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Menchov predicts Tour winner: Menchov!

Menchov thinks he can win. Do you?

Russian cyclist Menchov believes he can win Tour de France


By Samuel Petrequin
MONACO — Denis Menchov has already won the Giro d'Italia and will now attempt to capture the Tour de France and become the first man to win both races in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.
The 31-year-old Russian impressed in claiming the biggest win of his career in Italy in May and turns his attention to the Tour where he will have the help of his strong Rabobank team and rising star Robert Gesink.
The best young rider of the Tour in 2003, Menchov is one of six riders considered joint-favourites this year along with Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and defending champion Carlos Sastre, who rides for the Cervelo Test Team whose ownership includes the Canadian Cervelo bike company.
"I feel good, comfortable and confident," Menchov told a news conference Friday on the eve of the first stage in Monaco. "I feel relaxed after my victory on the Giro and I'm looking forward to starting the race tomorrow. It will be difficult, but I know that I can win."
With Gesink on his side, Menchov's ambitions carry added legitimacy. The 23-year-old climber from the Netherlands will be riding in his first Tour but has already confirmed his talent this season with a third-place finish in the Amstel Gold Race and by taking fourth place in the Dauphine Libere.
"Robert is an important piece of our team," Menchov said. "He is a strong guy and he is good in the mountains. I hope that we can do the same race we did last year and that we will be able to a play some tactics in the mountains."
Gesink said he wants to learn from Menchov and promised to dedicate himself to working for the Russian's victory.
"Denis is our main guy for the general classification," Gesink said. "He will be the leader of the team and the rest of us will try and help him."
In Italy, Menchov secured victory by winning two of the race's key stages - a hilltop finish and a challenging time-trial. Very good against the clock, the Russian said that the Tour's opening time-trial Saturday, a 15.5-kilometre route with climbs, tricky hairpin bends and fast curves, would be crucial.
Besides the overall standings, the Rabobank team can also aim for stage victories with riders such as the Spanish duo of Juan Antonio Flecha and former world champion Oscar Freire. Hampered by back problems this season, Freire hopes to retain the best sprinter's green jersey he won last year but he will face a strong challenge from Briton Mark Cavendish, considered to be the king of sprints.
"It will be difficult but not impossible," Freire said. "I won the green jersey last year, so why not this year?"
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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if contador fuks up, why not?
my bet would be on sastre if that happens, but evans, menchov and schleck would have a decent chance


i keep reading menchov interviews with his spanish/english accent in my head and adding ", no?" after every sentence.

am i the only one doing that? =/
 
Mar 12, 2009
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Why not after all ?
He's one of the strongest in TT, one of the best climber.
He's not the most combative but he can follow lots of attacks in mountain.
 
The course does suit an Evans or Menchov type of rider, but Menchov has never lived up to expectations at the TdF. I was impressed by his Giro, which featured harder climbing than this edition of the Tour. I could see him winning this year. I don't expect it, but I could see it happening if the stars aligned.

At least he has confidence in himself. I have never gotten the feeling that Evans is confident he can win.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Confidence is key, Menchov seems to strive of it. He rode very smart at the giro and i don't think he is as tired as some people are lead to believe.at the 2007 Vuelta he was pretty much untouchable and one thing about both those victories was that he had a pretty weak team to help him. This will be the first time he has had a really strong team behind him, I think he can do it.
 
Timmy-loves-Rabo said:
Confidence is key, Menchov seems to strive of it. He rode very smart at the giro and i don't think he is as tired as some people are lead to believe.at the 2007 Vuelta he was pretty much untouchable and one thing about both those victories was that he had a pretty weak team to help him. This will be the first time he has had a really strong team behind him, I think he can do it.

What's this, a sensible, troll free thread?

I pretty much agree. Not only rode a smart, "efficient" race, he has regularly ridden 2 GT's a year, with the better performance in the latter.
Of course, he will need to be 5% stronger, but he does have more mountain support. Nobody is going to drop Bobby Gesink early on a climb, LTD will be a solid as ever, plus strong roulers.
Also, like Sastre, he knows how to be patient.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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I read somewhere (probably l'Equipe newspaper) that LTD had a bad crash during training before TDF, hope he'll be fully ready when Tour will arrive in Spain/Andorra :(
 
Apr 29, 2009
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I still think he could have won the tour last year were it not for missing a split in the peloton early on and losing his nerve descending the bonette. Unlike Evans, he has the experience of actually winning GT's, so is probbaly more of a threat.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Ibanez said:
I still think he could have won the tour last year were it not for missing a split in the peloton early on and losing his nerve descending the bonette. Unlike Evans, he has the experience of actually winning GT's, so is probbaly more of a threat.

and the attack on curve :eek: boy o boy it looked like he was gonna destroy the field there (he still beat evans by 30 seconds on the day). Had he gone on and taken the yellow that day, i don't think he would have lost it.
 
Apr 29, 2009
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I knew there was something I forgot :p

Yeah that was a strong looking acceleration he was very unfortunate. The other 2 instances he can be blamed for, but not that crash. Everybody was still within a minute of each other at that point in the race as well.
 
God he's biased.

Well, he could win, but I agree it will probably only happen if Contador cracks on one day. Any time which Menchov could gain on Contador in the two ITTs (if indeed he gains any at all) will probably be offset by the time Contador will gain on him in the TTT. So Menchov will have to climb better than Contador, as well as not lose any 'silly time' as he did last year, when he lost 35 seconds on a final descent and 30 seconds or so on a late break in the peloton on the 3rd or 4th stage.

Generally this tour does not have a lot of sharp, agressive climbs which generally suit the smaller, lighter guys like Contador & A. Schleck, but with Contador's team surrounding him, i don't think he'll lose time climbing unless he cracks.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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He raced the Giro to win.

That's it. There's nothing else. You can't dig that deep, then be tip top for the tour only a month later. It just doesn't happen.
 
A

Anonymous

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issoisso said:
He raced the Giro to win.

That's it. There's nothing else. You can't dig that deep, then be tip top for the tour only a month later. It just doesn't happen.

Unfortunately, that appears to be the case.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Breukink admitted to being very disappointed with Menchov's showing today. When asked if this meant that Gesink would now be the team leader, he said, 'no, Robert already had a free role in the team and will continue to be able to race how he thinks best, Menchov stays leader.'
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Terrible ride by Menchov.
Gesink wasn't too much better, but with menchov there was an expectation.
disapointing. With the TTT coming up, and the rabobank showing in the ITT today, it seems any chance of winning is already slipping away from menchov.
we'll see...
 
Jun 22, 2009
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I think that Rabo's realistic targets now should be Gesink just inside the top 10, maybe with a nice stage win, and Freire for green. That's it.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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haha. well i think menchov should still attempt to get a high placing, well at least see how his legs are on stage 7.

But i dont think Gesink should have to work for menchov at all. Rabo should make him co leader. give LTD to gesink, and Garte to Menchov.
This Gives Gesink a realistic shot at the white jersey, and yeah a top 10 place.
 
Jul 3, 2009
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Msnchov could still be on the podium,write him off at your peril. Getting away from the Astana boys looks like it will be a very hard job as they won't all have the same bad day in the mountains. Rabo in the TTT...1min 30 behind the winners....Astana. Sean Kelly reckons Cancellara might be a threat overall.....hmmmmmmmm.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Breukink looked pretty pessimistic about Menchov's chances when interviewed tonight. Menchov made no excuses, it was simply one of his 'bad days'.