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Steven Kruijswijk

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It's been said before, but as some people are a bit surprised by Kruijswijks progress it has to be said again.

In 2011 when he also was really good in the 3rd week of the Giro where he also lost lots of time in the first week he eventually finished 8th at the age of 23. He went on to win a stage in Suisse and finishing 3rd in the GC.
After that he started becoming average..very average and then they found he had an blockage of his femoral artery. He had surgery at the of 2014 or start of 2015. Not sure exactly when. So last year was a big year for him as it would decide wether he would reach the level he had at the age 23 again.
He went to the Giro, but the team decided to just go for an attacking team. He had to work for himself and because of poor positioning and Astana ripping the race apart he lost a lot of time in the first week. Eventually he got the confirmation that he's still a very good rider by climbing with the best and finishing 7th in the GC after losing 11 minutes in the first week.

This year LottoNL send a team completely in support of Kruijswijk and he allready showed in Yorkshire that he allready had quite a decent form before the Giro even started. The fact that LottoNL have dropped him at the front of the bunch of every climb in the first 1.5 week really helped him. No wasting his own energy on places where he shouldn't waste his energy.

Now he's showing the progress that was still possible. His career has been delayed by the blockage of his femoral artery, but thank god they fixed that!

I remember in 2011 when Kruijswijk did so well he was a bit of a surprise for Rabo back then. They guys like Gesink and Mollema who were among the best in the U23 ranks, while Kruijswijk was decent, but not a star in the youth ranks. Gesink and Mollema just like most dutch talents who were great in the youth ranks stopped progressing quickly so Kruijswijk was my hope back then to progress 'normally'. No youth peek, but a good normal build up and that's pretty much what's happening.

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Posted this in the stage thread, but figured it's needed here as well.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
sir fly said:
Kwibus said:
Fernandez said:
Kruisweak has become Kruistrong

I think the joke with Crushweak is Crush -> weak... crushing the weak... you know.
, but yeah... I guess he's crushing the strong as well now.

Terrible nickname btw.
Does he have a nickname besides name/surname derivations?

Coathanger, cause shoulders.

Also, LoveBoat :D
Coathanger is good.
How does it sound in Dutch?
 
Yes indeed.....liking Stevie K more and more as this Giro progresses.

Hope he can hang on and take the GC title.....are we sure he hasn't played all his cards too soon?
Plenty more racing to come and I suspect Nibs and Co have a come back plan in store!
 
He looks to be the winner based on the past few stages but it will be interesting to see if Nibali and Chaves can take back much of his lead. Astana will be trying to do what they did to Dumoulin in the Vuelta but they are two very different riders and he is a more natural GT rider than Dumoulin and a better climber and I am not sure if Nibali will be that strong in the third week compared to previous Giros. It only takes one bad day of course.
 
Anyway, I'm kinda afraid for what sponsors and the Dutch media will do if Kruijswijk manages to win. I really hope they go OMG HE WON THE GIRO, instead of OMG MAYBE THIS GUY CAN TOP 5 THE TOUR, or something similar. Especially riding for a Dutch team, I expect the sponsor will push him to ride the Tour next year.

I see some people already exaggerating the level discrepancy in the levels of the Tour and the Giro ffs
 
Re:

Red Rick said:
Anyway, I'm kinda afraid for what sponsors and the Dutch media will do if Kruijswijk manages to win. I really hope they go OMG HE WON THE GIRO, instead of OMG MAYBE THIS GUY CAN TOP 5 THE TOUR, or something similar. Especially riding for a Dutch team, I expect the sponsor will push him to ride the Tour next year.

I see some people already exaggerating the level discrepancy in the levels of the Tour and the Giro ffs

after what RaboBelkinLotto did in tha last few years, if he wins the Giro they just have to be very happy, and Bianchi as a sponsor sould be over the moon (and fukking splash the cash for more than 1 year every time*)

let's not talk about the 2017 Tour until the end of the season


* Bianchi began with them in 2014 but it seems they renew the partnership 1 season at a time.
with LottoNL "there is an option to continue for next year" : how the hell will a LottoNL fan buy a Bianchi bike now, when he does not know if the team will ride Bianchi for the following seasons?
 
Jul 29, 2012
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It's hard to say how good he is compared to the big 3 but he is beating piti and nibali. You gotta respect him for that.

Of course i think froome, contador or quintana would body him but the strongest riders not often race the giro, so nothing wrong with it.

Will he ride the tour this year too? Hope not, i can alreadry see the dutch talking about the double xD
 
Compared to the Big 3/4, Kruijswijk gets absolutely wrecked on one climb stages and the steeper medium mountains. The TdF mountain stages aren't hard enough for him. Kruijswijk was planning to go Giro-Vuelta, whilst the others go Tour-Olympics-whatever.

