National Championships 2018

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.[/quote

I agree that was a bit of a surprise. Not fully surprised Valverde ended up 4th about 25 seconds back of the Izagirre brothers. This is his 2nd ITT after his injury and I wouldn't be shocked if he's still having some mental issues with the TTs just because that's what he was doing when he got hurt. Also wouldn't be shocked if the Izagirre brothers are closer to their peak as well. This is a good sing for Nibali that they are both close to top form going into the Tour for the TTT.

 

[dick the quick]

Lithuania TT: Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2R)

Romania TT: Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini)

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Lithuania TT: Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2R)

Always great to see the man who terrorized the .2 races of Europe for a season and a half what seems like a lifetime ago re-emerge from complete anonymity as a competent but largely invisible World Tour domestique and actually win something.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.[/quote

I agree that was a bit of a surprise. Not fully surprised Valverde ended up 4th about 25 seconds back of the Izagirre brothers. This is his 2nd ITT after his injury and I wouldn't be shocked if he's still having some mental issues with the TTs just because that's what he was doing when he got hurt. Also wouldn't be shocked if the Izagirre brothers are closer to their peak as well. This is a good sing for Nibali that they are both close to top form going into the Tour for the TTT.

I've got to admit that I'm disappointed by Alejandro's performance.

 

[Brt147]

Re: Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.[/quote

I agree that was a bit of a surprise. Not fully surprised Valverde ended up 4th about 25 seconds back of the Izagirre brothers. This is his 2nd ITT after his injury and I wouldn't be shocked if he's still having some mental issues with the TTs just because that's what he was doing when he got hurt. Also wouldn't be shocked if the Izagirre brothers are closer to their peak as well. This is a good sing for Nibali that they are both close to top form going into the Tour for the TTT.

I've got to admit that I'm disappointed by Alejandro's performance.

Im not so surprised but of course we always expect a lot from him. I would like to be wrong, but I think that he is finally showing some weaknesses. It can be because of his injury (mental issues, etc) but I believe that his age is the main reason. And this isn't the first race that he doesn't correspond to what we expect from him.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.[/quote

I agree that was a bit of a surprise. Not fully surprised Valverde ended up 4th about 25 seconds back of the Izagirre brothers. This is his 2nd ITT after his injury and I wouldn't be shocked if he's still having some mental issues with the TTs just because that's what he was doing when he got hurt. Also wouldn't be shocked if the Izagirre brothers are closer to their peak as well. This is a good sing for Nibali that they are both close to top form going into the Tour for the TTT.

I've got to admit that I'm disappointed by Alejandro's performance.

Im not so surprised but of course we always expect a lot from him. I would like to be wrong, but I think that he is finally showing some weaknesses. It can be because of his injury (mental issues, etc) but I believe that his age is the main reason. And this isn't the first race that he doesn't correspond to what we expect from him.

Remember his time trailing was a major weakness before his ban and he spent a lot of time working on that. It's gotten a lot better since his return and basically before his crash he's finally gotten consistently good at time trailing, then he crashed in a time trial. That's why I'm not fully surprised, and yes it's possible his age is also starting to show as well. I was hoping for more, but sometimes we expect the impossible from him.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Castroviejo defended his Spanish ITT championship. Don't think that's a surprise to anyone.

Kind of a surprise is Gorka coming second, one second faster than Ion, third.[/quote

I agree that was a bit of a surprise. Not fully surprised Valverde ended up 4th about 25 seconds back of the Izagirre brothers. This is his 2nd ITT after his injury and I wouldn't be shocked if he's still having some mental issues with the TTs just because that's what he was doing when he got hurt. Also wouldn't be shocked if the Izagirre brothers are closer to their peak as well. This is a good sing for Nibali that they are both close to top form going into the Tour for the TTT.

I've got to admit that I'm disappointed by Alejandro's performance.

Im not so surprised but of course we always expect a lot from him. I would like to be wrong, but I think that he is finally showing some weaknesses. It can be because of his injury (mental issues, etc) but I believe that his age is the main reason. And this isn't the first race that he doesn't correspond to what we expect from him.

I think he just isn't even close to top form, as he's eyeing Vuelta and the Worlds. TT wasn't an issue in Abu Dhabi, so I doubt he's having any kind of issues with it.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

Remember his time trailing was a major weakness before his ban and he spent a lot of time working on that. It's gotten a lot better since his return and basically before his crash he's finally gotten consistently good at time trailing, then he crashed in a time trial. That's why I'm not fully surprised, and yes it's possible his age is also starting to show as well. I was hoping for more, but sometimes we expect the impossible from him.

He has done a lot of good TT also before his ban, even won some, in the period between 2006 and 2009 he was at least as good as in the last couple of years.

 

[pastronef]

@bradsohner

Chris Horner is back. He is registered and will race at the @usacycling Pro Road National Championships this Sunday with @Illuminatebike.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Im a little disappointed as well. I dont agree with Blanco that he isn't even close to top form, but I think he is not quite as sharp as the other GC-contender at this point formwise. There's still over 3 weeks to the mountains so theres that. Of course, it could also be a slightly bad day in which case we don't have to worry. He will go up against Astana with LLS and Fraile and Bahrain with the Izagirre bros, so thats at least some good competition where he will have to show his cards. Hoping for a win as always and he should be the favourite.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Im a little disappointed as well. I dont agree with Blanco that he isn't even close to top form, but I think he is not quite as sharp as the other GC-contender at this point formwise. There's still over 3 weeks to the mountains so theres that. Of course, it could also be a slightly bad day in which case we don't have to worry. He will go up against Astana with LLS and Fraile and Bahrain with the Izagirre bros, so thats at least some good competition where he will have to show his cards. Hoping for a win as always and he should be the favourite.

