Paris-Nice 2017, 5th-12th March

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Porte is still the main rival of contador. Henao isn't a good time trialist, he will loose 30 seconds there

Eh? Even if Henao loses 30 seconds he's still ahead of Porte and over half a minute ahead of Contador. Possibly more if he drops them both on the two murito-ish finishes.

Some think Henao is as bad as Purito in a TT just because he is an explosive climber. :lol:

Henao will top 10 that TT, I can tell you. Maybe top 5.

 

[Gloin22]

Re: Re:

Porte is still the main rival of contador. Henao isn't a good time trialist, he will loose 30 seconds there

Eh? Even if Henao loses 30 seconds he's still ahead of Porte and over half a minute ahead of Contador. Possibly more if he drops them both on the two murito-ish finishes.

Some think Henao is as bad as Purito in a TT just because he is an explosive climber. :lol:

Henao will top 10 that TT, I can tell you. Maybe top 5.

Henao is average TTst but what has he ever done to top 5 on a pretty flat course. One hill at the end won't negate that. 30 seconds to Porte is pretty plausible.

 

[AlexNYC]

Henao has a really good chance to win this, by I think Zakarin has a really good chance too. He will be very strong in all the main stages, including the TT.

 

[HelloDolly]

Henao is the man to beat

What happened to Ion Izagirre ? It was his rcae if he staed with the front group ???

 

[Velolover2]

Henao IS the favorite for the overall now IMO.

And he doesn't have to attack, only respond. If he is feeling good, he can drop the rest on stage 6. 1k at 10%, it's perfect for him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Not sure it's the brightest strategy to let your rivals know you are slightly weak before a slightly lumpy stage in dodgy weather.

Never claimed he's Einstein.

 

[Gloin22]

Alaphillipe will channel Tour of Cali MTF performances and win this ***. French power is rising.

 

[portugal11]

Finally cycling is becoming great again. What a season so far!!! Let's eradicate team TUE's for life for we have truly mountain stages without boring trains

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Porte is still the main rival of contador. Henao isn't a good time trialist, he will loose 30 seconds there

Eh? Even if Henao loses 30 seconds he's still ahead of Porte and over half a minute ahead of Contador. Possibly more if he drops them both on the two murito-ish finishes.

Some think Henao is as bad as Purito in a TT just because he is an explosive climber. :lol:

Henao will top 10 that TT, I can tell you. Maybe top 5.

Henao is average TTst but what has he ever done to top 5 on a pretty flat course. One hill at the end won't negate that. 30 seconds to Porte is pretty plausible.

It's not a flat course with 'one hill at the end' they'll be climbing for over half of the TT in terms of time. And most of the rest of it is downhill.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Henao IS the favorite for the overall now IMO.

And he doesn't have to attack, only respond. If he is feeling good, he can drop the rest on stage 6. 1k at 10%, it's perfect for him.

Perfect for Balaphilippe as well...Julian's my pick to win PN.

 

[dacooley]

Henao especially on the curve of last year's PN shape is a real threat. Predicting his TT is really difficult though.

 

[SKSemtex]

Re:

Finally cycling is becoming great again. What a season so far!!! Let's eradicate team TUE's for life for we have truly mountain stages without boring trains

I was great last year as well. Except for TDF of course. But we are used on that.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Henao IS the favorite for the overall now IMO.

And he doesn't have to attack, only respond. If he is feeling good, he can drop the rest on stage 6. 1k at 10%, it's perfect for him.

Yep, apart from Alaphilippe - he's by far the main danger imo. Porte and Bardet are too far back on a course with pretty limited opportunities to take time for pure climbers. Alaphilippe though could potentially hang on in there on a single high mountain stage, and already has a bit of a cushion for the TT.

 

[portugal11]

Everyone is underestimating stage 6... this stage will be crazy

 

[Forever The Best]

Alaphilippe can definitely win this PN. Depends where the others attack on Couillole. He should be perfectly fine with other stages.

 

[WheelofGear]

Final GC guess:

1. Gallopin
2. Zakarin
3. Henao
4. Porte
5. Martin
6. Alaphilippe
7. Bardet
8. Izagirre
9. Simon Yates
10. De la Cruz

Contador DNF

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Everyone is underestimating stage 6... this stage will be crazy

Why will it be crazy? The two riders in pole position - Alaphilippe and Henao - have the strongest teams to keep everything together. I'm sure an attacking rider like Bardet will try something, but the stage just isn't very hard, so domestiques will play a much more important role than on some attrtitional 5000m+ stage.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Henao IS the favorite for the overall now IMO.

And he doesn't have to attack, only respond. If he is feeling good, he can drop the rest on stage 6. 1k at 10%, it's perfect for him.

Yep, apart from Alaphilippe - he's by far the main danger imo. Porte and Bardet are too far back on a course with pretty limited opportunities to take time for pure climbers. Alaphilippe though could potentially hang on in there on a single high mountain stage, and already has a bit of a cushion for the TT.

You guys are underestimating Gallopin in a week-long race. He was 8th in 2016 and 6th in 2015. He is a candidate for a top 3 at least.

 

[yaco]

Reckon the route is tougher than what it appears on paper - The only one of the GC guys who made time today who could hold on for the win is Gallopin.

 

[SKSemtex]

Tomorrow rain, wind 27 Km/h. It will be interesting again.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Richie is still the favorite imo.

 

[Robert5091]

FDJ wins big - Alaphilippe could hang on to win GC. Just glad Kirby was n't on Eurosport ...

 

[DNP-Old]

Bardet DSQ.

 

[HelloDolly]

Everyone on here lamenting Paris Nice parcours when announced and at the beginning of the race .Comparing them unfavourably to TA
Love these kind of races as so unpredictable ...much better than standard stage races

At the moment I would not discount any contender esp Contador

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Bardet DSQ.

Finally. About time organisers took things like this seriously. Wonder if they would have done it had he been up there in the GC though.