Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the european scene.

[del1962]

Re:

Henao's first year was good,
Second year was inconsistent but he never cracked big.
Third year he was sidelined and then crashed
Last year coming back from injury was impressive IMHO.

So this year could be his breakthrough TBH.

I also hope he goes to the Tour. If it is his dream Sky might need him in the mountains without Porte this year.

Something that I really don't want anymore is for him to go the Vuelta. That race hasn't been his race for a reason that I don't know. He should go to either Giro or Tour or both, but forget about trying out for La Vuelta again.

I agree with someone that said that he races better when he is not the leader and is racing for someone else. Some riders are just like that and I don't understand it. He can just go to the Giro with the idea in mind to ride for Landa and maybe end up doing a great race.

I hope he goes to the Tour this year and then perhaps the Vuelta, I assume he will also be part of Columbia's olympic team, perhaps he has best chance between him, Nairo and Uran

 

[tristecsinamigos]

Re: Re:

Henao has never shown consistency for a Grand Tour

But he would do well to target one week and on day races

However given the sickness in the SKY camp among the Giro hopefuls this could be his year if he rides the Giro

I don't think the real problem is his consistency. The thing is more that Henao has turned out to be one of the best in the world on short steep hills and good on easy mountains, but he is just not that great on long hard mountains and has never really been as pro, despite a promessing first season, but likely also his focus has been more on the shorter climbs since then, so that Pais Vasco, Ardennes-clasics and stages like the Nice stage today in Paris-Nice is perfect for him, while grand tours are not really if riding for GC, though of course he can still be a solid helper.

He won Vuelta a Colombia in 2010 and was 2nd at Clásico RCN. He won the Vuelta as an u-23 too. You need to be a real climber in order to win these races.

I hope he goes to the Tour this year and then perhaps the Vuelta, I assume he will also be part of Columbia's olympic team, perhaps he has best chance between him, Nairo and Uran

Does Nairo really have a chance there?

 

[HelloDolly]

Seems Geraint Thomas and MIkel Kwait are targeting Amstel, LBL & La Fleche and will be SKY leaders

If Henao doesn't get leadership in the Ardennes then it is time for him to move on

 

[Ruudz0r]

Re:

Seems Geraint Thomas and MIkel Kwait are targeting Amstel, LBL & La Fleche and will be SKY leaders

If Henao doesn't get leadership in the Ardennes then it is time for him to move on

Where did you read that? I think Thomas is only doing LBL and he will likely not be the leader.

Kwiat will lead AGR I guess, Henao will lead FW and Kwiat/Henao will lead LBL

 

[Gloin22]

Re:

Seems Geraint Thomas and MIkel Kwait are targeting Amstel, LBL & La Fleche and will be SKY leaders

If Henao doesn't get leadership in the Ardennes then it is time for him to move on

Thomas targetting Ardenees? Plissss no chance of him doing anything there

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Seems Geraint Thomas and MIkel Kwait are targeting Amstel, LBL & La Fleche and will be SKY leaders

If Henao doesn't get leadership in the Ardennes then it is time for him to move on

Where did you read that? I think Thomas is only doing LBL and he will likely not be the leader.

Kwiat will lead AGR I guess, Henao will lead FW and Kwiat/Henao will lead LBL

Radio interview with Nicolas Roche ...see his timeline on twitter

 

[Wallenquist]

Reading recent posts in this topic (and some others too) I think that some people overestimates the role of so called leader. Especially in a team like Sky for races like Ardennes or Pais Vasco. The truth is that Sky never won an Ardennes classic and it's not a coincidence. Froome does not fit there and same for Porte when he was riding for Sky. Thomas will try Liege this year but so far showed nothing in hilly classics to consider him as a caontender.

Yes, they do have Kwiatkowski now who will defend his title in Amstel but that's the only Ardennes race where Sky might have an appointed leader but don't expect that Heano will be fully commited to him. Gołaś will take care of Kwiato and if there will be some tactics in final Km then Henao might work or attacks but that's the only possibility.

In Fleche Henao won't have to work for anyone, thats it. He has the best record in team in this race and there is absolutely no one in Sky now who could do better then him on such route. We can expect that they will try to put him in good position before the final climb. Call it being a leader or not, the point is that he will have his own race without bothering to work for others. Same for Pais Vasco.

In Liege it will be on others team duty to keep the race together, especially Movistar. Sky have options to follow attacks or finish it off but they wont take a risk and put Henao in front of the peleton in final 20k's because they can't predict if Kwiatkowski can finish it off.

Those races are nothing close to Tour or even Paris Nice were setting the pace in front of the peleton is important. Even when Heano was leading in Vasco last year Sky didn't try to control the whole race and nothing will change in those races this year.

 

[Ricco']

What a monster shape he has.

Completely matched Contador's last attack today coming from the bottom half of the group.

