2020 Tour Colombia 2.1 - February 11-16

[Rollthedice]

Education first in Colombia.

 

[sir fly]

Bernal hit the wall starting the sprint... that's interesting.
EF completely outplayed Ineos, congratulations.

Why wouldn't a TTT decide the winner of Tour Colombia if climbs decide Tour of Flanders?
Fantastic crowd.

I like Colombia better than Argentinian San Juan.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Martinez
Higuita
Bernal +3
Florez +9
Caicedo +14
Chalapud +52

 

[Red Rick]

Bernal hit the wall starting the sprint... that's interesting.
EF completely outplayed Ineos, congratulations.

Why wouldn't a TTT decide the winner of Tour Colombia if climbs decide Tour of Flanders?
Fantastic crowd.

I like Colombia better than Argentinian San Juan.

Treating bergs like high mountains.

 

[DNP-Old]

Traeen is my new favorite rider.

 

[yaco]

Most of this EF team will ride at the TDF - They may not have a big impact on GC but they will be dangerous stage hunters.

 

[kiszol]

But it was at 3200m.

Anyway, Bernal couldn't drop a bunch of non GT podium climbers at 3200m. By logic of recency bias and cherry picking this disproves he's a high altitude specialist.

It also puts Quintana's performance into perspective. He would have done it against this Bernal as well. We will see how they will perform in July.

 

[luckyboy]

But it was at 3200m.

Anyway, Bernal couldn't drop a bunch of non GT podium climbers at 3200m. By logic of recency bias and cherry picking this disproves he's a high altitude specialist.

Colombians against Colombians at 3200m though...

I don't think TTTs of that length should even be in Grand Tours because of how much time difference is caused, never mind a short race like this with one mountain in it

Even if you ignore the TTT it's a waste to just have one summit finish in Colombia of all places.

 

[sir fly]

Treating bergs like high mountains.

Treating the Andes like plains... the domestics certainly do so.

 

[Red Rick]

Colombians against Colombians at 3200m though...

I don't think TTTs of that length should even be in Grand Tours because of how much time difference is caused, never mind a short race like this with one mountain in it

Even if you ignore the TTT it's a waste to just have one summit finish in Colombia of all places.

You don't wanna make it too hard so you discourage other riders from coming.

I think actually making decently hard medium mountain stages on altitude would be best. One MTF is fine. Replace TTT by ITT and it's great.

Bernal just in really early season form. Nothing crazy.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Bernal hit the wall starting the sprint... that's interesting.
EF completely outplayed Ineos, congratulations.

Why wouldn't a TTT decide the winner of Tour Colombia if climbs decide Tour of Flanders?
Fantastic crowd.

I like Colombia better than Argentinian San Juan.

Fairly easy when you’ve been given a 46s headstart on this route to outplay your rivals.

But EF were very strong and I doubt it would have mattered, it would have been interesting to see how they played it would the gaps been the other way around in the TTT.

 

[DNP-Old]

Colombians against Colombians at 3200m though...

I don't think TTTs of that length should even be in Grand Tours because of how much time difference is caused, never mind a short race like this with one mountain in it

Even if you ignore the TTT it's a waste to just have one summit finish in Colombia of all places.

We're in February. Putting in more mountains probably works discouraging for the European scene rather than it working positively. TTT's in a one week race is overkill though.

 

[BlueRoads]

What's up with this Norwegian?

 

[Escarabajo]

No place for the TTT for a race this short. Especially when there are not many mountains to make a difference.

EF Education owned this race.

 

[Escarabajo]

What's up with this Norwegian?

They have high mountains in Norway.

Very impressed with this guy.

 

[Big Doopie]

I am so freaking tired of the fans who basically want the GC to be ruled by nothing but pure climbers.

Get rid of ITTs they scream.

TTTs are dumb they wail.

Long flat stages suck they cry.

What do they not understand about the term “all rounder”. Stage races are supposed to crown the best all rounder. Traditionally that has been a TTer who can also climb. And that is why TTing is considered The Race of Truth because you cannot hide. The strongest wins.

In the last decade climbers have been disproportionally advantaged as it is.

 

[sir fly]

They have high mountains in Norway.

Very impressed with this guy.

Nah... They're on top of the World.
Must be higher than the Andes, Pyrenees, Alps and Dolomites put together.

 

[Koronin]

Cat 2 in Giro, Cat 1 in Vuelta, HC in Tour.

You sure la Vuelta wouldn't downgrade it? They are known for ignoring some climbs completely and have had riders question the rating of some of their climbs over the years.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I am so freaking tired of the fans who basically want the GC to be ruled by nothing but pure climbers.

Get rid of ITTs they scream.

TTTs are dumb they wail.

What do they not understand about the term “all rounder”. Stage races are supposed to crown the best all rounder. Traditionally that has been a TTer who can also climb. And that is why TTing is considered The Race of Truth because you cannot hide. The strongest wins.

In the last decade climbers have been disproportionally advantaged as it is.

I'm a big fan of ITT's. Rider vs rider, pure, honest... you can have hilly ITT's, even include a mountain ITT.
But i loathe TTT's in general classifications. Even in GT's. Complete and utter BS imho.
I do like TTT's when they can't influence individual rankings.

 

[Anderis]

I like TTTs and I want them in stage races from time to time but if you decide to put one there, you need plenty of selective stages to counterbalance it.

 

[F_Cance]

One of the reasons why (long) TTTs are ruining races.

 

[Red Rick]

You sure la Vuelta wouldn't downgrade it? They are known for ignoring some climbs completely and have had riders question the rating of some of their climbs over the years.

That's mainly cat 3s and 4s. They can be pretty cheap with 1s or Especials on occasion.

 

[Vasilis]

Bernal hit the wall starting the sprint... that's interesting.
EF completely outplayed Ineos, congratulations.

Why wouldn't a TTT decide the winner of Tour Colombia if climbs decide Tour of Flanders?
Fantastic crowd.

I like Colombia better than Argentinian San Juan.

Ineos outplayed themselves. What were they doing? They didn't have the numbers nor the responsibility, yet they just pulled the EF train all the way to the finish. Why waste Carapaz with 4 EF's in your wheel when you could have made a tactical play of it? And then Bernal pulling all the way to the finish? I am a supporter of Ineos but that was just ridiculous honestly. I actually stopped watching before the finish because of how stupid it was.

 

[Vasilis]

One of the reasons why (long) TTTs are ruining races.

It's more so in in shorter races with fewer other decisive stages.

 

[Anderis]

Hope EF gets 1-4 in the final GC

LOL, if only Uran wasn't coming back from a serious injury...