Director of the Year 2018

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Solo on the final hill was quite possible if you're the strongest there. Think that if one of them was the strongest on that hill it was probably Valverde, and I guess by a small enough margin that he didn't feel comfortable going for it, but then this is Valverde.

He may well have been the strongest, and if he was, why go solo when you know you can win the sprint?

Valverde's career in a nutshell

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Solo on the final hill was quite possible if you're the strongest there. Think that if one of them was the strongest on that hill it was probably Valverde, and I guess by a small enough margin that he didn't feel comfortable going for it, but then this is Valverde.

He may well have been the strongest, and if he was, why go solo when you know you can win the sprint?

Valverde's career in a nutshell

#1 reason why I was mad he won lol.

Lost so much cause he waited for sprint, then didn't have to learn from mistake to win it all in the end.

 

[Blanco]

He also won so much cause he waited for sprint...

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Solo on the final hill was quite possible if you're the strongest there. Think that if one of them was the strongest on that hill it was probably Valverde, and I guess by a small enough margin that he didn't feel comfortable going for it, but then this is Valverde.

He may well have been the strongest, and if he was, why go solo when you know you can win the sprint?

Valverde's career in a nutshell

#1 reason why I was mad he won lol.

Lost so much cause he waited for sprint, then didn't have to learn from mistake to win it all in the end.

Yet he has well over 100 career wins because he is more than happy to wait for the final sprint. Why exactly should a rider who knows he can win a reduced field (or small group) sprint go on the attack? It doesn't make any sense. Yes he has cost himself wins because of this, yet he is has palmares that many riders in the peloton would love to have.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Solo on the final hill was quite possible if you're the strongest there. Think that if one of them was the strongest on that hill it was probably Valverde, and I guess by a small enough margin that he didn't feel comfortable going for it, but then this is Valverde.

He may well have been the strongest, and if he was, why go solo when you know you can win the sprint?

Valverde's career in a nutshell

#1 reason why I was mad he won lol.

Lost so much cause he waited for sprint, then didn't have to learn from mistake to win it all in the end.

Yet he has well over 100 career wins because he is more than happy to wait for the final sprint. Why exactly should a rider who knows he can win a reduced field (or small group) sprint go on the attack? It doesn't make any sense. Yes he has cost himself wins because of this, yet he is has palmares that many riders in the peloton would love to have.

Valverde has cost himself more than his share of big races by missing the wrong move. Lombardia for example.

In the case of this WC, there wasn't really a decision tree to speak of.

 

[Koronin]

What is the point to talk about this disguisting guy in this thread?

Tactics and good/bad tactical decisions. Specifically this year's Worlds at the moment. What France did/didn't do and what Spain/Valverde did. Also Movistar's poor decision making. Valverde's decision making being semi separate from Movistar as he has freedom to call his races from the saddle.

 

[Koronin]

Skybot

Tactics are tactics and Valverde can be both a good tactician, but he also has made some really bad tactical decisions. Thus it is fair game to discuss his tactical sense here, especially considering he makes those decisions for his races instead of the team.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Solo on the final hill was quite possible if you're the strongest there. Think that if one of them was the strongest on that hill it was probably Valverde, and I guess by a small enough margin that he didn't feel comfortable going for it, but then this is Valverde.

He may well have been the strongest, and if he was, why go solo when you know you can win the sprint?

Valverde's career in a nutshell

#1 reason why I was mad he won lol.

Lost so much cause he waited for sprint, then didn't have to learn from mistake to win it all in the end.

Yet he has well over 100 career wins because he is more than happy to wait for the final sprint. Why exactly should a rider who knows he can win a reduced field (or small group) sprint go on the attack? It doesn't make any sense. Yes he has cost himself wins because of this, yet he is has palmares that many riders in the peloton would love to have.

Valverde has cost himself more than his share of big races by missing the wrong move. Lombardia for example.

In the case of this WC, there wasn't really a decision tree to speak of.[/quote]


He has and he knows he has, his team and fans know as well. We all just learned to live with his bad decision making a long time ago. His getting decisions making at times is also why he's said he wants no part of being a DS when he retires. Although I'm not sure his decision making as a DS would be any worse than any other DS out there.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

Best tactical move: Sky lawyers..

Best rider signing for 2019: Viviani

Worst tactical move: Movi 3 captain tour

Worst rider signing for 2019: Kittel or Aru

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Best tactical move: Sky lawyers..

Best rider signing for 2019: Viviani

Worst tactical move: Movi 3 captain tour

Worst rider signing for 2019: Kittel or Aru

Hence the reason I still can't answer that one.

 

[Red Rick]

Let tactics be tactics here and let clinic discussion happening in the Clinic

 

[del1962]

Best tactical moves

Sky waiting for Lotto Jumbo to take up chase in your

Sagan attack in Paris Roubaix

Sky setting up froome attack in Giro

 

[RedheadDane]

Worst tactical move:
Charlie Tanfield being late for the start at the U23 World ITT.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Best tactical move: Sky lawyers..

Best rider signing for 2019: Viviani

Worst tactical move: Movi 3 captain tour

Worst rider signing for 2019: Kittel or Aru

How are these signings for 2019?

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Best tactical move: Sky lawyers..

Best rider signing for 2019: Viviani

Worst tactical move: Movi 3 captain tour

Worst rider signing for 2019: Kittel or Aru

How are these signings for 2019?

