47th Amstel Gold Race (The maze) - Sunday April 15, 2012

[Dekker_Tifosi]

cyclingnews have wildly different ideas about Vacansoleil...

The Vacansoleil-DCM team is in a similar situation and they'll try to get home rider Rob Ruijgh, Johnny Hoogerland and Marco Marcato into position in the finale.

Ruijgh, Hoogerland and Marcato... Not Poels (100x better than Ruijgh), Westra or Carrara!

 

[kanari]

cyclingnews have wildly different ideas about Vacansoleil...



Ruijgh, Hoogerland and Marcato... Not Poels (100x better than Ruijgh), Westra or Carrara!

Yes that is weird. But also a testament to how strong a team they have here. I think Poels and Westra are podium candidates, don't see any of them on top of it though.

 

[theyoungest]

cyclingnews have wildly different ideas about Vacansoleil...



Ruijgh, Hoogerland and Marcato... Not Poels (100x better than Ruijgh), Westra or Carrara!

Hoogerland and Marcato are proven AGR riders. Ruijgh indeed sucks, but well, we'll see again on Sunday I guess.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Odds 50 on Matti. Oh, happy days. I know he probably wont win but he's captain and got full support on a team that wants to do great in the particularly race. Higher odds on Matti unlike other riders who are locked with no posibility of winning what so ever.

 

[theyoungest]

Odds 50 on Matti. Oh, happy days. I know he probably wont win but he's captain and got full support on a team that wants to do great in the particularly race. Higher odds on Matti than on riders who are locked with no posibility of winning what so ever.

"Full support"... not really. Rabobank are entering the race with 6 "leaders" and two domestiques, so if he flats in the final I think he's screwed.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well.. Rabobank even confide in Martens. While Paul recently tweeted this

@PMartens83
If you focus on this period and then you ride like i did today...pfff...black moment of my career...i don't know what's going on..

Yup. Protect that guy

 

[maltiv]

Odds 50 on Matti. Oh, happy days. I know he probably wont win but he's captain and got full support on a team that wants to do great in the particularly race. Higher odds on Matti than on riders who are locked with no posibility of winning what so ever.

I got Henao @ 100/1. Pretty good considering he definitely has a chance of beating the likes of Rodriguez and Sanchez in the final sprint.

 

[greenedge]

He does not suck, admittedly he is not suited to the AGR course and probably does not deserve leadership status as CN have reported ( at most other races as well ) but he did well to set up Lithgart FTW at the Dutch RR.

@Maltiv whilst i acknowledge those are good odds i doubt he can- as we have only seen him outsprint Levi. Those two have already beat him earlier this year and have raced on this course for a long time.

 

[DominicDecoco]

"Full support"... not really. Rabobank are entering the race with 6 "leaders" and two domestiques, so if he flats in the final I think he's screwed.

I think I'll believe more in what Matti says than someone on a forum.

 

[theyoungest]

I think I'll believe more in what Matti says than someone on a forum.

What I said, about the 6 leaders and 2 helpers, is a literal quote from Rabobank DS Verhoeven...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think I'll believe more in what Matti says than someone on a forum.

*facepalm* this is what rabobank said in their official agr selection press release..

 

[DominicDecoco]

Ok. I've read differently.

"The goal is to win the sunday and Matti can expect a lot of support as he has been pointed out as the team's captain.

-'that's the plan, yes'"

 

[theyoungest]

Ok. I've read differently.

"The goal is to win the sunday and Matti can expect a lot of support as he has been pointed out as the team's captain.

-'that's the plan, yes'"

Lemme guess... Danish media?

 

[DominicDecoco]

Lemme guess... Danish media?

Yeah, so what? There's nothing biased about it since Matti agrees with it.

And Rabo could might as well have brought him to Roubaix if he wasn't the main man to ride for sunday which he of course is.

 

[liamito]

I got Henao @ 100/1. Pretty good considering he definitely has a chance of beating the likes of Rodriguez and Sanchez in the final sprint.

A chance? No chance.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah, so what? There's nothing biased about it since Matti agrees with it.

And Rabo could might as well have brought him to Roubaix if he wasn't the main man to ride for sunday which he of course is.

...so now your argument is invalid. Danish media...

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, so what? There's nothing biased about it since Matti agrees with it.

And Rabo could might as well have brought him to Roubaix if he wasn't the main man to ride for sunday which he of course is.

They're starting with 6 riders on equal footing, which makes sense since Breschel (just like Mollema and Kruijswijk) has never done Amstel before. It might very well be that Breschel turns out to be the strongest, in which case they'll support him in the final (I hope for the sake of the Danish people )

 

[DominicDecoco]

They're starting with 6 riders on equal footing, which makes sense since Breschel (just like Mollema and Kruijswijk) has never done Amstel before. It might very well be that Breschel turns out to be the strongest, in which case they'll support him in the final (I hope for the sake of the Danish people )

You see, that can I agree with and might well be very true.
Rabo is not going to say in a press release: We have ONE rider for the win and no one else will attack or do anything but that one rider, are they..

 

[kanari]

They're starting with 6 riders on equal footing, which makes sense since Breschel (just like Mollema and Kruijswijk) has never done Amstel before. It might very well be that Breschel turns out to be the strongest, in which case they'll support him in the final (I hope for the sake of the Danish people )

Would be interesting to see Mollema in a sprint on the Cauberg. I remember from TdF stage 6 last year that he made a pretty strong attack there in the finish albeit on weaker gradients but it seems he does have some punch. I think Cauberg will be too steep for Breschel.

It's a shame we're not seeing Kelderman here... Is he injured or do they think he's too young? Should be a race that suits him in the future, no?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Would be interesting to see Mollema in a sprint on the Cauberg. I remember from TdF stage 6 last year that he made a pretty strong attack there in the finish albeit on weaker gradients but it seems he does have some punch. I think Cauberg will be too steep for Breschel.

It's a shame we're not seeing Kelderman here... Is he injured or do they think he's too young? Should be a race that suits him in the future, no?

Kelderman is considered too young I think.

He will ride in Castilla y Leon starting today

 

[theyoungest]

Would be interesting to see Mollema in a sprint on the Cauberg. I remember from TdF stage 6 last year that he made a pretty strong attack there in the finish albeit on weaker gradients but it seems he does have some punch. I think Cauberg will be too steep for Breschel.

It's a shame we're not seeing Kelderman here... Is he injured or do they think he's too young? Should be a race that suits him in the future, no?

Actually, Breschel won a sprint up the Cauberg once... in the Ster Elektro Toer

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

but in the ster elektrotoer they continue a bit longer than the finish in agr. So and the cauberg flattens out a lot on the top.

 

[Pantani_lives]

1 Rodriguez
2 S. Sanchez
3 Sagan
4 Mollema (Rabo has a tradition to defend)
5 Valverde
6 Gerrans
7 Voeckler
8 Gilbert
9 Hoogerland (Go Johnny Go)
10 Vanendert

 

[El Pistolero]

but in the ster elektrotoer they continue a bit longer than the finish in agr. So and the cauberg flattens out a lot on the top.

Here's a better argument: competition field at Ster Elektrotoer sucks.

 

[theyoungest]

Indeed, last year the worst cyclist in the world won it