Friday, june 15th - Tour de Suisse, stage 7: gossau- Gossau 34km ITT

[Parrulo]

so finally de tour de sagan is over and we get another GC relevant stage.

stage profile:

GC before the final itt(assuming nothing happens on today's stage ):
1 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 20:53:27
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:08
3 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:00:15
4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:00:19
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:21
6 Thomas Löfkvist (Swe) Sky Procycling
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:23
8 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:24
9 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:26
10 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:29
11 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Pro Team Astana 0:00:32
12 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:33
13 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma - QuickStep 0:00:37
14 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:40
15 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha Team 0:00:41
16 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:47
17 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:00:57
18 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha Team 0:00:58
19 Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:01
20 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:09

bolded riders are imo the ones that have a shot at the overall taking into account the itt and the mountain stages left.

Last year's tour de suisse ITT thread proved to be one of the most entertaining threads in the history of this forum, could bottle repeat the feat of reaching the lead with a great itt and maybe provide another great forum breakdown moment? Can Rui Costa hold his lead? will frank schleck lose too much time? just some of the questions ahead of this itt

 

[Parrulo]

before any1 asks, here are some of Rui Costa's most relevant itt results for the past year:

Critérium du Dauphiné, Stage 3 : Grenoble - Grenoble I.T.T. (42.5 km)
1. MARTIN Tony THR 55'27" 40
2. WIGGINS Bradley SKY 11" 25
3. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald SKY 43" 15
4. ZABRISKIE David GRM 58" 10
5. BRAJKOVIC Janez RSH 01'17" 5
6. EVANS Cadel BMC 01'20" 3
7. THOMAS Geraint SKY 01'36" 2
8. RIBLON Christophe ALM 01'37" 1
9. TAARAMÄE Rein COF 01'56" 0
10. COSTA Rui Alberto Faria MOV 02'00" 0

Volta ao Algarve, Stage 5 : Lagoa - Portimao I.T.T. (25.8 km):
1. WIGGINS Bradley SKY 32'48" 20
2. MARTIN Tony OPQ 10
3. PORTE Richie SKY 13" 5
4. VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC 14" 3
5. SERGENT Jesse RNT 14" 0
6. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen LTB 28" 0
7. TALANSKY Andrew GRM 39" 0
8. KWIATKOWSKI Michal OPQ 53" 0
9. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald SKY 56" 0
10. SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon RAB 56" 0
11. OVECHKIN Artem RVL 57" 0
12. LARSSON Gustav Erik VCD 57" 0
13. COSTA Rui Alberto Faria MOV 59" 0

Tour de Romandie, Stage 5 : Crans-Montana - Crans-Montana I.T.T. (16.5 km):
1. WIGGINS Bradley SKY 28'56" 40
2. TALANSKY Andrew GRM 25
3. PORTE Richie SKY 16" 15
4. COSTA Rui Alberto Faria MOV 22" 10
5. KREUZIGER Roman AST 40" 5
6. SZMYD Sylwester LIQ 41" 3
7. ROGERS Michael SKY 42" 2
8. PINOT Thibaut FDJ 52" 1
9. DE GENDT Thomas VCD 53" 0
10. BRAJKOVIC Janez AST 54" 0

 

[greenedge]

I shall still say Kreuziger will take the lead ( though Costa might be able to use the hills well ). Fuglsang, Danielson and Levi to also go well. I think Moser could also go well here- he has looked so strong.

Cancellara to win the stage.

 

[theyoungest]

before any1 asks, here are some of Rui Costa's most relevant itt results for the past year:

And by most relevant, you mean the best?

Costa always seems to go well in hilly TTs. This is a hilly TT. 1+1=2. Costa still in the lead after tomorrow.

 

[Parrulo]

And by most relevant, you mean the best?

Costa always seems to go well in hilly TTs. This is a hilly TT. 1+1=2. Costa still in the lead after tomorrow.

only ones missing are the 10k one from TA and the one from VaPV. i thought that the TA one was too short to be relevant as it was almost a prologue and he wasn't really fighting for anything at the VaPV one, even tho he didn't even do that badly there being iirc 1 minute down on samu.

 

[kanari]

i'll say that Costa will keep his jersey with Fuglsang or Levi following him in the GC after this stage.

 

[iZnoGouD]

1. Fabian Cancellara
2. Andreas Kloden
3. Rui Costa

 

[trevim]

It remains to be seen how Rui can handle the pressure of riding with the yellow jersey in the TT.

 

[iZnoGouD]

he is no C.Ronaldo

 

[Angliru]

What I remember is what made last year's TdS thread so entertaining were the immediate responses to Leipheimer taking the win from Cunego in the last stage. Best laugh (brought tears to my eyes) that I'd had on a forum in years. Classic!

 

[Bavarianrider]

A very tough TT. Can't see a rolleur like Cancellara winning this one.

 

[jens_attacks]

rui costa ftw and he will extend his advantage big time.

 

[cineteq]

Bobby Gesink to rip this course apart. Remember Oman?

 

[iZnoGouD]

he won't make top 5

 

[cineteq]

he won't make top 5

Yes, I'm aware this is a Portuguese thread, sorry to have interrupted it with such bad news

 

[TeoSheva]

the ITT should suite Levi very well, but I think that he's out of shape..

 

[LaFlorecita]

Rui Rui Rui!!!!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well lately Gesink has been doing better in flat ITT's than hilly ones

Hope by now the form is good. We'll see. Otherwise, nothing lost, Nibali was nowhere in the dauphine either.

 

[dlwssonic]

Well lately Gesink has been doing better in flat ITT's than hilly ones

Hope by now the form is good. We'll see. Otherwise, nothing lost, Nibali was nowhere in the dauphine either.

Maybe Nibali will be nowhere in le tour too
Not likely though.

Leipheimer but he is still off form.

 

[LaFlorecita]

So excited for this! Does anyone have any start times?

 

[c&cfan]

A very tough TT. Can't see a rolleur like Cancellara winning this one.

canc isn't tony. he can actually go over hills and drop world class riders on then and he has the biggest engine right now.

shame he isn't at his best.

 

[theyoungest]

A very tough TT. Can't see a rolleur like Cancellara winning this one.

Cancellara has won much harder TTs than this. Depends on his form.

 

[hoerpi]

I think Löfkvist can climb on the GC rank after the stage tomorrow. He is not a bad TTer and climbs okay, didn't lose too much on the stage to Verbier.

 

[maltiv]

I think Löfkvist can climb on the GC rank after the stage tomorrow. He is not a bad TTer and climbs okay, didn't lose too much on the stage to Verbier.

I hope you're right, but it's been a long time since he's done a good ITT. In pre 2010 form he would probably be top 10 or even top 5 on a TT like this but nowadays he rarely breaks the top 20 in ITTs.

 

[Fetisoff]

Just hope bottle doesn't win this.

I'll go out on a bit of a limb, and say that after this stage 1-2-3 in GC will be Costa-Gusev-Kreuziger