Saturday, june 16th - Tour de Suisse, stage 8: Bischofszell - Arosa 148km

[trevim]

Watch track if you want sprints where stamina,etc. does not play a role.

Ok go ahead and take this stage as an evidence that Gesink is a better sprinter than Rui.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Delighted to see Albasini with another great win. One of my favourite riders the last couple of years, always looking for a result!
And good to hear about a few attacks from riders that might disturb the Sky train a few times during the TdF. At least I hope....

 

[Arnout]

Also. Parrulo, did you see Gesink's sprint for 5th place?

Do you honoustly think Costa could sprint like that?

First nearly crashing in Kruijswijk and then in the barriers?

Woopie, I guess. Long live the bonuses, you have totally convinced me.

Bonus seconds are no panacae against child famine, no But the 4 and 6 seconds were a nice touch in this stage, as it did reward the guys that gave it everything to stay at the front.

 

[classicomano]

He's talking about Poels' father

http://woutpoels.nl/in-memoriam-henk-poels

Yeah indeed, a real shame I thought hes was gonna make the next big step this year. Oh well season's not over yet.

 

[roundabout]

The funniest thing about this TdS is that Leipheimer would have sleepwalked his way to victory with his normal level time trialing.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Anyone know what happened to Monfort & Mollema?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Anyone know what happened to Monfort & Mollema?

Mollema has been bad all week. He needs racing to get into form and he hasn't raced in 6 weeks. So that's why.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Monfort was touting his good form in the media yesterday after his ITT (3rd place), claiming 4 Radioshackers could do top 10 in the TDF and that he's dreaming of a top5 in a GT for himself...

Apparently he finished together with Klöden and Mollema, over 11 minutes after Albasini.

 

[Kwibus]

I guess I was wrong and right about Gesink and Costa.

Gesink did better then I expected, but his climbing still isn't impressive and I'm sure this will be a problem in the TdF as well... unfortunately.

Costa did get dropped by Gesink and the other favourites so I was wrong about that, but he held on to his yellow jersey so I wasn't very wrong

Nice to see Kruijswijk do well though. I'm pretty confident he will get better in the mountains of which I'm not sure Gesink will.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Oh cmon... there were only 3 others better than Gesink today instead of 18... compared to last week that's significant progress. Take another few weeks until the Tour..

You're overly negative. Probably to protect yourself from disappointment

 

[blaxland]

Good win by Albasini,he seems to be having his best year in a while.Also good to see Rabo at the front for Gesink,his form seems to be coming together just nicely leading into the tour.Only 3 and a bit weeks to go???

 

[greenedge better then some]

great for Albasini to win in his home tour again , looking foward to seeing him ride the tour,might be a chance to win a red an white jersey with poka dots, *hint hint*

 

[greenedge]

Nice work by Albasini. Once he attacked Velits he gave up so quickly ( physiological impact ).

I feel sorry for Frank, he was by far the strongest climber. Levi has suddenly shot into GC contention. Gesink did not make as many inroads as possible and could have used his teammates later to help him get back to Frank.

Costa did not do great today but the stage is set for tomorrow- which will be exciting.

 

[greenedge]

Hmmmm just a side note but, Poels is really dissappointing me this year in general and once again this Tour de Suisse.

Come, is this the guy that got 2nd on Angliru? That was sprinting up steep walls against Rodriguez? He got 25th at 3'57 on a bunch of hills.

I do not know why Westra will therefore ride for him in the TDF ( when he finished 2nd in P-N ) whilst Poels this year only finished 2nd in Luxembourg.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Oh cmon... there were only 3 others better than Gesink today instead of 18... compared to last week that's significant progress. Take another few weeks until the Tour..

You're overly negative. Probably to protect yourself from disappointment

Tbf gesink is still pretty unknown in regards to the tour.
He says post femur injury it still feels different and I'm not sure how his unusua l season build up will turn out.

Obviously the tt is looking good but the climbs on not sold on yet either. That being said he was not bad yesterday and I could envisage a good tour placing, but I'm not sold on this serious contender talk just yet.

 

[Kwibus]

Oh cmon... there were only 3 others better than Gesink today instead of 18... compared to last week that's significant progress. Take another few weeks until the Tour..

You're overly negative. Probably to protect yourself from disappointment

You could be right, because I do tend to be very conservative about the chances of my favourite sportsmen. Still I don't think Gesink will climb with the very very best again. It's a feeling he gave me over the last 2 years. Maybe he gets better in the TdF, but he allready rode California at a high level in May. It just seems like a too long period at a high level.

 

[Nearly]

Woopie, I guess. Long live the bonuses, you have totally convinced me.

.... what does Albasini have to do to convince people that he attacked (3 times at least)?! Surely if anyone deserves bonus seconds he does? Just because some sit and steal bonuses from time to time does not mean you do away with a good system.

 

[webvan]

I think Albasini couldn't care less about time bonuses given his GC, on the other hand Levi wouldn't have gone for the sprint without them and annoyed FS in the process ;-)