Re: Re:
I apologise - The team selectors have got it wrong They must have misread the course.
DFA123 said:I think this climb has gained some kind of mythical status that it doesn't really justify. Let's remind ourselves of the profile.yaco said:DFA123 said:I think the difficulty is being over-estimated quite a bit. The final climb is like an easier version of Il Ghisallo (basically the same lower part but with a much more gentle top section); and they are only doing that three times. Because it's so gentle towards the top, anyone who makes an attack right from the bottom is going to be wasting a lot of energy on the upper section - so I think we'll just see riders going late and trying to gain an advantage over the top and on the descent.Red Rick said:I think that after a course as hard as this one, the final flat will come down to legs much more than tt ability. And there will be absolute top climbers leaving it all on the road on the final climb. I think there's a very small chance of a larger group sprinting for the win.
I think riders like Matthews and Gilbert have more of a chance than Froome or Quintana.
You are so far off the mark is not funny - Climbers are being selected because its a climbers course - I doubt very much that Matthews will be selected.
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Anyone who attacks early is just going to be wasting energy on that top section - teams like France, Spain and Italy will have enough strength to get organised and chase them down. Anyone who attacks in the last km is just not going to get enough of an advantage. There are still 12km of flat to go at the end - that's plenty of time for climber-puncheurs who may have lost about 30 seconds to get back on. And the likes of Kwiatkowski, Gilbert, any domestiques for Spain, Italy, France will certainly work together for quite possibly their one shot at the Olympic title.
The other factor is that earlier in the race there are about 10 climbs of 1km length which will most probably be ridden hard at an anaerobic/vo2 max pace. That is going to take a lot more out of the legs of pure climbers, than it will out of all-round Liege/Lombardia specialist.
I apologise - The team selectors have got it wrong They must have misread the course.