Ninja of the Tour

[djpbaltimore]

Uran has set the early pace but I think his ninja campaign ends tomorrow with a Top 10 finish.

 

[gunara]

Re:

5: Peroud. Despite being French the TV camara just loves the younger French. (16)

7: Frank. Yes he is in the race. (20)

9: Bakelants. No3 from AG2R. Did an ultimate ninja move a couple of years ago. winning a race while Irizar got the credits.(22)

Peraud, I'm still pessimistic about his chance, it depends on team tactic and how aggressive the other guys are...

Frank, hope his results get better this year so maybe he can have Ninja of the Year

Bakelants, can be too flashy for this sometimes, but when he's in top hiding form he'll be a good bet

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

Current Standings.
- With TTT top 3.
1: contador. Although zero ninja potential. (5)
2: Uran. Doing a great job. Got some TV time almost French kissing Martin after his victory but his teammates quickly did a group hug to hide Uran. (6)
3: Kreuziger. Solid performance not even mentioned In this thread. (12)
4: Gesink. First BJ (black jersey) of the TDF. To tall to be a real ninja but excellent ninja potential this tour.(15)
5: Peroud. Despite being French the TV camara just loves the younger French. (16)
6: Talensky. Strong candidate for Paris. (19)
7: Frank. Yes he is in the race. (20)
8: Bardet. Being young and French gives him a big disadvantage. (21)
9: Bakelants. No3 from AG2R. Did an ultimate ninja move a couple of years ago. winning a race while Irizar got the credits.(22)
10. Costa. With GC already ruined will be targeting a stage. (23)

I know that it's very anti-ninja to highlight anything, but I love this. Uran clearly has a team of very committed super domestique ninjas alongside of him

Tony Martin is - was - the stand out rider of the race....I'm now convinced that he broke his collarbone for an enforced abandonment, thus making Rigoberto even more invisible

 

[Kwibus]

Tbh the ninja cant be predicted else it ain't a ninja.

At the end of the tour we will check the top25 and say: "did he really ride the tour?"

 

[Scarponi]

I bet $150 for Hamair to beat Alexis Vuillermoz on todays stage at 3.15.


What have i done

 

[Jagartrott]

Lol. Bakelants has to be one of the guys most likely to be in a breakaway. He's no ninja.
He's on team duties mostly here, but he'll be in one or more breakaways again this Tour.

 

[Scarponi]

haimar finished two places lower than Alexis and 7 seconds slower. $150 gone. Im done until the Veulta. Fck this

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Gesink really screwed up today by attacking from far out.

On the other hand, after he realized his mistake and let himself get caught by the big guys, he managed to get fourth with hardly any screen time. The final part of his climb when he rode away from TJVG was pretty impressive ninja-wise.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

That was just chauvinistic French TV to stay with Frenchies rather than with Gesink

 

[Eyeballs Out]

My ninja was in top ninja form today

 

[Tarnum]

Contador playing with fire as he finished 11th today.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Mollema is doing a good effort though, 11th now.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

By the criteria in the opening post, three of the GC top 20 are still in the running:
12th Uran
14th Peraud
15th Frank

If I had not stipulated against top 5 time trial teams, Contador in 6th would be the leader.

My criteria are different from those of the TV directors, by whose standards Contador and (to a lesser extent) Uran are effectively disqualified by reputation and palmares, and Peraud by nationality, but Mollema (disqualified from my criteria by virtue of 9th and 10th on the two Murs) has ridden largely below the directorial radar.

Uran also blew his televisual cover by dropping in the same group as Nibali today.

 

[Ruby United]

My first thought was Vuillermoz. Not sure how justified guess that is. Perhaps that's the first rider who I expect to finish somewhere between 12th and 18th that came to my mind.

Yikes

 

[MikeTichondrius]

I was just about to call out Contador as the leader before looking at the TTT rule. Top 5 teams might be too much though, no? Top 2 would be more adequate (5 riders/team for the count for the usual 10).

It's just that it's uncanny. Here we were chuckling at the notion of a ninja Contador but there you have him. 6th without a single top 10 to his name after 3 hill finishes and a HC MTF. The MTF alone should have been enough. Still, on media attention, it'd never be him. Uran on the other hand continues ignored, invisible and en route to an anonymous top 20 placing. Haimar Khan would be proud.

In other news, Haimar is now 51st. I'm telling you, he's got another top 30 in him, at least!

 

[Vroome.exe]

I don't like these top10 rules. A good ninja (like Haimar) would easily finish top10 and won't be even noticed. Ninja should be strong, not weak. And a rider like contador is no ninja, he get's like half TV time.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Top 10 for Contador and Mollema. Two more bite the dust.

 

[barmaher]

Matthias Frank looks like he has this one wrapped up, no?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Matthias Frank looks like he has this one wrapped up, no?

He's doing it right. Cédric Vasseur even mistook him for Coppel on french TV.

 

[lejarreta]

What about Samu Sánchez? Can he be chosen by these rules? If so, that's my bet.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

What about Samu Sánchez? Can he be chosen by these rules? If so, that's my bet.

Problem is : he won a stage (stage 9 TTT).

But he's good indeed.

 

[Lauritz]

I believe Barguil is doing a tremendous effort, despite his obvious disadvantage of being french. I know he's already grabbed a top 10, but not by much. And the way he drops the leading group only to sneak back up when you least expect is impressive, ninja-wise.

 

[Gigs_98]

At the moment zubeldia is 44th in the gc so normally I would suggest that he should go into a break but I think thats almost impossible.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

For me it´s still Morabito. He may be noticed by some commentators due his crash in stage 5 or so, and being in a break for a while...
but looking at stage results (53, 40, 67, 115, 88, 134, 98, 74, -, 50, 24) and being 26th CG is simply "ninja-awesome".

 

[Scarponi]

At the moment zubeldia is 44th in the gc so normally I would suggest that he should go into a break but I think thats almost impossible.

over the years he has been a good enough climber to demolish people in the breaks but he never goes for them