2018 Paris-Nice, 4/3-11/3

[Der Effe]

Re: Re:

Ugh Poels wins. What a freakshow.

It’s tradition. A sky rider must win PN.

True. As if the Brits didn't bring enough suffering to France.

 

[El Pistolero]

Poels can time trial now? Lmao.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Marc Soler is winning this bike race on Saturday

The hope is here that Poels is his inconsistent self, then yes.

If Poels is anything like his top days, then we're doomed of any tension

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Poels can time trial now? Lmao.

Well that isn't any news, or you must have slept the last 3 years. He has won time trials in smaller races and done top 10 in GT time trials. Even very recently in the Vuelta.

The news is that he now wins one on WT level. That is new.

 

[Samamba]

How does Poels cope with bad weather?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Now that he’s apparently an ace time triallist, Poels would be a dominant Tour de France winner in the unlikely event that he could ever produce three consecutive weeks of “good Poels”.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

How does Poels cope with bad weather?

He won LBL when it was cold and raining. :lol: did you forget

The question is not the weather. The question is wether good Poels or bad Poels will show up. You never know. He is incredibly inconsistent. A top day could be followed by a day of +15 minutes

Now that he’s apparently an ace time triallist, Poels would be a dominant Tour de France winner in the unlikely event that he could ever produce three consecutive weeks of “good Poels”.

3 weeks of good Poels must be the most non-marginal gain by Sky ever. I rate the possibility very low :lol:

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

How does Poels cope with bad weather?

The same way he copes with everything else: he will toss a coin first thing in the morning and, according to its decision he will either be the strongest climber in the field or he will look like a lost commuter cyclist who somehow ended up in a pro race. Sometimes it might seem to be a good idea to ignore the coin and ride to the best of his ability, but Poels never, ever, ignores the coin.

 

[Gigs_98]

At some point you have to start wondering if Sky has knowledge of some dark magic, because I really can't find more plausible explanations anymore. It's probably not really the case but it feels as if this team is just getting more and more ridiculous year after year.

I'm happy about Großschartner's performance though. He's looking phenomenal.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Several people must be kicking themselves now they didn't cooperate better yesterday.

This

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

Poels can time trial now? Lmao.

Well that isn't any news, or you must have slept the last 3 years. He has won time trials in smaller races and done top 10 in GT time trials. Even very recently in the Vuelta.

The news is that he now wins one on WT level. That is new.

Poels is far from bad as a time trialist and from the average speed today it seemed like a good course for him, but that's one interesting way of putting 1 ITT win and 2 GT ITT top-10 finishes into words.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I'd like to add that the TT field isn't very strong here and the TT was clearly made for the GC riders with that hard climb. I mean look at Chaves and Yates. They are not stellar ITT specialists either.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I don't really get the amount of surprise that Poels won. Clearly he was one of the top favorites for the ITT and when you see riders like Chaves and Yates in the top 10, you know it's an ITT that's tailormade for a strong climber and time trialist like Poels. The real surprise to me is Grossschartner.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Poels can time trial now? Lmao.

Here have a look, only takes a minute

https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?id=140343&season=2018

 

[May0maniac]

I'd like to add that the TT field isn't very strong here and the TT was clearly made for the GC riders with that hard climb. I mean look at Chaves and Yates. They are not stellar ITT specialists either.

This and look at the average speed, Poels was the only one above 43km/h.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Poels can time trial now? Lmao.

He has won TT's in the past so this comment doesnt make sense.

The thing with Poels that on his best days he's one of the best riders around. His superday can easily be a crappy day the next. He's among the most inconsistent riders around as well.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

 

[Krokro]

Re:

I don't really get the amount of surprise that Poels won. Clearly he was one of the top favorites for the ITT and when you see riders like Chaves and Yates in the top 10, you know it's an ITT that's tailormade for a strong climber and time trialist like Poels. The real surprise to me is Grossschartner.

100% agreed. Poels is no surprise in such a TT with gradients.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Marc Soler is winning this bike race on Saturday

The hope is here that Poels is his inconsistent self, then yes.

If Poels is anything like his top days, then we're doomed of any tension

Poels is obviously the favourite, Im not disputing that.. but we are also forgetting that Poels not only needs to have a normal day on Saturday, but also the other two tough stages where he most certainly can lose the race. Think Contador 2009-scenario, obviously the strongest rider, but a *** day.

I also think Poels would have preferred a steeper climb on Saturday, this is the perfect power-grind climb for Soler. Obviously it won't matter if Poels has a good day, he also have the strongest team, but still.

 

[Escarabajo]

This race is still open, given that we still have some hilly stages and the history of inconsistency for Poels. I mean, look at the top ten. I don't think it is a given for him.

 

[Jagartrott]

Looks like it's going to be wet on Sunday, so much can still change then. I hope for interesting racing till the last kilometer.

 

[Leinster]

I'd like to add that the TT field isn't very strong here and the TT was clearly made for the GC riders with that hard climb. I mean look at Chaves and Yates. They are not stellar ITT specialists either.

This. It’s not like he beat Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin on a flat course. He beat Alaphilippe and Soler on a hilly TT. This is not a shock. The surprise is why other teams didn’t choose to send stronger squads, though I guess they mostly have their no1 classics lineup in Italy for SB, T-A and MSR.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

He won jack *** before he joined Sky.

 

[Koronin]

I think this race is still open and that Soler has as good of a chance to win it as anyone else. It appears to me that Soler is handling the pressure of race leadership just fine, at least so far. That was my biggest concern with Soler coming into this race. It's the first time I know of that he's been handed full race leadership of this team. Just maybe we're starting to see him come into his own. I'd love to see him win it, but I'd also be really happy if he can get a podium. It would be his 3rd podium but the first one without either Valverde or Landa being the race leader.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Skippo12:

What you don't seem to understand is, that it was Sanchez's choice to make, and he clearly did not go for the stage win.

He could have easily forced the others to take turns, or taken a shot to get away from them, but it would probably have cost him 30 seconds on the peloton.

As such, this is not a moral issue, as Sanchez made the choice himself, to ride the way he did, with the priorities he had.

I completly understand this...it is pretty obvious because he set a consistent pace for the last kms. I can still be unhappy with the result and voice my opinion.

Just seems illogical to me.... kinda like arguing Lars Bak should win, not Greibel, because he did all the hard work.

Sanchez could have easily beaten both his compatriots, everyone knows that, but it would have cost him a once in a lifetime GC opportunity, so why begrudge a guy from another team, for which this will be the biggest win of the season, most probably, that he plays it smart and gets the job done, for his employer?

Twice in a lifetime.

He hasn't hit the TT with such a gap before