CheckMyPecs said:
Valv.Piti said:
Just about the most versatile GC-rider in the world
Yeah.
He can sprint from 200 m.
He can sprint from 201 m.
He can sprint from 199 m...
Yeah, I never understood where people got this idea from that he's so versatile.
He can climb and sprint well. Since climbers are usually notoriously bad at sprinting someone like Valverde really stands out and can win a lot of races by simply surviving the hills/climbs. That's it basically.
Vincenzo Nibali, for example, is better at climbing, descending, cobbles and
time trials. But because he lacks a sprint it's harder for him to win the same amount of races. We saw at the Olympic Road Race who was the better one of the two though. A shame he crashed, but he was risking everything for gold, not bronze or silver (like Valverde would have done).
Is Boonen versatile because he can "only" sprint and ride over cobbles really well? I've seen many people call Boonen one-dimensional.