Paris-Nice 2017, 5th-12th March

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

[quote="frisenfruitig"
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

You are aware that this is a team sport? You are meant to have the assistance of others.

Talking of which, big contribution to Henao's successful retention of yellow was down to cousin Sebastian, who put in an admirable stint considering he was, 36 hours before the start, second reserve for this race. Poels dropped out to be replaced by Elissonde, who very quickly dropped out himself, meaning that Seb only got the call on Saturday morning.

Contador was obviously the better man and Henao wouldn't have won without assistance of other riders. I think that is a pretty reasonable statement wouldn't you agree?

No. Henao and other teams dropped Contador in the first stages. He looked rather weak until yesterday. If it wasn't for his team he would have been in similar situation as Porte. Then Henao defended in the last two stages. Henao played a part in what is called professional racing where every team ride for their own interests. Henao is usually a strong rider in the flat stages. I saw him almost always well positioned and at the front. That takes energy. Cannot erase that from the race.

Sorry, I know the question wasn't for me but it is posted in a public forum for anybody to answer.

Can't say I agree with that. Being in the right group when the peloton splits during crosswinds hardly means "Henao dropped Contador". Also saying he looked weak until yesterday seems pretty ridiculous considering he came in second in the ITT. It's not like Henao stole the win or anything but looking at the big picture I'm not going to pretend he was better than Contador.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Re:

Quite a bit of disrespect shown to Henao here. he had his best domestique pulling out on the eve of the race. He thrived in echelons, danced away on a murito, put in an excellent TT, limited his losses well on the high mountain stage and heroically clawed back a losing position on the final stage, pulling along a mini peloton for most of the last 30km. And, after all that, he managed to beat two of probably the top 5 week long stage racers in the world to take easily the biggest win of his career.

Yet that is all put to one side because Izagirre took a couple of pulls on the final descent. Henao deserves way more credit. A fully deserving winner.

If this had been Contador, it would have been the best race ever, totally deserved, no help from others, because he's the better man, greatest climber, best echelon rider and all round top notch good egg. Can't believe some people are knocking Henao because he beat Contador. Pathetic.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

And the winner is

I wonder how Contador will lose this year lol.

That hurts Pisti, that hurts

Hmm, you can point to many things, but most importantly

a) missing the echelons on stage 1
b) being good, but not great on the biggest stage he should have won the race on
c) that Trek wasn't able to put a man up in the break and that Alberto got the legs on stage 8 he should have gotten on stage 7. Too bad.

Losing 17 seconds on the little climb at the end of stage 1.

 

[Escarabajo]

@frisenfruitig
Sorry, I forgot about the ITT.

Overall for the whole race he was better by 2 seconds.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

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

I thought I came out with rubbish at times but this takes the biscuit! Think you may need to wipe your mouth because there's a lot of drivel coming out of it at the moment!

 

[dacooley]

yet a few years ago, especially after the 2013 echelone stage and illustrious 2014 season, contador has got deservedly regarded as the most versatile gc rider. moreover, ability to snare opponents on flats was considered an extra ace up to his sleeve. Wind splits are always a lottery. sometimes you win sometimes you lose. this time lady luck was clearly on henao's side. to be honest i'm admired by how much pulling he managed to do today. either way, he's no ac, quite an average time trialer and generally not very suited to that kind of work. despite a narrow loss it looks very encouraging for ac as well. he's leaving pn after showing himself by far the best climber. bring on volta catalunya!

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Quite a bit of disrespect shown to Henao here. he had his best domestique pulling out on the eve of the race. He thrived in echelons, danced away on a murito, put in an excellent TT, limited his losses well on the high mountain stage and heroically clawed back a losing position on the final stage, pulling along a mini peloton for most of the last 30km. And, after all that, he managed to beat two of probably the top 5 week long stage racers in the world to take easily the biggest win of his career.

Yet that is all put to one side because Izagirre took a couple of pulls on the final descent. Henao deserves way more credit. A fully deserving winner.

This. A hundred times this.

 

[Escarabajo]

There you go:

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto is always graceful in defeat, even when he's super disappointed. He has way more class in his pinky toe than I have in my whole body, I'm not ashamed to admit

 

[Billopoulos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyYBfBmFkU

0.46-0.47, Froome on the bottom right corner

 

[Flamin]

Just seen the stage, what a brilliant one again. Thanks Contador. Feel bad for him he was just like last year the strongest rider but got beaten by either a better team or other teams chasing their own goals and 'interfering' with the battle for overall victory. Of course that's racing.

But Henao fought like a true lion and he absolutely deserves it as well. When everyone kept on attacking from behind his back on Eze, I feared it might crack him, but he was very strong, both legs and head.

Three stages(!) in an 8-day race btw that could easily vouch for a top-10 of best race (day) of the year. Amazing edition.

 

[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

I thought I came out with rubbish at times but this takes the biscuit! Think you may need to wipe your mouth because there's a lot of drivel coming out of it at the moment!

