Joaquim 'Purito' Rodriguez Discussion thread

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I must admit, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with this guys racing style. The attacks on short steep walls and racing in classics is fine with me and I kinda admire his exploits on Monte Lupone and Muur de Huy...

But his racing in GT's is making me sad. Always the same wheelsucking till 800m to go and sprint. Only difference was dauphine 11 on l'allevard and earlier in his career, but then he always blew..

 

[roundabout]

He is who he is. What I don't like are people pretending that he is some sort of an attacking rider or a bona fide GC contender (allthough I admit that this Giro has done a lot for his status).

 

[jsem94]

Agreed with above post. He is who he is, he doesn't pretend to be a climber than can attack from the base of a climb. He does what he does best.

 

[airstream]

I can't understand how it can be advisable to criticize someone who was always a surviving one in the high mountains and extracted 150% out of it in this Giro.

 

[180mmCrank]

He's working his @ss off - give the guy a break.

T

 

[The Hitch]

Im very impressed that J Rod is looking like he is going to take a gt podium.

Even if you take away the ttt he has been the strongest guy in the race. He has at one point or another dropped Basso dropped Scarponi, dropped Hejsdal, and of course has easily out performed other guys who were expected to beat him.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

But yet. When Evans does this, he gets tons and tons of critics.

Purito does it. It's fine and dandy

Double standards here are annoying me

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Purito is always a guy who can do it over short and medium mountains, but over the big long ones it's always going to be the last 2km for him; he has good burst but less endurance when attacking. We saw in 2008 from when he attacked, attacked some more and attacked again but always ran out of gas (usually in the face of pressure from a totally CERAd up Emanuele Sella to be fair) that he wasn't suited to it. Similarly, he stuck with Contador longer than Valverde on Angliru, but Valverde could catch and pass him.

Purito's lack of TT will always harm him, and his ability to crush for 1-2km makes him a threat in hilly and medium mountain races. He is always a figure to keep an eye on for the GC, but he isn't a true GC threat at the GTs, you would say. After all, his chronic TT put paid to his 2010 Vuelta, his inconsistency his 2010 Tour, and lack of ability to attack from distance always means that it's hard for him to win back the time he's lost - as shown in the 2011 Vuelta when he tried in a wide variety of ways to win back the time he lost on the grinding climbs, and only succeeded in blowing himself up on the next mountain.

Each time he comes to a GT he comes for the GC, and regularly spends a bit of time at the top end, but falls away, because ultimately he's quite limited as a rider.

Do not blame Purito for riding defensively today and for only attacking near the end; it's just what he's got in him. Blame the other riders being so timid, and the course being chocked full of medium mountains up until the last three days, for meaning that he's still doing that with the leader's jersey on on the penultimate day.

 

[fluffkitten]

But yet. When Evans does this, he gets tons and tons of critics.

Purito does it. It's fine and dandy

Double standards here are annoying me

Hardly either rider's fault. But then I tend not to criticise.

 

[maltiv]

No one noticed that Purito attacked twice on the Mortirolo today? Sure, the attacks weren't very impressive, but he was the only favourite who gave it a go, even if he had the pink jersey.

Also, keeping a decent pace and then attacking in the last kilometre is really all he can do. He simply isn't good enough to ride away from a group and maintain his gap. He was probably on his limits all day and his trademark 1 km to go attack wasn't even that impressive - which means that if he had tried anything earlier he'd been dropped big time.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But yet. When Evans does this, he gets tons and tons of critics.

Purito does it. It's fine and dandy

Double standards here are annoying me

But Purito doesn't do what Evans (used to) do.
Purito gets the lead of the race, then sits on people who should be attacking him until it's close enough to the finish for him to do his thing. Evans used to sit on people and let them do the work, waiting for the ITT to beat them. Purito will lose in the ITT, so he has to do something, but he also knows he doesn't have the endurance for a long-range attack so he waits until it's inside his range. The steeper the climb, the longer his range is.

It's frustrating to watch at times, but it's the product of having a limited skillset. Evans didn't have a limited skillset, he just was prepared to lean heavily on one skill to the detriment of others. A bit like Valverde sitting in and waiting for the sprint in one-day races, I guess. Valverde's skill-set is not limited like Purito's, so it's more annoying when he doesn't take advantage of it.

