Do You Consider J.Rodriguez a Wheelsucker?

[airstream]

The most supreme GT fluke is still Andy Schleck. You just described his racing tactics/strategy spot on.

Andy is great. Real Legend. If one is entitled to criticize his tactics, it is not you man

 

[Angliru]

Gardeccia was the most supreme GT fluke. I don't understand how that dish can be served with such a huge pomp. Zero intrigue, zero GC reshuffles, total absence of straight-out mutual attacks. And the stage gifted to breakaway like a crown of shame that was sunk in an evening rainy mist.

That post was rather poetic...and funny too.

 

[Angliru]

The most supreme GT fluke is still Andy Schleck. You just described his racing tactics/strategy spot on.

I think that would be Peter Velits' Vuelta podium (at least of recent times). Not likely to be repeated. Andy's has consistently made the Tour podium and been in the midst of the heated battles. Velits, nothing against him, hasn't resurfaced at that level in the grand tours since.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Being able to sprint 500m like Rodriguez on a final of a climb is a gift.

Of course it is a gift, the boy can put on the watts for 500 mtrs to 3K.

Following wheel to the launch point is no easy task either. A true wheelsucker only wins by totally profiting from the efforts of others till the final 20 meters and never wins any other way.

Let us just say he is a 3K wheelsucker.

Why is a 50 metres wheelsucker bad and a 3K wheelsucker a great and trully gifted rider? I know of a wheelsucker who won last years Tour.

 

[airstream]

A real epic mountain stage can be win ONLY by a big gun in a battle of big guns. I think most people would agree with me

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

A real epic mountain stage can be win ONLY by a big gun in a battle of big guns. I think most people would agree with me

I tend to think you have never seen such a one. No pun intended.

 

[airstream]

I tend to think you have never seen such a one. No pun intended.

Pf. Ocean of them. Rujano Sestrieres, Di Luca Briancon, Contador Plateau de Beille, Sastre Alpe-d'Huez etc etc!

 

[Miburo]

Pf. Ocean of them. Rujano Sestrieres, Di Luca Briancon, Contador Plateau de Beille, Sastre Alpe-d'Huez etc etc!

So you consider Contador a big gun?

 

[airstream]

So you consider Contador a big gun?

I see growing Froome's favoritism unsettles you a bit.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Because JRod is a totally useless rider apart of sprinting it out uphill on the last 500m.
He can't ride alone at all. He's acomplete joke in the flat and even on mountains he needs other riders to set the pace. He whellsucks like 99,9999999% of his yearly kilomters. Once there is no wheel to suck he looks like a total bum

Hold on, we're discussing whether he's a wheelsucker, not whether he looks like a bum when he tries to ride solo. Stefano Pirazzi and Amets Txurruka can't ride on the flat and can't time trial to save their life, but are they wheelsuckers? The only people who don't spent 99,999999% of their annual kilometres in the bunch or in somebody's wheel are the likes of Cancellara who are towing other people to the finish line because nobody will let them suck their wheels, or the kind of people for whom the long range attack is their only stylistic choice for victory. Purito has reached the point where he's too dangerous to allow to attack early (and routes like the 2012 Vuelta, where he was leading most of the race and the route meant no gaps were possible until the last few kilometres on most stages since no domestiques had been adequately tired out before the final climb so everybody still had a bunch of helpers, don't help either), so his best option is to wait until they're inside his uphill-sprint range.

Of course it is a gift, the boy can put on the watts for 500 mtrs to 3K.

Let us just say he is a 3K wheelsucker.

Why is a 50 metres wheelsucker bad and a 3K wheelsucker a great and trully gifted rider? I know of a wheelsucker who won last years Tour.

Cav is a truly gifted rider, and calling him a wheelsucker is kind of ignorant too (although it's still not wrong to be disappointed in the amount of races that enable him to win in the not-doing-any-work method, especially when those are races that theoretically decide who the best cyclist in the world is).

But Purito so totally is not a 500m to 3k wheelsucker. Yes, that's how his greatest triumphs were made, but because of that people seem to forget the times when it didn't work.

Take the aforementioned Val di Fassa stage. I refer you to the case of CyclingNews Live Timing vs. Giro d'Italia 2011 Stage 15.

15:48:58 CEST

Garzelli approaches the top. By the way, there is a nice little financial reward for winning this climb.
15:49:27 CEST

Purito Rodriguez and a Movistar rider pull away slightly from the peloton.
15:50:00 CEST

Saxo Bank is getting perhaps a bit worried. They scurry to the head of the peloton.

15:54:43 CEST

Not only the chase group is getting smaller. The peloton has shrunk dramatically -- maybe 30 riders now?
15:55:14 CEST

Garzelli looks to be riding carefully on hss way down.
15:56:18 CEST

Arroyo of Movistar is the one with Rodriguez. They have only a minimal lead over the peloton.
15:57:18 CEST

Contador isn't taking any chances. He is now riding in third place.

Rodriguez and Arroyo turn it up a notch, hoping to get away.
16:00:13 CEST

Contador couldn't stand it any more and moves up to join Arroyo and Rodriguez.

16:11:42 CEST

40 km to go for Garzelli.

16:29:22 CEST

Looks like about 20 riders in the Contador group. Arroyo is pulling away.
16:30:24 CEST

Will Contador pull out another spectacular finish today? Or is he at his limit? We'll see.....
16:30:56 CEST

A Katusha rider is the next to go.

17:09:10 CEST

15 km for Garzelli.

