2016 Tour of Qatar 8-12/02 2.HC

[rei_da_montanha]

Stage 1 ToQ2016
1 Cavendish
2 Modolo
3 Guardini
4 Bennett
5 Kristoff
6 Boasson Hagen

 

[Alexandre B.]

 

[TourOfTexas]

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Kristoff takes the first sprint ahead of Cavendish and Modolo

So Cav ain't even beating the hardman?

Cav never commits as much at intermediate sprints, we'll have to wait for the finish to see if that's really the case.

Let's wait then.

See?

Aye.

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Pan flat stage, against pure sprinters and building for the classics. Seems to be where you would expect him to be.

 

[TMP402]

So it's probably Quinziato, GVA and EBH for the overall now considering Boom is 7 mins back, van Emden 1.43 etc. Kristoff was able to hold on in the ITT in de Panne last year and win the overall - if he's as bad the next few stages as he was today he's surely out of contention but maybe Cavendish can bring enough in the TT.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Kristoff looked surprisingly poor. I don't think he'll contend for the overall GC now. The GC favorites are probably Hagen, Van Avermaet, Quinziato and Andersen. Perhaps Cavendish can contend as well.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

He has some time before the real classics.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Must be tough for him with all the stuff that going on around the team right now

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Happy to see Kragh Andersen in the front group. He has a good time trial, so in any case he should take the young riders competition ahead of Bystrøm. Top 5 in GC would be a great result too

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Pan flat stage, against pure sprinters and building for the classics. Seems to be where you would expect him to be.

Pan flat, but a hardman raced stage. Its echelon racing so its not an easy stage.
Last year he was getting his first wins here. Comparing him to last yea he simply dissapointed.

 

[Bushman]

Søren Kragh has a really good opportunity to get a nice result overall if he can stay with the front in the next couple of stages. TT's of this lenght suit him perfectly and he is obviously in good shape.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Cav did not look like he put any serious effort

 

[yaco]

Kristoff had the same problem in the second half of 2016 - He goes to early in a sprint finish.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Pan flat stage, against pure sprinters and building for the classics. Seems to be where you would expect him to be.

Pan flat, but a hardman raced stage. Its echelon racing so its not an easy stage.
Last year he was getting his first wins here. Comparing him to last yea he simply dissapointed.

Admittedly I only saw the last few km's but it can't have been that hard racing if arguably the top 6 sprinters in the race occupy the top 6 places at the finish surely?

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Pan flat stage, against pure sprinters and building for the classics. Seems to be where you would expect him to be.

Pan flat, but a hardman raced stage. Its echelon racing so its not an easy stage.
Last year he was getting his first wins here. Comparing him to last yea he simply dissapointed.

Admittedly I only saw the last few km's but it can't have been that hard racing if arguably the top 6 sprinters in the race occupy the top 6 places at the finish surely?

The split occurred quite early on the stage and after the first two hours of racing the average speed was around 51 km/h. Not easy at all.

 

[classicomano]

Kristoff looks fat.

 

[classicomano]

Re:

Kristoff had the same problem in the second half of 2016 - He goes to early in a sprint finish.

Going too early in a sprint was his "problem" for the first half in 2015 as well. Hes just not strong enough to finish it right now.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

If this race was in North Norway
Kristoff would have no probs.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Kristoff had the same problem in the second half of 2016 - He goes to early in a sprint finish.

You got access to a time-machine? Know something we don't?
Have a feeling you meant 2015.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Kristoff not looking strong at all.

Pan flat stage, against pure sprinters and building for the classics. Seems to be where you would expect him to be.

Pan flat, but a hardman raced stage. Its echelon racing so its not an easy stage.
Last year he was getting his first wins here. Comparing him to last yea he simply dissapointed.

Admittedly I only saw the last few km's but it can't have been that hard racing if arguably the top 6 sprinters in the race occupy the top 6 places at the finish surely?

Echelons is most of all about positioning as well. The speed was averaged above 50km/h so it was raced crazy fast.

 

[barmaher]

The good news:

Forecast wind tomorrow is over 30km/h, so ideal for echelons.

The bad news:

It is a city circuit tomorrow, so the wind is far less likely to be a factor.

 

[Akuryo]

Re:

The king is still alive

Yep, and resting atm after beating Cavendish twice in Dubai.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

A good day of racing in truly dreary surroundings.
Congrats to cav.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

The king is still alive

Yep, and resting atm after beating Cavendish twice in Dubai.

The emperor however is waiting for him in Portugal. Mania in Lusitania