What are his odds to Fleche Wallonne?

 

[JRanton]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

Yeah, I think this is the strongest I've ever seen him. He will most likely finish 2nd or 3rd in GC though behind Contador and Pinot and you can't discount Purito either.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

he's even stronger than he was in 2010-2011. amazing.

 

[Gloin22]

He's amazing, but he's gotta make it count. Not a win this season so far.

Honestly this is his year for Fleche, next week or never.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

What a monster shape he has.

Completely matched Contador's last attack today coming from the bottom half of the group.

What are his odds to Fleche Wallonne?

No odds yet. My prediction are roughly:

Valverde: 4.5
Rodriguez: 6.5-7
Henao: 7-7.5

 

[Põhja Konn]

If he times his attack right on Mur de Huy, he is unbeatable in Fleche with the form he has.

On the other hand, I doubt he has progressed enough in TT-ing, to win Pais Vasco GC tomorrow.

 

[tristecsinamigos]

Re:

Honestly this is his year for Fleche, next week or never.

Why would it be his only chance?

Aren't Purito and Valverde like 35? He's only 28...

 

[Gloin22]

Re: Re:

Honestly this is his year for Fleche, next week or never.

Why would it be his only chance?

Aren't Purito and Valverde like 35? He's only 28...

Because he will never have such a good chance.

Martin is sick, Allaphilipe is sick, Valverde *** up prep, Gilbert broke finger. The circumstances are just perfect. Aging Purito and Vuillermoz seemingly biggest threats.

He will have other chances to win, but if he can't win this year, I very much doubt he'll ever win.

 

[rick james]

he has had a great start to the season

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

What a monster shape he has.

Completely matched Contador's last attack today coming from the bottom half of the group.

What are his odds to Fleche Wallonne?

No odds yet. My prediction are roughly:

Valverde: 4.5
Rodriguez: 6.5-7
Henao: 7-7.5

Quite funny. The odds came up yesterday:

Valverde is much lower than expected (3 at all of Bet365, Sportingbet and Betfair), Rodriguez a tad higher and Henao as expected. Rodriguez is 7.5, 7.5 and 8.5 at those three bokies and Henao is 7.5, 7.5 and 6.5.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

He fought hard in the 2nd half of the TT but to be 46 seconds down on Contador and 23 seconds down on Quintana at the top of the climb was poor really considering the form he's shown.

What is that now, 14 top 10s without a win this season. He's just not a winner unfortunately for him.

 

[DNP-Old]

Form of his life. Fleche Wallone is his to lose I think.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Form of his life. Fleche Wallone is his to lose I think.

Easy..! Fleche is a tricky race, you need to know that race and that climb very well. He was 2nd once, but lost for not knowing where and when to attack. He was strongest rider in last year's Pais Vasco also, but nowhere in Fleche...

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

He fought hard in the 2nd half of the TT but to be 46 seconds down on Contador and 23 seconds down on Quintana at the top of the climb was poor really considering the form he's shown.

What is that now, 14 top 10s without a win this season. He's just not a winner unfortunately for him.

He said he went a little easy in the first part, up the climb, so he could really smash it in the second part.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Form of his life. Fleche Wallone is his to lose I think.

Easy..! Fleche is a tricky race, you need to know that race and that climb very well. He was 2nd once, but lost for not knowing where and when to attack. He was strongest rider in last year's Pais Vasco also, but nowhere in Fleche...

Checho was 7th in LFW last year, but with completely different circumstances. Fleche Wallone was only his 18th racing day in exactly 14 months, due to his broken knee and his issues with the biological passport. It was also his first race that passed the 200k barrier.

He's much stronger now, he has the experience, he's been in stellar form all season (his rivals not so much). This is his time to finally win a big one in Europe.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

He said he went a little easy in the first part, up the climb, so he could really smash it in the second part.

That tactic just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

He said he went a little easy in the first part, up the climb, so he could really smash it in the second part.

That tactic just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Can see where your coming from there. However as we know he's not very strong at this discipline so maybe he didn't want to drain himself up the climb so he would suffer in the last few K's. It's good that he's learning to pace himself, to be fair he did a good TT for his ability. Contador was just obviously far too good on the day.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Sign here if you think Henao is a future star on the eur

Can see where your coming from there. However as we know he's not very strong at this discipline so maybe he didn't want to drain himself up the climb so he would suffer in the last few K's. It's good that he's learning to pace himself, to be fair he did a good TT for his ability. Contador was just obviously far too good on the day.

Yeah, he's not a good TTer, but that is exactly why it makes no sense to me to take it easy on the part that suited him. What were they expecting? If he had been, say, 10s behind Contador at the top, Contador would have gone full gas to the finish, did they really think they could get time back on the part that suited Contador better than Henao? Or did they think Henao would have an advantage at the intermediate point, despite not going full out?