17:15:39 CEST

About 14 in the maglia rosa group.
17:15:53 CEST

Rodriguez attacks out of that group.

 

[The Hitch]

+1
Sheeps will always follow.

So rodriguez is a wheel sheep?

 

[cineteq]

So rodriguez is a wheel sheep?

I was talking about posters who cannot think for themselves, obviously.

 

[Froome19]

Hold on, we're discussing whether he's a wheelsucker, not whether he looks like a bum when he tries to ride solo. Stefano Pirazzi and Amets Txurruka can't ride on the flat and can't time trial to save their life, but are they wheelsuckers? The only people who don't spent 99,999999% of their annual kilometres in the bunch or in somebody's wheel are the likes of Cancellara who are towing other people to the finish line because nobody will let them suck their wheels, or the kind of people for whom the long range attack is their only stylistic choice for victory. Purito has reached the point where he's too dangerous to allow to attack early (and routes like the 2012 Vuelta, where he was leading most of the race and the route meant no gaps were possible until the last few kilometres on most stages since no domestiques had been adequately tired out before the final climb so everybody still had a bunch of helpers, don't help either), so his best option is to wait until they're inside his uphill-sprint range.

Cav is a truly gifted rider, and calling him a wheelsucker is kind of ignorant too (although it's still not wrong to be disappointed in the amount of races that enable him to win in the not-doing-any-work method, especially when those are races that theoretically decide who the best cyclist in the world is).

But Purito so totally is not a 500m to 3k wheelsucker. Yes, that's how his greatest triumphs were made, but because of that people seem to forget the times when it didn't work.

Take the aforementioned Val di Fassa stage. I refer you to the case of CyclingNews Live Timing vs. Giro d'Italia 2011 Stage 15.

Don't really see the need for any more posts in this thread after this one.

 

[The Hitch]

I was talking about posters who cannot think for themselves, obviously.

The plural of sheep btw is sheep ,not sheeps.

 

[cineteq]

The plural of sheep btw is sheep ,not sheeps.

Correct, I was over stressing it so it'll be no doubt whatsoever.

Btw, I suggest you check punctuation rules.

 

[hiero2]

To me a wheelsucker is someone like Leipheimer that does it even though he has no chance winning a spint. JRod is just playing at his strenghts

Agree - or like Gerrans sucking Cancellara's wheel. Gerrans stood NO chance of winning if he didn't get a 100% pull by Canc. Still annoys me, even today. I haven't seen JR do anything that struck me this way.

 

[hiero2]

So rodriguez is a wheel sheep?

Ow. Groan.

 

[El Pistolero]

He's a bit of both, an attacker and wheelsucker. Sometimes he wins a race in an epic fashion(Lombardia last year) and other times he loses a GT because of his wheelsucking(Giro last year).

But hey, so many people wheelsuck these days. Remember AGR 2011? 8 grown man wheelsucking and still losing.

 

[Netserk]

He's a bit of both, an attacker and wheelsucker. Sometimes he wins a race in an epic fashion(Lombardia last year) and other times he loses a GT because of his wheelsucking(Giro last year).

But hey, so many people wheelsuck these days. Remember AGR 2011? 8 grown man wheelsucking and still losing.

Classic Pisti right there!

 

[jaylew]

I really do think there are some people who post on here who simply do not understand the difference between "wheel-sucking" and riding efficiently in a bicycle race

This. I honestly can't even believe we're having this discussion. It's almost laughable.

 

[Michele]

So after 10 pages, and the voting score, it seems like the intention of the topic to mark Purito as a wheelsucker didnt succeed.

 

[movingtarget]

Agree - or like Gerrans sucking Cancellara's wheel. Gerrans stood NO chance of winning if he didn't get a 100% pull by Canc. Still annoys me, even today. I haven't seen JR do anything that struck me this way.

Gerrans will outsprint Cancellara most times. Don't tell me that anyone in Gerrans's or Nibali's position would have done anything different if they wanted to win with Cancellara riding the way he was. Cancellara can only win one way, it either comes off or it doesn't. Gerrans rode a great race and Cancellara was the strongest. Often the winner is not the strongest, such is life.

 

[Pentacycle]

But hey, so many people wheelsuck these days. Remember AGR 2011? 8 grown man wheelsucking and still losing.

Yeah right, wheelsucking on Gilbert. Here's the 2011 race for you to refresh your memories.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Take the aforementioned Val di Fassa stage. I refer you to the case of CyclingNews Live Timing vs. Giro d'Italia 2011 Stage 15.

Not convinced Libertine but I do value your search. What that stage learns us Rodriguez has gotten to know his attacking skills lack for longer attacks. And again, and again, and again, nothing wrong with that imho. It is just an observation on my part, no one has to agree with that.

Rodriguez knows he is no Contador, Schleck, Herrera or name which ever you like and makes the best of his great punching ability to the max. Hell, he even was on the verge of winning two GT's this year doing so!

 

[Iker_Baqueiro]

I dont think he does this. I think Rodriguez when there are no teammates with him does his fair share of pulling. At least i saw him doing just that with froome in Oman 2 days ago even though since Froome was in the red jersey he could have just said - **** you froome, you do all the work if you want to keep this jersey. And many would have done that.

Rodriguez helped Froome chase down Contador, because Rodriguez does not forget the white glove slap that Contador gave him, when Alberto helped Tiralongo "steal" a stage victory from him in the 2011 Giro. Still hard feelings there.

You make friends but you also make enemies.