Louis Meintjes thread

[CheckMyPecs]

South Africa has had many decent cyclists, but Louis Meintjes is probably the first one with the potential to shake things up in the general classification of Grand Tours. He finished 10th in La Vuelta last year and has already racked up a few victories in his career. Now he's expected to challenge for the white jersey in the Tour de France.

2014

-National RR Championships

2015

-Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
-Stage 4, Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
-African RR Championships

 

[Laplaz]

Maybe he can Top10 this year, but nothing more imo

 

[Kwibus]

He was top 10 Liege last year as well. He's looking better than last year, but same goes for most GC contenders with the exception of AC, but that has ovvious reasons. Wednesday none of the expected contenders lost time, unless you expected Nibali and Dumoulin which I didn't.

Looking forward if he can top 10.

 

[SafeBet]

Dreadful first half of the year, I thought Lampre was ruining him.
But it seems he's peaking at the right time and a top10 is achiavable. He should stop riding always at the back of the group though.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Barguil showed signs of weakness today, whereas Alaphilippe at least managed to attack without getting dropped later. No-one seems to be head and shoulders above the rest so Meintjes might have a decent chance in the young rider classification.

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Barguil showed signs of weakness today, whereas Alaphilippe at least managed to attack without getting dropped later. No-one seems to be head and shoulders above the rest so Meintjes might have a decent chance in the young rider classification.

Barguil was back on, not sure when but certainly by the 1km debacle. It's a little worrying but I think he'll be ok. Does look like it'll be Meintjes and Barguil, maybe Alaphillipe but it would be surprising if he hung on.

 

[yaco]

A.Yates was ahead of all these guys before the Flamme Rough fell on him.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I think that top 20 is a very reasonable goal. Perhaps he can even get as high as 15'ish.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

He finished in Purito's group yesterday.

 

[SafeBet]

He's top10 material when the road goes up, but his bike handling and ability to ride in the peloton are suspicious at best. Yesterday in the echelons he lost contact and then came back a lot of times before the final split. No help from his team also.

 

[carolina]

he had several teammates in the group but they weren't helping him at all. it's a shame.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

he had several teammates in the group but they weren't helping him at all. it's a shame.

Been like that throughout the entire competition. Lampre is shameless.

They don't even try to hide the fact that they're a bunch of clueless people without work ethic, a team where everyone thinks they're free to ride for themselves and/or have no obligation whatsoever to do domestique work for the appointed leader. What really grinds my gears is seeing the team leader in every single race, whoever it be, trying to position himself alone, always without help, while a bunch of mediocre, self-entitled riders who are even lucky they're at WT level, are scattered along the rode, often having a chat among themselves. It's infuriating.

 

[BigMac]

Diesel Meintjes. You can tell he's not that strong to attack and fight it mano-a-mano, but manages to limit his losses and slowly crawl up the group as his opponents go downhill one by one.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Diesel Meintjes. You can tell he's not that strong to attack and fight it mano-a-mano, but manages to limit his losses and slowly crawl up the group as his opponents go downhill one by one.

He's too frail, though. He really needs to put some weight on, both upper-body muscle (for stamina) and fat (to make sure he doesn't run out of reserves in the third week).

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Diesel Meintjes. You can tell he's not that strong to attack and fight it mano-a-mano, but manages to limit his losses and slowly crawl up the group as his opponents go downhill one by one.

He's small and good on steep gradients, as is Yates or Martin.

 

[yaco]

Still an outside chance for the white jersey. I worry about the TT.

 

[SafeBet]

Again, he should stop riding at the back. He wastes too much energy. I think he could end up being a top5 climber in the final stages.

 

[movingtarget]

He has been impressive considering his experience at this level. Wonder how much he can improve ?

 

[yaco]

Had a good tour and still an outside chance for the white jersey.

 

[hrotha]

He's been very dull.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Come on! Meintjes for the white jersey!

 

[el chava]

Conservative riding but still very impressive. Seems to be all by himself on the climbs.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Conservative riding but still very impressive. Seems to be all by himself on the climbs.

Strikingly similar to Adam Yates, actually.

 

[BigMac]

He can be excused for riding conservatively. His first top ten attempt at the Tour, finishing within the best is still a good and better achievement for him than aiming higher and failing miserably. After this he should attempt to best his previous results by being more and more attacking.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Yates has got this. He paid the price of a hard chase after a mechanical today, but he's got bigger fish to fry than Meinjtes

Those fish are sometimes known as Bardet and Quintana