Edvald Boasson Hagen - the future

[ingsve]

EBH will win a GT one day.

(En dag vil en GT være barneskirenn for ham)

Hehe..................

 

[Anonymous]

What are you basing that on? I must admit I don't know him, but looking at his result on Wikipedia they don't exactly scream GC contender. In fact he doesn't seem to have any major results on the road at all unless winning "Smithfield Nocturne" is somehow enormously prestigious. If he's that good shouldn't he have accomplished something on the road by now? I suppose it's possible that he can make the same transition Wiggins has, but many have tried the same and failed, or at least not succeeded as well as Wiggins.

Another rider whos aims have been predominantly track and not road focused, and when he has ridden road its been for experience. Finished his first tour at a very young age, did ok in the mountains in the baby giro, decent tt'er, given the right dedication. I would say he has more chance of podiuming in five years, than brad has of podiuming this year.

Just cos hes younger than EbH has nothing to do with it (not you, the next post), they are completely different riders. There is 8kg weight difference between them for a start (off the top of my head), their futures are very different. Geraint and Kennaugh are the future for the brits, Wiggins is just to keep the press amused.

Im going to stick my neck out and say he might surprise a few people in the paris-nice prologue.

 

[titan_90]

Another rider whos aims have been predominantly track and not road focused, and when he has ridden road its been for experience. Finished his first tour at a very young age, did ok in the mountains in the baby giro, decent tt'er, given the right dedication. I would say he has more chance of podiuming in five years, than brad has of podiuming this year.

Just cos hes younger than EbH has nothing to do with it (not you, the next post), they are completely different riders. There is 8kg weight difference between them for a start (off the top of my head), their futures are very different. Geraint and Kennaugh are the future for the brits, Wiggins is just to keep the press amused.

Im going to stick my neck out and say he might surprise a few people in the paris-nice prologue.

I agree with Cerberus I don't see Geraint ever developing into a GC contender, a good domestique on the other hand is more likely. I could be wrong, as he is still young.

 

[Cerberus]

Another rider whos aims have been predominantly track and not road focused, and when he has ridden road its been for experience. Finished his first tour at a very young age, did ok in the mountains in the baby giro, decent tt'er, given the right dedication. I would say he has more chance of podiuming in five years, than brad has of podiuming this year.

So he basically hasn't had any real road results then. I'll grant that it's possible that he's going to make that transformation successfully, but it's overwhelmingly more likely that he doesn't. Even if he does manage to transfer to road succensfully that's still a far shot from getting on a Tour Podium. To podium in 5 years he'll be contending with Andy Schleck, Contador, Nibali, Kreuziger, Tony Martin, Gesink, Kevin Seeldraeyers and a bunch of others all of whom will still be in their prime and all of which have already demonstrated some ability to contend in a grand tour.

 

[Anonymous]

So he basically hasn't had any real road results then. I'll grant that it's possible that he's going to make that transformation successfully, but it's overwhelmingly more likely that he doesn't. Even if he does manage to transfer to road succensfully that's still a far shot from getting on a Tour Podium. To podium in 5 years he'll be contending with Andy Schleck, Contador, Nibali, Kreuziger, Tony Martin, Gesink, Kevin Seeldraeyers and a bunch of others all of whom will still be in their prime and all of which have already demonstrated some ability to contend in a grand tour.

Which says how likely i think it is that Brad will podium this year.

Back to EbH, i think he can do all he wants, but i hope he develops into a hard man, tt'er and classics man, not one of these poncy tour contenders who races for three weeks a year..

 

[ingsve]

Which says how likely i think it is that Brad will podium this year.

Back to EbH, i think he can do all he wants, but i hope he develops into a hard man, tt'er and classics man, not one of these poncy tour contenders who races for three weeks a year..

I don't think the chances of that is very high even if he did turn out to transform into a GT rider. The norwegian national team would be too eager to get him to the world championships each year so I have a hard time seeing him finishing his season before that.

