more like peaking whole seasonbrilleaben said:Peaking too soon....
No he generally has a very strong base level and he was very strong last year in this race and then again in Poland and again at the Vuelta.brilleaben said:Peaking too soon....
He will be saving it for stages 3,4,5,6. I guess he put up some muscles since Cali. He looked really big and strong yesterday. In sprints he will be faster than ever. But obviously climbing will be a tragedy. Really, don't expect him today in top50.Froome19 said:What is certain is that today will once and for all clear up all the uncertainty over Sagan's climbing.
He has never had a real reason to go for it on the steep stuff yet with the yellow jersey on his shoulders and no Nibali to help, he surely will want to give it his all.
I am a bit apprehensive after ATOC that he may not have it in him but whenever he has really wanted to go for it. (TDS last year even out of the break) he has, I dont expect to see him in the top5 but I am desperately hoping he can prove himself the new Kelly with at least a top10.
Well he already is one of the best Puncher's in the world as shown by his AGR perfomance same with his cobbles as shown by his Flanders perfomance and sprinting with his Vuelta perfomance.brilleaben said:Of course he's not peaking too soon, it was just a fantastic and very original joke. But I wonder what he will focus on perfecting first. Will he be a sprinter, cobbler or puncheur? Or just all of them.
Generally you would expect a rider such as Sagan to be a bad climber. But history shows he is fairly decent at that also, i think he will be able to put in quite a good performance.Lance Armstrong said:He will be saving it for stages 3,4,5,6. I guess he put up some muscles since Cali. He looked really big and strong yesterday. In sprints he will be faster than ever. But obviously climbing will be a tragedy. Really, don't expect him today in top50.
One steep climb?Lance Armstrong said:He will be saving it for stages 3,4,5,6. I guess he put up some muscles since Cali. He looked really big and strong yesterday. In sprints he will be faster than ever. But obviously climbing will be a tragedy. Really, don't expect him today in top50.
Afrank said:He's showed numerous times he can sprint the best and win. Check
He showed in Tirreno he can go head to head with the GC guys and beat them in a uphill finish. Check.
He showed this spring that he can be a contender for the classics. Check
And now he has showed he can beat the best in a time trial Check
He showed at Big Bear Lake in the 2010 Tour of California that he can survive the climbs to take the win. Not so much
He has beaten Boonen, Goss, Hushovd, Petacchi, Freire in a sprint, all pretty good sprinters. He hasn't beaten Cav yet, but he will in the tourRicheypen said:[He's showed numerous times he can sprint the best and win. Nope
He showed in Tirreno he can go head to head with the GC guys and beat them in a uphill finish. yes
He showed at Big Bear Lake in the 2010 Tour of California that he can survive the climbs to take the win. Nope
He showed this spring that he can be a contender for the classics. Yes
And now he has showed he can beat the best in a time trial Nope
He has shown that he is the fastest (barring Goss) of the guys who can get over climbs, thats a long way from beating the best sprinters.Afrank said:He has beaten Boonen, Goss, Hushovd, Petacchi, Freire in a sprint, all pretty good sprinters. He hasn't beaten Cav yet, but he will in the tour
I'll give you the Big Bear Lake, it was the only hill stage that he won that I could think of off the top of my head. Another one 2011 tour de suisse stage 3.
You don't consider Cancellara one of the best? Even if it is was a short prologue he did beat a 4 time world time trial champion in it.
He was a handful of seconds behind the time Cancellara did last year in the prologue, same route. He's already one of the best in prologues out there.Richeypen said:As for TTing, beating Canc in a prolouge when he is coming back from injury and not inform is not showing that he can beat the best TTing. 27 riders beat the current World Champ in the P-N prolouge, does that mean that Jérémy Roy, Simon Gerrans etc have shown that they can beat the best TTing?
Prologues are a completely different matter to proper ITTs. Even Cav has won one against the likes of Martin, Wiggins, Pinotti etcSafeBet said:He was a handful of seconds behind the time Cancellara did last year in the prologue, same route. He's already one of the best in prologues out there.
Long ITTs on the other hand, not quite there.
I doubt he is much better than EBH in the sprintsRicheypen said:He has shown that he is the fastest (barring Goss) of the guys who can get over climbs, thats a long way from beating the best sprinters.
As for TTing, beating Canc in a prolouge when he is coming back from injury and not inform is not showing that he can beat the best TTing. 27 riders beat the current World Champ in the P-N prolouge, does that mean that Jérémy Roy, Simon Gerrans etc have shown that they can beat the best TTing?
I don't think Sagan's faster, but he's certainly better at positioning. Mostly because he's completely and utterly insaneVino attacks everyone said:I doubt he is much better than EBH in the sprints