ENECO Tour August 17 - 24

[ingsve]

He'll have to grab the vast majority of his opportunities. And make some more. He's starting not to do that.

Exactly what opportunities is it that he's starting to miss? Losing sprints to Cavendish, Farrar and Greipel? No one is saying he'll be the new Cavendish. If anything people are saying the opposite, that it would be bad if he just turned out to be another sprinter.

As for having to grab most of his opportunities, I don't buy that one bit. Time and time again he puts himself into the position of being in with a shot in the end. He has done that throughout his career and is still doing that, very consistently. That does not sound like a guy that has to grab the opportunity when it arrives. He is the type of rider that when he misses an opportunity it's not the whole world since he will put himself in that same position again and again. That is what has made him win over 50 pro races by the age of 23 and that is also what will get him bigger wins in the future.

 

[ingsve]

The comparison with Mercx was not my own, but one which others have placed on him. Of course he will never win all 5 monuments and all 3 gts. He wont come close. But people used to say he could be the next Mercx, now they say his career is over, im saying, hold your horses, he could be the next mercx yet, by which i mean the early enthusiasm others had for him could yet fullfill itself.

The comparison to Merckx was never one of palmares it had to do with his killer attitude on the bike. Whenever he was in the hunt for a win he would usually get it. There have been lots of races where EBH takes a lot of stages just like Merckx used to do.

Tour de l'Avenir 2006 (3 stages)
Ringerike GP 2007 (4 stages+GC)
Paris - Corrèze 2007 (both stages+GC)
Tour of Britain 2008 (3 stages)
ENECO Tour 2009 (2 stages+GC)
Tour of Britain 2009 (4 stages+GC)

It's the cannibal nature that is the Merckx connection nothing else.

 

[The Hitch]

The comparison to Merckx was never one of palmares it had to do with his killer attitude on the bike. Whenever he was in the hunt for a win he would usually get it. There have been lots of races where EBH takes a lot of stages just like Merckx used to do.

Tour de l'Avenir 2006 (3 stages)
Ringerike GP 2007 (4 stages+GC)
Paris - Corrèze 2007 (both stages+GC)
Tour of Britain 2008 (3 stages)
ENECO Tour 2009 (2 stages+GC)
Tour of Britain 2009 (4 stages+GC)

It's the cannibal nature that is the Merckx connection nothing else.

well said. Pretty much my point originaly though i will concede that you have presented it better than me.

 

[hektoren]

I don't see Boasson Hagen climbing well enough to win LBL or GL, honestly. But regardless, I just think he needs more experience and possibly one big win that gives him confidence. And luck. .

....not to mention a pre-season without tendonitis.
Fr crying out loud, he's still on the rebound. Give'im a break. Until he decides otherwise, he's in there to win. And he will.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Tomorrow it's say 1. Martin 2. Hagen 3. Boom

 

[Cobblestoned]

Top 3:

Tony Martin
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Andreas Klöden

 

[Ryaguas]

I'll go with:

Tony
Boom
Devolder

 

[insideout leadout]

Porte
Tuft
Martin

 

[ingsve]

It's hard to rule out Tuft after the performance in the prologue and in Tour of Denmark. He's the rider to beat tomorrow. I also think EBH will have a little trouble holding onto 3rd overall. I predict he'll fall out of the top 5.

 

[Ferminal]

I certainly have to applaud that win by Greipel, that was class, given the work he had been doing.

Still heaps of people who can get on the overall podium tomorrow, obviously Martin has the win sewn up.

1. Martin
2. EBH
3. Boom/Porte

Moerenhout should hold on to 2nd overall though.

 

[Sasquatch]

1. Tuft
2. Martin
3. Ignatiev

 

[sublimit]

1 Martin
2 Boom
3 Thomas
4 Hagen
5 Tuft

 

[Frosty]

It's hard to rule out Tuft after the performance in the prologue and in Tour of Denmark. He's the rider to beat tomorrow. I also think EBH will have a little trouble holding onto 3rd overall. I predict he'll fall out of the top 5.

Tempting to think that given he has been going for the sprints but he did the sprints last year and still won the final time trial. Not saying he will win this time as the competition is better but it shows he still should do well. Tuft looks the obvious challenger for third but Porte could push them close too.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

At the moment fastest time by Alex Rasmussen 20:33.21 so far

1 A. Rasmussen 00:20'33"
2 P. Gretsch 00:21'03"
3 A. Malori 00:21'07"
4 G. Thomas 00:21'12"
5 J. Marycz 00:21'17"
6 R. Flens 00:21'20"
7 J. Bobridge 00:21'22"
8 T. Meyer 00:21'25"

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Tempting to think that given he has been going for the sprints but he did the sprints last year and still won the final time trial. Not saying he will win this time as the competition is better but it shows he still should do well. Tuft looks the obvious challenger for third but Porte could push them close too.

Don't forget Boom and Van Emden. They have been doing better than the guys you name in the prologue and for sure in a short TT like this one (14km) they aren't worse.

Van Emden is even dutch TT champion winning by more than 1 minute against guys like Moerenhout and Boom... (with Moerenhout already being 6th in the final Tour TT and 6th at the world champs ITT)...

 

[theyoungest]

Don't forget Boom and Van Emden. They have been doing better than the guys you name in the prologue and for sure in a short TT like this one (14km) they aren't worse.

Van Emden is even dutch TT champion winning by more than 1 minute against guys like Moerenhout and Boom... (with Moerenhout already being 6th in the final Tour TT and 6th at the world champs ITT)...

Van Emden is too far back on GC. Boom is a serious challenge.

 

[ingsve]

It's starting to rain so perhaps Rasmussen has a chance at winning this.

 

[Frosty]

Don't forget Boom and Van Emden. They have been doing better than the guys you name in the prologue and for sure in a short TT like this one (14km) they aren't worse.

Well Tuft won the prologue so i dont get how they went faster than him. Anyway, Van Emden is 1 minute 10 seconds down on EBH so unless something remarkable happens then i dont see him getting on the podium. Boom went one second faster than EBH in the prologue and is 9 seconds down now. He still has a chance of getting on the podium but i think Tuft has a better chance. For either Boom or Porte to get third will require a huge effort IMO. I fancy Porte to do this rather than Boom.

We'll see Looks like van Emden will be off soon, can he beat the time of Rasmussen?

 

[Kwibus]

I'm so hoping for Moetenhout to beat Martin, but that's so incredibly unlikely to happen though.

van Emden 2nd time so far. Probably not what he expected... or I expected..

Edit 2:Tjallingi 1st time now. 3 secs faster then Rasmussen

 

[Swiss Tony]

My enjoyment of the Eneco as been ruined by the continually pathetic comments and just rank bad commentary from this Carlton Kirby.... Please Eurosport don't let this man commentate on Cycling events again....

 

[jaylew]

Tjallingii! I just love that name.

 

[jens_attacks]

go klodi and go richie!!!!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Van Emden is too far back on GC. Boom is a serious challenge.

im talking about the TT win rather than gc

And look, Porte is slower than Van Emden on the intermediate
my picks arent bad

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ok, maybe picking Boom was bad.

Again a dissapointing longer time trial. He has only been doing good in prologues this year for some reason.
At least, he should do better than 9th...

edit: Super Tuft also slower than Van Emden, Tjallingii...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Even Hagen not close to Tjallingii/Rasmussen...

Tjallingii could win the TT