 

[franciep10]

Hopefully EBH will be a laurent Jalabert type of rider in other words someone who can sprint, climb, time trial and win the classics. He is actually my pick for Milan-San remo this year if he races.

edit: by the way dim what type of rider is kennaugh

 

[42x16ss]

EBH is one of three newish riders that I expect to cause a big stir - Cameron Meyer and Ian Kennaugh being the other two. The funny thing is that I can see all three being different styles of riders.

Kennaugh looks like he can climb, while Meyer can TT like a demon thanks to his pursuit background and is also world points champ. EBH seems to have the most talent of the three though, I tip him to become an excellent Classics/6-8 day stage racer that is capable of a very decent GT finish, not unlike Phil Anderson, Kim Kirchen or Frank Vandenbroucke in the past.

I can't see EBH winning a GT though, unless it is an unusually flat Giro/Vuelta.

 

[blackcat]

EBH is one of three newish riders that I expect to cause a big stir - Cameron Meyer and Ian Kennaugh being the other two. The funny thing is that I can see all three being different styles of riders.

Kennaugh looks like he can climb,

Peter Kennaugh, (Ian Stannard), and Peter's younger brother Tim, who supposedly is an equal. First year espoir at the Academy in Tuscany.

 

[blackcat]

Hopefully EBH will be a laurent Jalabert type of rider in other words someone who can sprint, climb, time trial and win the classics. He is actually my pick for Milan-San remo this year if he races.

edit: by the way dim what type of rider is kennaugh

Kennaugh future GC prospect in the GTs. About 5'9/5'10 and 62kgs. Came third in the Girobio, the baby Giro for u26 amateur (espoir) riders.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/girobio-giro-ciclistico-ditalia/stage-9/results
1 Cayetano Sarmiento (Col) Colombian National Team 31:20:25
2 Manuele Caddeo (Ita) Team Hoppla' Seano Bellissima 0:00:03
3 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Great Britain National Team 0:00:14

There are big raps on his younger brother Tim.

Has been on record in CN in the last month, he does not "know" where he will find his position in the peloton, will he be classics or classement. Well, that was just rhetoric in a hyothetical. He knows where his future lies. That was just to "keep the expections low".

Brailsford and Sutton know the numbers. They have Kennaugh and G targeted as the future GB Tour winner. And Froome as wildcard.

Kennaugh was second to Rob Hayles in the GB National pro rr less than 2 weeks after his 19th birthday.
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/greatbritain08/greatbritain082
1 Robert Hayles (Halfords / Bike Hut) 5.03.55 (40.08km/h)
2 Peter Kennaugh (100% ME) 0.04
3 Dean Downing (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 0.15
4 Daniel Lloyd (An Post – Sean Kelly) 0.28
5 Mark Cavendish (Team High Road) 0.46
6 Russell Downing (Pinarello RT)
7 Andrew Tennant (100% ME) 0.51
8 Daniel Fleeman (An Post – Sean Kelly)
9 Jonathan Tierman – Locke (Mid Devon CC) 0.52
10 Jonathan Bellis (100% ME)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/girobio-giro-ciclistico-ditalia/stage-9/results

 

[Anonymous]

I think its says a lot for kennaugh the way he is being treated this year. Very much a go out, ride, enjoy it get used to being a pro approach from sky. Decent showings in his first two races, dnf either (bug in besseges), but had a bash off the front in haut var.

So dont expect anything from him this year, hes just getting in the miles, with possibly a vuelta at the end of the year.

Blackcat mentioned Froome.. Very very underrated rider. Good strong finish yesterday and looked really good, just faded a bit at the top.

So anyway.. yes, EbH can achieve allsorts, but hes not the only one on sky to be excited about

 

[TRDean]

I thought this thread was about EBH...not Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas, or any other rider.

But, hell, while were at it...I think the revelation for Sky this season is going to be Lovkvist...

 

[ingsve]

I thought this thread was about EBH...not Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas, or any other rider.

But, hell, while were at it...I think the revelation for Sky this season is going to be Lovkvist...

Ya, it's going to be interesting to see if he has improved his climbing for this season. He has said that he would focus his training more on climbing then in the past.

