Rigoberto Uran discussion thread.

[Popchu]

Rigoberto Uran is riding le Tour de France, but he's barely mentioned in any preview. Giro wasn't good due to ilness, but he rode the full 21 stages so will he be fully recovered? There are some stages in the Tour that suits Uran really well.

What do you think of him?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I expect great things.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

I expect great things.

Wasn't he gonna do great things in the giro?

Oh yea he got sick, always an excuse

 

[Popchu]

Re:

I expect great things.

Define 'great things'? GC? Stage win? Really don't know what to expect from him.

I expect great things.

Wasn't he gonna do great things in the giro?

Oh yea he got sick, always an excuse

You have to know all these butthurt reactions to Ryo Hazukis post are 10x worse than his posts. Is it so hard to see through his hyperboles? At least he adds something to the forum, contrary to 50% of the other members here.

And yes, Uran was clearly sick in the Giro, don't know how you can deny that.

 

[Happy dude]

Rigo can be part of the train, and will try to win a stage

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think uran will first try for gc and considering the heat and the big tour cols that should suit him in characterstics I think he has a chance at maybe top 5 or podium if others crash. still there's a very real chance he's not in good form or drops and he won't go for gc but he can try and win stages and may polka dot jersey. in general the tour is a race much better suited to uran. he's always done great in it before despite often getting sick and thus losing gc,

 

[DBotero]

Uran for the GC,*** the train.Maybe a top 5 if he's lucky enough.

 

[Escarabajo]

I expect good things from him as well. The way the Giro went was not perfect for him but in the end it worked better for his Tour de France appearance. He was already recovering towards the end and having good results. At that point Giro was over. Went back to recover to his home.

On paper he can take advantage of the first week.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I expect good things from him as well. The way the Giro went was not perfect for him but in the end it worked better for his Tour de France debut. He was already recovering towards the end and having good results. At that point Giro was over. Went back to recover to his home.

On paper he can take advantage of the first week.

He has ridden the Tour before.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

I expect good things from him as well. The way the Giro went was not perfect for him but in the end it worked better for his Tour de France debut. He was already recovering towards the end and having good results. At that point Giro was over. Went back to recover to his home.

On paper he can take advantage of the first week.

He has ridden the Tour before.

I know. I just realized it was my poor use of the English. I'll fix it. Thanks.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

I expect great things.

I think is good nobody talk of him. He has no pressure.

The forecast is hot or warm weather, so this is really good for him.

I think he has no problems on the cobbles.

The problem is, in the first week, position in the bunch will be important, and his team is goint to be everything to Tony Martin if he get the yellow this saturday (it would be good for him if no) and for Cavendish.

If Kiatkowski is ok, the team will be for him in Huy, Bretagne, or even in the cobbles, despite he can do a very good initial ITT (for Rigo is short and flat, but he can do well).

if the team would be to help Rigo in the first week, and he has the luck he hadnt in the Giro, I expect for him a very good GC...but is most probably he do the paper of Hesjedal (that is as well in le Tour and maybe very strong) in the Giro...with time lost attack every day and play an important role in the race.

I dont know how is Kiatkowski and if he would help Rigo on the mountains...
In teory, rigo is in le Tour to have presence in the mountains, not really for GC, but I hope they gave him a chance.

Of course the team can do a very good TTT, althpug is not flat and people as Cavendish will drop in some point...

 

[damian13ster]

He might top 10. I don't expect anything better than that. Weather and the kind of climbs might suit him but he is not a fun rider, won't gain time on rivals anywhere.

And if Kwiatkowski is even at 80% of his shape (top10 in ITT) he should go on his own on the cobbles and try to get yellow jersey. Couple of days in it would be much more valuable than anything Uran can do in the Tour (unless he goes stage hunting)

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

He might top 10. I don't expect anything better than that. Weather and the kind of climbs might suit him but he is not a fun rider, won't gain time on rivals anywhere.

And if Kwiatkowski is even at 80% of his shape (top10 in ITT) he should go on his own on the cobbles and try to get yellow jersey. Couple of days in it would be much more valuable than anything Uran can do in the Tour (unless he goes stage hunting)

Well, I think Rigo (and bramati said once) is at the level of the big 4 named usually, Kiatkowski is far from that...but there is no problem on Kiatkowski to get the yellow in the first week or after TTT...the problem is if someone help Rigo in the first week and later if is necessary.

