Re: Re:
Zinoviev Letter said:
Koronin said:
Brullnux said:
movingtarget said:
Pantani_lives said:
I just found out that Sam Bennett and George Bennett are two different people. They're even from a different country. What would we be without the Internet?
And you were wondering how that sprinter could climb so well !
Well there is a guy named Valverde who can climb very well and has a sprint that is good enough to get involved in full field sprints when he wants to.
I know you love Valverde, and yes he has a great sprint, but he isn't going to beat Viviani.
He's not, unless unless it's a good uphill sprint finish. However, he can climb and he does have a sprint and sometimes he is willing to mix it up with the sprinters. He's also more than willing to give a lead out to his sprinter as well. (I also didn't say he could beat Vivianni, just that his sprint is fast enough to mix it up with the sprinters).
Valverde is definitely the closest thing to a genuinely competent sprinter among the climbers.
It’s harder to settle on the best climbers among the sprinters. None of them are “genuinely competent” by the standards of serious climbers, but a few of them are decent. Perhaps Lobato or Matthews?
At the start of his career it looked like Bennett might turn out to be as much of a hilly rider as a big bunch sprinter. He is probably the lightest of the top sprinters bar Caleb Ewen. His breakthrough win as a Conti rider was the queen stage of the Tour of Britain, which he won from an elite selection of eight. That race also provided the bizarre sight of him being the only rider to follow Quintana when Nairo attacked on a climb (Nairo of course dropped him not very long afterwards). However, he quickly found out after getting a pro contract that there is a very big difference between ToB hills and WT mountains. And as he has progressed as a sprinter it’s hard to see him seriously training for hills again. Nowadays he is very unpredictable on a hilly course, he can be among the most durable or he can be dropped with Kittel and Marezcko.[/quote]
I'd agree with you that Matthews, Labato and I would add Movistar's current sprinter Barbero as the best climbers of the sprinters. Maybe Sagan? Although at this point I'd almost classify him as much as a classics rider as a sprinter.