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The Is Marc Soler the Next Great Spanish Climber Thread

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Re:

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? ;)
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
 
Re: Re:

Gigs_98 said:
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? ;)
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


Soler has a great rider to learn from. One who isn't going anywhere anytime soon either.
 
Re:

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
 
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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

They may have although I do remember him saying last year that he wasn't ready for leadership and needed more time and more experience. Who knows, maybe his attempt, as bad as it was at the Vuelta helped?
 
Vamos Marc. I'd love to see him get the overall win, however, truthfully I'll be very happy if just maintains a podium place. I really hope what we're seeing from him this year is the start of his coming into his own and being able within the next year or two step up to become one of the leaders of this team.
 
He was obviously on the limit today and wasn't great at all, the race has definitely taken its toil in him. On the other hand I don't think he is in top-shape yet, that is reserved for Catalunya like last year. He fought incredibly hard, he is a real fighter and rode within himself. Lil Richie Carapaz was immense today - two very promising riders. First time I have seen him climb this well, bodes well.
 
He's still not that far off the lead about 35 seconds. He's a fighter and he's still learning. He's also got the pressure of leadership on his shoulders for this race. So far so good. As long as he doesn't crack tomorrow and keeps doing what he has been doing so far, I think we can say a very good race. He's also still in white, about a minute up on the closest to him for that prize. So not too bad there either. He's definitely part of the future of Spanish cycling. I agree he's looking for a peak at Catalunya. Truthfully, I'm hoping he'll be on the Giro team. I think he's earned it. I don't think he's ready to be on the Tour team yet. I'd like to see him on the Giro team as well as the Vuelta team.
 
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...
 
Re:

KyoGrey 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...
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 enabled :D

Yeah Ruben has been disappointing, but Rosón are taking big steps this year.
 
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.
 
I would not send Soler to the Tour this year. Personally I'd send him to the Giro as there won't be any pressure there and he can learn from Amador. Then see how he recovers and consider sending him to the Vuelta as I think he's one of the guys they'll want on the World's team for Spain and the Vuelta will be a good way to get him ready for the Worlds.

I agree about Roson. He's improved a lot since we first saw him race a few years ago in Colorado (his first race for Caja Rural). We had no idea who he was (neither did our announcers). He was impressive there and we (husband and I) decided he was someone to watch for in the future. Happy with what I'm seeing from him this year.
 
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).
 
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).

I think Samitier with one of new Spanish Pro Conti teams. Castrillo is at Movistar and started his season at the Tour Down Under, then was in Mallorca and (I think) Valencia. Movistar obviously has high hopes for him.
 
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.
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.
 
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Valv.Piti 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.
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.

Paco was my favorite rider, but i doubt he was more talented then Sastre. Mancebo was an incredible good climber, but didn't had a lot of explosivity. And purely based on climbing skills, guys like Basso, Beloki and Valverde were more superior then him.

Paco was the ultimate example of a steadily increaser, but Sastre did things while being a
lieutenant at ONCE which were equally impressive as some of things Paco did while being in his prime.
 
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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.

Maybe he's not the next big thing.

But he's a damn good rider with a lot of guts!
 
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.
 
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.
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.
 

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