71st Tour de Romandie - April 25th-30th

[DFA123]

Re:

Is Albasini racing the Tour?

The stage to Longwy suits him very well. He is also great in breakaways. Gerrans doesn't seem like the best rider to rely on right now.

I presumed he was doing the Tour; he always does, doesn't he?

And he usually does nothing of note there. I get the impression he's the kind of rider who can do really well by peaking for a lesser event with a slightly low quality field - like a hilly-sprinter version of Spilak or Rui Costa. But when all the big guns are there on close to top form in the Tour, he just can't compete.

 

[silvergrenade]

This was a really stupid stage IMO!
It should've been harder.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Is Albasini racing the Tour?

The stage to Longwy suits him very well. He is also great in breakaways. Gerrans doesn't seem like the best rider to rely on right now.

I presumed he was doing the Tour; he always does, doesn't he?

And he usually does nothing of note there. I get the impression he's the kind of rider who can do really well by peaking for a lesser event with a slightly low quality field - like a hilly-sprinter version of Spilak or Rui Costa. But when all the big guns are there on close to top form in the Tour, he just can't compete.

Have to disagree there. He's done very well in the Ardennes in the past where most of the favourites are at their best. He could win a stage or two at the Tour if it was right for him.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Is Albasini racing the Tour?

The stage to Longwy suits him very well. He is also great in breakaways. Gerrans doesn't seem like the best rider to rely on right now.

I presumed he was doing the Tour; he always does, doesn't he?

And he usually does nothing of note there. I get the impression he's the kind of rider who can do really well by peaking for a lesser event with a slightly low quality field - like a hilly-sprinter version of Spilak or Rui Costa. But when all the big guns are there on close to top form in the Tour, he just can't compete.

Have to disagree there. He's done very well in the Ardennes in the past where most of the favourites are at their best. He could win a stage or two at the Tour if it was right for him.

Yeah, that's true, I kind of missed the point I was trying to make in the post above. Which is that because he peaks in the Ardennes and the two big Swiss races - which makes sense given his nationality and that it's easier to get wins there, he's never at the Tour in top form. And probably wont be this year either. And he's a rider who needs to be at top form I think to challenge - certainly in the Tour when everyone else is close to top form as well.

 

[Brullnux]

Oh of course. There aren't many riders who can win Tour stages without being in top form.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

The bottom of the climb, where it was the most steep, was raced not hard enough. I think it was Danilo Wyss who was setting the pace. If a better climber was riding hard at the front of the peloton at that point, the selection would be more significant, I believe.

Obviously Wyss was setting the pace that Porte wanted ...I think no leaders wanted a higher pace or they would have put someone on the front to set it

I guess some attackers could have gone here but like the other attacks they would have been brough back

On climbs like today there are too many riders at the same level ...it means the winner is hard to predict but also its hard to make a significant differnence with an attack unless you specifically target this race

Albasini obviusly targets this race so Orica rode it with him in mind

 

[klintE]

GC at the end?:
Froo
Izagirre
De la Cruise

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Is Albasini racing the Tour?

The stage to Longwy suits him very well. He is also great in breakaways. Gerrans doesn't seem like the best rider to rely on right now.

I presumed he was doing the Tour; he always does, doesn't he?

And he usually does nothing of note there. I get the impression he's the kind of rider who can do really well by peaking for a lesser event with a slightly low quality field - like a hilly-sprinter version of Spilak or Rui Costa. But when all the big guns are there on close to top form in the Tour, he just can't compete.

That's a pretty good description but in the Tour he is mostly a workhorse for his team. Maybe he should try to go after a stage.

But yeah, It's hard for him to win a stage in a GC. He needs a stage that is too hard for Sagan/GVA/Matthews, but not hard enough for a Alaphilippe/Kwiatkowski/Gilbert-type of rider. And even then, he will struggle against those or a Valverde in a sprint.

 

[WheelofGear]

As far as I can see, tomorrow's sprint is slightly uphill. Another match between Ulissi and Albasini? Felline is also likely to join in.

 

[SafeBet]

Anybody's got a profile for the last couple of km?

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Anybody's got a profile for the last couple of km?

1.5k at 2-3%. Not a hard uphill sprint.

 

[PunchingRouleur]

Little bit of OT.
Does anybody know why Albasiny never give cobbled classics a shot?
I think his climbing style could be well suited for them.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Little bit of OT.
Does anybody know why Albasiny never give cobbled classics a shot?
I think his climbing style could be well suited for them.

I think he could do well there also; kind of like Kwiatkowski did, but perhaps even with a bit more punch. I guess though it would be very difficult to peak there and maintain it through to the Ardennes and Romandie - which is where his priorites lie. Although Felline is certainly trying!

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Little bit of OT.
Does anybody know why Albasiny never give cobbled classics a shot?
I think his climbing style could be well suited for them.

He should try Flanders. He was leading the attackers over the cobbled climb in Liege last year.

 

[The Barb]

The finish might be a little too easy for Jesus Herrada but he's well over the odds at 40-1.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Seems like a very boring parcours, but at least a big one week race isn't favouring the climbers for a change. Also this race never attracts the GC Giro contenders, so not much point in including high mountains for a warm up for that. Instead those riders have the Tour of the Alps.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Seems like a very boring parcours, but at least a big one week race isn't favouring the climbers for a change. Also this race never attracts the GC Giro contenders, so not much point in including high mountains for a warm up for that. Instead those riders have the Tour of the Alps.

Ilnur, Tejay

 

[Tigerion]

Re: Re:

Seems like a very boring parcours, but at least a big one week race isn't favouring the climbers for a change. Also this race never attracts the GC Giro contenders, so not much point in including high mountains for a warm up for that. Instead those riders have the Tour of the Alps.

Ilnur, Tejay

Well he did say contenders, not people stating they are riding for GC

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

Little bit of OT.
Does anybody know why Albasiny never give cobbled classics a shot?
I think his climbing style could be well suited for them.

At the beginning of career he tried but his results were poor exept a seventh place at Da Panne in 2005.
The first year he totally skip cobbled races (in 2008) he started to get top ten results in various races on hilly percours (Mediterraneen, Paris-Nice, GP Indurain, Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallonne, Romandie) so i imagine that he choose to focus on this type of races.

 

[Robert5091]

Trek playing with Froome's head
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/trek-segafredo-and-team-sky-clash-over-tour-de-romandie-tactics/
"I don't know what Trek-Segafredo were up to today. They seemed to let the break get a lot of time and then weren't really interested in closing it even though they had the leader's jersey,'' Froome told Cyclingnews.

Could be more fun today! Albasini to take second win.

 

[fauniera]

The finish might be a little too easy for Jesus Herrada but he's well over the odds at 40-1.

The stage looks good for a breakaway though.

 

[Robert5091]

Bad weather - The organisers of the Tour de Romandie have announced that today’s second stage from Champéry to Bulle has been reduced due to cold weather and the risk of snow.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-romandie-stage-2-reduced-due-to-cold-and-risk-of-snow/
The new start will be given at 1:55pm CET in Aigle, cutting 22.3km from the stage. The shortened stage will cover 136.5km and follow the same schedule as the original stage.

 

[WheelofGear]

Stage 2 reduced by 22.3km.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-romandie-stage-2-reduced-due-to-cold-and-risk-of-snow/

 

[The Barb]

Ok, but the finish is the same, right?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Trek playing with Froome's head
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/trek-segafredo-and-team-sky-clash-over-tour-de-romandie-tactics/
"I don't know what Trek-Segafredo were up to today. They seemed to let the break get a lot of time and then weren't really interested in closing it even though they had the leader's jersey,'' Froome told Cyclingnews.

Could be more fun today! Albasini to take second win.

Love it