 

[hektoren]

I thought this thread was about EBH...not Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas, or any other rider.

But, hell, while were at it...I think the revelation for Sky this season is going to be Lovkvist...

Pretty silly, really, to talk about EBH's future as if he's isolated and not part of a team, directly depending on that particular teams' priorities though, isn't it?
Signing Wiggins, wanting to sign Cavendish etc. will, of course, have an influence on the priorities of the team, and hence EBH's future.
Lövkvist sure is exciting, but what happened post-Giro last year?

 

[ingsve]

Lövkvist sure is exciting, but what happened post-Giro last year?

He was supposed to ride the Tour (and says he was in good form in July) but was cut because they wanted to focus a little more on Tony Martin instead who had just done a good Tour of Switzerland and the only job left for Löfkvist would have been to ride leadouts for Cav and that's not something they neither he or teh team wanted.

It has also been speculated that since it was probably clear that he was going to Sky that he was ignored by the team for that reason.

After getting cut for the tour he mostly worked for EBH in Eneco Tour and Tour of Britain and was hoping to be in good form for Worlds.

 

[LugHugger]

What are you basing that on? I must admit I don't know him, but looking at his result on Wikipedia they don't exactly scream GC contender. In fact he doesn't seem to have any major results on the road at all unless winning "Smithfield Nocturne" is somehow enormously prestigious. If he's that good shouldn't he have accomplished something on the road by now? I suppose it's possible that he can make the same transition Wiggins has, but many have tried the same and failed, or at least not succeeded as well as Wiggins.

not sure that I would agree that Geraint Thomas can podium in Le Tour in the next 5 years but he is a winner of Junior P-R so maybe better to have high expectations for him in the Classics?

 

[goggalor]

He was supposed to ride the Tour (and says he was in good form in July) but was cut because they wanted to focus a little more on Tony Martin instead who had just done a good Tour of Switzerland and the only job left for Löfkvist would have been to ride leadouts for Cav and that's not something they neither he or teh team wanted.

It has also been speculated that since it was probably clear that he was going to Sky that he was ignored by the team for that reason.

After getting cut for the tour he mostly worked for EBH in Eneco Tour and Tour of Britain and was hoping to be in good form for Worlds.

According to Roberto Vacchi (Swedish Eurosport commentator), THR didn't even give Löfkvist a TT bike to train on (IIRC).

 

[il_fiammingo]

Not even VDB could match him at this age. I can't imagine what is in store. Think of how much he'll win!

I think they are pretty equal at the age of almost 23.
EBH has the advantage he can win bunch sprints, VDB could not.

VDB (24 victories):
Scheldeprijs, Paris-Bruxelles, GP Plouay, Trofeo Laiguelgia, Tour Méditerranéen (+2 stages), Torfeo Mateotti, GP Cholet, Tour de Luxembourg (+2 stages), Tour of Austria (+7 stages), Rund Um Koln, 3 stages Tour de la region wallonne.

EBH (26 victories):
Gent-Wevelgem, 2 stages Giro d'Italia, Eneco Tour (+3 stages), Tour of Britain (+7 stages), 2 stages Tour of Poland, Paris-Correze (+2 stages), stage Tour of Ireland, stage Criterium Internat., GP Denain, stage Tour of Qatar, 2 stages Tour of Oman.

 

[ingsve]

According to Roberto Vacchi (Swedish Eurosport commentator), THR didn't even give Löfkvist a TT bike to train on (IIRC).

I don't remember hearing that but it sounds vaguely familiar.

 

[TRDean]

Off topic...I was just curious and mean no disrespect to anyone...but are the Scandanavian languages similar enough that the Danes, Swedes, and Norge citizens can understand each other? Thanks!!

 

[hektoren]

Off topic...I was just curious and mean no disrespect to anyone...but are the Scandanavian languages similar enough that the Danes, Swedes, and Norge citizens can understand each other? Thanks!!

Indeed they can, save for some dialects that are notoriously difficult, even for neighboring communities.

