Carlos Betancur discussion thread

[HelloDolly]

I thought Betencur was looking fit today ...its over to him now with Pozzo gone...So team will be behind him and he will have to step up

How many times have we seen riders not want to ride the Giro or recruited last minute to the Giro who then o go on and have a very good Giro

 

[NairoQ]

If I were Pozzovivo, I'd give this guy a call and tell him: "Well, could you defend our team colours please? That'd give me something to cheer for, at least." You never know, it might just motivate him.

 

[AlexNYC]

If I were Pozzovivo, I'd give this guy a call and tell him: "Well, could you defend our team colours please? That'd give me something to cheer for, at least." You never know, it might just motivate him.

Right now it's not about motivation, it's about form. He's under pressure to perform in what remains of the season; if that has not motivated him, nothing will. I do think he has been trying his best since he got to Europe this season; it's just that his base fitness level was so low to start with, he might not be able to achieve anything close to peak condition in time.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

he was constantly in the front of the group on the climbs. only a betancur feeling well, does that

 

[jens_attacks]

he's gonna win this giro, isn't he?

i think he will be fighting for the win on campitello matese already

 

[NairoQ]

Right now it's not about motivation, it's about form. He's under pressure to perform in what remains of the season; if that has not motivated him, nothing will. I do think he has been trying his best since he got to Europe this season; it's just that his base fitness level was so low to start with, he might not be able to achieve anything close to peak condition in time.

That's just not true. Motivation has a lot to do with it as well, so a non-motivated Betancur in good shape still wouldn't be seen at all.

I didn't see too much of today's stage, but I hope Ryo is right and we'll get to see the epic Betancur again.

 

[pink_jersey]

Re:

he was constantly in the front of the group on the climbs. only a betancur feeling well, does that

At some time on Barbagelata he was just in front of Matthews in the second half of the peloton.This isn't "in the front of the group" at all.

 

[carton]

On the plus side he's had numbers pinned on his jersey for 40 out of 109 days leading to the Giro. So he's probably as fit as he's been in the last year.

On the flip side in the flat 2013 Giro 55km ITT he finished well over 5 minutes behind (and nearly 2.5 minutes behind Fabio Aru). So even assuming his form is much better than his current results (always a very risky proposition) a top-10 would be very ambitious target.

Oh to be a fly on the wall at that moment, probably right after Madiot found out Pozzovivo was going to be OK, when he finally got around to figuring out that his best chance of salvaging something out of the Giro now laid on "his COlombian's" shoulders.

 

[Escarabajo]

Not bad for Betancur standards: Look at second to last photo.

http://www.revistamundociclistico.com/ruta/18677-giro-de-italia-michael-matthews-gano-la-etapa-y-se-mantiene-como-lider-esteban-chaves-uno-de-los-protagonistas.html

 

[alspacka]

Re:

Not bad for Betancur standards: Look at second to last photo.l

Yeah he's actually looking ok. How it's even possible to get fat as a professional cyclist I have no idea.
Possibly he can win a stage late on but he'll surely be out of GC contention by then. Hope he goes well anyway.

 

[Jancouver]

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

 

[tristecsinamigos]

Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

in the video interview that appears on the link that Escarabajo posted, he says thay he has struggled a lot to get in shape (never in his career he has so much trouble to get in shape) but that he has good feelings now and he expects to deliver.

 

[carton]

Re:

Not bad for Betancur standards: Look at second to last photo.

http://www.revistamundociclistico.com/ruta/18677-giro-de-italia-michael-matthews-gano-la-etapa-y-se-mantiene-como-lider-esteban-chaves-uno-de-los-protagonistas.html

Good link. The best part for me was the interview, particularly when the journalist asks him if we're going to see 2013 Carlos Betancur in this Giro, and he answers very quickly "spero anche yo" ("Even I hope so" in what was definitely more Italian than Spanish). Thought it was a bit of a window into his always interesting thought process. Anyway, he does seem to be very cautiously optimistic about doing ok ("when my form feels like it's coming back it normally does"), but also trying to temper expectations as to what ok would be for him ("this has been the hardest it has taken me in my career to find my form").

