Rui Costa Discussion Thread

[movingtarget]

Costa really poor. Lampre just got another Cunego. Except Costa will contend for GC in 1 week races. They are crying out for a GT rider who can do well. Scarponi was last man they had and he was not all that. Should try Nibali in a few years.

His TT is fine and he has been ill but I don't rate him very highly as a climber. He climbs well enough to win the TDS but that is all.

 

[canyonball]

Great input from Horner.

It's been a Tour with some mishaps for Rui and that shows. He is taking it day by day. I think yesterday was very good in terms of damage control. I hope he can keep it that way until the infection is dead and gone.

 

[trevim]

If he can limit his losses and recover for the Pyrenees he might end up with a top10 which is a very decent result all things considered.

 

[Netserk]

He should've taken it easier yesterday and then been in the break today.

 

[canyonball]

Alps done. Time to recover.

For those who speak/understand Portuguese, there was a 30 minute piece last night on RTP1 with Rui and his family.

http://www.rtp.pt/play/p1516/e160954/linha-da-frente

 

[canyonball]

No more Tour for Rui Costa. This is his X ray

His schedule has been pretty regular over the years and I doubt this will change much. La vuelta is not suited at all to his characteristics as a climber too (In response to someone on other thread claiming he could go there).

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Apart from the annual Tour de Suisse win, he has not had any luck this season.

 

[oliveira]

Now I think he should point his season to WC. As Ulissi is done for a while I would love to see him race the italian late classics around Lombardia as Milano-Torino, Giro di Piemonte, Giro di Emilia... I think he will try to be at a good condition at WC and he can build on that, earlier it's probably not possible.

In hindsight, a very impressive second Tour week for him, still strugling for top 10 on this conditions. Looks like his bronchitis was really a acute one.

 

[Parrulo]

Surprised he kept going for so long in such condition.

If a simple recovery ride yesterday was enough to have to take him to the hospital imagine how he must have been feeling on saturday

Hopefully he will recover in time to build his form for the second half of the season around the worlds.

Maybe he should rest until the vuelta and ride himself into form without caring for GC like many have done in the past.

 

[trevim]

It's a shame that we still couldn't assess the real potential of Rui as a GT rider. Now it's recovery time and focus on classics!

 

[Broth3r]

It's a shame that we still couldn't assess the real potential of Rui as a GT rider.

And this is why I'm fairly certain he'll be gunning for the Tour again next year. I don't see him giving up on the Tour GC without being beaten unhindered.

 

[trevim]

And this is why I'm fairly certain he'll be gunning for the Tour again next year. I don't see him giving up on the Tour GC without being beaten unhindered.

And there's nothing wrong with it. As long as he keeps going for 1 week stage races and classics, I don't mind he spends July going for GC in the Tour. It's not like there is much to win in the Summer anyway so it's OK as long as he doesn't go all JvdB for the Tour.

 

[Broth3r]

And there's nothing wrong with it. As long as he keeps going for 1 week stage races and classics, I don't mind he spends July going for GC in the Tour. It's not like there is much to win in the Summer anyway so it's OK as long as he doesn't go all JvdB for the Tour.

I agree; if I sounded like I disapproved of it, that wasn't intended. He'll surely keep his focus on the Ardennes, Suisse, and WC: what to gun for in the rest of the season? He already has multiple GT stages under his belt, so I can see no better objective than the Tour GC.

 

[staubsauger]

I agree; if I sounded like I disapproved of it, that wasn't intended. He'll surely keep his focus on the Ardennes, Suisse, and WC: what to gun for in the rest of the season? He already has multiple GT stages under his belt, so I can see no better objective than the Tour GC.

The Vuelta should be a gt he actually has more chances to shine in the gc.

Altough it hurts with his wc ambitions most of the times.

 

[Broth3r]

The Vuelta should be a gt he actually has more chances to shine in the gc.

Altough it hurts with his wc ambitions most of the times.

The Giro and Vuelta don't really play to his strenghts: he needs some TT kilometers to make up time.

 

[Hugo87]

He's back to winning and beating Lo Squalo

1. Alberto Rui Costa (Por/Lampre-Merida) 90 km in 1h51:55
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
3. Matteo Trentin (Ita) op 0:14
4. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) 0:30
5. Luca Paolini (Ita)

 

[Jspear]

Someone should start a thread titled "Is Costa at the same level as Nibali?"

 

[BigMac]

And got to love the Portuguese new cycling fans getting all excited because he won a fixed popularity contest post-Tour criterium. (I'm referring to the social networks of course). Anyway, a win was more than deserved after being told to place 2nd in the two previous criteriums (after Majka and Nibali himself). Just imagine if Costa had gotten his first - though unofficial - season win here.

 

[trevim]

And got to love the Portuguese new cycling fans getting all excited because he won a fixed popularity contest post-Tour criterium. (I'm referring to the social networks of course). Anyway, a win was more than deserved after being told to place 2nd in the two previous criteriums (after Majka and Nibali himself). Just imagine if Costa had gotten his first - though unofficial - season win here.

I love the fact that this results have been showing up in generalist media as some sort of big result. Really, how lazy do you need to be to get a journalism degree

 

[trevim]

Someone should start a thread titled "Is Costa at the same level as Nibali?"

No need for that, just check Rui's facebook and have big laughs reading the comments from the fans:
1) It's outrageous no one publicizes his Criterium wins (which is not true sadly, because these aren't even races).
2) People claiming that he had a miraculous recovery from bronchitis and would have kicked Nibali's a*** just like he did in this lame criterium.
3) The Vuelta doesn't have interest without Rui there. Froome who?
Really guys if anyone knows portuguese just go there, so many people who basically don't have any clue about cycling. I guess that's the price to pay for being World Champion: lots of new fans that don't know cycling and don't seem to learn even though Rui has been around for some time now.

 

[BigMac]

No need for that, just check Rui's facebook and have big laughs reading the comments from the fans:
1) It's outrageous no one publicizes his Criterium wins (which is not true sadly, because these aren't even races).
2) People claiming that he had a miraculous recovery from bronchitis and would have kicked Nibali's a*** just like he did in this lame criterium.
3) The Vuelta doesn't have interest without Rui there. Froome who?
Really guys if anyone knows portuguese just go there, so many people who basically don't have any clue about cycling. I guess that's the price to pay for being World Champion: lots of new fans that don't know cycling and don't seem to learn even though Rui has been around for some time now.

Someone understands me, I thought I was alone in this world.

 

[BigMac]

Now that we know for certain that the 2016 Vuelta will start in Portugal, we can also tell, almost for sure, that Costa will take part in it. He would not want to miss this unique opportunity I believe. Not to mention that his hometown is just a few kilometers north of Porto.

 

[jens_attacks]

2016 is like what, 4 years from now?

 

[BigMac]

Whooah. Great showing today. I had not doubts he would be ready. Made the first move at Camillien-Houde, break failed, attacked on the flat, was only caught back by the Orica train, and still had the strenght to finish at second place. For me, the the strongest in today's race.

 

[BigMac]

With this Costa snatches his 8th second place of the season, four of them in WT races. Impressive.