The Tour of Croatia has a good chance of a first Croatian winner in only the second edition. Ouch. Tour Down Under current kings of home winners.

I'd say there's a higher chance that no Croatian finishes on the podium.

A Croation can podium but doubt a win with the TT tomorrow.

TTT - not TT

Nevertheless Trek should also be much better in a TTT, so I think Zoidl is the favorite for the gc right now.

 

[argyllflyer]

Beautiful race and hopefuly it continues to develop. iirc last year no WT teams so it's come on a lot already.

 

[TMP402]

It seems a shame this race clashes with the Tour of Turkey. Croatia-Turkey-Azerbaïdjan would otherwise be a nice few weeks of racing with some of the same teams competing.

 

[Bushman]

Nice ride by Grosschartner. I knew he is a good rider in hilly terrain but I had no idea he could climb like this

 

[Christian]

Nice win for Zoidl - his first one since joining the ProTour three years ago. It's always kind of sad to see formerly exciting Continental-Tour riders become mediocre ProTour riders, but this is a nice win and if he can win the whole Tour then even better.

Somewhat unfortunate for Trek that Boy Van Poppel didn't make the time cut, I assume he would have been a good rouleur to have for the 40k TTT. But even so you would imagine that if Trek get their act together they should be able to get the race lead for Zoidl.

Nice three wins for Trek... now back to being invisible in Romandie and in the Giro except those 5 mandatory 2nd/3rd places for Nizzolo.

 

[screaming fist]

Oh wow, Trek doing their best to mess this up.

 

[jens_attacks]

Such an epic team time trial

Would have been perfect if it was 60 km but 40 is good too for a week of racing.

 

[jens_attacks]

Did all the teams start?

CCC is flying. Vamos de la parte