Fernando Gaviria Discussion Thread

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

He must be heartbroken by now but riding like that at his age means he'll have at least 10 more chances to sprint in San Remo

That's what they said about Juan José Haedo, let's hope Fernando doesn't peter out like the Argie did.

I think... I think its safe to say that Nando is a little more talented than Heado. Lets hope that, at least.

Fingers crossed. Although never a CSC fan, I admit even I bought into the Haedo hype when he destroyed some of the world's top sprinters in California while riding for a domestic US team. He never really delivered on that promise.

I remember that too but let's not get carried away. JJ beat the likes of O'Grady, Olaf Pollack and Fast Freddy at ToC that year. I never got the impression he was going to be anything more than a solid 2nd tier sprinter as he never showed much versatility. Gav strikes me as a future superstar.

I do agree with you, however. While he certainly looks good to contend at MSR for a decade, you never know what's going to happen. You can't let a prime opportunity like that get away due to a lack of concentration.

 

[contador_attacks]

I think he has the potential to be better than the immortal Freire... Let's wait and see, but...
I hope he isn't another Haussler/Breschel... The potential is so brutal... He has to deliver!!

 

[Tonton]

He's disappointed today, but Fernando has so much talent: he'll be back with a vengeance. He's not a one-hit wonder. We'll see Gaviria in the mix for many years to come, and he'll win big ones. Many big ones.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

He already rode a sprint though inside the last k when he went after EBH and GVA, while Demare was in the wheels and also had the better momentum going into the final sprint.

Impressive ride nevertheless and a shame he crashed.

Wasnt too much of an effort. One acceleration, not full throttle, then closing the gap. I'm certain he had enough left to do a good sprint. Win? Impossible to say but he had a great chance

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

He already rode a sprint though inside the last k when he went after EBH and GVA, while Demare was in the wheels and also had the better momentum going into the final sprint.

Impressive ride nevertheless and a shame he crashed.

Wasnt too much of an effort. One acceleration, not full throttle, then closing the gap. I'm certain he had enough left to do a good sprint. Win? Impossible to say but he had a great chance

Wasn't too much of an effort? Yeah, EBH and GVA were only going full gas and Cancellara couldn't hold the wheel..

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

He already rode a sprint though inside the last k when he went after EBH and GVA, while Demare was in the wheels and also had the better momentum going into the final sprint.

Impressive ride nevertheless and a shame he crashed.

Wasnt too much of an effort. One acceleration, not full throttle, then closing the gap. I'm certain he had enough left to do a good sprint. Win? Impossible to say but he had a great chance

Wasn't too much of an effort? Yeah, EBH and GVA were only going full gas and Cancellara couldn't hold the wheel..

Gav definitely made a solid effort close down the EBH attack, but we all know that the highlighted bit isn't true. More than Canc let someone else waste energy closing it down

 

[The Hegelian]

Pre-race I was pretty suss on him being a genuine contender.

My suspicions were half confirmed: neo-pro makes a rookie mistake at the business end of a monument. Experience counts for a lot in these races. And we still don't know how explosive his sprint would have been after that distance.

However, my suspicions were also half denied: he got over the poggio well and was in a perfect position to launch. Looked to me like he was in with a real shot before he went down - surely would have podiumed at least.

 

[the asian]

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

Very early to say that. Freire was such a monster because he was much more than just a fast sprinter.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

He already rode a sprint though inside the last k when he went after EBH and GVA, while Demare was in the wheels and also had the better momentum going into the final sprint.

Impressive ride nevertheless and a shame he crashed.

Wasnt too much of an effort. One acceleration, not full throttle, then closing the gap. I'm certain he had enough left to do a good sprint. Win? Impossible to say but he had a great chance

Wasn't too much of an effort? Yeah, EBH and GVA were only going full gas and Cancellara couldn't hold the wheel..

Gav definitely made a solid effort close down the EBH attack, but we all know that the highlighted bit isn't true. More than Canc let someone else waste energy closing it down

Cancellara disagrees with you.

 

[Metabolol]

I believe he would have won if he hadn't crashed but I also think the crashed was in part a result of inexperience and not staying cool enough in the end.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

Very early to say that. Freire was such a monster because he was much more than just a fast sprinter.

So is Gaviria.

 

[Gloin22]

Re: Re:

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

Very early to say that. Freire was such a monster because he was much more than just a fast sprinter.

So is Gaviria.

You should really stop hyping him up, when there's few members that constantly hype a rider, soon an extreme dislike of members follow

What has Gaviria shown so far beside sprinting? I mean I think it's good assumption he'll be preety good on cobbles, but there's nothing so far if he'll match Freire's magnificent hilly skills.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

Very early to say that. Freire was such a monster because he was much more than just a fast sprinter.

So is Gaviria.

You should really stop hyping him up, when there's few members that constantly hype a rider, soon an extreme dislike of members follow

What has Gaviria shown so far beside sprinting? I mean I think it's good assumption he'll be preety good on cobbles, but there's nothing so far if he'll match Freire's magnificent hilly skills.

