Re: Cannondale-Drapac
Extremely, extremely disappointing day today.
First of all, where the hell was Craddock today?! It's really a big shame for a team with GC ambitions to have Van Baarle as the best mountain domestique, leaving his leader alone in a group of 50 men 70 kilometers from the finish. Really... Van Baarle is 78kg guy... you have to respect him for hanging onto this long, but where is the rest?
Stupid team selecton for TdF. They don't have a sprinter, but they also don't even have a guy who could realistically win a hilly/mountain stage from breakawy. What do they count on? That Rolland will save them the Tour alone?
Apparently not. He has wounds all over the body. I would be surprised if his performances in the following days remain unaffected by this.
Nonetheless, it was disappointing to see him being dropped by 15 or so guys on the final climb. You have to ask: will this team ever do anything good in major races again? I get as much joy supporting them as I would if I doesn't bother to watch cycling at all. Maybe my joy/frustration ratio in my life would actually get much better if I really decided not to watch cycling anymore.
Extremely, extremely disappointing day today.
First of all, where the hell was Craddock today?! It's really a big shame for a team with GC ambitions to have Van Baarle as the best mountain domestique, leaving his leader alone in a group of 50 men 70 kilometers from the finish. Really... Van Baarle is 78kg guy... you have to respect him for hanging onto this long, but where is the rest?
Stupid team selecton for TdF. They don't have a sprinter, but they also don't even have a guy who could realistically win a hilly/mountain stage from breakawy. What do they count on? That Rolland will save them the Tour alone?
Apparently not. He has wounds all over the body. I would be surprised if his performances in the following days remain unaffected by this.
Nonetheless, it was disappointing to see him being dropped by 15 or so guys on the final climb. You have to ask: will this team ever do anything good in major races again? I get as much joy supporting them as I would if I doesn't bother to watch cycling at all. Maybe my joy/frustration ratio in my life would actually get much better if I really decided not to watch cycling anymore.
- Mar 14, 2016
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They have gambled a great deal on Uran and Rolland and neither has been able to deliver. Uran got excellent support. Rolland much more limited support, but it did at least get him to the mountains in perfect shape for nearly the first time in his career. With Talansky misfiring so badly that he has had to skip the Tour, they have not been well rewarded by their leaders.
I would normally be careful about writing off Rolland because of one bad day, but that crash will make recovery tough.
Talansky really better his finger out preparing for the Vuelta.
I would normally be careful about writing off Rolland because of one bad day, but that crash will make recovery tough.
Talansky really better his finger out preparing for the Vuelta.
- Aug 18, 2010
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Re:
Worse than that, he got dropped like a stone with fifteen guys left and then crashed heavily. Two disasters for the price of one.
CheckMyPecs said:
Worse than that, he got dropped like a stone with fifteen guys left and then crashed heavily. Two disasters for the price of one.
- May 23, 2009
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Re: Cannondale-Drapac
Agreed. They have to regret not taking Wippert and Clarke, at least Wippert is capable of consistent placings and Clarke doesn't climb any worse than the rest of the team ATM.Anderis said:Extremely, extremely disappointing day today.
First of all, where the hell was Craddock today?! It's really a big shame for a team with GC ambitions to have Van Baarle as the best mountain domestique, leaving his leader alone in a group of 50 men 70 kilometers from the finish. Really... Van Baarle is 78kg guy... you have to respect him for hanging onto this long, but where is the rest?
Stupid team selecton for TdF. They don't have a sprinter, but they also don't even have a guy who could realistically win a hilly/mountain stage from breakawy. What do they count on? That Rolland will save them the Tour alone?
Apparently not. He has wounds all over the body. I would be surprised if his performances in the following days remain unaffected by this.
Nonetheless, it was disappointing to see him being dropped by 15 or so guys on the final climb. You have to ask: will this team ever do anything good in major races again? I get as much joy supporting them as I would if I doesn't bother to watch cycling at all. Maybe my joy/frustration ratio in my life would actually get much better if I really decided not to watch cycling anymore.
