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Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

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Just to warn you. On Saturday Ganna will rip it up on one of the climbs of Sestriere probably the penultimate one. This will drop better climbers than him. He will come in 20 minutes down.

And don't get me wrong here. I think Dennis did one of the great domestique rides of modern times. But someone has to. Why not a double world champion?
 
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so only dropping arguably the best climber in the race uphill after being on the front for 40km would have made Dennis suspect?

different people have different levels of tolerance for cycling performances, but this one seems to be a bit too high

I just think that it's not outlandish that a guy who has got the following results and who specialises in 30-60min threshold efforts can go into the red for 32 minutes on the Stelvio and then drag some climbers along the valley road after before blowing up.

Second at Suisse, 16th at the Giro, within two minutes on Zoncolan MTF, Good results on summit finishes at 2013 Dauphine, 2014 Cali, 2015-16 US Pro Challenge... Not amazing but still a good climber.


If he kept going on the final climb then that's crazy – the guys he dropped on Stelvio had to save something for that climb but his finish line was 10km earlier.
 
Also people say that this not a weak field. In the pre race betting Kelderman was 40/1 - 9th favourite. Of the eight riders ahead of him five didn't make it past the first rest day. TGH was 150/1. Hindley was 500/1.
What were the odds for Chris Froome before the 2011 Vuelta? Or for Cobo?
Was that a weak field because of that?

Stop looking at the names to evaluate a performance. It doesn't make sense.
 
What were the odds for Chris Froome before the 2011 Vuelta? Or for Cobo?
Was that a weak field because of that?

Stop looking at the names to evaluate a performance. It doesn't make sense.
Weak field and strong performance aren't mutually exclusive. The future will decided if TGH and Hindley are actually great or if it's just a random year where a small selection of dudes go way faster than usual.

As for the 2011 Vuelta. That one was just weak. Froome's climbing times weren't even that good. Even his ridiculous looking Pena Cabarga win was the slowest climb in the 4 times it's been in the Vuelta. His Angliru time was also not that special. He was followed by a past in Menchov and a Vacansoleil Poels.

Sure Froome made a ridiculous improvement, but he would've gotten murdered by Schleck and Contador if they'd shown up at the 2011 Vuelta with some form. I also rate 2009 Tour Wiggins higher than 2011 Vuelta Wiggins.
 
Weak field and strong performance aren't mutually exclusive. The future will decided if TGH and Hindley are actually great or if it's just a random year where a small selection of dudes go way faster than usual.

As for the 2011 Vuelta. That one was just weak. Froome's climbing times weren't even that good. Even his ridiculous looking Pena Cabarga win was the slowest climb in the 4 times it's been in the Vuelta. His Angliru time was also not that special. He was followed by a past in Menchov and a Vacansoleil Poels.

Sure Froome made a ridiculous improvement, but he would've gotten murdered by Schleck and Contador if they'd shown up at the 2011 Vuelta with some form. I also rate 2009 Tour Wiggins higher than 2011 Vuelta Wiggins.

Horner would have made Froome look like an amateur on Pena Cabarga. In this Giro mates like Hindley are climbing like some random Spanish guys destroying the Vuelta during the Fuentes years.
 
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Also people say that this not a weak field. In the pre race betting Kelderman was 40/1 - 9th favourite. Of the eight riders ahead of him five didn't make it past the first rest day. TGH was 150/1. Hindley was 500/1.
I see you're good with numbers then. Care to dig a little bit in those numbers that show true performance instead of those which predict performance? Pro tip: the former are the ones that define the strength of the field.
 
so only dropping arguably the best climber in the race uphill after being on the front for 40km would have made Dennis suspect?

different people have different levels of tolerance for cycling performances, but this one seems to be a bit too high
Its not just Dennis performance is the problem its the fact that no matter what happens or why crashes out when Skineos need a hero one magically appears. Just when you think Ineos are beat Luke Rowe turns into the best mountain domestique in the peleton or 10 min behind no problem lets pull a Landis. Bernal is the only leader or dom since Wiggins where people havnt been shocked by the levels reached or lightning quick transformation of discipline
 
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Just to warn you. On Saturday Ganna will rip it up on one of the climbs of Sestriere probably the penultimate one. This will drop better climbers than him. He will come in 20 minutes down.

And don't get me wrong here. I think Dennis did one of the great domestique rides of modern times. But someone has to. Why not a double world champion?
Yeah... why not?
 

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