He's done Giro-Tour before and actually climbed somewhat decent at the end, so I supposed stagehunting/KoM in the Tour would work.
 
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I think of all the dutch riders that were hyped up: Gesink, Mollemma, Dumoulin, Weening (in like 2004/5 he was very hyped), Kelderman,...

Kruiswijk is the least expected to do so great, love it. Still hurts that contador couldn't gift him that stage win on aprica last year, *** landa ruined something great there :)
 
Re:

Kwibus said:
He went to the Giro, but the team decided to just go for an attacking team. He had to work for himself and because of poor positioning and Astana ripping the race apart he lost a lot of time in the first week. Eventually he got the confirmation that he's still a very good rider by climbing with the best and finishing 7th in the GC after losing 11 minutes in the first week.

To be fair. He should have had Bennett last year but he was pulled out because of MPCC reasons.
 
Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
Waterloo Sunrise said:
Going to top 10 the Giro in excellent company.

There's now a genuine debate to be had as to where he and Gessink rank against each other - Krujswijk has ridden competatively against guys Gessink doesn't beat either - Scarponi, Nibali, Menchov, Rodriguez and Kreuziger all in the same ball park, on a very tough route.
Gesink easily beat Kreuziger and Rodriguez in last years TDF GC. He would have finished this giro as 2nd if he was there.

There is no comparison between him and Kruijswijk. As much as I like Kruijswijk.

You're right D_T

No comparison between Gesink and Kruijswijk it seems
 
Jul 12, 2013
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Re:

Miburo said:
I think of all the dutch riders that were hyped up: Gesink, Mollemma, Dumoulin, Weening (in like 2004/5 he was very hyped), Kelderman,...

Kruiswijk is the least expected to do so great, love it. Still hurts that contador couldn't gift him that stage win on aprica last year, **** landa ruined something great there :)


TBH Aru ruined smth even greater there.
Had Landa not have the need to pace Aru, he would have gotten away with Kruijswijk in Mortirolo, distanced everyone else and handed him the stage win.

In that case we would have witnessed an even greater remaining part of the Giro.
 
Re: Re:

Ataraxus said:
Miburo said:
I think of all the dutch riders that were hyped up: Gesink, Mollemma, Dumoulin, Weening (in like 2004/5 he was very hyped), Kelderman,...

Kruiswijk is the least expected to do so great, love it. Still hurts that contador couldn't gift him that stage win on aprica last year, **** landa ruined something great there :)


TBH Aru ruined smth even greater there.
Had Landa not have the need to pace Aru, he would have gotten away with Kruijswijk in Mortirolo, distanced everyone else and handed him the stage win.

In that case we would have witnessed an even greater remaining part of the Giro.

Completely agree, the narrative that Landa ruined anything, even if it was somewhat of a joke, is bonkers. If Landa had been allowed to go on Mortirolo, Contador would never have reached Landa and it would have been even more interesting on Finestre.
 
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Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Ataraxus said:
Miburo said:
I think of all the dutch riders that were hyped up: Gesink, Mollemma, Dumoulin, Weening (in like 2004/5 he was very hyped), Kelderman,...

Kruiswijk is the least expected to do so great, love it. Still hurts that contador couldn't gift him that stage win on aprica last year, **** landa ruined something great there :)


TBH Aru ruined smth even greater there.
Had Landa not have the need to pace Aru, he would have gotten away with Kruijswijk in Mortirolo, distanced everyone else and handed him the stage win.

In that case we would have witnessed an even greater remaining part of the Giro.

Completely agree, the narrative that Landa ruined anything, even if it was somewhat of a joke, is bonkers. If Landa had been allowed to go on Mortirolo, Contador would never have reached Landa and it would have been even more interesting on Finestre.

And on Cervinia.
And on Monte Ologno.
 
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Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
BlurryVII said:
What were the odds for Stevens's win in this Giro? Just curious as Bookmakers are the most reliable source for predictions according to some.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious he would win the Giro this easily, wasn't it


Placed Description Odds Stake Pot. Return Status
19-May-16
22:20:41 Giro d'Italia
Steven Kruijswijk - Outright Winner
Betfair Bet ID
9
200.00 1,800.00 Open

To someone it was :D Placed 200 on Kruijswijk to 9 odds right after Landa withdrew.

To me the way he rode the last week in the giro last year and with the withdrewel off Landa, he seemed like the best climber left considering Nibali have seemed off this entire year, so not that big surprise that many make it out to be imo.
 

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