Critérium du Dauphiné 2012 stage 4, 53.5km, Villié-Morgon-Bourg-en-Bresse, ITT

[Arnout]

It depends when they actually start mentioning it. Last few years, if not before, the 10 oclock news programmes in this country have only mentioned the tour on the last day and that is in a 1 -2 minute brief segment which mentions who the winner was and from what country (though not how they won or anything) and footage of cav winning the final sprint.

It cant be that big a deal if people only get told about the win after it happens. Sure the news can try to shove it down people's mouths but if people didn't actually watch the thing, don't know what happened and most importantly don't have those memories of him actually winning, then it can not be that big a deal no matter what.

I think many countries pay more attention to the tour after the one their guy won. Would be funny if britain did that too and put expectations on Bradley to repeat as The Great One returns next year.

Unfortunately i believe as in previous years the non sport where people drive cars and get paid 20 million a year as if they were real athletes, has one of its events on the day the tour finishes.

Which unfortunately means that even if he wins, wiggins will likely not be the main sports story.

Motorsport is proper sport as well. Don't belittle other sports because cycling doesn't get enough attention (in your view). Also don't forget the top cyclists get payed way in excess of a million euro's a year, which is proper money too, compared to a lot of other sports.

Actually Fernando Alonso trained with some Movistar guys recently, on the bike and the Movistar guys were surprised at his shape. With a bit more dedicated cycling training he could easily get along in the peloton. No wonder, when he's riding 37km/h over 120km on his own.

Formula 1 is a different sport than cycling, but it's not less or more.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

nice ride by Wigo, not so by Cadel.

 

[Ruby United]

Disappointed by Nibali & Menchov, because I thought they were going to show some form for this ITT, but I guess during Tour their performance will be different for sure

Menchov is never in good form before the tour. He only ever performs well in the race he is aiming for.

 

[Casualfan]

It depends when they actually start mentioning it. Last few years, if not before, the 10 oclock news programmes in this country have only mentioned the tour on the last day and that is in a 1 -2 minute brief segment which mentions who the winner was and from what country (though not how they won or anything) and footage of cav winning the final sprint.

It cant be that big a deal if people only get told about the win after it happens. Sure the news can try to shove it down people's mouths but if people didn't actually watch the thing, don't know what happened and most importantly don't have those memories of him actually winning, then it can not be that big a deal no matter what.

I think many countries pay more attention to the tour after the one their guy won. Would be funny if britain did that too and put expectations on Bradley to repeat as The Great One returns next year.

Unfortunately i believe as in previous years the non sport where people drive cars and get paid 20 million a year as if they were real athletes, has one of its events on the day the tour finishes.

Which unfortunately means that even if he wins, wiggins will likely not be the main sports story.

If Wiggins is in yellow into the last week, I think it'll be big sports news. The hype of the Olympics starting days later will no doubt encourage many to watch the last week. The image of the sport is growing. Cav won SPOTY and millions of people will have "discovered" him having watched the event. Sky also involve themselves more now, as we get more regular interviews from riders. Note as well that the Guardian Sports Supplement had Wiggins withdrawl last year as their headline sotry

I disagree about F1 (I love it, personally), but if half the country can bother themselves to watch two blokes hitting a ball back and forth on a lawn for a month every year I have no doubt that they would watch the TdF. Heck, ITV may even do what they have been doing with the French Open recently and stick it one ITV1 if it gets really interesting from a British perspective.

 

[theyoungest]

Menchov is never in good form before the tour. He only ever performs well in the race he is aiming for.

Wrong. He usually shows flashes of form, at least in the time trial.

 

[patrick767]

From CN article today on Wiggins's training:
Wiggins told reporters in Bourg-en-Bresse. “I’ve been constantly training through the year, so it’s not like the traditional way for cycling, which is starting in January fat or in really bad condition, and then building, building and showing form in these races.”

How is training year round a new thing? I seem to remember years ago reading that Lance Armstrong trained year round during his run of TdFs. I thought that other riders followed suit and that that was pretty typical now. No?

Hmm. Still I can't help but think many TDF contenders are clearly not 100% yet, including Wiggins himself. After all Kelderman finished just 1'25 down and he's a neo pro

Perhaps. I was only commenting on what we saw today, which was Wiggins completely dominating the ITT and in particular his likely GC opponents for the TdF. Surprisingly he's had great form in several races this year.

 

[Ruby United]

Wrong. He usually shows flashes of form, at least in the time trial.

sorry, my bad

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Inner ring: gears used

Tony is 58×11
Wiggins is 56×11
Evans 55×11
Kelderman 54x11 (said so on interview on rabosport)


So what does this tell us about gears? bigger not always better?

 

[theyoungest]

Inner ring: gears used

Tony is 58×11
Wiggins is 56×11
Evans 55×11
Kelderman 54x11 (said so on interview on rabosport)


So what does this tell us about gears? bigger not always better?

Inner Ring adds that these are the top gears, not necessarily the ones the riders actually use. Except for Kelderman, he indeed said he rode 54x11.

 

[maltiv]

Inner ring: gears used

Tony is 58×11
Wiggins is 56×11
Evans 55×11
Kelderman 54x11 (said so on interview on rabosport)


So what does this tell us about gears? bigger not always better?

Well, from that list, it simply tells us that bigger riders use bigger gears.

