Eneco Tour - 8th to 14th August

[PedalCastro]

Who sprinted for Skil...Veelers??

Thought it was Van Hummel, whoever it was went way too early

EDIT : It was Veelers, my bad!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Thought it was Van Hummel, whoever it was went way too early

Van Hummel was leading out for Veelers, he said before the Tour he works for Veelers.

 

[Ferminal]

Yep, he just beat Phinney. Or was it Cooke?

lol, Cooke!

 

[afpm90]

Yep, he just beat Phinney. Or was it Cooke?

It was Cooke.

 

[TRDean]

Van Hummel was leading out for Veelers, he said before the Tour he works for Veelers.

Just curious Dekker...why would Skil be riding the sprints for Veelers? He has never come close to winning a sprint as a pro...what gives? Cause van Hummel leaving maybe??

 

[theyoungest]

Greipel again

And Rabobank again TOTALLY failing on positioning bos.
Boom was riding there in the front on his own. Bos was 30 positions back...

Van Emden was Bos' main man I think, he was in an okay position in the final k. Of course Bos was nowhere to be found.

Just curious Dekker...why would Skil be riding the sprints for Veelers? He has never come close to winning a sprint as a pro...what gives? Cause van Hummel leaving maybe??

I think Veelers is their GC guy, maybe sprinting for bonus seconds?

(not that he'll get anywhere near the podium)

 

[kurtinsc]

These top 10 finishes in sprints for Phinney... are they meaningless or do they suggest he might be already at the level of a third tier sprinter?

Perhaps that's where he should focus his development (while keeping as much of the ITT as he can).

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Just curious Dekker...why would Skil be riding the sprints for Veelers? He has never come close to winning a sprint as a pro...what gives? Cause van Hummel leaving maybe??

No it has to do with Veelers working for Van Hummel and Kittel all year long and they want to pay him back, and appearently Veelers peaked here.

 

[theyoungest]

These top 10 finishes in sprints for Phinney... are they meaningless or do they suggest he might be already at the level of a third tier sprinter?

Perhaps that's where he should focus his development (while keeping as much of the ITT as he can).

That's what he was among the espoirs as well, time trialist and sprinter. Andrew Talansky even said about the Worlds: "on a finish like this, Phinney is unbeatable"

 

[dlwssonic]

He was pretty caught out today so you couldnt really judge from his result as he didn't have the space to sprint. He had great position yesterday but went too early with the strong headwind. So yeah he is a decent sprinter. But he still needs to develop it.

 

[Ferminal]

These top 10 finishes in sprints for Phinney... are they meaningless or do they suggest he might be already at the level of a third tier sprinter?

Perhaps that's where he should focus his development (while keeping as much of the ITT as he can).

Meaningless I think, unless he wants to be a lead out man. Probably a similar sprinting level to Thomas. Phinney has numerous other potential areas to develop which would do him better than focusing on being the 12th best buncher in the world. If he gets as strong as Sagan or EBH then maybe afterwards he can try and match their speed in a reduced sprint.

 

[Sylvester]

Drucker fourth, quite amazing. Then again, Isasi got 3th in a bunch sprint in the Tour once, so it might be a coincidence.

Phinney rides very intelligently. Always near the front.

Nice commentary on Sporza, by the way. "The Gorilla is coming out of the mist!". I laughed out loud.

 

[El Pistolero]

Phinney will be a guy for Paris-Roubaix in the future. Good time trial specialist with muscular build(like Cancellara) and a decent kick at the end(good enough to win sprints in a small group like happens in many classics)

Don't think he can handle the distance already though. Will be interesting to see how he goes over the hills.

 

[dlwssonic]

Phinney will be a guy for Paris-Roubaix in the future. Good time trial specialist with muscular build(like Cancellara) and a decent kick at the end(good enough to win sprints in a small group like happens in many classics)

Don't think he can handle the distance already though. Will be interesting to see how he goes over the hills.

He did pretty well in tour of wallonie supporting GVA on the stage he won, at the last stages of the hilly stage. So he might be able to hang in on the hills for a while.

 

[Gloin22]

Phinney will be a guy for Paris-Roubaix in the future. Good time trial specialist with muscular build(like Cancellara) and a decent kick at the end(good enough to win sprints in a small group like happens in many classics)

Don't think he can handle the distance already though. Will be interesting to see how he goes over the hills.

Looks like EBH and Thomas should win P-R soon too, considering that analysis

 

[El Pistolero]

Looks like EBH and Thomas should win P-R soon too, considering that analysis

Thomas De Gendt? He doesn't like one day races

EBH should give P-R a try yes.

 

[Nielsa]

These top 10 finishes in sprints for Phinney... are they meaningless or do they suggest he might be already at the level of a third tier sprinter?

Perhaps that's where he should focus his development (while keeping as much of the ITT as he can).

Please no, ugh, I hope he has the will to develop his classics rider talent. Bunch finishes are going to be crowded enough for the next 7-8 years what with Cav/Swift for Sky, Goss for GE?, Galimzyanov for Katyusha, Matthews/Bos for Rabo, Degenkolb, Kittel, Guardini, Sagan if he wants to, etc etc. And always guys like Oss and Romain Feillu trying to do something.
Additionally Greipel and Farrar for the next 3-5 years. We don't need a BMC train clogging up the bunch any further.

I saw Phinney's interview after the first stage of Eneco and he was talking about how the first stage was very stressful, and he hoped the hilly stages would bring some kind of natural selection. So I hope this is a positive indication he wants to be more than a flat stage sprinter.

 

[LaFleur]

Didn't spot Gilbert doing a leadout for Phinney, seems that the deal is off?

 

[jens_attacks]

Didn't spot Gilbert doing a leadout for Phinney, seems that the deal is off?

nah today i swore to god i've seen him dragging some euskaltel boys.....PHIL TO EUSKALTEL???!!!

 

[Sylvester]

Phil to skil

 

[Mellow Velo]

Greipel again

And Rabobank again TOTALLY failing on positioning bos.
Boom was riding there in the front on his own. Bos was 30 positions back...

Playing catch up again.
Guess who was dumb enough to pick RaboBos, today?
Utterly useless. Even the Carrots got a man over the line before
Rabo.
Which prompts the question, if orange equals "The Carrots", what does blue and orange equal?
After today, I think I'll start to call Rabo "The Frozen Carrots".

 

[El Pistolero]

Playing catch up again.
Guess who was dumb enough to pick RaboBos, today?
Utterly useless. Even the Carrots got a man over the line before
Rabo.
Which prompts the question, if orange equals "The Carrots", what does blue and orange equal?
After today, I think I'll start to call Rabo "The Frozen Carrots".

Rotten oranges.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Drucker fourth, quite amazing. Then again, Isasi got 3th in a bunch sprint in the Tour once, so it might be a coincidence.

Phinney rides very intelligently. Always near the front.

Nice commentary on Sporza, by the way. "The Gorilla is coming out of the mist!". I laughed out loud.

That comment was pure Gold

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Overall??? Probably not. He'll fail on the "queen" stage

Today? Certainly no, as Gali will win the stage and Michielveedeebee will have a nice new avatar

Greipel again, things are getting hard for Cossack boy

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Wow these are narrow roads

those are very typical Flemish roads man ^^ They do the narrow roads in RvV