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Re:
I spotted him at the back of the peloton with the race doctor before they started the last climb
CheckMyPecs said:
I spotted him at the back of the peloton with the race doctor before they started the last climb
Re: Cannondale-Drapac
Embarrasment continues. This team is so weak that they can't even put a man in a breakaway. They had tried today with 3 or 4 man and all of them had been dropped before the break of the day formed. Craddock was supposed to take something out of this race but if he can't even make to the break on the stage like this (he tried, I saw him being dropped from 1st group)... C'mon, this was not elite break of 4 or 5 great climbers, there were 20 men there!
Rolland definetely out of the top5 GC contention now. But he doesn't look like winning stage later in the race to me. What a pointless team participation. The weakest team in the race so far. I'm so angry about how the team which had managed so many good results between 2009 and 2014 has become so bad so quickly. It's like a nightmare coming true. I wish I'm able not to care anymore but it's not easy to give up on a team which gave me so many enjoyable moments through the last 8 years.
What does the Cannondale-Drapac fan do when his favourite team finally performs well in one of the big cycling races?
Turns of his Pro Cycling Manager Game and goes to bed.
Embarrasment continues. This team is so weak that they can't even put a man in a breakaway. They had tried today with 3 or 4 man and all of them had been dropped before the break of the day formed. Craddock was supposed to take something out of this race but if he can't even make to the break on the stage like this (he tried, I saw him being dropped from 1st group)... C'mon, this was not elite break of 4 or 5 great climbers, there were 20 men there!
Rolland definetely out of the top5 GC contention now. But he doesn't look like winning stage later in the race to me. What a pointless team participation. The weakest team in the race so far. I'm so angry about how the team which had managed so many good results between 2009 and 2014 has become so bad so quickly. It's like a nightmare coming true. I wish I'm able not to care anymore but it's not easy to give up on a team which gave me so many enjoyable moments through the last 8 years.
What does the Cannondale-Drapac fan do when his favourite team finally performs well in one of the big cycling races?
Turns of his Pro Cycling Manager Game and goes to bed.
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Re: Cannondale-Drapac
Yes and the first time the rest of the team were to blame. The big lumps are there precisely to stop that from happening.
CheckMyPecs said:
Yes and the first time the rest of the team were to blame. The big lumps are there precisely to stop that from happening.
Re: Cannondale-Drapac
I don't think it matters much. Rolland doesn't look like finishing inside top10 GC unless he gets into the right breakaway.
If I'm not mistaken, Cannondale is the only team in the race that didn't put any rider in the top10 of any stage so far. The sporting level they often show since the beginning of 2015 is beyond pathetic.
I don't think it matters much. Rolland doesn't look like finishing inside top10 GC unless he gets into the right breakaway.
If I'm not mistaken, Cannondale is the only team in the race that didn't put any rider in the top10 of any stage so far. The sporting level they often show since the beginning of 2015 is beyond pathetic.
- Mar 14, 2016
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Re:
I am Cannondale fan. I believe something is up, I read somewhere that they have a big focus on weight, perhaps they went overboard with their efforts. Weren't a number of the riders sick for a while? It also seems like the pysche of the team readers is super aggressive right now. One gets the idea that everything is programatic with no less emotion. This type of stuff doesn't happen to Etixx!
If you look at the riders that have left the team excluding Wiggins and Dennis, most have decreased even more afterwards.
They did have bad luck with Uran crash and sickness in the Giro(he still wouldn't have won), likewise Rolland took a serious blow against that wall.
Dombrowski, Woods, Clarke and Wouter have been riding better than expected. As a team they seemed strong for most of the Giro climbing stages.
Hopefully, they can change some management techniques around for the rest of year and the future. The alternative suggestion, which is off the deep-end, might be that there is a difference between their strong anti-doping program and what other teams don't test for.