2 year contract

 

[Tonton]

I still don't get how people think the worlds were always gonna come down to a reduced sprint. Nobody expects that in lombardia despite lombardia being on a significantly easier route. This has nothing to do with valverde being unbeatable but just nobody having the guts to actually race hard. Now I actually don't want to blame anyone because of this as I myself wrote that I thought valverde would be out of shape after fading in the vuelta but still you gotta wonder what all the teams without a rider who had a realistic chance on the final wall were thinking. I just wish we would get to see an alternative version of that race with a top shape Nibali

Predictions had Valverde and Nibali as favorites. Your point leads to some French discontent: Pinot as a leader could have won this bike race. But yes, the reduced sprint happened. And Valverde is Valverde...to answer Koronin's post: "what is Valverde?" He's Valverde and I still believe that he can win Wimbledon.

 

[Koronin]

I still don't get how people think the worlds were always gonna come down to a reduced sprint. Nobody expects that in lombardia despite lombardia being on a significantly easier route. This has nothing to do with valverde being unbeatable but just nobody having the guts to actually race hard. Now I actually don't want to blame anyone because of this as I myself wrote that I thought valverde would be out of shape after fading in the vuelta but still you gotta wonder what all the teams without a rider who had a realistic chance on the final wall were thinking. I just wish we would get to see an alternative version of that race with a top shape Nibali

Predictions had Valverde and Nibali as favorites. Your point leads to some French discontent: Pinot as a leader could have won this bike race. But yes, the reduced sprint happened. And Valverde is Valverde...to answer Koronin's post: "what is Valverde?" He's Valverde and I still believe that he can win Wimbledon.

I think Nibali was one of the two top favorites up until it was clear there was no way he was going to be in top form for the race. Italy did a good job with a plan B. Not sure they could have done much better with another plan B than what they did. I think you're right, Valverde is Valverde and we should stop trying to classify him. Don't think he can wn Wimbledon, however if Movistar would send him over here with a support team he could win the Tour of California. (I don't expect he'll ever race it.)

 

[hammerthaim]

Neil "the sheriff" Stephens to UAE.
Best director signing of 2019.
Along with Peiper, I expect UAE to win the world tour with ease.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Neil "the sheriff" Stephens to UAE.
Best director signing of 2019.
Along with Peiper, I expect UAE to win the world tour with ease.

Stephens will make a big difference for Aru and Martin in particular. Matt White gets a lot of the credit from a DS POV, but Stephens races a lot smarter. Just look at the 2016 Giro and Vuelta

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Neil "the sheriff" Stephens to UAE.
Best director signing of 2019.
Along with Peiper, I expect UAE to win the world tour with ease.

Stephens will make a big difference for Aru and Martin in particular. Matt White gets a lot of the credit from a DS POV, but Stephens races a lot smarter. Just look at the 2016 Giro and Vuelta

You cant get blood out of a stone !!! Stephens and Piper are wise men but turning Aru around into a GT winner will be a tough ask . As for Dan Martin ...he is not physically strong enough (gets sick,etc) nor able to stay up right long enough to win in GTs...Needs to concentrate on one day classics

Worse signing for me in 2019 is Richie Porte to Trek as LEADER ...they are paying alot of money for him
Conversely Dennis, Teuns and Caruso to Bahrain are great signings and probably altogether half the cost

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Neil "the sheriff" Stephens to UAE.
Best director signing of 2019.
Along with Peiper, I expect UAE to win the world tour with ease.

Stephens will make a big difference for Aru and Martin in particular. Matt White gets a lot of the credit from a DS POV, but Stephens races a lot smarter. Just look at the 2016 Giro and Vuelta

You cant get blood out of a stone !!! Stephens and Piper are wise men but turning Aru around into a GT winner will be a tough ask . As for Dan Martin ...he is not physically strong enough (gets sick,etc) nor able to stay up right long enough to win in GTs...Needs to concentrate on one day classics

Worse signing for me in 2019 is Richie Porte to Trek as LEADER ...they are paying alot of money for him
Conversely Dennis, Teuns and Caruso to Bahrain are great signings and probably altogether half the cost

Aru has already won a GT

Martin looked good before getting wiped out by Porte on Mont di Chat last year as well, couldn't blame him for that one. Peiper should be able to get UAE's classics riders more organised as well.

I certainly agree on Bahrain's signings vs Porte. Trek would have been better served getting a sprinter for stage races or waiting for next transfer season to sign a GT rider rather than going all in on Porte.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Best signings for the 2019 season at the WT are for me (off the top of my head):

1. Valgren to Dimension Data
2. Gaviria to UAE
3. Teuns to Bahrain

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Neil "the sheriff" Stephens to UAE.
Best director signing of 2019.
Along with Peiper, I expect UAE to win the world tour with ease.

Stephens will make a big difference for Aru and Martin in particular. Matt White gets a lot of the credit from a DS POV, but Stephens races a lot smarter. Just look at the 2016 Giro and Vuelta

You cant get blood out of a stone !!! Stephens and Piper are wise men but turning Aru around into a GT winner will be a tough ask . As for Dan Martin ...he is not physically strong enough (gets sick,etc) nor able to stay up right long enough to win in GTs...Needs to concentrate on one day classics

Worse signing for me in 2019 is Richie Porte to Trek as LEADER ...they are paying alot of money for him
Conversely Dennis, Teuns and Caruso to Bahrain are great signings and probably altogether half the cost

Porte recently said in an interview with Tuttobiciweb that he'll focus more on one week stage races, he'll try to race/win those that he has never won before, so it's not just about the Tour.
UAE didn't have a good ds for a long time, that could make a difference (please insert the obbligatory Stephens vitamins jokes) and at least they signed capable guys and not someone like Piva.
Ciccone to Trek and Ganna to Sky are underrated signings.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

I hope we are still waiting for the official announcement of the most important and the best signing for 2019.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I hope we are still waiting for the official announcement of the most important and the best signing for 2019.

Do you have something in mind, specifically?