 

[theyoungest]

But you could argue that in the case of Evans, sitting on was a smart thing to do, he could trust on his TT. Rodriguez needs every second he can get uphill, yet he rides like Evans or Menchov. I know he's limited in his climbing skills, but he's even more limited in his TT skills, so...

On the other hand, he's certainly doing great for a guy who isn't a real climber.

 

[roundabout]

No one noticed that Purito attacked twice on the Mortirolo today? Sure, the attacks weren't very impressive, but he was the only favourite who gave it a go, even if he had the pink jersey.

Also, keeping a decent pace and then attacking in the last kilometre is really all he can do. He simply isn't good enough to ride away from a group and maintain his gap. He was probably on his limits all day and his trademark 1 km to go attack wasn't even that impressive - which means that if he had tried anything earlier he'd been dropped big time.

With 17 seconds gap over a better time trialist on paper there's no such thing as "even if he had the jersey".

And his attacks were more of "maybe Hesjedal has nothing left and I can win by default" variety than any serious attempts to put him under pressure.

 

[hrotha]

On days like this, Purito is what he is, an uphill sprinter. The rest of the year, he's a climber, look at the Tourmalet in 2010.

 

[roundabout]

On days like this, Purito is what he is, an uphill sprinter. The rest of the year, he's a climber, look at the Tourmalet in 2010.

Nice bit of sarcasm.

 

[Lanark]

Rodriguez showed on the Collet D'Allevard that he can do more than a 1 kilometer sprint. In the Giro to Sestriere he showed the same. He is not as limited as some people are suggesting.

Now I would agree that a short burst of speed suits him better than an endurance effort, you can't blame people who don't like him because of that (I don't like Leipheimer either, although leeching on the wheel of the guy in front of him is most likely a good strategy for him).

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

On days like this, Purito is what he is, an uphill sprinter. The rest of the year, he's a climber, look at the Tourmalet in 2010.

? On the Tourmalet he sucked Gesinks wheel until 1km to go and attacked

 

[hrotha]

? On the Tourmalet he sucked Gesinks wheel until 1km to go and attacked

No, I'm talking about the people who defend Purito.

For me it's pretty clear if you can do these climbs with the best, you're strong enough to use a different tactic.

 

[taiwan]

I don't criticise Evans or even Leipheimer for 'wheelsucking', so even handedness doesn't require me to do it to Rodriguez. On every stage he's shown himself to be consistently in the top three climbers, and he's been using his finishing speed effectively. I admit it's repetitive, but he doesn't have enough advantage over these contenders to be able to make a long range attack likely to stick, and the stakes are high.

The uphill sprinter tag could be used if he was weak in the high mountains, but in this race you can't say he has been.

 

[cineteq]

MODS: Due to so many praises, this thread should be change immediately to Appreciation thread.

Obviously the original poster cannot differentiate between wheelsucking and smart riding.

 

[The Hitch]

When Purito came 3rd (2nd even) on le tourmalet, when did he drop the guys who finished behind him?

 

[JA.Tri]

I was hoping for fireworks today...(well TDG did a good job) and thought JRod would (along with Scarponi) be aggressive and put the hurt on Ryder et al. Unfortunately my vision was not met (bummer). I believe they both played it safe, aiming for a high GC finish but not gambling all, for a possible GC win.

Maybe JRod feared exploding and kept to his routine, thereby minimizing his "losses"...as in, avoiding the possibility of disintegrating while also gaining a few seconds with his last minute sprint.

Likewise Scarponi...he was hanging on, about on the limit, only really pushing when he "knew" he could finish without "dying" before the finish.

I was disappointed, but then I was not facing invidious choices.

 

[icefire]

Purito was reading this forum yesterday and saw that all the discussion was about the points jersey.

 

[sartoris]

But yet. When Evans does this, he gets tons and tons of critics.

Purito does it. It's fine and dandy

Double standards here are annoying me

They're completely different riders. Double standards don't apply here. Settle down and try to enjoy even if your hero isn't riding.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I enjoyed the past 2 stages of the Giro. But it sure as hell was not because of Rodriguez