Eneco Tour - 8th to 14th August

[Waterloo Sunrise]

He attacks every time at Vattenfall. He's not going to wait for the sprint you know Did you watch last year? He also attacked pointlessly there. There's not much option for anything else there. It's a sprinters race pur sang.

The standard response to a race that doesn't suit you is to race somewhere else or help your teammates, but nevermind.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

With sprint finishes and the opportunity for bonus seconds to come, the short length of the TT, and Eddy's strong recent performance in TTs (Both prologue and Tour), I'd find it hard to make Millar favourite for the overall right now.

 

[hrotha]

With all due respect, I really don't understand this and related comments.
(...)
As a long-time fan and a amateur racer, I find Gilbert's talent, motivation, and success thrilling. And there is always the tension when he goes -- Will he pull it off? Who will chase? Can they reel him in?

It's stories like Gilbert's that make sitting inside to watch sports worthwhile.

To each his own. Personally I prefer a close competition rather than having one completely dominating rider. You say there's tension, I'd say there isn't. There hasn't been since last April.

 

[El Pistolero]

The standard response to a race that doesn't suit you is to race somewhere else or help your teammates, but nevermind.

Coming from a Cavendish fan who uses all races except GTs as preparation

He was just building form for the Vuelta. Besides, it's not like there were any other decent races interfering with Vattenfall last year.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

i think watching gilbert ride is rather annoying because of his awfull national kit, the colours are bland and the shorts are just awful. it gets even worse when you compare it to boonen's old beauty

other then that i have no problems with it

worst jersey ever Even tops the Lay-oh-pard and Movistar jerseys in uglyness

 

[Shardi]

i think watching gilbert ride is rather annoying because of his awfull national kit, the colours are bland and the shorts are just awful. it gets even worse when you compare it to boonen's old beauty

other then that i have no problems with it

Disagree, I like it.

Besides, from the observer point of view, he is the easiest rider to spot in the peloton!

 

[El Pistolero]

David Millar(twitter)
I knew he was gonna go, he even told me when and where, I still couldn't do anything when he did. The joys of racing against Phil Gilbert.

 

[maltiv]

Betfair has given EBH an odds of 31/100 for the overall victory which I guess (without knowing much about odds) should mean that you'd earn money by tipping him not to win overall but can't earn anything by tipping him to win. So he's quite the favourite at the moment. His form is not that good though and David Millar could be scary.

 

[kanari]

Betfair has given EBH an odds of 31/100 for the overall victory which I guess (without knowing much about odds) should mean that you'd earn money by tipping him not to win overall but can't earn anything by tipping him to win. So he's quite the favourite at the moment. His form is not that good though and David Millar could be scary.

I'm not too familiar with that system of odds (I'm used to decimals) but I'm pretty sure that means you make a profit of $31 if you put $100 on him. So would mean 1.31 with the decimal system.

 

[VeloMaster]

To each his own. Personally I prefer a close competition rather than having one completely dominating rider. You say there's tension, I'd say there isn't. There hasn't been since last April.

fair enough. As it happens, I also enjoyed watching AC tear it up at the Giro. That said, the TdF was (almost) down to the wire, which was also good fun.

 

[theyoungest]

Rabo fail (that's what you get when the notoriously unreliable Boom is your team leader), and the expected winner. Onward!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Rabo fail (that's what you get when the notoriously unreliable Boom is your team leader), and the expected winner. Onward!

Boom is too fat. He was much skinnier 2 years ago when he dominated the Tour of Belgium

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Has anyone published the GC yet?

 

[janraaskalt]

Has anyone published the GC yet?

Yes, the UCI already did.

 

[roundabout]

Has anyone published the GC yet?

http://www.uci.infostradasports.com...D=0&DerivedEventPhaseID=-1&Detail=1&Ranking=0

 

[theyoungest]

Boom is too fat. He was much skinnier 2 years ago when he dominated the Tour of Belgium

He's mainly too lazy. Someone needs to tell him that he's not a talent anymore, and it's time for results.

Or maybe he's just not good enough, which might very well be true. In which case Rabo would better look out for another leader for this kind of race.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Thank you both.

This could be very close. It may come down to sprint bonuses, which EBH hasn't totally convinced he can take.

 

[cineteq]

I think Millar might be the favourite at this point. He's only like 11 seconds behind EBH and should be able to pass both EBH and Gilbert on the ITT. Those two could possibly still get some bonus seconds back on the last two stages though if the GC stays close after tomorrow.

I like Millar too, so it's a 3-horse race plus Phinney as very long shot. He might still be able to get into the podium.

 

[kurtinsc]

I like Millar too, so it's a 3-horse race plus Phinney as very long shot. He might still be able to get into the podium.

I think the gap to EBH (29 seconds) is too big for Phinney... plus the fact that EBH is really the only guy who's more likely then Phinney to get sprint time bonuses.

With an excellent ITT, he can get 2nd or 3rd perhaps.

 

[maltiv]

Geraint Thomas lost 5 minutes today, clearly not in shape. Too bad, would've been very helpful for EBH if he were there.

 

[Gloin22]

De Gendt DNF, probably too much after the Tour too.

 

[El Pistolero]

De Gendt DNF, probably too much after the Tour too.

No, just training for the nation championships the day after Eneco Tour

 

[Jamsque]

Geraint Thomas lost 5 minutes today, clearly not in shape. Too bad, would've been very helpful for EBH if he were there.

He said he was completely exhausted by the end of the Tour, I suspect he hasn't done much riding since. Hopefully he is starting a slow build towards Worlds now.

 

[Bielers]

Betfair has given EBH an odds of 31/100 for the overall victory which I guess (without knowing much about odds) should mean that you'd earn money by tipping him not to win overall but can't earn anything by tipping him to win. So he's quite the favourite at the moment. His form is not that good though and David Millar could be scary.

Millar has odds of 3/1 which, when you consider EBH's odds and their their relative performances and strengths, isn't too bad...

 

[just some guy]

Geraint Thomas lost 5 minutes today, clearly not in shape. Too bad, would've been very helpful for EBH if he were there.

Bit of a worry re tour - Olympics 2012