Critérium du Dauphine Stage 5: Parc des Oiseaux - Les Gets

[Eyeballs Out]

I think a good sized break goes and a few riders hang on to contest the win. Thinking along the lines of Vogondy, Fedrigo or David Lopez. With no bonuses to play for the leading GC riders save it for the weekend

 

[theyoungest]

no, where did i say that wasnt a hard climb???

Im saying tommorows climb doesnt look as tough as the green mountain stage that gesink won and boasson hagen finished second. So from that I am drawing the conclusion that riders of the likes of Boasson Hagen could finish inside the top ten (making allowances for february form/competition versus now)

Ah, well in that case, you needn't look back so far, as EBH was also in the top-10 on the stage VDB won (and I think that climb was harder than this one).

 

[happychappy]

Assuming Wiggins can actually climb over the next few days, should he try to hold the lead, is he good enough to be able to go hard now and still be peaking for TDF? I can see him going backwards over the weekend while claiming to be taking it easy for the tour, then going backwards again as soon as it goes uphill in July..

 

[patrick767]

The gaps will be small. Wiggins will keep up with his rivals. Vino or Voeckler will break away for the stage win but won't gain a lot of time.

Saturday will be a different story. I expect Wiggins to get dropped hard. If Vino and/or Evans are the attackers who do it, Wiggins loses the race lead.

 

[theyoungest]

Assuming Wiggins can actually climb over the next few days, should he try to hold the lead, is he good enough to be able to go hard now and still be peaking for TDF? I can see him going backwards over the weekend while claiming to be taking it easy for the tour, then going backwards again as soon as it goes uphill in July..

I get the impression that Wiggins argues that feck it, the Dauphiné is a nice race, why not try and win it. He has the form now, I think he's definitely peaked a little early, but he might as well use it.

 

[maltiv]

I get the impression that Wiggins argues that feck it, the Dauphiné is a nice race, why not try and win it. He has the form now, I think he's definitely peaked a little early, but he might as well use it.

In my opinion winning Dauphine is better than finishing around 15th-10th at TDF anyway. British public probably doesn't agree though.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

In my opinion winning Dauphine is better than finishing around 15th-10th at TDF anyway. British public probably doesn't agree though.

Outside the top 10 is basically worthless for Sky in marketing value anyway.

 

[taiwan]

Unless he thinks he can top 5 at the tour again, he should go all out for the overall here. It's possibly the major week long stage race.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Unless he thinks he can top 5 at the tour again, he should go all out for the overall here. It's possibly the major week long stage race.

Yup, win here and 3rd at PN then from a long term perspective, detatched from the individual merit of performances, his season will probably be one of the 10 best any cylists have this year.

 

[Lanark]

Yup, win here and 3rd at PN then from a long term perspective, detatched from the individual merit of performances, his season will probably be one of the 10 best any cylists have this year.

Ho ho ho, let's not go crazy here. I agree that winning the Dauphine would be really big for Wiggins, but it wouldn't even put his season ahead of Evans or Klöden, let alone all the people winning classics and GT's.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

yes but with the way the World Tour ranking system works. Wiggins could actually end up in the top 10 final

 

[Lanark]

yes but with the way the World Tour ranking system works. Wiggins could actually end up in the top 10 final

Not likely, he has 75 points now, if he would get another 100 for winning the Dauphiné, he wouldn't even be in the top-10 now, let alone the end of the year. Last year you needed about 300 points to top-10 in the World Ranking, which would require Wiggins pretty much to win the Dauphiné and podium the Tour at this point.

 

[happychappy]

IF he did win it, wouldn't that show a "dramatic" increase in climbing performance over last year? Enough to help him into a top10 Tour even if he HAS peaked too early? Or maybe he hasn't even peaked yet, and this is just just how well he's going in a build phase with more to come.

It's clear he putting out massive watts by beating Canc in a TT (even if Canc is no where near peak form), if he can't climb similarly well here and again in the Tour, what on earth is the point of running his weight so low?

 

[El Pistolero]

Cancellara hasn't been really impressive after his failed P-R.

 

[Anonymous]

Ho ho ho, let's not go crazy here. I agree that winning the Dauphine would be really big for Wiggins, but it wouldn't even put his season ahead of Evans or Klöden, let alone all the people winning classics and GT's.

Wiggins
1st Dauphine
3rd Paris Nice

Evans
1st Romandie
1st Tirreno

Kloden
1st Basque Country
2nd Paris Nice

Would be an interesting argument to say Klodens season was better than wiggins if that was the case

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wiggins
1st Dauphine
3rd Paris Nice

Evans
1st Romandie
1st Tirreno

Kloden
1st Basque Country
2nd Paris Nice

Would be an interesting argument to say Klodens season was better than wiggins if that was the case

Well, Klödi's also won TTs at the Criterium International and the Giro del Trentino, whereas Wiggins has won the TT at the Bayern Rundfahrt.

Also, flawed system though it is, even if Wiggins wins every stage from here on in to dominate the Dauphiné he can't match Klödi's CQ points tally for 2011 in the race.

And in the eyes of the World Tour, Paris-Nice, País Vasco and the Dauphiné pay the same number of points; CritInt, Trentino and Bavaria are irrelevant. In which cast, 1st and 2nd trumps 1st and 3rd. In the eyes of many fans the Dauphiné may be more important than País Vasco, but the UCI are the ones setting the points system.

 

[craig1985]

Tony Martin to win by 5 minutes

 

[El Pistolero]

Tony Martin to win by 5 minutes

Stop trolling Tony Martin...



He'll win by 8 minutes.

 

[craig1985]

Stop trolling Tony Martin...



He'll win by 8 minutes.

I'm eagerly anticipating the match-up between Bauke Mollema and Martin at the TDF.

 

[The Hitch]

Pais Vasco is more impressive than Dauphine.

Samu and Gesink went for that. Here they are just training.

Tommy V ftw.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Voeckler for the win, IMO. Minimal time gaps, if any, between the contenders.

The Dauphine is a pretty boring race.

 

[Swede1]

Jrod going to win, Evans going to be close, Wiggins going to seem strong and then lose about 30 seconds at the end

 

[auscyclefan94]

Wiggins
1st Dauphine
3rd Paris Nice

Evans
1st Romandie
1st Tirreno

Kloden
1st Basque Country
2nd Paris Nice

Would be an interesting argument to say Klodens season was better than wiggins if that was the case

I think Kloden's season is better. Like others have said, many riders aren't really going for the win here but they were in early season races.

Voeckler for the win. This stage won't cause too much damage me thinks. Group of 20 to come to the finish together with maybe an attacker from that group taking the win.

 

[seaby71]

I think jrod will give this a serious go today. he got close on stage 1 and this is a very similar profile. i also think that cuddles will test wiggins, even if he gets 10 to 20 seconds that will put wiggins and his team under alot of pressure for the two remaining stages that are a lot harder

 

[dlwssonic]

Wiggins
1st Dauphine
3rd Paris Nice

Evans
1st Romandie
1st Tirreno

Kloden
1st Basque Country
2nd Paris Nice

Would be an interesting argument to say Klodens season was better than wiggins if that was the case

evans owns all. I would think klodens is bigger as those two races he got on the podium for were more hotly contested than the dauphine.