The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
Oh, yes indeed. Soler is more than just a climber, a better version of the great Mollema in the future.Dekker_Tifosi said:Soler >> Mas
Did you make two > signs because soler is two years older than Mas? Cause besides that I don't really see a reason why you could have used it?Dekker_Tifosi said:Soler >> Mas
Gigs_98 said:Did you make two > signs because soler is two years older than Mas? Cause besides that I don't really see a reason why you could have used it?Dekker_Tifosi said:Soler >> Mas
In all seriousness, let's not get ahead of ourselves. So far there has been one mountain stage I've seen soler in where he really looked like the real deal which was in catalunya. This was one stage where he performed surprisingly well, he is an almost 1.90 tall climber so it would almost be disappointing if he wouldn't time trial well and we haven't seen yet if this good performance means his climbing improved too. Todays stage was a good sign, but let's not draw early conclusions
Koronin said:Let's add one more thing. He's not buckling under the pressure of leadership at Paris-Nice. First race he's gone into as race leader for Movistar and he's right there fighting for the podium. Yes all the hype and he's at least in the category of that hype. I am looking forward to him getting a bigger role. With Catalonia being his next race, and yes in the role of domestique for Bala, let's see how he recovers. Last year he got a podium in that domestique role, he could do it again. Plus the pictures of him on that podium last year with the two great Spaniards (Alejandro and Alberto) were great. Almost in a way the start of the passing of the torch to Soler.
Glad you pulled this thread up as I was going to go searching to see if there was one for him.
Movitrain said:Koronin said:Let's add one more thing. He's not buckling under the pressure of leadership at Paris-Nice. First race he's gone into as race leader for Movistar and he's right there fighting for the podium. Yes all the hype and he's at least in the category of that hype. I am looking forward to him getting a bigger role. With Catalonia being his next race, and yes in the role of domestique for Bala, let's see how he recovers. Last year he got a podium in that domestique role, he could do it again. Plus the pictures of him on that podium last year with the two great Spaniards (Alejandro and Alberto) were great. Almost in a way the start of the passing of the torch to Soler.
Glad you pulled this thread up as I was going to go searching to see if there was one for him.
I do recall him being leader in last year's Tour de Suisse where he pretty much fell off a cliff on one stage.
That being said, it wasn't ununsual for a young rider and I'm certainly glad he does so well, bright future ahead certainly
Yeah, Más is in the same mold of Contador (altho obviously not as talented), where as Soler is in the mold of the great spanish diesels, Mancebo and Sastre. Different to say for sure at this point, but I would guess he is as talented as those two, thats the level he should aim at - a very consistent GT performer. He has a bigger frame which makes his TT a bigger weapon, but those two were also able to pull some good time trials off when it mattered in the big GTs. Lets see what GT they will send him to, I don't know what I hope for, all 3 options are kinda intriguing to me. If I had to guess I would go for the Vuelta again, but I kinda hope the Tour for the lolz. All-in mode enabledKyoGrey said:Soler and Mas are just 2 different kind of riders, at diferent stages of their maturation as riders.
Impossible to compare. What we can safely say is that Soler looks nice not only for the future, but for the inmediate present.
He is quite a dieseled climber, different to what we are used to see in the last 5 years of Spanish greats. More a Carlos Sastre than a Contador, thats for sure.
It is a shame that Rubén Fernández didn't get it together to make the big step. But take notice in Rosón for the future also...
Gigs_98 said:I don't know if I agree that Soler is as talented as Sastre. I know Sastre's tour win wasn't against the strongest of competitions, but still he won the tdf. I just really don't see that kind of potential in Soler. He is already 24 after all. There are some gc riders who drastically improve when they are already a bit older, Froome being the most obvious example, but then again, these are usually not the kind of guys who were already extremely successful U23 riders. Soler was.
Soler has neither disappointed in his pro career so far, so we could expect him to extremely improve in coming years, nor is he already an elite climber. I think he is the kind of guy who can win one week WT stage races, can get top tens in gt's and maybe even a podium in the giro or the vuelta. Maybe Majka is a decent comparison.
