official Ilnur Zakarin thread

[doperhopper]

here we go, Zakarin officially unleashed... looking forward to Giro, let's see whether he'll be able to keep up with big names like Nibs

but quality stuff today, outsprinting Bertie and the already transformed Geraint... in a nice vroom impersonating style

 

[BullsFan22]

here we go, Zakarin officially unleashed... looking forward to Giro, let's see whether he'll be able to keep up with big names like Nibs

but quality stuff today, outsprinting Bertie and the already transformed Geraint... in a nice vroom impersonating style

Wait. His name wasn't on the list of Meldonium positives? Or is it too early still?

 

[Savant12]

here we go, Zakarin officially unleashed... looking forward to Giro, let's see whether he'll be able to keep up with big names like Nibs

but quality stuff today, outsprinting Bertie and the already transformed Geraint... in a nice vroom impersonating style

Wait. His name wasn't on the list of Meldonium positives? Or is it too early still?

I'm sure his name is on many other lists.

 

[Ferminal]

I really fear for him (and Katusha). Hopefully he's on a good Western programme...

Imagine if he didn't get busted as an amateur, he would have been the next, erm, Novikov. Funny how these things work (same age and would have ridden the same seasons on Katusha B).

Also makes the lack of follow through from Chernetskiy stand out. Struggled in 2013 before looked to be coming good in the summer but has drifted since. If anything he should be the Zakarin.

 

[burning]

He looks really good for a podium in Giro, looking forward to Zakarin show

 

[58teeth]

Not sure he can beat Landa, but the peloton will certainly be glowing and visible from outerspace!!!

 

[therealthing]

Haaaa, now he's beating Quintana too? Or not actually, because thankfully he got relegated. But still, looks like he's fine tuning his drugs for the Giro. I expect him to win the pink and blue jerseys, as well as a few sprint stages here and there.

 

[Jakub]

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Haaaa, now he's beating Quintana too? Or not actually, because thankfully he got relegated. But still, looks like he's fine tuning his drugs for the Giro. I expect him to win the pink and blue jerseys, as well as a few sprint stages here and there.

Is Quintana doping?

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

Not really sure what your point is. One would hope it isn't that you can't understand why people support the doper you don't like over the doper you do.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

Not really sure what your point is. One would hope it isn't that you can't understand why people support the doper you don't like over the doper you do.

No, it's not like that. I know that my attitude has weak points and I fully accept if you find it inappropriate but actually what I believe is that all proffesional sportsmen dope. (OK, some not, but they are far behind, still chapeau to them!) But there is a group of sportsmen who would be in the same position as they are now also without doping - I mean if doping really didn't exist. This can be also described that they dope only to avoid advantage of other dopers. There are on the other hand other types of dopers - those who use politics (LA, I would also say Sky) and morally unacceptable attitude regarding treating other people (and they are 1. people and only then sportsmen) and those who are on the top only because of doping. I don't like people who are treated like machines from youth, yes, I also feel pity for them, but that's only another reason why not to support them.

I also admit this is only how I see it and I might be totally wrong about some riders, if I found this out I'll be happy to change my position.

 

[Pentacycle]

Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

With a wife like his I wouldn't be thinking of suicide. On Zakarin's intelligence I cannot judge, but at least he is able to post English messages on his twitter.

And as far as your other comments go, IMO he does not give the impression of being a typical Russian doping product. Those normally only shine a few times to then fade away into anonymity. If he performs at this level for the next two years I'm inclined to think he's 'only' on the same program as his opponents, and that there is in fact some natural talent in him.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

With a wife like his I wouldn't be thinking of suicide. On Zakarin's intelligence I cannot judge, but at least he is able to post English messages on his twitter.

And as far as your other comments go, IMO he does not give the impression of being a typical Russian doping product. Those normally only shine a few times to then fade away into anonymity. If he performs at this level for the next two years I'm inclined to think he's 'only' on the same program as his opponents, and that there is in fact some natural talent in him.

Relevant pic:

Well, I have to agree with you.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

With a wife like his I wouldn't be thinking of suicide. On Zakarin's intelligence I cannot judge, but at least he is able to post English messages on his twitter.

And as far as your other comments go, IMO he does not give the impression of being a typical Russian doping product. Those normally only shine a few times to then fade away into anonymity. If he performs at this level for the next two years I'm inclined to think he's 'only' on the same program as his opponents, and that there is in fact some natural talent in him.

Relevant pic:

Well, I have to agree with you.

Indeed.

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

With a wife like his I wouldn't be thinking of suicide. On Zakarin's intelligence I cannot judge, but at least he is able to post English messages on his twitter.

And as far as your other comments go, IMO he does not give the impression of being a typical Russian doping product. Those normally only shine a few times to then fade away into anonymity. If he performs at this level for the next two years I'm inclined to think he's 'only' on the same program as his opponents, and that there is in fact some natural talent in him.

