Ruta del Sol (Vuelta a Andalucia) 17/2 - 21/2

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Felt sorry for TJ but a GTs is a different thing and both he and Valverde are the 2 GT riders in that field today
Majka 'the wonderful' goes arounf TJ at the end afer wheel sucking all the way up...imagine if Bala did that

Of course Majka did that. Mollema did the same. It was the only thing to do.

It was the only thing to do for such a sad rider like Majka, or Mollema for that matter.

That's not fair to Majka, he was obivously on the limit, otherwise he would have gone with TPatheticBM, he was also active before TJ attacked.

Stupid TV has showed Piti being hugged instead of arrival of the man no.5 today. That's really crap.

TPBM amazes me, next year he's gonna peak in January and in 2018, he is gonna peaks in December 2017, what a snowman.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Felt sorry for TJ but a GTs is a different thing and both he and Valverde are the 2 GT riders in that field today
Majka 'the wonderful' goes arounf TJ at the end afer wheel sucking all the way up...imagine if Bala did that

Of course Majka did that. Mollema did the same. It was the only thing to do.

It was the only thing to do for such a sad rider like Majka, or Mollema for that matter.

Any rational would cling to TJ's wheel in a situation like that, especially in the case of Majka and Mollema who had no incentives to work. I don't agree however, that Majka often lets others do the work, but it was reasonable and okay to do in this situation.

Exactly. Plus Majka didn't have a lot let in the end. Yes, enough to drop TJ, but he couldn't follow Mollema at all.

I know it's popular to criticize 'wheel suckers' and I do it myself too, but sometimes its just too much. The ONLY logical thing to do for Majka was to stay with TJ for as long as possible and then give everything in the last k.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

Poels has a turn of speed on a steep shortish climb...work on that and win one day races...Forget GTs you cannot do it day in and day out mate

Felt sorry for TJ but a GTs is a different thing and both he and Valverde are the 2 GT riders in that field today
Majka 'the wonderful' goes arounf TJ at the end afer wheel sucking all the way up...imagine if Bala did that

Yup, thus ends the Poels hype.

I wonder if Sky will consider sending Kwiatkowski to Tirreno. Gives him an extra few days to prepare after his illness, strengthens the team for the TTT and he can win the race if he's back to his best. Thomas and Sergio Henao is enough for Paris-Nice.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Felt sorry for TJ but a GTs is a different thing and both he and Valverde are the 2 GT riders in that field today
Majka 'the wonderful' goes arounf TJ at the end afer wheel sucking all the way up...imagine if Bala did that

Of course Majka did that. Mollema did the same. It was the only thing to do.

It was the only thing to do for such a sad rider like Majka, or Mollema for that matter.

Any rational would cling to TJ's wheel in a situation like that, especially in the case of Majka and Mollema who had no incentives to work. I don't agree however, that Majka often lets others do the work, but it was reasonable and okay to do in this situation.

Exactly. Plus Majka didn't have a lot let in the end. Yes, enough to drop TJ, but he couldn't follow Mollema at all.

I know it's popular to criticize 'wheel suckers' and I do it myself too, but sometimes its just too much. The ONLY logical thing to do for Majka was to stay with TJ for as long as possible and then give everything in the last k.

As I said if Valverde did it you'd be spitting fire
Guess one rule for soem and another for Maka the womderful

 

[jaylew]

Last 13k vid

 

[Bushman]

@HelloDolly

No I wouldn't. Valverde is one of my favourite riders and he is good example of a rider who gets (or used to at least) way too much stick for 'sucking wheels' when he is just doing what is obviously the smartest.

Not saying that some of the criticism of his defensive riding has been justified, it definitely has. But some of the criticism has been ridiculous and irrational at times.

 

[HelloDolly]

@Bushman

Ok

But I just getting at those who give one rider a hard time and ignore another who does the same thing

 

[doperhopper]

Re:

Valverde, what can I say... I was thinking he maybe might take it a bit slower early in the year with Rio on his mind, well, who was I kidding? Vaya campeón!!!