You can not belive that, but...

We see his 2 previous Tours:

2009. He was just 22, the younger rider on le Tour. he wanst predicted to be on the Tour, but he finally was there for differente circusntances, his fist GT.

Well, that Tour gave one impresive moment. Lance armstrong taking the half a minute that the front group with Andy, Contador, Wiggins..had. It was an explosive and amazing counter attack.

We see in this video how Uran could chase Lance in that counter attack.. that is an amazing proof of class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-8XNcJsDk (1:50)

there were some amazing details at the begining of this video as well that year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-8XNcJsDk


His second Tour:

He was wearing the white yersey till he got ill before the queen stage, climbing similar to the best.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=20834

Third in le mur the bretagne

Both stages, Bretagne and Plateau are this year in le Tour, and now Rigo is an stronger rider.

Tour is the race that suit him better, he just need good luck... no illness especially, but he is not gopint to climb as Quintana nor ITT as Froome, but he is at that level and has his chances. He can put time of them is climbs as Huy or Bretagne, he is strong in the mountains and in the flat.

And of course he is better than other GC contenders in classics as Lieja, San Sebastian, Lombardia,...but that is not important in le Tour, others are maybe better in a GT.

Interesting to see this video at the end (3:00:00)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/columnists/2011/7/16/1310835493775/Team-Skys-Rigoberto-Uran-007.jpg

I didnt remenber Contador thought he won the stage funny.

Maybe now they play with Kiatkowski for that kind of stages (if he is ok, he wanst ok in Swiss), but Urán can do it very well

 

[damian13ster]

I am not saying that he isnt a great climber, he is. Just not in top 5, so why go for anonymous top 10 place instead of going for yellow jersey on couple of stages and stage hunting later in the race (Etixx got perfect team for that). I think Uran should just tag along with the group of leaders with 1-2 helpers on each stage (not Martin or Kwiatkowski since they can get in breakaways later in the race) and try not to drop out too early from the best.

Of course, things change if Kwiatkowski isn't in great shape (he seems very unsure where he is at), then Martin might hold yellow in first 2 stages but after that team can support Uran until he drops out of contention and go stage hunting later

 

[IndianCyclist]

He was sick in the 2014 Vuelta and Abandoned
He was sick in the 2015 Giro and dropped like a stone
If he continues in this vein in 2015 TDF, he would achieve the singular record of being sick in 3 consecutive GTs.

 

[Gigs_98]

Everyone seems to forget that we have hardly ever seen an uran who climbed on the level of froome, contador, nibali or quintana. Even in last years giro he really wasn't that good at all, so the only way he can top 5 in a top manned gc with the shape from last year is an excellent ITT like in last years giro. However there isn't a long ITT in this tour, he has the giro in his legs and he generally wasn't in good shape for the whole season so I see absolutely no reason why he should do good in this tour.

 

[Sasquatch]

I think he'll do well. Definitely a stage win.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

He was sick in the 2014 Vuelta and Abandoned
He was sick in the 2015 Giro and dropped like a stone
If he continues in this vein in 2015 TDF, he would achieve the singular record of being sick in 3 consecutive GTs.

He has been sick in a lot of races, and in others crashed

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

He might top 10. I don't expect anything better than that. Weather and the kind of climbs might suit him but he is not a fun rider, won't gain time on rivals anywhere.

And if Kwiatkowski is even at 80% of his shape (top10 in ITT) he should go on his own on the cobbles and try to get yellow jersey. Couple of days in it would be much more valuable than anything Uran can do in the Tour (unless he goes stage hunting)

Well, I think Rigo (and bramati said once) is at the level of the big 4 named usually, Kiatkowski is far from that...but there is no problem on Kiatkowski to get the yellow in the first week or after TTT...the problem is if someone help Rigo in the first week and later if is necessary.

You can not belive that, but...

We see his 2 previous Tours:

2009. He was just 22, the younger rider on le Tour. he wanst predicted to be on the Tour, but he finally was there for differente circusntances, his fist GT.