What's the route like?

 

[Brt147]

Re:

Im a little disappointed as well. I dont agree with Blanco that he isn't even close to top form, but I think he is not quite as sharp as the other GC-contender at this point formwise. There's still over 3 weeks to the mountains so theres that. Of course, it could also be a slightly bad day in which case we don't have to worry. He will go up against Astana with LLS and Fraile and Bahrain with the Izagirre bros, so thats at least some good competition where he will have to show his cards. Hoping for a win as always and he should be the favourite.

I think we can have some doubts because at this time of the year he is usually in a really good condition (in fact, he is in form all the year).
That's one of the reasons that make me start thinking how can age is affecting his performance.
We have to see what is going to happen tomorrow and in the next months.

It can be also because of La Vuelta, I think he is aware that he isn't the leader of Movistar for this Tour (he had already mentioned that in interviews), so he can be focusing only in the last part of the year, but...

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Im a little disappointed as well. I dont agree with Blanco that he isn't even close to top form, but I think he is not quite as sharp as the other GC-contender at this point formwise. There's still over 3 weeks to the mountains so theres that. Of course, it could also be a slightly bad day in which case we don't have to worry. He will go up against Astana with LLS and Fraile and Bahrain with the Izagirre bros, so thats at least some good competition where he will have to show his cards. Hoping for a win as always and he should be the favourite.

I think we can have some doubts because at this time of the year he is usually in a really good condition (in fact, he is in form all the year).
That's one of the reasons that make me start thinking how can age is affecting his performance.
We have to see what is going to happen tomorrow and in the next months.

It can be also because of La Vuelta, I think he is aware that he isn't the leader of Movistar for this Tour (he had already mentioned that in interviews), so he can be focusing only in the last part of the year, but...

On the contrary, at this time of the year, he's rarely in top condition. At least in last 4-5 years it was the case. I would say that June is one of his "worst" months in terms of form. So, for me, no worries at all

 

[Valv.Piti]

Blanco, its mostly flat in the first part, but they are climbing a decently hard climb three times in the final. So it should favour the likes of Valverde, Luis Leon etc.

 

[JoeD1997]

Not sure what the elite parcours is like, but the U23 Italian RR was supposed to suit sprinters like Zalf's U23 Giro stage winner Giovanni Lonardi, but it was U23 Giro prologue winner Edo Affini who soloed to the win. Lonardi'a teammate and fellow U23 Giro stage winner Alberto Dainese was second, Mastromarco's Michele Corradini, intermediate sprints jersey winner at the U23 Giro, was 3rd.

 

[Koronin]

I'm more with Blanco on this. This year, he's not Movistar's race leader for the Tour (and if read between the lines of what he's said, it seems he also doesn't want to be). This leaves him free to actually try to do a double peak instead of a triple peak that he usually has done. He can concentrate on trying to get his second peak sometime during la Vuelta and then try to hold that peak through the Worlds and Lombardia. Instead of peak in the spring, peak for the Tour, then peak for a 3rd time for Vuelta/Worlds/Lombardia. This year he can try peak in the spring (which he managed to get a big early this year, but I think that was due to his injury/rehab and wanting to be sure he was ok when the season started), then peak for the end of the season. Also June is usually some of his worst performances. What's actually crazy is we're looking at a not really bad TT performance and calling it bad and disappointing simply because we're talking about Valverde.

 

[carolina]

Portuguese RR:

Under 23: Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)
Women: Daniela Reis (Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport)

 

[Koronin]

Spanish RR Championships:

U-23: Iñigo Elosegui
Women's: Eider Merino

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Wait, hang on.

Portuguese ITT:
Under 23: Ivo Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

Portuguese RR:
Under 23: Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

They basically shared the U23 national championships between them.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Wait, hang on.

Portuguese ITT:
Under 23: Ivo Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

Portuguese RR:
Under 23: Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

They basically shared the U23 national championships between them.

Are these two related to Movistar's Nelson Oliveira?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Wait, hang on.

Portuguese ITT:
Under 23: Ivo Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

Portuguese RR:
Under 23: Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

They basically shared the U23 national championships between them.

Are these two related to Movistar's Nelson Oliveira?

Well, they have different maternal family names…

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Wait, hang on.

Portuguese ITT:
Under 23: Ivo Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

Portuguese RR:
Under 23: Rui Oliveira (Hagens Berman Axeon)

They basically shared the U23 national championships between them.

Are these two related to Movistar's Nelson Oliveira?

Well, they have different maternal family names…

They aren't brothers, but it doesn't mean they aren't related somehow.

 

[carolina]

Ivo and Rui are twins. They are not related to Nelson.

edit: Oliveira is a very common name in Portugal.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Ivo and Rui are twins. They are not related to Nelson.

edit: Oliveira is a very common name in Portugal.

Thank you.