 

[ILovecycling]

This will be a big Giro

edit: thanks for the interview

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

interview with his ag2r director before giro said he felt betancur was getting into good form and expected things from him this giro. betancur himself is usually very quiet about himself

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

interview with his ag2r director before giro said he felt betancur was getting into good form and expected things from him this giro. betancur himself is usually very quiet about himself

I dont care what he said before the Giro. I simply posted what he said today on TV after the stage. Either way, after he gets dropped on the first major climb, this conversation will be irrelevant anyway

 

[IndianCyclist]

A good Betancur always sneak attacks even when he is heavy i.e when he won Paris Nice. This Betancur is not that one and can only follow wheels. need to wait one more year. He is still in off season.

 

[ferryman]

Re: Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

interview with his ag2r director before giro said he felt betancur was getting into good form and expected things from him this giro. betancur himself is usually very quiet about himself

I dont care what he said before the Giro. I simply posted what he said today on TV after the stage. Either way, after he gets dropped on the first major climb, this conversation will be irrelevant anyway

Hah, you just don't rate him because he's a 'shorty'

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

interview with his ag2r director before giro said he felt betancur was getting into good form and expected things from him this giro. betancur himself is usually very quiet about himself

I dont care what he said before the Giro. I simply posted what he said today on TV after the stage. Either way, after he gets dropped on the first major climb, this conversation will be irrelevant anyway

Hah, you just don't rate him because he's a 'shorty'

No exactly. I dont have anything personal against him. It was just obvious over the winter that he lost motivation as he got a new baby and would prefer to stay in Colombia as he is home sick.

So: lost motivation + lost training days = lost fitness

He can pedal around all season long but without a proper winter base training he will not be competitive this season and other than some single stage success, there is no hope (this season) for this dude.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Re: Re:

During the EuroSport interview after the stage he was asked how he feels about being the team leader now and he clearly stated that he did not have a good feelings on the climbs today ... at least that is what my lousy ears heard from the translation ...

interview with his ag2r director before giro said he felt betancur was getting into good form and expected things from him this giro. betancur himself is usually very quiet about himself

I dont care what he said before the Giro. I simply posted what he said today on TV after the stage. Either way, after he gets dropped on the first major climb, this conversation will be irrelevant anyway

Hah, you just don't rate him because he's a 'shorty'

No exactly. I dont have anything personal against him. It was just obvious over the winter that he lost motivation as he got a new baby and would prefer to stay in Colombia as he is home sick.

So: lost motivation + lost training days = lost fitness

He can pedal around all season long but without a proper winter base training he will not be competitive this season and other than some single stage success, there is no hope (this season) for this dude.

he also had a terrible winter in 2013, yet he still won paris nice with 5 kg overweight. explain

 

[Netserk]

That is because he is that much better than anyone else in that P-N. Imagine how dominant he would've been if he was 3kg lighter

Crazy talented.

 

[del1962]

Re:

That is because he is that much better than anyone else in that P-N. Imagine how dominant he would've been if he was 3kg lighter

Crazy talented.

No long climbs or ITT in that Paris-Nice though

 

[Netserk]

Yeah, I forgot weight doesn't matter on murs

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Re: Re:

That is because he is that much better than anyone else in that P-N. Imagine how dominant he would've been if he was 3kg lighter

Crazy talented.

No long climbs or ITT in that Paris-Nice though

and you think betancur sucks at long climbs? and there's pretty much never a flat itt in p-n

 

[Taxus4a]

For him is not a question of motivation, he is playing with his contract for a long, A lot of people has their eyes in him, and he is trying to recover his form since month ago.

He was optimistic before the Giro to perform well, but we dont know if he will back at his best form, of course in the Giro will not happend, but he coud be for a top 20 or fighting one stage. On top form he dont have much options to win this Giro with people stroger than his as the four favourites. But he is still young and he was supposed to be one day in the level to fight for the Giro, but we dont know if he will back at that level.

Of course that any rider nedd the race favourable to keep the motivation, but not specally for Betancur that have a lot of pressure.