Piti peaking all year round as usual, racing and winning/placing everywhere, small stage races, classics, GTs, worlds, andthis year even olympics.

 

[Taxus4a]

In Spain will miss Valverde a lot.

And he maybe will ride Giro, Tour, Vuelta,...what to say...

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

In Spain will miss Valverde a lot.

And he maybe will ride Giro, Tour, Vuelta,...what to say...

Hurry up and retire is what I say

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

In Spain will miss Valverde a lot.

And he maybe will ride Giro, Tour, Vuelta,...what to say...

Hurry up and retire is what I say

Sometimes is better to say nothing...

 

[Stingray34]

If TJVG can't defend a 22sec. lead on the final mountain to a 35 year-old, it's time to re-think his career choice. He's not really protected-rider material, that much is clear - he can't really last a full three weeks - and gets done over in a 5-day stage race. Is TJ suddenly going to be a world-beater come July? Nope.

I like TJ and always wanted him to shine. But since 2012, he's gone backwards. Must be a lot to swallow for the guy. Maybe he could become a domestique deluxe for the mountains? He'd have to be more consistent even just for that. He just seems fragile, in both mind and body.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

In Spain will miss Valverde a lot.

And he maybe will ride Giro, Tour, Vuelta,...what to say...

Hurry up and retire is what I say

Word is that he's going to sign with Orica next season with the primary purpose of sending Gerrans into an early retirement and a secondary goal of raising his profile in Australia for the purpose of starting a junior racing team in his name. I'll try to find the link for you.

 

[barmaher]

If TJVG can't defend a 22sec. lead on the final mountain to a 35 year-old, it's time to re-think his career choice. He's not really protected-rider material, that much is clear - he can't really last a full three weeks - and gets done over in a 5-day stage race. Is TJ suddenly going to be a world-beater come July? Nope.

I like TJ and always wanted him to shine. But since 2012, he's gone backwards. Must be a lot to swallow for the guy. Maybe he could become a domestique deluxe for the mountains? He'd have to be more consistent even just for that. He just seems fragile, in both mind and body.

I think this post is ridiculously harsh.

I don't think that a 2.1 race in February should be used to judge anybody. Particularly when they have come second to one of the most remarkable and consistent riders in modern cycling.

TJ was in third place in the Tour de France last year when he got sick. I would say he was likely to finish anywhere between 3rd and 5th in a very strong Tour de France field.

He was strong in the third week of the Wiggins Tour, winning the white jersey and beating Evans in the process.

In fact, I don't see any of his Tours de France where you can say he has faded in the final week. I would say that he would have a good chance of getting a podium (and with a bit of luck, who knows) if the Tour was to revisit the 2012 route, kilometre for kilometre.

Last year's Dauphiné and a number of other stages in the high mountains in recent years have shown that although he is a level below Froome, Quintana and Contador in the mountains, he is definitely in the next 10-15 climbers.

I am not going to sit here and say that he is a GT winner in waiting. But he is a long way from being written off as a domestique.

 

[DFA123]

If TJVG can't defend a 22sec. lead on the final mountain to a 35 year-old, it's time to re-think his career choice. He's not really protected-rider material, that much is clear - he can't really last a full three weeks - and gets done over in a 5-day stage race. Is TJ suddenly going to be a world-beater come July? Nope.

I like TJ and always wanted him to shine. But since 2012, he's gone backwards. Must be a lot to swallow for the guy. Maybe he could become a domestique deluxe for the mountains? He'd have to be more consistent even just for that. He just seems fragile, in both mind and body.

Yeah, BMC should go all in for Porte. Because absolutely none of that applies to him

 

[Bushman]

If TJVG can't defend a 22sec. lead on the final mountain to a 35 year-old, it's time to re-think his career choice. He's not really protected-rider material, that much is clear - he can't really last a full three weeks - and gets done over in a 5-day stage race. Is TJ suddenly going to be a world-beater come July? Nope.