Thanks for your contribution mate

 

[RedheadDane]

Just a little detail I find rather funny:

1. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
2. Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
3. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
4. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
6. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
7. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8. Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
9. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal

Now, I know there's some disagreement about how the name is spelled, but you'd think their name would at least be spelled the same on the same result-sheet. Unless Gorka prefers in spelled one way, and Jon the other. (At least they're being consistent throughout all the result lists.)

 

[Billie]

Re:

Just a little detail I find rather funny:

1. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
2. Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
3. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
4. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
6. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
7. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8. Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
9. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal

Now, I know there's some disagreement about how the name is spelled, but you'd think their name would at least be spelled the same on the same result-sheet. Unless Gorka prefers in spelled one way, and Jon the other. (At least they're being consistent throughout all the result lists.)

The difference is because their respective teams used different spelling when they gave their rider lists to UCI and race organisers

 

[Carols]

Re:

There you go:

Right after the race Alberto went to Henao and congratulated him. If only mankind as a whole had that kind of class the world would be a much kinder place.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

And the winner is

I wonder how Contador will lose this year lol.

That hurts Pisti, that hurts

Hmm, you can point to many things, but most importantly

a) missing the echelons on stage 1
b) being good, but not great on the biggest stage he should have won the race on
c) that Trek wasn't able to put a man up in the break and that Alberto got the legs on stage 8 he should have gotten on stage 7. Too bad.

Losing 17 seconds on the little climb at the end of stage 1.

Yeah, I forgot that, pretty crucial.

 

[HelloDolly]

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/841011040091541506


So where are those geeks who suggested this type of power output when Froome did it was indicative of something else

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/841011040091541506


So where are those geeks who suggested this type of power output when Froome did it was indicative of something else

Wrong subforum maybe? PS someone replied to him saying 6.4-6.5 W/kg would be more realistic. For context, Porte did 6.3 for 40 minutes yesterday.

 

[vedrafjord]

I would have hoped for more applause for the great standard of racing we've had all week instead of moaning at the outcome. I think having this in parallel with TA actually helps entertainment-wise, because it thins out some of the team strength in depth we've become used to, not just from Sky but occasionally Movistar and Astana too. There were so many attacks on the final climb today, because if any of the GC guys wanted something to happen they had to do it themselves, and not just put a couple of doms on the front and hope people dropped off the back.

The organisers got lucky with the choppy weather cutting the sprint stages to ribbons, but the hilly stages in the second half of the week were well-designed too. I'm happy for Henao (or Henn-yo according to Sean Kelly) - he should have a lot more wins to his name for the talent he has. De la Cruz's stage win too - he did his share of work once it was clear Martin wasn't going to catch Contador, and he did well to come back after Contador pulled away in the flat run-in.

The whole week though - this is what bike racing can and should be.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re:

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/841011040091541506


So where are those geeks who suggested this type of power output when Froome did it was indicative of something else

Take it to the clinic mate

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/841011040091541506


So where are those geeks who suggested this type of power output when Froome did it was indicative of something else

Very impressive performance, but the numbers really don't tell us something we don't know. Contador is pretty similar to what he was in 2016.

 

[movingtarget]

Good edition of Paris -Nice this year. Enjoyed the race.

 

[jaylew]

Anyone have a link to video that shows Contador attacking and bridging to the break? The vids I keep finding start much later. Language doesn't matter.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Just a little detail I find rather funny:

1. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
2. Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
3. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
4. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
6. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
7. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8. Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
9. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal

Now, I know there's some disagreement about how the name is spelled, but you'd think their name would at least be spelled the same on the same result-sheet. Unless Gorka prefers in spelled one way, and Jon the other. (At least they're being consistent throughout all the result lists.)

There's also some confusion over whether he's Ion or Jon.

Izagirre would be how the name is rendered in batua or unified Basque, but in Castilianized spellings, [g] becomes [x] before front vowels [e] and , so to ensure that the hard [g] is retained the silent u is introduced. Similarly with his first name, it begins with the semivowel [j], but in Castilian Spanish orthography the letter J is rendered [x], so "Ion" has arisen as a way of reflecting the semivowel.

During many previous eras Basque families' names have been rendered according to Castilian norms, while some use the Basque orthography (cf. former Argentine goalkeeper Sérgio Goycochea as against Julen Goikoetxea, or Jai-Alai legend Patxi Churruca as against Amets Txurruka), and the decision to reject a historically Castilianized version of the family name in favour of a Basque reading, or vice versa, can be a matter of personal choice but may also be potentially politically charged. The actual codified version of Euskera is relatively young and so many prominent families' names would already have been long established at this point.

It's not as common to see as the former Belarusian and Ukrainian pros who were born in the USSR days so have a Russified version of their name as well as the native (so Serhiy Honchar against Sergey Gonchar, or Kanstantsin Siutsou against Konstantin Sivtsov), but to be honest given the popularity of cycling in the Basque-Navarrese region I wouldn't bat an eyelid about seeing both forms reflected in a cycling startlist if we didn't know the two were brothers.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Anyone have a link to video that shows Contador attacking and bridging to the break? The vids I keep finding start much later. Language doesn't matter.

I am looking for the same videos as well. I haven't found any in English or Spanish yet.