how long before Sagan trips the tripwire

[blackcat]

made the break two days in a row or something.

he did somethine, non-Lomardi like. on more than one day.


like Cipo's indian summer at Tour of Cali. ol man river

 

[roundabout]

the only notable thing he did was riding something like 5 consecutive GTs.

edit: I think that Giro stage that he won was from a break. With Pantani among other people. He certainly was very strong that day.

but that was 2003

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8361

 

[TomasC]

...
Sagan was spotted in Madrid shortly after Flanders.
...

Well he himself retweeted this, so at least he did not go for a secret mission. But I also found it strange why would he go to Madrid in between Flanders and Ardennes.

 

[Benotti69]

Well he himself retweeted this, so at least he did not go for a secret mission. But I also found it strange why would he go to Madrid in between Flanders and Ardennes.

I bet Tyler Hamilton, Bjarne Riis, Franck Schleck, Valverde, Scarponi and lots of others dont find it strange

 

[BrentonOfTheNorth]

the only notable thing he did was riding something like 5 consecutive GTs.

edit: I think that Giro stage that he won was from a break. With Pantani among other people. He certainly was very strong that day.

but that was 2003

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8361

IIRC I remember that stage seeming so casual, as only half of the Giro starters remained at that point. Even Pantani attacked on the flat and the breakaway group wasn't much smaller than the peloton.

Casual as the one flat stage after this:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/giro03/?id=results/stage18
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=8359

Notice Wiggins in the 'donkey' stage of his development, outside the time limit.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Auch.

I don't think anyone believes in Sagan anyway. He doesn't exactly strike me as the anti-doping kind of guy. In fact, I don't think he cares about any rules at all. He reminds me a bit of Riccó in that sense. It's only a question of time before he gets too reckless and is caught.

I keep praying he's clean, mostly because I love his "zero f*cks" attitude. Cycling has never really been hurt by an 'enfant terible'. And he also shows real enthusiasm for team work (killing it for Moser at Strade, and pointing down the road at him as he got second).

He's certainly a phenom, but after the Prijs it's almost too good to be true. Gilbert's reaction was perfect...

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I keep praying he's clean, mostly because I love his "zero f*cks" attitude. Cycling has never really been hurt by an 'enfant terible'. And he also shows real enthusiasm for team work (killing it for Moser at Strade, and pointing down the road at him as he got second).

He's certainly a phenom, but after the Prijs it's almost too good to be true. Gilbert's reaction was perfect...

Thanks for the reminder, I had not seen the race vision. When Avermaet attacks, Sagan sits on the front for 2 minutes, dragging everyone back up to the duo - to within around 100m. One is dropping off, Greg is out of the saddle riding abloc and Sagan just hits the afterburners.

Gilbert sits on (mostly) his wheel for the entire time, sprints, and gets pwnd in the sprint by Sagan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uib7azejZbA

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Thanks for the reminder, I had not seen the race vision. When Avermaet attacks, Sagan sits on the front for 2 minutes, dragging everyone back up to the duo - to within around 100m. One is dropping off, Greg is out of the saddle riding abloc and Sagan just hits the afterburners.

Gilbert sits on (mostly) his wheel for the entire time, sprints, and gets pwnd in the sprint by Sagan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uib7azejZbA

What I meant by Gilbert's reaction was his head-bang and WTF! a few metres from the line when Sagz blows by him.

Sagz' work in the last 2.5km, and then his finish punch were what led me to tweet. "Totally. F*cking. ***". I love his schnitz, and don't want my heart broken...

 

[barn yard]

Gilbert sits on (mostly) his wheel for the entire time, sprints, and gets pwnd in the sprint by Sagan.

did you not watch roubaix?

 

[Dear Wiggo]

did you not watch roubaix?

I watched the final 2 hours of Roubaix, why do you ask?

We're talking about Sagan at the Prijs.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

What I meant by Gilbert's reaction was his head-bang and WTF! a few metres from the line when Sagz blows by him.

Sagz' work in the last 2.5km, and then his finish punch were what led me to tweet. "Totally. F*cking. ***". I love his schnitz, and don't want my heart broken...

I was thinking about the sprint on my ride just now. That was a p1ss poor effort from Gilbert, to be honest. Is he with BMC next year? Maybe he did such a weak sprint to let Sagan win as Sagan's bonus for winning is probably bigger? Sell him the win and he still gets second?

Just a theory.

 

[Ferminal]

I watched the final 2 hours of Roubaix, why do you ask?

We're talking about Sagan at the Prijs.

I think the comparison to Cancellara.

Not a good one for Peter in this context.

Need to be careful with our assessment of Gilbert too, think this is still closer to the 2012 version, 2011 may be done forever. He had to work too hard staying with Sagan on the hill.

 

[ebandit]

poor

I was thinking about the sprint on my ride just now. That was a p1ss poor effort from Gilbert, to be honest.

obviously gilbert lost but he was only just beaten by sagan

sagan was only able to raise 1 hand as he crossed the finish line...........his
huge effort did not allow 'usual' celebration

Mark L

 

[maltiv]

I keep praying he's clean, mostly because I love his "zero f*cks" attitude. Cycling has never really been hurt by an 'enfant terible'. And he also shows real enthusiasm for team work (killing it for Moser at Strade, and pointing down the road at him as he got second).

