airstream
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El Pistolero said: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
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El Pistolero said:The most supreme GT fluke is still Andy Schleck. You just described his racing tactics/strategy spot on.
airstream said: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.
El Pistolero said:The most supreme GT fluke is still Andy Schleck. You just described his racing tactics/strategy spot on.
Of course it is a gift, the boy can put on the watts for 500 mtrs to 3K.BillytheKid said:Being able to sprint 500m like Rodriguez on a final of a climb is a gift.
Let us just say he is a 3K wheelsucker.BillytheKid said: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.
I tend to think you have never seen such a one. No pun intended.airstream said: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 said:I tend to think you have never seen such a one. No pun intended.
airstream said:Pf. Ocean of them. Rujano Sestrieres, Di Luca Briancon, Contador Plateau de Beille, Sastre Alpe-d'Huez etc etc!
Miburo said:So you consider Contador a big gun?
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.Bavarianrider said: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
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).Fearless Greg Lemond said: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.
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.
I was talking about posters who cannot think for themselves, obviously.The Hitch said:So rodriguez is a wheel sheep?
Don't really see the need for any more posts in this thread after this one.Libertine Seguros said: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.
cineteq said:I was talking about posters who cannot think for themselves, obviously.
Correct, I was over stressing it so it'll be no doubt whatsoever.The Hitch said:The plural of sheep btw is sheep ,not sheeps.
Vino attacks everyone said: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
El Pistolero said: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.
Winterfold said: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
hiero2 said: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.
El Pistolero said:But hey, so many people wheelsuck these days. Remember AGR 2011? 8 grown man wheelsucking and still losing.
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.Libertine Seguros said:Take the aforementioned Val di Fassa stage. I refer you to the case of CyclingNews Live Timing vs. Giro d'Italia 2011 Stage 15.
The Hitch said: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.