Evans's change of approach

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't see attacking (or not attacking) as his problem. He's at his limit or close to it depending on the tempo once the selection is made, so attacking for Evans is just a recipe for disaster. I've never been one to be overly impressed with Evans tactical mind considering he has, even up to last year's Giro, ridden himself into exhaustion while trying to stay with his opponents when it often would be best to let them go and try to reel them in/ or, using Leipheimer's favorite phrase, "limit his lossess" by riding at his own pace.

I compare this to Nibali at last year's Vuelta where he realized that his attempts to immediately respond to Anton's, Rodriguez' and Mosquera's attacks were putting him in the red and thus altered his strategy to avoid blowing up. This resulted in him being able to eventually bridge back to his opponents after their initial accelerations. Sastre is quite well known for this.
How many times have we seen Sastre looking like he is a world of trouble as his opposition start distancing themselves from him on a climb only to see Sastre slowly coming from nowhere and bridge back up and often times pass up some of the same riders that had initially dropped him.

We could also point at how long passed between Scarponi being dropped and Evans being dropped on Zoncolán and yet how little time Evans actually put into the Italian for further pointing at this. The Vuelta showed that Xavier Tondó is also very good at letting go, not panicking and riding himself back to the front, but of course Sastre is the poster boy for it. There have been so many times when he's been dropped, sometimes near the bottom of the mountain, yet when they get to the top he's reappeared in the top 5.

We could also point out Evans in the Sánchez group after the puncture in '09, when Samu was dropped long before Evans, they became part of the same group, but Samu eventually topped the mountain closer to the Valverde group than he had been when Evans' puncture occurred.

 

[Kellys Big Sprocket]

While Cadel is a great rider, is it possible he may even lack confidence in himself. How many times has one watched a race and screamed for him to attack. Just do something other than follow the leaders.

Just like Alex Zulle just watched wheels . There's quite a few good at that. I use to think it was a confidence thing because when it comes to the business end of a days racing for exmaple Le Tour he has had limited support if he was lucky of any team mates. Anyway, I think in the heat of the battle he does not have the legs anymore and I hate to say that.

 

[El Pistolero]

And the idea that Uk riders are hyped is even more silly

Parullo, exactly what UK riders get hyped too much.

Is it the bloke who did a top 5 at the Tour who gets dismissed as Wigans, and has people fantasise about his failure? Or maybe its this Thomas bloke, olympic and world champion who is far less known than Phinney. Or is it Cav, who by 25 has won tons of gt stages and Milan San Remo, who presumably shouldnt be listed as a favourite for every sprint he enters?

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Not that I'm going to argue against the huge talent of the Columbian cyclists, but I just don't see them breaking through in Europe. At least not most of them.

That and I think the likes of Andy Schleck would win the Vuelta a Colombia pretty easily if they were in their "Tour form".

Henao could make it in Europe though, but that depends on the choices he makes and on his bike handling skills in a European peloton.

hilarious .

 

[kurtinsc]

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

Phinney is a TT talent. I don't think he deserves hype for actual road races... he's done little to warant it. But rating him in time trials isn't unwaranted in my opinion. Beating Levi Leipheimer in a time trial when he's on form is still impressive even in Levi's waning years... and Phinney did it 3 times last year.

He may never amount to being much more then a TT specialist... but I think he'll probably be a pretty good TT specialist.

 

[kurtinsc]

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

I think Swift is good... I think on Saxo this year he'd probably rate as the 6th or 7th best rider on the team. Not great... but good.

 

[Parrulo]

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

ty for the support there you saved me the work of replying myself.

 

[Moondance]

hilarious .

You think Schleck the Younger isn't good enough to win the Tour of Colombia? The race Oscar Sevilla nearly won last year?

 

[theyoungest]

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

Peter Velits? The guy is 26 years old, hardly Phinney's generation.

BTW, if you say that he hasn't proven anything and then mention Degenkolb as a "real" talent, that doesn't make much sense IMO.

 

[El Pistolero]

Peter Velits? The guy is 26 years old, hardly Phinney's generation.

BTW, if you say that he hasn't proven anything and then mention Degenkolb as a "real" talent, that doesn't make much sense IMO.

Degenkolb proved him self in the Belgian opening weekend and already has his first professional victory in his pocket... He has shown he's worthy of hype.

 

[theyoungest]

Degenkolb proved him self in the Belgian opening weekend and already has his first professional victory in his pocket... He has shown he's worthy of hype.

Phinney already had his first pro victory last year, the US time trial title.

 

[El Pistolero]

Phinney already had his first pro victory last year, the US time trial title.

Yeah, bravo.

I bet Andy Schleck is a real time trial talent looking at his national titles.

 

[biopass]

I'd respond in kind if this were the clinic but it's not. You appear to be the one who needs a serious wake up call and a thicker skin.

You really shouldn't have introduced Contador into the conversation if you didn't want a response...any response. Get over yourself.

Please, connect the dots and figure out. Of course i wanted a response, but claiming Contador has become an even better rider since 2007 when his last tour suggest something else is just bs.