He's certainly a phenom, but after the Prijs it's almost too good to be true. Gilbert's reaction was perfect...

There's just something that isn't right when the 3rd best sprinter in the world can be by far the strongest rider in a hilly race. That shouldn't be possible today...

 

[Lanark]

There's just something that isn't right when the 3rd best sprinter in the world can be by far the strongest rider in a hilly race. That shouldn't be possible today...

It's not really that different from Boonen in the 2005-2007 period, who was a better sprinter at that time than Sagan was, and couldn't be dropped by anyone on the cobbled hills, and plenty of non-cobbled ones as well (like the Valkenberg in 2006).

 

[Ferminal]

Does Boonen hold up that well as a sprinter? I think he had a few easy kills in those days. I would put Cav and Greipel ahead of everyone back then except Petacchi. Sagan is probably #3 behind those two. Maybe not consistently on soft finishes, but add just a tiny difficulty and he's on their level.

Not sure though, and no doubt Pisti would disagree

 

[Lanark]

Really? I wouldn't put Greipel ahead of McEwen or Petacchi, probably on the level that Boonen was at that time. Cavendish is surely better, probably one of the best sprinters of all time, but I don't think there was a particularly weak sprinting field at that time. And Boonen won some straight bunch sprints in the Tour, Sagan hasn't done that yet.

Boonen sprint sucks now, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sagan loses some of his speed in the future when he starts focusing more on races like Liège.

 

[Lanark]

This is still one of the most impressive things I've seen a bunch sprinter do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CHGaPcVuhT8#t=338s

But I'm not sure if a comparison to Freire bringing back two known blood dopers is really in Sagan's favor

 

[Ferminal]

What about Davis, O'Grady and Hondo!

I liked Valverde's win in a hard sprint in the Vuelta that year.

 

[will10]

If we're talking about sprinters climbing like angels then there is only one candidate.

Candido Barbosa.

(NB: Only applicable in the month of August)

 

[saganftw]

Thanks for the reminder, I had not seen the race vision. When Avermaet attacks, Sagan sits on the front for 2 minutes, dragging everyone back up to the duo - to within around 100m. One is dropping off, Greg is out of the saddle riding abloc and Sagan just hits the afterburners.

Gilbert sits on (mostly) his wheel for the entire time, sprints, and gets pwnd in the sprint by Sagan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uib7azejZbA

funny thing people outside clinic argued that sagan wasnt so strong because he is a lot better sprinter than gilbert yet won only by very little...you claim some pwnage

so which one is it?

 

[Parrulo]

If we're talking about sprinters climbing like angels then there is only one candidate.

Candido Barbosa.

(NB: Only applicable in the month of August)

now that is a sprinter climbing!!!!!!

every1 else is an amateur compared to good old 80 Kg Candido doing this on a 28km long climb (over 1 hour effort) with grades up to 17% in some parts

1. JIMENEZ SANCHEZ Eladio KGZ 4h14'48" 25
2. TONDO VOLPINI Xavier MAI 13" 15
3. BARBOSA Candido Joaquim Venda Moreira LSE 55" 10
4. GUERRA GARCIA Hector LSE 55" 5
5. BERNABEU ARMENGOL Vicente David FTV 01'43" 3
6. AZEVEDO Jose Bento Carvalho SLB 02'09" 0
7. SEVILLA RIBERA Oscar REG 03'03" 0
8. RODRIGUES Jose Carlos Silva ASC 03'28" 0
9. CARDOSO Pedro Antonio Alves MAI 03'28" 0
10. BLANCO RODRIGUEZ David DUJ 03'28" 0

 

[Dear Wiggo]

funny thing people outside clinic argued that sagan wasnt so strong because he is a lot better sprinter than gilbert yet won only by very little...you claim some pwnage

so which one is it?

Not sure if you've seen traditional sprints before, but they usually involve a train leading out the sprinter. In the race in question, Sagan "lead out" the final 2km, solo, including a pretty solid hill. Gilbert came around him very close to the line and then Sagan came back.

Not pwnd as in beating him by a large margin in the sprint, just beating him at all, given Gilbert pretty much sat on his wheel for 2km and then tried to outsprint him. And failed, clearly.

 

[Ripper]

Thanks for the reminder, I had not seen the race vision. When Avermaet attacks, Sagan sits on the front for 2 minutes, dragging everyone back up to the duo - to within around 100m. One is dropping off, Greg is out of the saddle riding abloc and Sagan just hits the afterburners.

Gilbert sits on (mostly) his wheel for the entire time, sprints, and gets pwnd in the sprint by Sagan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uib7azejZbA

TBH, Gilbert also opened up his sprint too early and misjudged the finish. The road had flattened out and there was a headwind, so Phil was burning the jet fuel big time and it was partly Sagan overtaking him, partly him slowing down.

Not saying Sagan's performances are suspect, just saying that this was not all Sagan crushing Gilbert.

Sunday should be interesting

 

[JimmyFingers]

Interesting debate over Sagan: he has been a phenom from a very early age, and while he is ridiculously good now, heads and shoulders above everyone else, it is in line with his general development curve. There's no spike in performance that usually gets people riled.

Plus he can pull skidz: