Il Lombardia 2015, Oct 4th

[LoloKoko]

Nibali! I love him. I hate him. Aargh. One of the great for sure and yet gives off a slightly unpleasant odor...

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

this * race is not a monument. so weak competition, lombardia at these days, looks more like the nationals

Which has higher competition?

 

[Vesica]

^^ looks like cramp indeed for Chaves

 

[staubsauger]

Re:

Actually Rai reported that Chaves had cramps.

That's what Eurosport said as well.

 

[phil-i-am]

Guys, there's no need to answer to portugal11 posts. He's either 11 years old kid from Portugal, who still have a time to understand what cycling truely is, or he's just a regular troll that we shouldn't feed here.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Actually Rai reported that Chaves had cramps.

heard the same too- very bad timing for him to have them Aside from Nibbs I was really excited to see Chavez performing so well before that....

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

this * race is not a monument. so weak competition, lombardia at these days, looks more like the nationals

Alrighty then . What a non-sense. The field was strong, and talk about a race: Kwiat's and Wellens' ballsy long breakaway, Gilbert's attempts to get back, masterpiece descents from Nibali, Moreno's and Pinot's performances, wow! Coming off the "rate the WCRR" thread, how about that one? Great course, great racing.

 

[sir fly]

Great conclusion of the Monuments' season.
I've enjoyed.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Actually Rai reported that Chaves had cramps.

heard the same too- very bad timing for him to have them Aside from Nibbs I was really excited to see Chavez performing so well before that....

Yeah, he attacked on San Fermo and almost immediately stopped, grabbed his leg and was passed by the others.

 

[johnymax]

Brilliant race! Vincenzo is a true racer. One of the very few left in the cycling world. He finds ways to win even when he is not the strongest. Hats off to him.

What about Rosa!? So strong. Wow. Maybe the strongest rider today and a huge reason why Nibali managed to get the win. I am curious to see his development in the future. He should have more freedom next year.

Congrats to Moreno and Pinot also. For the latter it seems he is getting better the harder and the more difficult the race gets. Dani surprised me a lot. It was nice to see once again what he is capable of when he gets freedom to race for himself. Impressive today. Chaves was also looking good. I don't know what happened then. Valverde strong but still not enough.

 

[johnymax]

Re: Re:

Nibali wins the race in the downhill. What a surprise

How is that a surprise? Nibs by far the best descender in the front group. He couldn't make the gap uphill, Nibs style to try downhill as a section option.

I think Valverde is just as good of a descender as Nibali (or really close) but he made a mistake not following his attack.

 

[whittashau]

Congrats Vincenzo. I remember being on the forum in 2011-12 and people were talking about how he would never been a good enough climber to win another GT after his "fluke" Vuelta win, and how he wasn't explosive enough to win a monument.

Two GT wins later he now has his monument. Truly a great racer. One that will probably be appreciated more once he has left the sport.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Rosa was extremely strong. Could he have won? We will never know

 

[Climbing]

Re:

Rosa was extremely strong. Could he have won? We will never know

Many experts expects him to have a brilliant career, but you never know in cycling what's behind the next corner.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

If Nibali wins this I will be disappointed; this race was looking perfect up till now. I couldn't wait for a showdown near the end, and now this....

kind of evident that the sky fan is disappointed by a long range attack because obviously, only racing on the final climb can be good racing

 

[Climbing]

 

[seabridge]

So first italian monument win since when? 08??

 

[mspgrandi]

Re: Re:

Actually Rai reported that Chaves had cramps.

heard the same too- very bad timing for him to have them Aside from Nibbs I was really excited to see Chavez performing so well before that....

It is not unusual for certain riders after 230km to hit the limit. They say only a few selected riders in the world can win a 250km stage

 

[mspgrandi]

Re:

So first italian monument win since when? 08??

Probably although today was more a GT in one day... so tough, if they draw lombardia like this between Nibali and Aru they will take a few more

 

[sir fly]

Re:

That's the image.

 

[fauniera]

Re: Re:

Great course, great racing.

Exactly. I hope the course stays the same for many years.

 

[mspgrandi]

Re: Re:

Rosa was extremely strong. Could he have won? We will never know

Many experts expects him to have a brilliant career, but you never know in cycling what's behind the next corner.

no he couldnt stay with moreno and pinot on final climb

 

[bassano]

very nice end, hopefully race course will stay the same for next year
congratulazione for Vincenzo he tried so much, he deserved it, also moreno and pinot big congrats and lot of thanks to Diego Rosa, he could fight for win too if he was a leader in his team

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Actually Rai reported that Chaves had cramps.

That's what Eurosport said as well.

Never seen a rider make such a quick recovery from cramps.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Great course, great racing.

Exactly. I hope the course stays the same for many years.

I'd say the opposite, use this course every once in a while but have a slightly easier course in most years. With such a hard course, there are only a few possible winners.