 

[Parrulo]

Please, connect the dots and figure out. Of course i wanted a response, but claiming Contador has become an even better rider since 2007 when his last tour suggest something else is just bs.

enlighten me please

how does his last tour suggests that?

 

[El Pistolero]

Please, connect the dots and figure out. Of course i wanted a response, but claiming Contador has become an even better rider since 2007 when his last tour suggest something else is just bs.

Yeah, because Andy schleck was riding the Tour in 2007 right? Or Menchov finished the Tour in 2007 right?

Compare 2007 with 2009 Where was poor little Cuddles there? Blown away to pieces.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, bravo.

I bet Andy Schleck is a real time trial talent looking at his national titles.

I bet Andy Schleck couldn't beat Levi Leipheimer for the time trial jersey.

 

[El Pistolero]

I bet Andy Schleck couldn't beat Levi Leipheimer for the time trial jersey.

Leipheimer of 2010 couldn't time trial if his life depended on it.

 

[theyoungest]

Leipheimer of 2010 couldn't time trial if his life depended on it.

Ah, you're so full of ****. He wasn't great, but still got a couple of top fives in time trials.

But you're right, Peter Velits is the real talent of Phinney's generation

 

[kurtinsc]

Yeah, bravo.

I bet Andy Schleck is a real time trial talent looking at his national titles.

Don't be silly.

Phinney beat Levi Leipheimer in three time trials last year... twice in the Tour of Utah and once in the US elite ITT championships. He also won the flat l'Avenir prologue and the U23 worlds ITT.

I think Phinney's P-R Espoirs are overrated personally... but to say he's not the premier ITT talent coming up at the moment is being disengenious. Levi managed five top-5 finishes in bigger ITT's last year (California, Algrarve, Suisse, Catalunya, Paris-Nice) ... defeating him three times shows a LOT of talent against the clock.

 

[jaylew]

Please, connect the dots and figure out. Of course i wanted a response, but claiming Contador has become an even better rider since 2007 when his last tour suggest something else is just bs.

Are you actually trying to argue that he hasn't become a better rider since 2007?

 

[Parrulo]

Ah, you're so full of ****. He wasn't great, but still got a couple of top fives in time trials.

But you're right, Peter Velits is the real talent of Phinney's generation

ok so velits isn't real talent of phinney's generation. the truth is phinney won't be the real talent of his generation. in a couple years a 23 year old spanish guy or belgium or italian or dutch or even french(lol) will appear and start winning big and he will be the real talent of his generation. that happens almost all the time. you don't hear a lot about spanish young champions but the truth is spain keeps creating strong riders on regular basis while other countries have to hype them from the moment they were born cus the talent in that area is just . . . rare

 

[Parrulo]

Are you actually trying to argue that he hasn't become a better rider since 2007?

i also asked him to enlighten me on the subject but seems like we won't get a reply

 

[The Hitch]

A whole new team was created for Wiggins and his pay checque was huge, so yes he's overhyped in Britain. At least was, now they probably see him as the fluke he was.

Armstrong was also overhyped in 2009 and 2010. Phinney as well, kid hasn't even proven anything. Peter Sagan, Peter Velits, Degenkolb, etc is where the real talent of his generation lies.

The Brits only really have 2 good cyclists, Wiggins and Cavendish. One is overhyped and the other one can't by overhyped as he's simply the best sprinter of his generation by far. Although he thinks he can do well in the RVV or P-R in the future, I think he never will.

ty for the support there you saved me the work of replying myself.

So all British riders are overhyped based on the fact that Sky eventually signed Wiggins and gave the multi time olympic champion and tdf top 5 placer, a big contract?

Oh and he was the last person to sign, the team was going to start anyway, and he only changed his mind in December, so to say the team was built for him is pure nonsense?

 

[El Pistolero]

Don't be silly.

Phinney beat Levi Leipheimer in three time trials last year... twice in the Tour of Utah and once in the US elite ITT championships. He also won the flat l'Avenir prologue and the U23 worlds ITT.

I think Phinney's P-R Espoirs are overrated personally... but to say he's not the premier ITT talent coming up at the moment is being disengenious. Levi managed five top-5 finishes in bigger ITT's last year (California, Algrarve, Suisse, Catalunya, Paris-Nice) ... defeating him three times shows a LOT of talent against the clock.

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/fr/1900/classement/index.html

Come back when he actually does a top 10 in a GT time trial or the Worlds. Then he'll have proven him self.

He's overhyped simple as that. And I'm not calling him overhyped because of his time trial talent, but because people think he can do well in P-R or the RVV.

 

[Parrulo]

So all British riders are overhyped based on the fact that Sky eventually signed Wiggins and gave the multi time olympic champion and tdf top 5 placer, a big contract?

Oh and he was the last person to sign, the team was going to start anyway, and he only changed his mind in December, so to say the team was built for him is pure nonsense?

you still going around that? *sight can't you just see they were just a part of a bigger example. btw it would be nice if you could type my name properly. . . but you can just call me Par thats what every1 does