I am not trying to hype him by any means, it's just what I'm seeing and what I've seen in the past. Gaviria isn't just a sprinter, he's much, much more. His sprint victories aside, here's what he has done in a couple of races in the last few seasons on mostly European soil:

World Championships in Ponferrada: The Norwegian, forgot which one it was, went in the attack on the final climb. Reactions came from Power (AUS), Van der Poel (NED), Superman Lopez (COL) and, indeed. Gaviria. He was there, doing work for Lopez and trying to catch the Norwegian.

Prudential RideLondon: His first ever race for Quick-Step. He didn't wait for the sprint, he didn't wait till the final lap, no, Gaviria was in the break. Finished 8th.

Tour de l'Avenir 2015: In one of the stages, don't remember which one, he was in the break, solo! Eventually he got caught and despite him being in the break all day, he still won the peloton sprint.

Tour de San Luis 2016: After winning the TTT and the first stage, Gaviria was obviously the leader in the GC. The Dutchman Koning or something was about to win and take the leaders jersey. Gaviria took it on his own and actually managed to split the peloton into pieces by going berserk on the final climb. Of course, he lost his leaders jersey, but he still won the peloton sprint for 2nd place, despite his efforts on the climb.

Tirreno: Won the 2nd stage with a 400m sprint (on the hoods!), and was one of the few sprinters who managed to hold on on the Montefalco climb, only to get dropped due to Cancellara going superhuman. In the second to last stage, he did tremendous work for Stybar in an 8(?) man break, saving no energy whatsoever for his GC chances.

Milano SanRemo: Was incredibly strong, survived the Cipressa and the Poggio with ease and was in pole position to win, in his first ever Milano SanRemo. Closed the gap to Cancellara(?) and van Avermaet as well.

So yeah, after watching him for a year or 4, I'm incredibly confident in saying that Gaviria is much more than just another sprinter. He can do it all, and isn't afraid to go in the attack as well.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

Hugely Impressive !

Just has to stay out of injuries.

Should end end up with a better plamares than Freire.

Very early to say that. Freire was such a monster because he was much more than just a fast sprinter.

So is Gaviria.

You should really stop hyping him up, when there's few members that constantly hype a rider, soon an extreme dislike of members follow

What has Gaviria shown so far beside sprinting? I mean I think it's good assumption he'll be preety good on cobbles, but there's nothing so far if he'll match Freire's magnificent hilly skills.

The way he closed the Gap to GVA and EBH was quite impressive. This shows that while being a very fast sprinter, he also has the ability to respond to atatcks.

Looking forward to see how he races DdV and GW.

 

[carton]

He clearly wants to be more than just a sprinter. But all we know for now is that he's a good sprinting prospect. Six years ago I was hearing the same things about Tyler Farrar: great prospect, beat Cav somewhere, and watch out, he wants to be more than just a sprinter. Even really good riders, like Hushovd, who really wanted to be more than sprinters at the pro level (he won under-23 Roubaix) didn't really end up having the physiology for the classics. Kittel wanted to be a time-trialist, for chris'sakes. Gaviria seems to have more versatile build but it's too early to tell.

I have high hopes for Gaviria. As insane as it sounds,I think it might've actually been good for him as a person to have lost out yesterday. If this is the hype he's getting now I shudder to think what it would've been like had he had won. A 21-year-old who's already had one significant over-training injury seems like someone who's already putting a lot of pressure on himself, no matter how much he tries to brush it off in interviews.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I hope Sagan and Cancellara reply to his tweets and tell him it's really ok. The boy can't stop apologizing and beating himself up over that crash. Poor kid.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

I hope Sagan and Cancellara reply to his tweets and tell him it's really ok. The boy can't stop apologizing and beating himself up over that crash. Poor kid.

Me too. Must be horrible to know that you ruined not only your own chances but also Cancellara's and Sagan's chances for a good result. Can happen to anyone though, I dont blame him for anything.

Can someone translate the Tweet of Petacchi?

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

I hope Sagan and Cancellara reply to his tweets and tell him it's really ok. The boy can't stop apologizing and beating himself up over that crash. Poor kid.

He needs to man up if he's ever going to get the mental fortitude needed to win lots of big races.

 

[yaco]

A very talented rider - I am waiting to see what will be his strongest suit - Had definite top end speed alongside the best sprinters - Can obviously ride a distance so some classics come into play - Can see him winning medium type mountain stages - The world is his oyster.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

I hope Sagan and Cancellara reply to his tweets and tell him it's really ok. The boy can't stop apologizing and beating himself up over that crash. Poor kid.

He needs to man up if he's ever going to get the mental fortitude needed to win lots of big races.

Being a young Colombian, he'll have a different menatility than Europeans, but it doesn't mean that he'll lack the necessary mental toughness to win the big ones.

He does need to relax a bit more though and not put too much pressure on himself, otherwise he might burn out at a young age.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

I hope Sagan and Cancellara reply to his tweets and tell him it's really ok. The boy can't stop apologizing and beating himself up over that crash. Poor kid.

He needs to man up if he's ever going to get the mental fortitude needed to win lots of big races.

One has nothing to do with the other.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

One has nothing to do with the other.

There are many examples of riders whose awesome physical qualities were nullified by a weak mind.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

One has nothing to do with the other.

There are many examples of riders whose awesome physical qualities were nullified by a weak mind.

Of course there are. I have no problem with that statement.

 

[del1962]

He will be fine, eveything I have seen of him speaks mental strength