BMC in disarray?

[thehog]

BMC tactics masterclass:

"Over the radio they told me not to pull and that gap opened and Boonen went," Ballan said. "To be honest, I thought that with so many kilometres to go to the finish he wouldn't be able to do it, but instead he showed he was in great shape."

- Are these guys stupid? or dumb?

 

[Mellow Velo]

Ballan said he was trying to co-operate with Pozzato but Pippo refused and he was dead and Hushovd was behind so his team told him not to chase by himself

Well, on tv, it looked the other way around.
Pozzato was chasing, did his turn, asked Ballan to come through and..........he sat up.

Seems to back up what the Hog has just posted.

Team tactics to die for.

 

[Ripper]

Well, on tv, it looked the other way around.
Pozzato was chasing, did his turn, asked Ballan to come through and..........he sat up.

Seems to back up what the Hog has just posted.

Team tactics to die for.

Not really racing with their heads are they With advice like that from the car, who needs the director? I think Ballan is giving his head a huge shake tonight.

Having said this, I think Boonen would have ridden Ballan right off his wheel. He was possessed.

 

[movingtarget]

Not really racing with their heads are they With advice like that from the car, who needs the director? I think Ballan is giving his head a huge shake tonight.

Having said this, I think Boonen would have ridden Ballan right off his wheel. He was possessed.

Problem was that Ballan was still recovering from his break off the front with Flecha. When it happened I thought this is interesting, Thor must be on a good day and Boonen let them go for a while but they did not get much of a gap. Ballan should have sat up and waited but they kept it going. Sky cooked themselves. BMC obviously thought that Boonen was not going to stay away. Would the result have been any different if BMC tactics were different. No. Boonen just going too well.

 

[thehog]

Problem was that Ballan was still recovering from his break off the front with Flecha. When it happened I thought this is interesting, Thor must be on a good day and Boonen let them go for a while but they did not get much of a gap. Ballan should have sat up and waited but they kept it going. Sky cooked themselves. BMC obviously thought that Boonen was not going to stay away. Would the result have been any different if BMC tactics were different. No. Boonen just going too well.

Yes good idea to let the guy who has won everything he has rode in since Jan 1 to get a few hundred meters up the road. Sure he'll come back. Why not let a team mate join him. They'll both be back at some point.

You should never let Boonen out of your sights. Such poor riding by BMC. Especially when the team had been making the play up to the decisive moment.

Shameful and stupid. Just stupid.

 

[Ripper]

Would the result have been any different if BMC tactics were different. No. Boonen just going too well.

Actually, we will never know. The point is, the tactics they executed were not really that good and it kept them from finding out. Hopefully they perform a post race review so they can learn.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

dont worry, GVA is gonna smoke everyone at AGR

 

[Freddythefrog]

Not really racing with their heads are they With advice like that from the car, who needs the director? I think Ballan is giving his head a huge shake tonight.
.

I have to say I am with the UCI. On too many flat stages the directors in the cars ruin the spectacle. There is never a chance that the forlorn hope, break can stay away, the catch is always timed to perfection to tee it up for the sprinters. In races like this, the riders can have the brains of rocking horses, indeed that is probably a requirement for staying relatively well renumerated in a team, long term - not ignoring the manager and doing your own thing, even when the manager is coming out with complete S**t - just do exactly everything the guy at the other end of the earpiece says. I do think that when riders had to make their own decisions on the road, whilst in the pressure of racing, pre-radios, it added another dimension which generated a more worthy and complete winner and offered more variety in the spectacle.

I don't watch formula 1 these days and have not done so for about 15 years. I listened to a radio summary the other day XXXX won the formula 1 race at YYYY today. He led the race from the first corner where he had overtaken ZZZZZ. You didn't need to know anything else. How completely boring was that. Race radios are a step along the path formula 1 has made.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Hushovd rode out Paris-Roubaix “in pure defiance”
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hus...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

 

[Arnout]

BMC tactics masterclass:

"Over the radio they told me not to pull and that gap opened and Boonen went," Ballan said. "To be honest, I thought that with so many kilometres to go to the finish he wouldn't be able to do it, but instead he showed he was in great shape."

- Are these guys stupid? or dumb?

Shows that a race radio will never be a substitution for a smart rider, although DSs like to pretend otherwise.

 

[BillytheKid]

Why decry a team for the sake that OP Quickstep /Boonen has been the best team in the early classics. Paris Roubaix yesterday was just a dominate performance by the Belgian.

BMC put Ballan on the Podium Phinney at 15th while being a workhorse and maybe not wanting to top a Thor a few seconds ahead.

It is a though spot for Phinney next year if he remains on BMC. I think he needs a team that will put him first. PR suits him well. What team will bid for him with his contract up this year? Is there one? A U23 former winner and 15th in his first PR and he's now the favourite to be the first American to win Paris Roubaix.

Has he done enough or considered too young.

Tommeke may have number five in mind first.

The Hell of the North, Queen of Classics, awaits future champions

 

[Nick C.]

If Thor was not 100% why have Ballan use him as a reason not to work with Pozzato to pull Boonen back?

 

[El Pistolero]

Why decry a team for the sake that OP Quickstep /Boonen has been the best team in the early classics. Paris Roubaix yesterday was just a dominate performance by the Belgian.

BMC put Ballan on the Podium Phinney at 15th while being a workhorse and maybe not wanting to top a Thor a few seconds ahead.

It is a though spot for Phinney next year if he remains on BMC. I think he needs a team that will put him first. PR suits him well. What team will bid for him with his contract up this year? Is there one? A U23 former winner and 15th in his first PR and he's now the favourite to be the first American to win Paris Roubaix.

Has he done enough or considered too young.

Tommeke may have number five in mind first.

The Hell of the North, Queen of Classics, awaits future champions

You do know Boonen is only 31 years old right?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

and cancellara is 30

 

[Froome19]

Shows that a race radio will never be a substitution for a smart rider, although DSs like to pretend otherwise.

No.. in most circumstances a ds who has had experience riding and knows his stuff and what is going on is going to make much better decisions than the rider himself. There may be some very smart riders and some not great mistaken ds but not that frequently and anyway pure logic dictates that riders should leave decisons to the men in the car

 

[El Pistolero]

No.. in most circumstances a ds who has had experience riding and knows his stuff and what is going on is going to make much better decisions than the rider himself. There may be some very smart riders and some not great mistaken ds but not that frequently and anyway pure logic dictates that riders should leave decisons to the men in the car

Rick van Looy begs to differ.

 

[Froome19]

Rick van Looy begs to differ.

How so?
Is that his opinion or is he just an exception as I stated there are

 

[hrotha]

Lol at the notion that Phinney should leave BMC for a team where he can lead in the cobbles. He's not ready yet, and he stands to gain more from learning from the likes of Hushovd and Ballan for a couple of years than from trying to go solo before his time has come.

No.. in most circumstances a ds who has had experience riding and knows his stuff and what is going on is going to make much better decisions than the rider himself. There may be some very smart riders and some not great mistaken ds but not that frequently and anyway pure logic dictates that riders should leave decisons to the men in the car

Why? The rider has more direct access to all sorts of information regarding the state of his rivals and teammates. The kind of info the DS has can be more readily transmitted to the rider than the other way around.

 

[Froome19]

Why? The rider has more direct access to all sorts of information regarding the state of his rivals and teammates. The kind of info the DS has can be more readily transmitted to the rider than the other way around.

Yeh but they have more experience and more tactical nous in 90% of the cases and of course it can be the other way round in that the DS can transmit info but the bottom line is that it is beneficial to have these race radios however you want to use them

 

[theyoungest]

No.. in most circumstances a ds who has had experience riding and knows his stuff and what is going on is going to make much better decisions than the rider himself. There may be some very smart riders and some not great mistaken ds but not that frequently and anyway pure logic dictates that riders should leave decisons to the men in the car

I get the feeling that most of these DSes are still riders at heart. But instead of ventilating their adrenaline through riding hard they have to sit frustrated behind the wheel. I don't know if this is really beneficial for good tactical thinking.

 

[Angliru]

BMC tactics masterclass:

"Over the radio they told me not to pull and that gap opened and Boonen went," Ballan said. "To be honest, I thought that with so many kilometres to go to the finish he wouldn't be able to do it, but instead he showed he was in great shape."

- Are these guys stupid? or dumb?

I would've thought that the idea is to at minimum mark the rider that is the favorite going into the event. Letting Boonen drift off the front without so much as a feigned attempt to get on his wheel is quite questionable. Also I would've thought that any questions about his "shape" would've been answered by his string of victories leading up to Paris-Roubaix.

 

[Ripper]

No.. in most circumstances a ds who has had experience riding and knows his stuff and what is going on is going to make much better decisions than the rider himself. There may be some very smart riders and some not great mistaken ds but not that frequently and anyway pure logic dictates that riders should leave decisons to the men in the car

The men in the car are advisors, nothing more, nothing less. You can decide not to take the advice.

 

[ustabe]

The men in the car are advisors, nothing more, nothing less. You can decide not to take the advice.

Maybe Ballan could have gone with Boonen. Maybe he couldn't. As I read Ballan's interview today I couldn't help thinking what class he showed by not complaining, second-guessing, or otherwise detracting from Boonen's victory.

I was also thinking how exciting it would have been if the two had escaped. If Ballan's too gracious to say it, I will. BMC made a big mistake in choosing a team leader for Paris-Roubaix this year.

 

[DominicDecoco]

The men in the car are advisors, nothing more, nothing less. You can decide not to take the advice.

The men in the car pay your wages.

 

[thehog]

Hushovd rode out Paris-Roubaix “in pure defiance”
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hus...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

It's just dawned on him that he'll never be Tom Boonen and if he'd stayed at Garmin he'd be outright team leader at Roubaix.

Money. Does funny things to your head.