I like TJ and always wanted him to shine. But since 2012, he's gone backwards. Must be a lot to swallow for the guy. Maybe he could become a domestique deluxe for the mountains? He'd have to be more consistent even just for that. He just seems fragile, in both mind and body.

Talk about over-analyzing a performance. First of all, this is Ruta del Sol, we're in February. It's not weird at all to not be performing at your top level every day. Secondly, let's talk about his performance in the race. He has apparently been working on his tt during the winter which seems to have paid off considering he won the tt. He has never before won a tt outside of America. Then on the climb he was beaten by 'a 35-year old', sure, but that 35-year old has rarely been seen so comfortable on a mountain finish before. He was exceptional. TJ was also beaten by Mollema and Majka in the end but mostly because he had been doing all the work. The only two riders who can say they were stronger on yesterday's stage are Valverde and Mollema. Not too bad from TJ.

He is rather inconsistent yes, but he has definitely improved his top level since 2015. You didn't see him matching Chris Froome in Dauphine and winning mountain stages in Volta a Catalunya against Contador, Purito etc. in 2012. He just needs to put it together for 3 weeks.

Maybe he won't ever be able to consistently perform well in GT's to fight for the podium but he could still have a decent career fighting for a top 5 spot in GT's and going for the podium or even the win in week long stage races. No need to give up on the ambitions just yet.

 

[Jagartrott]

Good to see that a gutsy move nets a win and the overall.
Mollema being his usual self: clinging to wheels and then jumping away the final 500 meters. Gutted that a class-act like Kelderman loses the podium to such a classless rider by 2 seconds.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Good to see that a gutsy move nets a win and the overall.
Mollema being his usual self: clinging to wheels and then jumping away the final 500 meters. Gutted that a class-act like Kelderman loses the podium to such a classless rider by 2 seconds.

Well why that class-act didn't hold the wheel of that classless rider? Maybe in that case he wouldn't loose

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kelderman actually led the chasing group for a while when Van Garderen hadn't attacked yet. But yeah. He should ride more intelligently like Majka or Mollema. Because that's what they called Di Luca, Rebellin etc who all sucked Boogerd wheel in classics years ago. But then it was called boogerd riding dumb. Not Rebellin sucking wheels. Double standards ftw

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Kelderman actually led the chasing group for a while when Van Garderen hadn't attacked yet. But yeah. He should ride more intelligently like Majka or Mollema. Because that's what they called Di Luca, Rebellin etc who all sucked Boogerd wheel in classics years ago. But then it was called boogerd riding dumb. Not Rebellin sucking wheels. Double standards ftw

Back than it was called the right name

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Kelderman actually led the chasing group for a while when Van Garderen hadn't attacked yet. But yeah. He should ride more intelligently like Majka or Mollema. Because that's what they called Di Luca, Rebellin etc who all sucked Boogerd wheel in classics years ago. But then it was called boogerd riding dumb. Not Rebellin sucking wheels. Double standards ftw

Dutchies being defensive ftw

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Good to see that a gutsy move nets a win and the overall.
Mollema being his usual self: clinging to wheels and then jumping away the final 500 meters. Gutted that a class-act like Kelderman loses the podium to such a classless rider by 2 seconds.

Kelderman has got to be the most overrated dutch "GC" rider on this forum. I'm happy Mollema got 3rd

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

In Spain will miss Valverde a lot.

And he maybe will ride Giro, Tour, Vuelta,...what to say...

Hurry up and retire is what I say

They see me rollin', they hatin'

 

[burning]

To be fair, he pulled for like 30 seconds after Bookwalter gave up and tried to follow Van Garderen for 20 seconds, that's more than most people in that group.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

To be fair, he pulled for like 30 seconds after Bookwalter gave up and tried to follow Van Garderen for 20 seconds, that's more than most people in that group.

So? He pulled a little, couldn't hold TJ's wheel, how he rode, that's how he ended!