Well, that Tour gave one impresive moment. Lance armstrong taking the half a minute that the front group with Andy, Contador, Wiggins..had. It was an explosive and amazing counter attack.

We see in this video how Uran could chase Lance in that counter attack.. that is an amazing proof of class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-8XNcJsDk (1:50)

there were some amazing details at the begining of this video as well that year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k-8XNcJsDk


His second Tour:

He was wearing the white yersey till he got ill before the queen stage, climbing similar to the best.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=20834

Third in le mur the bretagne

Both stages, Bretagne and Plateau are this year in le Tour, and now Rigo is an stronger rider.

Tour is the race that suit him better, he just need good luck... no illness especially, but he is not gopint to climb as Quintana nor ITT as Froome, but he is at that level and has his chances. He can put time of them is climbs as Huy or Bretagne, he is strong in the mountains and in the flat.

And of course he is better than other GC contenders in classics as Lieja, San Sebastian, Lombardia,...but that is not important in le Tour, others are maybe better in a GT.

Interesting to see this video at the end (3:00:00)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/columnists/2011/7/16/1310835493775/Team-Skys-Rigoberto-Uran-007.jpg

I didnt remenber Contador thought he won the stage funny.

Maybe now they play with Kiatkowski for that kind of stages (if he is ok, he wanst ok in Swiss), but Urán can do it very well

You are joking right?

 

[carton]

Re:

I expect great things.

I don't. As I said previously. he seemed to have preferred the Vuelta but apparently the team wanted him at the Tour. He doesn't seem as chipper as usual. Hasn't signed for next year. If he had done well at the Giro he might've been hunting for stages which he could probably do well (he packs a decent sprint), but I get the feeling he'll be riding for the GC. Preparation wasn't the best. Team rightfully geared towards Cav/stage wins, but that means he can't afford to have a bad day. Even at his best he couldn't match Nibali or Quintana. A top-10 won't mean much. A top-5 would be a big ask.

On the flip side on talent and experience he should be in the Pinot/VanGarderen/Mollema group right below the fab four. He should't lose much time in the stage 1 TT/prologue and he might actually gain some time in the TTT (this is one powerful EQS team). So if his form is good enough he might actually have a shot at wearing yellow for a day or two, which would take the pressure off and give him a better run at that 5th slot. But his form doesn't seem great. Hope I'm wrong. We'll get a taste Sunday.

 

[Escarabajo]

Everyone seems to forget that we have hardly ever seen an uran who climbed on the level of froome, contador, nibali or quintana. Even in last years giro he really wasn't that good at all, so the only way he can top 5 in a top manned gc with the shape from last year is an excellent ITT like in last years giro. However there isn't a long ITT in this tour, he has the giro in his legs and he generally wasn't in good shape for the whole season so I see absolutely no reason why he should do good in this tour.

This is not true. Not true at all. As for the rest I cannot deny it.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

he was better than contador in the tirreno for a start

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

I expect great things.

I don't. As I said previously. he seemed to have preferred the Vuelta but apparently the team wanted him at the Tour. He doesn't seem as chipper as usual.seem great. Hope I'm wrong. We'll get a taste Sunday.

He always want to ride le Tour.

Hasnt got the best preparation? Similar to Contador.

The problem is that the team is for Cav, and there are another stars as Kiatkowski or Tony Martin that are in the Tour to shine.
Nobody is going to work for Uran in the first week, but my doubt is if the team want him to suport Cav or any other rider in the first team, especially if Tony Martin get the yellow tomorrow

 

[Guybrush]

nobody works for him at the giro either

 

[Gigs_98]

Everyone seems to forget that we have hardly ever seen an uran who climbed on the level of froome, contador, nibali or quintana. Even in last years giro he really wasn't that good at all, so the only way he can top 5 in a top manned gc with the shape from last year is an excellent ITT like in last years giro. However there isn't a long ITT in this tour, he has the giro in his legs and he generally wasn't in good shape for the whole season so I see absolutely no reason why he should do good in this tour.

This is not true. Not true at all. As for the rest I cannot deny it.

Okay, I have to admit thats false