CheckMyPecs said:
I am Cannondale fan. I believe something is up, I read somewhere that they have a big focus on weight, perhaps they went overboard with their efforts. Weren't a number of the riders sick for a while? It also seems like the pysche of the team readers is super aggressive right now. One gets the idea that everything is programatic with no less emotion. This type of stuff doesn't happen to Etixx!
If you look at the riders that have left the team excluding Wiggins and Dennis, most have decreased even more afterwards.
They did have bad luck with Uran crash and sickness in the Giro(he still wouldn't have won), likewise Rolland took a serious blow against that wall.
Dombrowski, Woods, Clarke and Wouter have been riding better than expected. As a team they seemed strong for most of the Giro climbing stages.
Hopefully, they can change some management techniques around for the rest of year and the future. The alternative suggestion, which is off the deep-end, might be that there is a difference between their strong anti-doping program and what other teams don't test for.
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Re: Re:
If you look at the riders that have left the team excluding Wiggins and Dennis, most have decreased even more afterwards.
Aha, we have a lead. The demonisation of weight is, indeed, a risky endeavour.ski said:
If you look at the riders that have left the team excluding Wiggins and Dennis, most have decreased even more afterwards.
Watch out, buddy —forum rules don't allow doping talk outside The Clinic section, and I'd hate to see a fellow Cannondale fan banned.ski said:
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Bettiol could loose a few places, but I really don't know what to expect from him, same with Villella.
As far as I can recall Benoot has never ridden a really impressive ITT as a pro, so maybe Formolo could hold him off. Felline should be the bigger danger, if he's fully recovered.Anderis said:
Bettiol could loose a few places, but I really don't know what to expect from him, same with Villella.
- May 10, 2015
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Re: Re:
You're right. I find it strange cause he has a big engine, but Benoot can't timetrial at all. He will drop at least one place and maybe even more. I hope he surprises me though.
Felline will be the danger but Formolo seems to be in form and with this advantage he has a chance to hold on.
Mayomaniac said:
You're right. I find it strange cause he has a big engine, but Benoot can't timetrial at all. He will drop at least one place and maybe even more. I hope he surprises me though.
Felline will be the danger but Formolo seems to be in form and with this advantage he has a chance to hold on.
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Awful TT from Villella. Hansen's time was really bad and Davide almost managed to lose 49 seconds advantage he had over Jesper in GC.
Formolo also really bad.
Awesome from Bettiol. Really. Both in TT and overall. He now has more WT points than any other Cannondale rider this season. Who would have thought! If I was to list 5 least likely Cannondale riders to score any WT points before the season, I think I would have put Bettiol there. How wrong would it be!
What's amazing is that Cannondale has more riders who scored at least a single point in WT this year than any other team in the peloton by significant margin. Really surprising considering how poor they seem to be doing. And I'm really pissed off by the fact only 5 riders count for WT Team Ranking, makes NO sense at all. Team Ranking should be about team's depth. I expressed that view earlier in the year too.
All in all, very good Tour de Pologne for Cannondale, but it's a pity they still can't take a win at WT level this year.
I also wonder how they are so poor in TTs recently and how riders like Moser, Talansky and Bettiol today manage a very respectable TT every now and then.
Formolo also really bad.
Awesome from Bettiol. Really. Both in TT and overall. He now has more WT points than any other Cannondale rider this season. Who would have thought! If I was to list 5 least likely Cannondale riders to score any WT points before the season, I think I would have put Bettiol there. How wrong would it be!
What's amazing is that Cannondale has more riders who scored at least a single point in WT this year than any other team in the peloton by significant margin. Really surprising considering how poor they seem to be doing. And I'm really pissed off by the fact only 5 riders count for WT Team Ranking, makes NO sense at all. Team Ranking should be about team's depth. I expressed that view earlier in the year too.
All in all, very good Tour de Pologne for Cannondale, but it's a pity they still can't take a win at WT level this year.
I also wonder how they are so poor in TTs recently and how riders like Moser, Talansky and Bettiol today manage a very respectable TT every now and then.
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