53rd Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco - 1-6 April 2013

[Gloin22]

I hope Henao gets to do his own thing...its about time to get him to win a race.

Considering a TT, a stage win will likely be a target rather than going for GC.

Looking forward to see what he can do in Ardennes.

 

[Netserk]

Considering a TT, a stage win will likely be a target rather than going for GC.

Looking forward to see what he can do in Ardennes.

You do realize how well Purito and Mollema did in the ITT last year? Two notorious lousy TTers.

 

[Pentacycle]

You do realize how well Purito and Mollema did in the ITT last year? Two notorious lousy TTers.

He was 32nd last year, I hope he has some better TT form if he wants to win the race. Working for Porte is his goal atm.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You do realize how well Purito and Mollema did in the ITT last year? Two notorious lousy TTers.

I beg your pardon, Mollema a notoriously lously TT-er?

You couldn't be more wrong. Mollema has always been more than decent in time trials. He's not a specialist, but he isn't exactly bad at them and comparing him to purito is a joke even.

 

[Netserk]

Worse than Purito (4-3):

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

what a terrible example, there are ttt's in there and tt's where Mollema didn't even try because he wasnt riding for GC

 

[Netserk]

what a terrible example, there are ttt's in there and tt's where Mollema didn't even try because he wasnt riding for GC

When you take away the TTTs it is 4-3 in Purito's favour (the reason why I wrote (4-3))

 

[RHRH19861986]

If both would ride an one day ITT (Worlds, Olympics) against each other, Purito has no chance against Mollema, I think.

 

[Netserk]

If both would ride an one day ITT (Worlds, Olympics) against each other, Purito has no chance against Mollema, I think.

The same if Mollema rode against JVDB. Doesn't make JVDB a good TTer.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Mollema's good itt's (note, i've taken out espoir results obviously, since not relevant)

2011
13 Paris - Nice, Stage 6 : Rognes - Aix-en-Provence I.T.T. (26km) lost 1'38 to Tony Martin.
3 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Stage 4 : Zamora I.T.T. (11km) lost 14 second to Porte
8 Tour de Suisse, Stage 1 : Lugano I.T.T. 7km lost 22 second to Cancellara
29 Tour de Suisse, Stage 9 : Schaffhausen - Schaffhausen I.T.T. (32km) lost 2'06 to Cancellara
25 Vuelta a España, Stage 10 : Salamanca - Salamanca I.T.T. (47km), 3 minutes to Martin, but only 1'40 to Wiggins by comparison..

2012:
2 Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Stage 6 : Oñati - Oñati I.T.T. (18km)6 seconds behind Sanchez
7 Tour de Romandie, Prologue : Lausanne I.T.T. (3km)
24 Tour de Romandie, Stage 5 : Crans-Montana - Crans-Montana I.T.T. (24km)
31 Tour de Suisse, Stage 7 : Gossau - Gossau I.T.T. (31km)

2013:
10 Vuelta a Andalucia / Ruta Del Sol, Prologue : San Fernando I.T.T.
10 Critérium International, Stage 2 : Porto-Vecchio I.T.T.

Ofcourse his best ITT's are prologues or longer tt's with hills in it, but even in the flat ones he's still good for top 30 when he really tries.
Most bad ITT's by Mollema were in his first pro year, his second (when he was suffering from pfeiffer) and when he's not trying obviously (no GC to defend)

 

[Netserk]

Okay change bad to mediocre for Bauke.

 

[wwabbit]

I hope Henao gets to do his own thing...its about time to get him to win a race.

There's a 24km ITT in the last stage of the race.

 

[the sceptic]

Ok more one time i'll think Sky can't dominate this.

