The Rohan Dennis thread

[dastott]

To be fair, Kelly was a good climber who could finish top 10 in the Tour. Cancellara's 2009 victory was something of a gift from the organisers (and who can blame them?) How many years is Dennis into his 'transformation to GC rider' ?

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Obviously a good day for him, but much harder is to come. Podium would be an incredible result.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

Obviously a good day for him, but much harder is to come. Podium would be an incredible result.

He was dropped by Hirt and Pozzo who are helpers and one of whom is his teammate. I donot think he is in climbing form

 

[search]

Re:

Still the Tour of Switzerland is nowhere near as mountainous as it used to be.

it's the hardest edition in ages

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Still the Tour of Switzerland is nowhere near as mountainous as it used to be. Cancellara even won one year. Dennis will drop time of course, how much will depend on how hard it's raced.

Kelly won it twice. DeVlaeminck won it in 75. Just because Switzerland is known for mountains doesn’t mean the race always has to be.[/quote

Kelly also won a Vuelta and Roger DVL wasn't just a sprinter.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

To be fair, Kelly was a good climber who could finish top 10 in the Tour. Cancellara's 2009 victory was something of a gift from the organisers (and who can blame them?) How many years is Dennis into his 'transformation to GC rider' ?

Top 10? Sean Kelly had multiple top 5s and won the Vuelta

 

[Davesta]

Re:

To be fair, Kelly was a good climber who could finish top 10 in the Tour. Cancellara's 2009 victory was something of a gift from the organisers (and who can blame them?) How many years is Dennis into his 'transformation to GC rider' ?

I think he's in year 3 of his 4 year transformation project? So if all is going to plan, I'd expect him to start showing something in races like TdS this year...

 

[RedheadDane]

So... how big a threat is he?

 

[F_Cance]

Will be in the leaders jersey tomorrow, but then lose it on the last stage.

 

[Midnightfright]

What sort of time do we think Dennis will put into Bernal? A minute?

 

[Escarabajo]

The transformation is happening!

 

[Mayomaniac]

Re:

The transformation is happening!

Not really, he was always decent on MTFs, just remember how he dropped Wiggo on the final ramp of mount diablo. Hard multi mountain stages have always been his biggest weakness. Of course his climbing seems to be better than ever, but it's not a sudden transformation like Dumoulin in 2015.
He and the team have said that the real gc project will only start after the Olympic TT.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

The transformation is happening!

Not really, he was always decent on MTFs, just remember how he dropped Wiggo on the final ramp of mount diablo. Hard multi mountain stages have always been his biggest weakness. Of course his climbing seems to be better than ever, but it's not a sudden transformation like Dumoulin in 2015.
He and the team have said that the real gc project will only start after the Olympic TT.

Rod Ellingworth will take care.

 

[HelloDolly]

I said yesterday to much derison that he could win Suisse and I still think he can

Two horse race between a mountain supremo and a world TTer ...doesnt get much better than this !!!

 

[pink_jersey]

Re: Re:

The transformation is happening!

Not really, he was always decent on MTFs, just remember how he dropped Wiggo on the final ramp of mount diablo. Hard multi mountain stages have always been his biggest weakness. Of course his climbing seems to be better than ever, but it's not a sudden transformation like Dumoulin in 2015.
He and the team have said that the real gc project will only start after the Olympic TT.

Yeah. In a Vuelta type stage with a regular climb he will always be good but unlike Dumoulin he will always suffer in the long multi mountain stages. I think he's a little like Bobby Julich. In the right circumstances I think he can do a good placing in a GT(most likely TdF) and win some one week stage races but he's not one who can win a GT.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Re: Re:

The transformation is happening!

Not really, he was always decent on MTFs, just remember how he dropped Wiggo on the final ramp of mount diablo. Hard multi mountain stages have always been his biggest weakness. Of course his climbing seems to be better than ever, but it's not a sudden transformation like Dumoulin in 2015.
He and the team have said that the real gc project will only start after the Olympic TT.

Yeah. In a Vuelta type stage with a regular climb he will always be good but unlike Dumoulin he will always suffer in the long multi mountain stages. I think he's a little like Bobby Julich. In the right circumstances I think he can do a good placing in a GT(most likely TdF) and win some one week stage races but he's not one who can win a GT.

Yes, that's also my opinion.
Too bad that he crashed out pretty early in the 2017 Giro, that would have been a good route for him.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

Still the Tour of Switzerland is nowhere near as mountainous as it used to be. Cancellara even won one year. Dennis will drop time of course, how much will depend on how hard it's raced.

Kelly won it twice. DeVlaeminck won it in 75. Just because Switzerland is known for mountains doesn’t mean the race always has to be.

Kelly also won a Vuelta and Roger DVL wasn't just a sprinter.

They also weren’t Colombian pure-climber types. The Tour de Suisse has always had mountains in it, but has always rewarded the all-rounder type rider. There are lots of Belgian past-winners. Not as many Spanish or Colombian.

 

[jmdirt]

So RD needs to polish the transformation and figure out how to climb with climbers and still TT better than them (19 seconds is better but...) IF GT GC is his target.

 

[movingtarget]

I doubt he goes the full Wiggo transformation. Good ride so far in the TDS even though the TT suffered but it's not a grand tour. .

 

[The Hegelian]

I'm a sceptic on this. Been a good ride this week, but the field is weak. Cannot see him ever riding a GT without at least one seriously bad day (i.e. 20+mins down).

 

[IndianCyclist]

A TT guy with huge power means you can go cobble route or GT route . I believe that he is more suited to the former but don't know if he has the technical skills

 

[Vasilis]

I still don't expect great things from him at the Tour, but I'm not writing him off either, he's looked good in the mountains this week.

 

[Lequack]

Rohan Dennis threat indeed.

 

[Cookster15]

Nice ride by Dennis today and for most of the TdS. Three passes over 2,000 metres and even briefly put Bernal under pressure. I have never seen him do that kind of ride before. TdF will be interesting teaming up with Nibali - hopefully Pozzi is there as he was great this week. Hopefully Dennis can hold it together for three weeks. If so, a top 10 should be possible?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Nice ride by Dennis today and for most of the TdS. Three passes over 2,000 metres and even briefly put Bernal under pressure. I have never seen him do that kind of ride before. TdF will be interesting teaming up with Nibali - hopefully Pozzi is there as he was great this week. Hopefully Dennis can hold it together for three weeks. If so, a top 10 should be possible?

If he rides like this week and doesn't have a bad day, i'd definitely say top 10 is possible, and more. But he'll have to prove himself over 3 weeks against a better field.