KyoGrey said:Gigs_98 said:I don't know if I agree that Soler is as talented as Sastre. I know Sastre's tour win wasn't against the strongest of competitions, but still he won the tdf. I just really don't see that kind of potential in Soler. He is already 24 after all. There are some gc riders who drastically improve when they are already a bit older, Froome being the most obvious example, but then again, these are usually not the kind of guys who were already extremely successful U23 riders. Soler was.
Soler has neither disappointed in his pro career so far, so we could expect him to extremely improve in coming years, nor is he already an elite climber. I think he is the kind of guy who can win one week WT stage races, can get top tens in gt's and maybe even a podium in the giro or the vuelta. Maybe Majka is a decent comparison.
Yeah,you're right. I meant in best case scenario, obviously.
Hell, I still remember when Luisle started: we were all fantasising about what he was going to be and although he is one of my favs, he never reached that level.
Look out for the Huesca guys...Samitier, Castrillo, Barceló etc. Quite the story all being frome the same province and coming out as pros in the same era (in Spain where it is so difficult).
Maybe that potential is a bit overshot, but I genuinely believe that to be the case. Yeah, Sastre won the TdF, but that wouldn't have happened in 9 out of his 10 careers. He was incredibly consistent, a fighter and a grinder, but never a TdF-winner. Also, I actually believe Mancebo to be the more talented rider of the two, he just got suspended at a pretty unlucky time.Gigs_98 said:I don't know if I agree that Soler is as talented as Sastre. I know Sastre's tour win wasn't against the strongest of competitions, but still he won the tdf. I just really don't see that kind of potential in Soler. He is already 24 after all. There are some gc riders who drastically improve when they are already a bit older, Froome being the most obvious example, but then again, these are usually not the kind of guys who were already extremely successful U23 riders. Soler was.
Soler has neither disappointed in his pro career so far, so we could expect him to extremely improve in coming years, nor is he already an elite climber. I think he is the kind of guy who can win one week WT stage races, can get top tens in gt's and maybe even a podium in the giro or the vuelta. Maybe Majka is a decent comparison.
Valv.Piti said:Maybe that potential is a bit overshot, but I genuinely believe that to be the case. Yeah, Sastre won the TdF, but that wouldn't have happened in 9 out of his 10 careers. He was incredibly consistent, a fighter and a grinder, but never a TdF-winner. Also, I actually believe Mancebo to be the more talented rider of the two, he just got suspended at a pretty unlucky time.Gigs_98 said:I don't know if I agree that Soler is as talented as Sastre. I know Sastre's tour win wasn't against the strongest of competitions, but still he won the tdf. I just really don't see that kind of potential in Soler. He is already 24 after all. There are some gc riders who drastically improve when they are already a bit older, Froome being the most obvious example, but then again, these are usually not the kind of guys who were already extremely successful U23 riders. Soler was.
Soler has neither disappointed in his pro career so far, so we could expect him to extremely improve in coming years, nor is he already an elite climber. I think he is the kind of guy who can win one week WT stage races, can get top tens in gt's and maybe even a podium in the giro or the vuelta. Maybe Majka is a decent comparison.
Gigs_98 said:After this stage I still don't think he's the next big thing, but anyway, wow. Wow wow wow. That was incredible. You can't rate this victory too high. He showed guts, smarts and fought like a lion. Absolutely incredible.
Gigs_98 said:After this stage I still don't think he's the next big thing, but anyway, wow. Wow wow wow. That was incredible. You can't rate this victory too high. He showed guts, smarts and fought like a lion. Absolutely incredible.
Surely impressive but if you want to see the potential of a gc rider, look at the stage where he directly battled against other stage racers (the mtf) and not the stage where you can't really compare the performances (today). Andrew Talansky won the Dauphine 2014 in a comparable way, but he didn't become the new Armstrong either.Asero831 said:Gigs_98 said:After this stage I still don't think he's the next big thing, but anyway, wow. Wow wow wow. That was incredible. You can't rate this victory too high. He showed guts, smarts and fought like a lion. Absolutely incredible.
Why? do you know how many riders were able to finish the race?
He took on Bahrain and MS by himself for almost 40km.