 

[hfer07]

Inner ring: gears used

Tony is 58×11
Wiggins is 56×11
Evans 55×11
Kelderman 54x11 (said so on interview on rabosport)


So what does this tell us about gears? bigger not always better?

It tells us that "High Cadence" still relevant"

 

[theyoungest]

It tells us that "High Cadence" still relevant"

Tony Martin usually defies that rule. He's a big gear grinder.

 

[hfer07]

Tony Martin usually defies that rule. He's a big gear grinder.

perhaps you misunderstood what I implied on "High Cadence"......
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17351

 

[theyoungest]

perhaps you misunderstood what I implied on "High Cadence"......
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17351

Ah, sorry. That's a part of the forum I don't usually visit.

 

[greenedge]

Congrats to Wiggins.

I am devastated but there are still 6 more weeks to go to the TDF and the TDF is entirely different to here- so therefore i still have hope.

Nice ride by Rogers, Kelderman and Chavanel.

 

[Morbius]

Time for a Stage 5 thread? Someone? Please?

 

[webbie146]

From CN article today on Wiggins's training:
Wiggins told reporters in Bourg-en-Bresse. “I’ve been constantly training through the year, so it’s not like the traditional way for cycling, which is starting in January fat or in really bad condition, and then building, building and showing form in these races.”

How is training year round a new thing? I seem to remember years ago reading that Lance Armstrong trained year round during his run of TdFs. I thought that other riders followed suit and that that was pretty typical now. No?



Perhaps. I was only commenting on what we saw today, which was Wiggins completely dominating the ITT and in particular his likely GC opponents for the TdF. Surprisingly he's had great form in several races this year.

True, Armstrong actually already started training in like September for next year's Tdf. Because of that he would already have a nice base level in January/February

 

[webvan]

Inner ring: gears used

Tony is 58×11
Wiggins is 56×11
Evans 55×11
Kelderman 54x11 (said so on interview on rabosport)


So what does this tell us about gears? bigger not always better?

Interesting, wonder what Chavanel was pushing, he was really mashing it out on some portions!

 

[screaming fist]

I'd say decent, not "good", at least not in major races, but if you find me a TOP 5 in a major race that will make my day.

Top 5 - I think he was 2nd in a Vuelta TT 2007 or 2008. Before that he had two or three top 10 placings in Tour de France time trials iirc.

 

[webvan]

That's right 2nd in the first Vuelta ITT -> http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8645 - a case of differrent weather conditions? Anyway I hope he does as well as today during the TDF, only Cancellara was missing today really among the top ITT guys.

 

[El Pistolero]

People still getting surprised by time trial performances of Sylvain Chavanel?

Ruben can tell you all about that.

 

[karlboss]

Hatcher, that was a horrible summary you made.

I'll try to be brief, for this race Wiggins ride was fantastic.
For the tour, Wiggins has said "here I am, come and get me", which has both positive and negative aspects. For everyone else, well I know Evans wasn't on his limit, i don't know about the others, if Nibali for example was on his limit this is a bad day, if he was 80% it's an excellent day. So no this is not a bad day for Wiggins and good for everyone else. Wiggins said damned if he does damned if he doesn't and he was right.

The best option for Wiggins would have been to win at less than 100% like armstrong in 02,03 and leave a little doubt as to how good he is. i think his performance was the second best option. 3rd best would have been to finish around the Evans mark.

1.3kg of fluid loss in 1hr TT completely normal, but of course the only effects would be felt at the end and not really relevant

Other riders, I don't know how hard they pushed. Don't look at Nibali for example and assume 3:30 in 53km equates to needing 6 minutes in the mountains for the tour, he could well have ridden well within himself as Evans did

 

[Ferminal]

Either Wiggins is going to run out of steam come the end of the Tour, or he is doing something spectacular, because he has shown up at every race this year in incredible form. Seriously, he's not missed a step, even once. OK, he hasn't had to climb anything particularly difficult in anger yet, but part of that's because race routes have been more or less universally poor this year, and the Tour's no different. This isn't the Bradley Wiggins we saw in 2009, it's not the Wiggins we saw in 2011 even, and it sure as hell isn't the Bradley Wiggins we saw in 2010. Wiggins has ALWAYS been an excellent time triallist, but he's not been THIS good - he's been 1st in every full length time trial he's entered this year, and 2nd in the prologues except for Romandie. Even when he was purely an ITT specialist who paid no attention to climbing whatsoever, he wasn't this good.

The only times this year he hasn't totally bossed things have been Malhão, when he led out Porte rather than be the leader himself, and Catalunya, where he, along with many other major names, climbed off on the farcical Port-Ainé stage. Everything else? Domination.

Yes, even if he doesn't win the Tour it's still a great season (assuming finishes the job here). If he wins the Tour, it will be the best season (in stage racing terms) since Contador 2008?

 

[blaxland]

Great ride Wiggo,lets just hope your form dont run out to soon??I guess time will tell.Good solid ride by Cadel,the tour doesnt start for another 4 weeks"personally i think Cadel rode within himself at maybe 85%.Menchoz was disappointing losing some 3mins+ but maybe he was also foxing?Schleck what do i say "hopefully he doesnt crash during the tour,we need to see him at his best,so the tour can become the great spectacle it deserves to be.Also was impressed by Chavenel and Rodgers.

 

[the asian]

This is really impressive by Wiggins. Finishing 30 Secs ahead of martin in a 53 Km TT is no mean feat. No doubt at all who the favourite for the Tour is.