Is Gilbert playing poker?

[greenedge]

I think he will be present at M-SR but i think his peak will be either one of RvV or at the Ardennes.

 

[Panda Claws]

Pressure might also play a part in it.

Last year he 'had' to win all those races, because no-one else would/could. Now he can just sit back and leave it to his teammates.

 

[The Hitch]

He will be, if Pozzato is still there

lol good one

 

[hfer07]

I'm inclined to believe he's just letting the "other BMC leaders" do what they can come up with-and since they're failing so badly lately- he will demand "undisputable & sole" leadership for RVV & the Ardennes-after that-he will go back to his current "Hibernation state" just to get ready for the Olimpics & the Worlds

 

[eljimberino]

Showing up and not riding as fast as possible, worse than not showing up at all?

 

[Afrank]

Pressure might also play a part in it.

Last year he 'had' to win all those races, because no-one else would/could. Now he can just sit back and leave it to his teammates.

Only problem with that is none of his teammates are winning either.

pressure is probably playing some kind of role in it, part of his reasons for going to BMC was there would be less pressure to repeat his 2011 season. But when you win half the races on the calander no matter what team you go to theres going to be some pressure to repeat.

 

[royalpig180]

I don't think today's finish suited him all that well, so I don't think that this is necessarily indicative of his form. The climb was altogether too long for him.

 

[AussieGoddess]

I think he has certainly planned to peak later this year.

Last year he really tried to be ready for MSR .... he was good in Feb, good in March, absolutely incredible in April and May, great in July and August and started to run out of steam by mid sept and out of contention by Lombardy.

I think he has decided to sacrifice a bit of his form early on to peak for Ardennes, Olympics, WC and Lombardy.

 

[royalpig180]

I think he has certainly planned to peak later this year.

Last year he really tried to be ready for MSR .... he was good in Feb, good in March, absolutely incredible in April and May, great in July and August and started to run out of steam by mid sept and out of contention by Lombardy.

I think he has decided to sacrifice a bit of his form early on to peak for Ardennes, Olympics, WC and Lombardy.

I agree. I imagine this year he'll be in mediocre form in March/early April, decent form by late April/May good form by July and incredible form from mid July until mid September.

 

[luckyboy]

If he's only in decent form by late April then that's a few of this year's objectives out the window.

 

[Swede1]

Haha if Gilbert is faking, it would be the best sandbagging any rider has ever done. Somehow I doubt it, and he is just plain outa shape. Bummer for bmc. Thor seems to be in ****ty form too, luckily they can rely on GVA and Ballan for decent results in the earlier classics.

 

[Maxiton]

I tend to think that of the races he's targeting, he's going to win more than not. Call it sand-bagging, keeping your powder dry, playing poker. I just call it smart racing.

This stands in contradistinction to Cancellara's I-always-race-to-win approach. (At least, that's what Cancellara says it is. Too bad he often accompanies this strategy by talking-to-lose, such as last year when he announced to all and sundry, "fasten your seatbelts.")

But why show what you've got in the early season, by dominating races you don't highly value? In fact, when you go into the season as the man most marked, why not do everything you can to make it appear you just really aren't on form?

I dunno, maybe he just doesn't have it now. I'll bet he really finds it, though, when he most needs it.

 

[Panda Claws]

He is just letting the other captains fail, so that he can step in for the monuments without creditable co-leaders.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Nah, I'm sure he didn't went into the red zone today, but he's just looking for a slower build up than last year. Brabantse Pijl, mark that date on your calender.

Hmmm, I think he was trying as images do show him exerting himself but Lelangue does not seem remotely bothered with how he is going at the moment so maybe he knows something we all don't.

I still do think his form isn't that good at the moment. He'll start firing soon imo.

 

[El Pistolero]

You think Farrar is a favorite as well? He had 0 chance to win De Ronde that year, Vlaanderen often ends in a semi-bunch sprint behind the people who made the race, but that doesn't mean those people could win (because the race never actually ends in a bunch sprint). If Gilbert only has his spring-2009 shape, he won't win a single classic. Luckily, I'm not as pessimistic as you are, still 1.5 month to Liege.

Are you really that ignorant? Getting third is getting ready in time for the Ronde. You said he wouldn't be able to get ready in time for the Ronde because of his current form. He can and he has done already. If he rode for Quick Step that day, he could have won the Ronde lol.

He has improved a lot since 2009, I have no doubt in my mind that he will win a few classics this spring season actually. I never said he's only going to reach his spring 2009 shape. I said that in 2009 he had a really crappy early season form(had to abandon Paris-Nice for example) and yet he got third in the Ronde, won the Cauberg sprint in Amstel and fourth in LBL. That was his best spring season up to that point. Hardly a disaster