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Big Respect to Greipel the Gorilla

Mar 24, 2012
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Hugo Koblet said:
Nice video. I think Greipel will give Cav a run for his money this year.

I think you're right - his train is amazing, especially his lead-out man Henderson, who won a stage himself at the Tour when he was with Sky (maybe even more than one stage).

Cav's train is untested. But when Cav and the Gorilla are neck to neck my heart still goes to Cav - he's like the roadrunner, beautiful to watch, sacrilege to catch.
 
VanessaVV said:
I think you're right - his train is amazing, especially his lead-out man Henderson, who won a stage himself at the Tour when he was with Sky (maybe even more than one stage).

Cav's train is untested. But when Cav and the Gorilla are neck to neck my heart still goes to Cav - he's like the roadrunner, beautiful to watch, sacrilege to catch.

Greg is a great guy IMHO, but he didn't get to go to the TdF with Sky. He has one stage win at the Vuelta (with HTC in 2009), that is it for the Grand tours.

I think the move to Lotto was a very good one for him, he really has found a niche as a Gorilla handler.
 
Mar 12, 2010
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Greipel is going well now, just continuing from last year. It will be a thrill to see how Lotto will do against QuickStep when their trains line up. I'm guessing Lotto is a little better right now, more experienced with each other.

Cav needs a train more often than not, and if Lotto's is better, Gorilla is just as able to win a sprint.

Can't wait!
 
Aug 16, 2011
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gruppeto993 said:
will greipel and cav be doing tour of qatar?

Cav is, Lotto won't be taking part in it. Maybe that will give Cav more time to perfect his leadout train. It was January and at the Tour Down Under, but Greipels leadout train worked to perfection.

The Tour though will probably be the primary race to watch the two in, they will both be at their peak, with their full leadout trains, and both be targeting the stage wins.
 
I'm curious as well how that will play in the stage races or Kuurne for example...

At OPQS Boonen might become the leadout man, he spoke about it in the press recently. Said Cav just is out of the wind behind Boonen.

I prefer Greipel though as he's to me a more complete rider as Cav
 
Hugo Koblet said:
Nice video. I think Greipel will give Cav a run for his money this year.

No doubt!

I think I head Cav saying that he (Griepel) can push either 40 or 60 watts more than he (Cav) can, but that Cav can still beat him because his kick is sharper and he's more aerodynamic.

There's a lot of respect between the 2 of them

Griepel sure looks in good shape on the video!

Something to look forward to this year, anyway!:)
 
Echoes said:
De Vlaeminck said:

A flat stage of a GT is hardly anything more than a kermess.


So Greipel won 100 kermesses. Super. And this because of big trains.

So really nothing big ...

this wasn't too hard to agree with. Having said that I do think there are a couple of "harder" wins in his palmares.

TdF stage 13 from 2012:

profile-13.jpg


Result:
GER 1 GREIPEL, André (LOTTO BELISOL) 4:57:59
SVK 2 SAGAN, Peter (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE)
NOR 3 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY PROCYCLING)
FRA 4 HINAULT, Sébastien (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
RSA 5 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA-GREENEDGE)
FRA 6 SIMON, Julien (SAUR-SOJASUN)
ITA 7 MARCATO, Marco (VACANSOLEIL-DCM)
BEL 8 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING)


I think he could win KBK and GW. Lets see.
 
As a Cav fan, I'm more scared of Kittel or Guardini surplanting him than Andre.

At last year's tour, the only 2 occasions Cav had a train, Lotto & Andre were nowhere. In the first sprint, Cav single handedly worked like mad to reach Andre's wheel whilst Andre had an easy ride on a train, and Cav then beat him heads up to win the stage. His wins came when Cav was either not present, or started from way too far back. His 2011 win was more impressive than anything he managed at least year's tour.

EDIT -

Just rewatched the end of Stage 2 - incredible. Cav was 25 riders back with 600m to go, pulls on to his wheel then dusts him.
 
Old School said:
Greipel is going well now, just continuing from last year. It will be a thrill to see how Lotto will do against QuickStep when their trains line up. I'm guessing Lotto is a little better right now, more experienced with each other.

Cav needs a train more often than not, and if Lotto's is better, Gorilla is just as able to win a sprint.

Can't wait!

Parrulo said:
nice video!!!!

i always liked greipel after he showed how good of a team mate he was in 2011 doing a lot of work for others, particularly on MSR when he kept everything in order till the poggio for gilbert.

Or last year stage 1 at the TDF.

Cav has basically the same team as at HTC with some of the riders- sure they are not riding Qatar with him but i am sure he will have enough riders to help him during the year. I also think Cav could just jump onto Greipels' train and try and win.
 
Mar 12, 2010
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Was wondering if someone else was speculating this.

Kittel doesn't seem to be able to get his act together. I'll start to fear him when he puts it all together more consistently...not that he can't, but I'm not convinced yet. His fast teammate seems to be more of a threat..Degenkolb.
 
coinneach said:
No doubt!

I think I head Cav saying that he (Griepel) can push either 40 or 60 watts more than he (Cav) can, but that Cav can still beat him because his kick is sharper and he's more aerodynamic.

There's a lot of respect between the 2 of them

Griepel sure looks in good shape on the video!

Something to look forward to this year, anyway!:)
The difference between them probably is a lot more than 40 Watts. Cav can put out 1600 W, Greipel will probably be somewhere around 1800. But Cav has the most aerodynamic style of any sprinter (although Guardini copies it).
 
theyoungest said:
The difference between them probably is a lot more than 40 Watts. Cav can put out 1600 W, Greipel will probably be somewhere around 1800. But Cav has the most aerodynamic style of any sprinter (although Guardini copies it).

Rewatching the stage 2 sprint for last year's Tour, just at the moment you see Cav overtake Andre, Andre lifts his body up in a last attempt to get more power out - so boneheaded, but have knocked a couple of Ks off his speed instantly.
 
Echoes said:
De Vlaeminck said:

A flat stage of a GT is hardly anything more than a kermess.


So Greipel won 100 kermesses. Super. And this because of big trains.

So really nothing big ...

De Vlaeminck is one of the greatest riders of all time but everything he says, is not necessarily right. He is the one that called Boonen's competition third rate when Boonen won P-R last year and while that might be true it was totally uncalled for. Boonen can only defeat those that race against him and he did so more convincingly than anybody in recent history at that race (beside Cancellara was the only missing and it is rather a testament to Boonen's strength that only one rider can pose a serious threat to him than a reason to downplay his achievements). That is the kind of comment that make him come across as bitter if you ask him. Which might be the case here also.
Greipel is the second best sprinter in the world right now and has been for some time whether or not you like his style of racing. His achievements which are based primarily on his own skill (yes he has a great leadout train but the reason he gets so much support is because he can deliver, other sprinters aren't good enough to provide enough garantees to their teams hence their relative lack of support) demand respect. 99% of the peleton can only dream of winning 100 "kermesses".
 

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