11. PORTE Richie
12. BOSWELL Ian
13. DOMBROWSKI Joe
14. EDMONDSON Joshua
15. HENAO Sergio Luis
16. KIRYIENKA Vasil
17. TIERNAN-LOCKE Jonathan
18. ZANDIO Xabier

I don't know half of these guys but i bet that will change

Henao is superdom, vasil will prob go crazy, no idea what to expect of zandio and Tiernan-Locke? 'insert jokes'

Not so strong, especially compared to saxo. They came with their AAA+ Team (well if in form of course)

91. CONTADOR Alberto
92. ANKER SORENSEN Chris
93. HERNáNDEZ Jesús
94. ROGERS Michael
95. ROCHE Nicolas
96. ZAUGG Oliver
97. KREUZIGER Roman
98. MOREIRA PAULINHO Sergio Miguel

If Sky can dominate Saxo bank in this race i'll get a Porte avatar untill the tour. I'm already regretting this btw

This race is obviously harder to control than T-A especially stage 5.

Valverde isn't racing so it should be Porte vs Contador. Just imagine if i said that a year ago

Anyway I think Contador needs at least 25 seconds on Porte for the ITT. A few years ago Contador would destroy anyone on this kinda ITT. Maybe he can still do it but then again you've Porte.

I hope Libertine is right and Porte won't be so great at that climb on stage 5 that but i honestly doubt that. Wiggins was on par with Evans on planche des belles filles. Who would have thought that?

Porte was btw better in hilly stages than mountain stages and now with his form...

I don't think Saxo tactics will work like with kreuziger for example. It's always for Contador although if everyone thinks that, then maybe . That might be very interesting on stage 5.

Oh yeah Sami of course. He showed a lot of progression in the tirreno stage that Sagan won. He might decide who wins pais basque and we know who he'll pick.

Are the descent finishes dangerous? That would provide some great racing. Contador and sami, just like in the tour '11

I don't think sami can win this though.

was just reading this thread and this caught my attention.

may i suggest?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

was just reading this thread and this caught my attention.

may i suggest?

I already have it after todays stage.

 

[Miburo]

was just reading this thread and this caught my attention.

may i suggest?

i completely forgot about it, give me a min.

 

[LaFlorecita]

A shame this race will be decided entirely in the tt

 

[SafeBet]

A shame this race will be decided entirely in the tt

It was actually decided today, when ZERO contenders tried to attack before the last 5kms of the stage.

 

[wwabbit]

A shame this race will be decided entirely in the tt

Yeah... Poor Henao was already denied Volta a Algarve by a TT, looks like he will be denied this as well by a TT.

 

[Jelantik]

was just reading this thread and this caught my attention.

may i suggest?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA .. Oh how wrong are we huh? Little richie managed to kick contador's ***... Must be annoying situation to be when your used to be domestique match you toe to toe and even better. But, hey! Look at the bright side. At least it's not over until the fat lady wearing yellow sings

 

[Dazed and Confused]

It was actually decided today, when ZERO contenders tried to attack before the last 5kms of the stage.

tend to agree, but we did see a plan involving Movistar (three riders) and Astana (Fuglsang), Garmin (Talansky) amoungst others going into the mid race break. However Vasil was able to not only control them, but actually pull them back again. On his own.

In this race Vasil was stronger than most of the competing team's GC captains.

In the end Porte could have dropped everybody on the climb if he wanted, but why embarrass the competition even more.

 

[SafeBet]

tend to agree, but we did see a plan involving Movistar (three riders) and Astana (Fuglsang), Garmin (Talansky) amoungst others going into the mid race break. However Vasil was able to not only control them, but actually pull them back again. On his own.

Vasil was unbelievable, ok, but it's not like he was tested that much.

I really liked Movistar move to put three riders in the break but then Rui Costa and Herrada didn't go full gas (and I'm pretty sure of that, Rui was still fresh enough to hang with the best until late in the race and arrive just 44 seconds behind Porte).
And then no attack whatsoever by Quintana. Maybe he was cold, maybe he didn't have legs, but I was expecting something different.

Honestly, Movistar has been disappointing in this race.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

snipped..

Honestly, Movistar has been disappointing in this race.

true, in fact not many teams managed to show up.

Sky, Caja Rural and Orica only ones perhaps.

 

[Duartista]

I read on a Spanish forum that Quintana was not feeling too good, so Costa and Herrada were told to ease up in the break.

 

[SafeBet]

I read on a Spanish forum that Quintana was not feeling too good, so Costa and Herrada were told to ease up in the break.

Ok thanks for the info. Makes more sense then.