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Re: Re:
I was thinking that it would be the only pink jersey he ever gets to wearAlexandre B. said:
To be fair. Another former top climber finished 36th, 7 minutes behind him.
I am not going to judge GT guys based on their performance on a random climbing stage in february. I mean even in his good years he rarely had any good results early in the season. Meintjes is a special case. The guy finished top 10 in GTs 3x. Finished top 10 in other WT stage races 2x.
That said. Maybe the stage hunting deprived him of his ninja powers. I saw him on the screen during the Vuelta and that´s never a good sign. Even at his worst Zubeldia was able to hide himself and finish15th-30th in a GT. Same should be possible for Meintjes.
Do you realise that Meintjes has never won a race past March in his professional career - He is usually in shape with the SA National championship in February.
With a third year in a row without any sign of performance, I think we might conclude that Meintjes is not on WT level anymore. Still curious about how that happened though. He was 25 when he had his best season and boom - nothing anymore after that. But I guess the human body can be a mysterium.
- Jan 4, 2020
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Well, he was with two different teams between his two DD/NTT/Qhubeka stints. Two 8ths at the Tour those years but I don't think anyone would have missed him even if he had been abducted by aliens mid race.
That's way too harsh, he still climbs well enough to be a useful domestique.
- Feb 20, 2010
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A domestique may have to put their nose in the wind, though.
- Aug 3, 2015
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Lmao
"Two 8ths at the Tour those years but I don't think anyone would have missed him even if he had been abducted by aliens mid race."
This is also a golden comment by jaylew. I love the Louis Meintjens bashing, even though he really seems like a good guy. But its all fun and games.
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Because they have so many other great riders? Really, I get Meintjes did not live up to the expectations, but that whole NTT team is so bad right now, Meintjes certainly isn't too bad in comparison.
- Sep 2, 2011
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Dauphine 2017, stage 8.
I though that would be the turning point for Meintjes. I remember thinking he would go to the Tour, win a stage and possibly get on the podium. But he went to the Tour rode at the back of every group he was in and finished 8th in Paris.
And that was it really. He never came close to that level ever again.
To be a top GC rider you need raw talent, the ability to recover, mental toughness, and regimented training. It could be that the training lifestyle or mental toughness are more than he can handle year after year. He had a few good years but couldn't sustain it.
I don't think he was ever going to be a GT winner but could have been a consistent top 10 or maybe even top 5 rider with some luck. Professional sport can be a brutal place.
I don't think he was ever going to be a GT winner but could have been a consistent top 10 or maybe even top 5 rider with some luck. Professional sport can be a brutal place.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Meintjens-bashing is indeed almost as fun as cracking Betancur jokes, but unlike the latter one may believe he has gotten the most out of his GC career. The Vuelta and Tour top tens obtained in his invisibility cloak probably had fostered his GC ambitions, but silver in the under-23 Worlds in Tuscany and 7th in the Olympic road race in Rio hint that he would have been better off focusing on hilly one day races? He could have been kind of a baby-faced Dan Martin-light...
Otherwise looks like a nice guy, started relatively late with cycling, moved as a young lad on his own to Belgium for a while to learn the ropes (respect, as that must have been tough for a short, skinny, foreign kid)...
Otherwise looks like a nice guy, started relatively late with cycling, moved as a young lad on his own to Belgium for a while to learn the ropes (respect, as that must have been tough for a short, skinny, foreign kid)...
- Jun 7, 2010
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I do not agree. He has nowhere near the acceleration required to be a very good 1-day racer.
I doubt that even with focus he would have improved much.
I doubt that even with focus he would have improved much.
Its really not bashing from my side. I am just curious. Because lets face it, he was a rather good rider when still very young. And he didn't only lose his GC spark, he wouldn't be able to replicate his performance from the U-23 worlds and the Olympic RR either. Not even close...
Apart from that: yes, he probably had the stamina but on the other hand no real sprint or uphill kick.
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