 

[analo69]

It depends. Norwegian and Danish are more similar than Swedish and Danish.

I am a Dane and I understand written Norwegian and Swedish almost as well as Danish, allthoug I have never lived in Norway or Sweden. But I prefer to read books on their original language so I learned myself to read Swedish and Norwegian. I can't write any of the languages though.

I can also understand spoken Norwegian and Swedish, especially if they speak a little bit slowly and not are from up far north. It can be quite difficult to understand the dialects in the countryside in both northers Sweden and Norway.

To sum up: We scandinavians can communicate on the different languages, but most people find it difficult and sometimes use English. Almost everybody in Scandinavia speak fairly good English(including the Finns). The written language is quite similar. We use almost the same words, but spell them differently.

In Norway they actually have to languages: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Nynorsk is the most difficult to understand, but most people speak Bokmål - especially in the south.

Up until approx. 1900 the written language of Norwegian and Danish was almost the exact same. The famous Norwegian poet Knut Hamsun wrote his first books in Danish and later started to write Norwegian. Denmark and Norway was the same country until 1814 (or was it 1812).

Icelandic is also similar to the Scandinavian languages, but is very difficult to understand. You can read it a little bit though.

Hope this answered your question.

 

[TRDean]

Thanks Hektoren and analo69!! That answered my question perfectly!

All the best!!

 

[flyor64]

It depends. Norwegian and Danish are more similar than Swedish and Danish.

I am a Dane and I understand written Norwegian and Swedish almost as well as Danish, allthoug I have never lived in Norway or Sweden. But I prefer to read books on their original language so I learned myself to read Swedish and Norwegian. I can't write any of the languages though.

I can also understand spoken Norwegian and Swedish, especially if they speak a little bit slowly and not are from up far north. It can be quite difficult to understand the dialects in the countryside in both northers Sweden and Norway.

To sum up: We scandinavians can communicate on the different languages, but most people find it difficult and sometimes use English. Almost everybody in Scandinavia speak fairly good English(including the Finns). The written language is quite similar. We use almost the same words, but spell them differently.

In Norway they actually have to languages: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Nynorsk is the most difficult to understand, but most people speak Bokmål - especially in the south.

Up until approx. 1900 the written language of Norwegian and Danish was almost the exact same. The famous Norwegian poet Knut Hamsun wrote his first books in Danish and later started to write Norwegian. Denmark and Norway was the same country until 1814 (or was it 1812).

Icelandic is also similar to the Scandinavian languages, but is very difficult to understand. You can read it a little bit though.

Hope this answered your question.

1814...but it was only to be ceded to Sweden. The big date was 1905 I think, when Norway left Sweden and Sweden eventually recognized it later that same year. Followed shortly by Norway crowning it's first king...a prince from Denmark!

It's a very interesting history, especially to someone learning it later in life, and paints a picture of very close ties between the three countries (to a relative outsider it does anyway).

Maltiv, Hektoren, or any of the other Norwegians on the site can feel free to correct my discrepancies if they so desire

On the Nynorsk language, I've heard it's genesis was due to Bokmål being too similar to Danish. Interestingly enough, if one so chooses to write correspondence to the government in Nynorsk, the government is obliged to respond in Nynorsk....by law. I've heard it can take months to get a response...but you will get one and in the proper language! Not that I have a clue with Nynorsk.

 

[ingsve]

On the Nynorsk language, I've heard it's genesis was due to Bokmål being too similar to Danish. Interestingly enough, if one so chooses to write correspondence to the government in Nynorsk, the government is obliged to respond in Nynorsk....by law. I've heard it can take months to get a response...but you will get one and in the proper language! Not that I have a clue with Nynorsk.

Well, nynorsk isn't really a different language, it's merely a different way of writing norwegian that corresponds better to how norwegian is actually spoken in certain parts of norway.

This is slightly different than alot of other languages where the written language also has a standardised way that it is pronounced but that's not the case with norwegian. So because there are such different ways of pronouncing the same word there is also two diffrent ways of spelling the words. That's pretty much how it works as far as I understand it.