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Dekker_Tifosi said:Last 33km of tomorrows stage
The last uphill bit is 3.2km at 9.8% with maximum of 20% according to track4bikers
Maaaaaaaarten said:Maybe Rabo can attack on the first steep bit, then do a TTT in the flat middle section with Gesink, Mollema, Kruijswijk, Slagter and Ten Dam?
Dekker_Tifosi said:But will Valverde hang on? Even on Mende in PN he couldn't. I'm not too confident in Valverde's climbing ability atm
I think Costa is much stronger
Bala Verde said:Did Gesink 'save' himself for the last part of the ITT?
Discrepencies in perception does not necessarily implies contradiction. He could be "feeling blown" and be fastDekker_Tifosi said:To come back to this. In the interview with Rabosport he said he was 'emtpy' in the final part and got a 'total blow'. Yet he won most time there.
Bavarianrider said:Rather modest time gaps. Seems like the route was easier then it looked at first glance.
Klöden and Gesink seem to be on track for Le Tour
Dekker_Tifosi said:Considering the avg speed it was a very hard ITT.
The small time gaps are because nobody was 'hors categorie' today. If Wiggins was here he would be 1/1.30 faster than Kessiakoff...
Bavarianrider said:True, didn't look at the average speed at first. Pretty low, so yes it must have been pretty hilly.
Considering this, guys like Valverde should have done better.
Dekker_Tifosi said:http://www.rabosport.nl/wielrennen/...=socialmedia&utm_campaign=rabowielrennen_feed
Gesink himself said he had a bad feeling in the time trial. Especially at the end (where he won most time lol...). He also says he has no idea how he will fare in the mountains this weekend. "It's a suprise even for me".
The wind picked up towards the afternoon. I think that's why Gesink's time uphill initially seemed disappointing, and then it turned out no one except Rui Costa could beat it anymore. It's good news for him that on the last flatter part, where power and aerodynamics matter the most, he was just 3 seconds slower than Cancellara, while riding into a headwind.Dekker_Tifosi said:Well F.Schleck was 10th at the first split, which was at the top of the Pfannenstiel (the hill that used to be in Züri Metzgete).
But on the flat/technical bit they all lost a lot of time. One of the few climbers who kept the same pace as Kessiakoff/Cancellara was.... Gesink. He won a lot of time on other GC riders in the technical/flat part
robert_c said:Did you guys catch Burghardt's start?
http://www.steephill.tv/players/you...shboard=tour-de-suisse&id=5bTCXpBBbp0&yr=2012
greenedge said:If Gesink can be as good as he was in the mountains at the TOC and ITT like he is currently he will definitely be a big threat. I was wrong with the Kreuziger pick but it looks like he will top 3.
Congrats to Kessiakoff who is a rider who is realising his potential.
Cancellara will own at the TDF in the ITT's ( hopefully ).
gregrowlerson said:This time trial clearly shows that RS would be worth their weight in the Tour. Hopefully the politics can stay out of it. And Gesink is definitely a strong contender; possibly the biggest threat to Wiggins and Evans. I am really looking forward to stage 7 in le tour to see how the big guns are really going. And as for the Swiss race, the parcours has been alright. Does everyone complain about a climb nowadays if the gradient doesn't exceed 10%?