King Of The Wolds said:Some real LOLs to be had in this thread.
When's he celebrating his third victory?
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King Of The Wolds said:Some real LOLs to be had in this thread.
El Pistolero said:When's he celebrating his third victory?
Pentacycle said:Victories don't have to be taken into account here, you can even come 4th in the Tour twice, even if you only have 1 professional victory.
El Pistolero said:Ok, how many fourth places does he have in the Tour?
Pentacycle said:Should that matter, JVDB is a C-rider for me at least. I still love to watch the Avoriaz stage from 2010 where the Sporza guy says that he's considered a contender. Or when they ask Contador or Schleck what they think of him, and they say he's a really promising young rider, while he's just 3 months younger than Contador. Normally he won't win anything unless he starts targeting other GT's.
Thomas's palmares will grow bigger, he's got plenty of talent. He's won the Bayern Rundfahrt 2011, the Romandie prologue last year, and ofc a stage in the Tour Down Under.
El Pistolero said:Are those supposed to be decent races? Because I'd rather win a Dauphiné mountain stage then.
Anyway, overall JVDB is a pretty average rider yes, but still better than GT. How many fourth places does he have in a classic?
Not sure what you're trying to argue, are you saying GT is a D-class rider? Perhaps JVDB should join Sky and we'll see how much he'll improve.
Pentacycle said:4th in Omloop and 2nd in Dwars door Vlaanderen, 10th in the Ronde after a brute effort for Flecha.
Concerning top classics, he's only started the Ronde twice, and Roubaix/MSR both once.
Let him prove himself, being a leader for the first time, he can still improve unlike Van den Broeck, who should be at his peak years now. At Sky they'll turn any ex-Barloworld Brit into a top rider, it just takes some patience.
El Pistolero said:Omloop and Dwars door Vlaanderen are no classics
El Pistolero said:Eh, he started Roubaix twice. Omloop and Dwars door Vlaanderen are no classics, I asked for classics. Are you saying he's getting this much hype because of his 10th place in the Ronde?
About your second part of the post, I agree, but that's not something I'll discuss here nor will it change my opinion about GT being average in the classics.
Pentacycle said:Sylvain Chavanel, la Machine, what had he done in the classics until 2008? Did you expect him at the time to contend for the Ronde and win Dwars door Vlaanderen? GT has some similar characteristics, so him becoming classics contender wouldn't surprise me. He doesn't have Boonen's sprint, but he's a strong rouleur.
El Pistolero said:The only classic Chavanel is any good at is the Ronde van Vlaanderen and 2008 was the first time he started in it. Besides, he's just a domestique though I expect him to take leadership this year with Boonen's form not looking great.
Pentacycle said:The Amstel Gold had prepared him for the hell of Flanders for many years before 2009, so no excuses there. Positioning is most important in both races.
Nikkki Terpstra and Boonen himself will be good domestiques this year then.
We talked about this ad-nauseaum during the Armstrong-US Postal days. Rogers explained it best last year. If you ride tempo at threshold is impossible to ride away from the train. You just need to have the riders to complete the task. Once you have it it works to perfection.rzombie1988 said:I'm thinking the key to taking down Sky is either going with say about 10km out where all three sky members can't possibly keep up or waiting until the last km to leave it to a last second sprint.
Escarabajo said:We talked about this ad-nauseaum during the Armstrong-US Postal days. Rogers explained it best last year. If you ride tempo at threshold is impossible to ride away from the train. You just need to have the riders to complete the task. Once you have it it works to perfection.
Carols said:Is that the same invisible Rogers now that he isn't on Sky???? What happened to his threshold...pooofff!
Dazed and Confused said:there are no free passes wrt Saxo, but Rogers will be back to full "capability" when the Tour starts.
LaFlorecita said:And Alberto will also be pushing the 6.5 W/kg on the climbs again dream on
Dazed and Confused said:lol, no dreams for me in cycling these days, just reality. Both Contador and Rogers will be at full strength at the tour, just like the Sky train.
edit: I also see signs Schleck will be in top form, but I need one or two more indicators.
Dazed and Confused said:lol, no dreams for me in cycling these days, just reality. Both Contador and Rogers will be at full strength at the tour, just like the Sky train.
edit: I also see signs Schleck will be in top form, but I need one or two more indicators.
phanatic said:Did Froome attack too late? The way he blew past everyone and shattered the race suggests to me that he could have attacked earlier - maybe even going with Contador or Nibali before breaking free in a solo move - and really put a lot of time into his rivals.
Bexon30 said:Which signs from this stage make you think Andy will be up there at the Tour?(I hope he is).
What happened to JRod? I mean a few weeks back he looked strong either he is waiting to slowly build up or maybe last years form is catching up on him. The Sky train yesterday was an ominous sign of the season ahead.