Paris-Nice 2017, 5th-12th March

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Why would a rider of his calibre defend a friggin' 8th in Paris-Nice?

Well if you gave someone a choice between 8th place and 12th place for example I guess most people would take 8th place. Why would you choose 12th? I can't think of a reason to choose the worse placing honestly.

His 8th wasn't threatened by neither by Contador, Porte nor Wellens. Therefore his reason to help Thomas couldn't be to defend his own 8th place, no matter what he said after the race

It was to be the leading French Rider in the GC.

 

[dacooley]

surely AC deserved to win pn more no question asked, but saying henao not worth winning it is a bit too much. yes, sky got really lucky, but that's the way bike racing often works. bertie leaves pn as a moral race winner and it's difficult to see someone being able to beat him in catalunya.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re:

It makes sense for Bahrain to chase and try to win the stage. I don't get why they were sprinting in such an aggressive manner to contest fourth place after it was obvious the group wasn't going to be caught. But I don't think it was anything malicious against Contador.

Sometimes there are no conspiracy theories. Just differing views.

How was it not obvious at the moment they started working that they were never going to catch them though? They had like 40 seconds at 5k to go

 

[LaFlorecita]

This is just getting ridiculous. How many stage races has Contador lost by less than 10 seconds in the last few years?

PN 17 by 2"
Ruta del Sol 17 by 1"
Catalunya 16 by 7"
PN 16 by 4"
Ruta del Sol 15 by 2"
Catalunya 14 by 4"

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

So the position of the Contador fans is that Soler and De La Cruz are morally obliged to work with Contador, but everyone in the second group is morally obliged to make Henao work alone?

It made sense for De La Cruz to work since he won the stage, but Bahrein worked to get a 4th place.

So everyone in the stage who worked apart from de la Cruz shouldn't have bothered; Contador wasted energy and worked just to get 2nd place? You don't give up chasing down a tired and fragmented three man breakaway 30 seconds up the road, on the final stage of the race, when you have the strongest sprinter. Even if the result is ultimately just 4th place.

You can't really mean this seriously. It makes sense to work if you have the chance to win, so it made sense to work for Soler and De La Cruz. Or do you want to say that Bahrein had a chance to catch the Contador group when they started to work?

Considering how quickly they were pulling back time on a tiring front group then yes, they had every right to be working even if it was only a slim chance at the stage win

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

So the position of the Contador fans is that Soler and De La Cruz are morally obliged to work with Contador, but everyone in the second group is morally obliged to make Henao work alone?

It made sense for De La Cruz to work since he won the stage, but Bahrein worked to get a 4th place.

So everyone in the stage who worked apart from de la Cruz shouldn't have bothered; Contador wasted energy and worked just to get 2nd place? You don't give up chasing down a tired and fragmented three man breakaway 30 seconds up the road, on the final stage of the race, when you have the strongest sprinter. Even if the result is ultimately just 4th place.

You can't really mean this seriously. It makes sense to work if you have the chance to win, so it made sense to work for Soler and De La Cruz. Or do you want to say that Bahrein had a chance to catch the Contador group when they started to work?

I mean that Bahrain had a chance of the stage win. Not a very big chance obviously - maybe only 5% - but they had a 0% chance of winning if they didn't work. Anything could happen in the last 10km with a 40 second deficit and a tired breakaway who weren't really co-operating.

There's no stage tomorrow to save energy for, so they absolutely should be at the front trying to pull in the breakaway and give themselves a chance of the stage win - however slim it may be. Surely that is the kind of racing people want to see; not teams throwing in the towel for their objectives because the odds are against them.

 

[Forever The Best]

To the people who appreciate Bahrain working for a 4th place in a stage, do you also appreciate Garmin chasing the breakaway on the Pau stage in 2010 Tour because Plaza was threatening Hesjedals 10th?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Let's not forget that many Cotnador fanboys here girls. And they do tend to have short fuse on emotions in general

What a load of sexist rubbish and blatantly false as well. I've just read the last few pages of the thread and don't see any posts made by female posters (except mine).

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

Let's not forget that many Cotnador fanboys here girls. And they do tend to have short fuse on emotions in general

What a load of sexist rubbish and blatantly false as well. I've just read the last few pages of the thread and don't see any posts made by female posters (except mine).

I tend not to bother since it all gets so unpleasant and factional and it just gets in the way of my enjoying the actual racing.

 

[Andro]

There was simply no reason for Bahrain to NOT work. It was the last part of the last stage, so no reason to save any energy, and working gave them a greater than 0 % chance of winning the stage. There was a trio of tired climbers up ahead and you never know how cooked they're gonna be in the last flat part or what is gonna happen.