Well I find the during-the-year or during-the-races unstability of his performances very suspicious. Reminds me of Vinokourov, he also raced well only if he had the correct blood.

 

[snccdcno]

hmm, I'd say Zaka has been pretty consistent/stable this year at least starting from his first race in Murcia.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Well, that was again something today. The guy cannot ride the bike at all, I understand only a few words russisch, but he seems to be very....not smart. So in the end, he's a typicall Soviet type of athlete, who was chosen as a child, doped to heaven and after a (succesful?) career he'l suffer from depression and thinking about comitting a suicide. I find this tragic and even more tragic is, that he seems to have fans here. How is that possible?

With a wife like his I wouldn't be thinking of suicide. On Zakarin's intelligence I cannot judge, but at least he is able to post English messages on his twitter.

And as far as your other comments go, IMO he does not give the impression of being a typical Russian doping product. Those normally only shine a few times to then fade away into anonymity. If he performs at this level for the next two years I'm inclined to think he's 'only' on the same program as his opponents, and that there is in fact some natural talent in him.

Ilnur is a strange chase:
2007 Jr European ITT champ, then he got busted in 2009.
Then he comes back in 2011 and has a few decent results, 10th in the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia and 4th in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta MTT.
In 2012 he showed even more climbing talent, 3rd on Monte Terminillo in the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia, he also won a stage and was the race leader before having a meltdown on the Gavia (he finished 9th on gc).
In 2013 he put on some muscle mass and became a TT specialist, in 2014 he became leaner without loosing much of his power and got some results in smaller races, he won Grand Prix of Sochi, Tour d'Azerbaïdjan and finished 12th on gc in Algrave and Burgos (7th in the ITT).
In 2015 he took it to the next level, the guy kinda looks like a Katusha experiment, maybe they tried to create their own version of Froome.
Katusha and Gazprom will go thermonuclear at the Giro.

 

[Irondan]

I was wondering when he was going to get a thread in the Clinic....

Just being on Katusha is enough to warrant having a thread in the clinic.

 

[Jakub]

Re:

hmm, I'd say Zaka has been pretty consistent/stable this year at least starting from his first race in Murcia.

One day he beats AC, next day he can't keep with him. And it never looks like he's stabile, just one stage he has a bit more, he looks either like almost flying or like 2nd category wheelsucker. We'll see in this race.

 

[snccdcno]

Re: Re:

hmm, I'd say Zaka has been pretty consistent/stable this year at least starting from his first race in Murcia.

One day he beats AC, next day he can't keep with him. And it never looks like he's stabile, just one stage he has a bit more, he looks either like almost flying or like 2nd category wheelsucker. We'll see in this race.

In Paris Nice one day he finished 1 second ahead of him and then the next day 5 seconds behind him (I know the gap was bigger at the top of the last climb) and in Catalunya he finished 10 seconds behind him and then 18 seconds behind him those aren't particular wild fluctuations at all.

The only race where there was a significant difference was in Algarve but it's clear from the result that, that was just down to Contador being much improved on Malhao.

I'm not saying he's the most consistent rider in the world or anything but his performances this year haven't been erratic at all.

 

[London Hibs]

Great thread this - and yes, I would give her one (apologies if this sort of post is not allowed).

 

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

hmm, I'd say Zaka has been pretty consistent/stable this year at least starting from his first race in Murcia.

One day he beats AC, next day he can't keep with him. And it never looks like he's stabile, just one stage he has a bit more, he looks either like almost flying or like 2nd category wheelsucker. We'll see in this race.

In Paris Nice one day he finished 1 second ahead of him and then the next day 5 seconds behind him (I know the gap was bigger at the top of the last climb) and in Catalunya he finished 10 seconds behind him and then 18 seconds behind him those aren't particular wild fluctuations at all.

The only race where there was a significant difference was in Algarve but it's clear from the result that, that was just down to Contador being much improved on Malhao.

I'm not saying he's the most consistent rider in the world or anything but his performances this year haven't been erratic at all.

you are probably right, so far it was nothing like last year Romandie/Giro, we'll see, what is he gonna do this week and next month. However I never have a feeling that he is good or bad in a stage because the stage suits him, I always only see the blood

 

[Ferminal]

Contador isn't exactly a bastion of intra-race consistency himself.

 

[therealthing]

Almost felt good to see him crash twice and having to change his bike 3 times today. Definite karma for all of the wins he has stolen from clean riders, and a testament to his awful bike handling- which usually works in a TT because he nearly beat Tony Martin last year.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Almost felt good to see him crash twice and having to change his bike 3 times today. Definite karma for all of the wins he has stolen from clean riders, and a testament to his awful bike handling- which usually works in a TT because he nearly beat Tony Martin last year.

Lol.Stealing wins from clean riders?Like Froome or Landa?
And you haven't said the anything about Landa and his sudden improvement on the clock.