And of course they didn't give a crap about the GC battle, no matter how much people on this forum think they should be morally obliged to always race the way that would give Contador the greatest chance of winning. They worked because it gave them the biggest chance of winning the stage, albeit a small one, but still a chance which they had no reason not to go for.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

To the people who appreciate Bahrain working for a 4th place in a stage, do you also appreciate Garmin chasing the breakaway on the Pau stage in 2010 Tour because Plaza was threatening Hesjedals 10th?

Bahrain weren't working for 4th place. They would have got 4th anyway by doing nothing and waiting for the sprint. They were working for 1st place, which they ultimately failed to get.

Protecting lowish positions in the GC is a legit tactic. I don't appreciate it personally because I think it shows a lack of ambition from a team and isn't really cause for much celebration. But it's not comparable at all to Bahrain - because they were giving one last throw of the dice for the stage win - which is always a laudable goal.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Alberto will be remembered as the most exciting GC rider in there. Sometimes it pays (Fuenté Dé) sometimes not. Chapeau !

Il Pirata #1, Contador #2. But he hasn't finished writing his story yet. The kind of riders that are talked about 50 years after they are gone. The kind that make the romance and tapestry of the sport live forever.

 

[frisenfruitig]

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

To the people who appreciate Bahrain working for a 4th place in a stage, do you also appreciate Garmin chasing the breakaway on the Pau stage in 2010 Tour because Plaza was threatening Hesjedals 10th?

Yes

 

[Gloin22]

Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

No, contador fanboys are disappointed, no one else is :lol:

After what Henao and Rowe did on stage 1 and 2 Henao totally deserved win here anyone that says otherwise must be deluded

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

To the people who appreciate Bahrain working for a 4th place in a stage, do you also appreciate Garmin chasing the breakaway on the Pau stage in 2010 Tour because Plaza was threatening Hesjedals 10th?

Bahrain weren't working for 4th place. They would have got 4th anyway by doing nothing and waiting for the sprint. They were working for 1st place, which they ultimately failed to get.

Protecting lowish positions in the GC is a legit tactic. I don't appreciate it personally because I think it shows a lack of ambition from a team and isn't really cause for much celebration. But it's not comparable at all to Bahrain - because they were giving one last throw of the dice for the stage win - which is always a laudable goal.

They had one guy trying to close 30s on a group of three driven by the guy who dropped the entire peloton 2 climbs earlier. 30s on 4.8km. That's not a shot at the victory, it's an excuse of an excuse of a reason to help Henao (or Sky) win.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Re:

Bahrain didn't even need to work for the 4th place. There were only 3 riders up the road.

True, but they surly worked for 1st place. And given they were merely 20 seconds behind in the end suggests they were right trying. And when you're chasing I don't think youll stop with 2k to go, even if someone might realise it's only going to be 4th.

I hate how this wonderfull Paris Nice ended, but it really is only Treks fault for not having a good enough team.

 

[GraftPunk]

What a race!!! :surprised:

Good for Sergio - at last a reward in his bumpy career
...and what more can be said about Contador? hat off to him for another display of courage and pure racing spirit! - perhaps bittersweet result since he gave everything & truly merits the title, but that's cycling!

grate race overall!!

This.

 

[Hayabusa]

Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

I don't think most would agree at all. I think most would see that Henao won fair and square. Henao deserved it more (2 seconds more to be precise), that doesn't take anything away from Alberto's performance, he made a great race.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

No, contador fanboys are disappointed, no one else is :lol:

After what Henao and Rowe did on stage 1 and 2 Henao totally deserved win here anyone that says otherwise must be deluded

Well I'm not a Contador fanboy and I still think he deserved it more based on today and yesterday.

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

Henao wasn't gifted anything, it's not like he sat up and did nothing. Also he positioned himself well in stage 1 and didn't lose time while Contador lost time. Henao deserved the win just as much as Contador

 

[TMP402]

Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

Yes, he was gifted. Did no work himself at all.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

Henao wasn't gifted anything, it's not like he sat up and did nothing. Also he positioned himself well in stage 1 and didn't lose time while Contador lost time. Henao deserved the win just as much as Contador

He got dropped by Contador two days in a row and wouldn't have won without the assistance of others. He won fair and square obviously, but I still think Contador deserved it more

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re:

People are just disappointed Henao was gifted the win and would have preferred Contador to take it. I think most would agree that Contador deserved it more. But yeah, that's the way it goes I guess -_-

lol.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

I can't be happy with another Sky win on French soil. It really bothers me.

Cycling shouldn't be about petty nationalism.

When will Sky finally die... 5 out of 6 last P-N won... Why bother holding the race anymore.

When they stop winning, I guess.