Tour de Belgique - Tour of Belgium 2012 (2.HC) May 23 - May 27

[Dekker_Tifosi]

1 Betancourt
2 Pauwels
3 Firsanov
4 Gilbert
5 Westra

8 Martin

GC

1 Martin
2 Westra

 

[Panda Claws]

Gilbert beaten by Pauwels...

I miss 2011

 

[Havetts]

Right.. worst stage race this yaer besides Romandie done as well.

 

[boomcie]

Betancour strong. Phil weak. Field poor.

 

[cineteq]

1 Betancourt
2 Pauwels
3 Firsanov
4 Gilbert
5 Westra

8 Martin

GC

1 Martin
2 Westra

Great win for Betancur!!!

 

[classicomano]

Wow Betancourt easy, where is Ryo!?

 

[maltiv]

Gilbert has completely forgotten how to win bike races.

Betancourt is certainly a huge talent, well deserved win by him. He's been incredible all season long. It's a shame we didn't get to see him at the Giro.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gilbert still sucks.

 

[Richeypen]

Right.. worst stage race this yaer besides Romandie done as well.

Volta a Catalunya????????

 

[TeoSheva]

this should be the brother of Gilbert... cannot be the good one!

 

[dlwssonic]

argh, my stream went bonkers, could hardly watch the final kilometres.

 

[will10]

Right.. worst stage race this yaer besides Romandie done as well.

Have you not seen what's been going on at Bayern? Awful.

 

[Kwibus]

Volta a Catalunya????????

Catalunya had bad luck with their queenstage.

 

[Kwibus]

Nice win by Betancur, this guy is going to be a contender in any hilly race he will enter the coming 10 years. No idea how his GT qualities will be though, but a great talent.

 

[dlwssonic]

well they are all pretty bad this year.

 

[Panda Claws]

The funny thing was that this proves that the Ardennes was actually 2012 Gilbert's peak form. After all if Gilbert could finish 3rd in FW and only 4th here, that must mean that he was a lot better there.

 

[Lanark]

The Season of Shame continues for Gilbert. I'm really starting to wonder what's going on with that guy (not a clinic-insinuation). Nobody can believe he is beaten by Firsanov here because of his tooth infection 3 months ago.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Pauwels has, to date, been mostly a sprinter on the road, so it's nice to see him branching out a bit and showing that ability on hills, since he has such good acceleration on the small mounds they use in 'cross.

Stage racing this year has been almost universally terrible. San Luís was quite good, the TDU was less ridiculous than expected and Tirreno-Adriatico was OK. País Vasco was a bit of a letdown but far less so than when the parcours was first unveiled, while Asturias, even in its abbreviated form, was decent.

Most of the big stage races have been downright terrible, so I can't complain too much at races like Norway and Belgium being fairly dull, when riders are turning the fricking Giro d'Italia into a follow-the-leader fest.

 

[dlwssonic]

The Season of Shame continues for Gilbert. I'm really starting to wonder what's going on with that guy (not a clinic-insinuation). Nobody can believe he is beaten by Firsanov here because of his tooth infection 3 months ago.

Its his first race after 1 month and like panda claws mentioned he peaked at the ardennes. and that tooth infection caused cav to be out for a loong time too.

 

[will10]

The Season of Shame continues for Gilbert. I'm really starting to wonder what's going on with that guy (not a clinic-insinuation). Nobody can believe he is beaten by Firsanov here because of his tooth infection 3 months ago.

I agree to a point but I think you underrate Firsanov, the guy has been a monster this season. But of course Gilbert should be beating all comers on a stage like this.

Another great win for Betancur though

 

[Lanark]

Its his first race after 1 month and like panda claws mentioned he peaked at the ardennes. and that tooth infection caused cav to be out for a loong time too.

It's the first race after a month for pretty much anybody here. Last year he won this race, and pretty much didn't stop winning untill Quebec.

He peaked for the Ardennes, but had his worst classic campaign in five years. Those guys in front of him aren't bad or anything, but even a good Gilbert should beat them without a sweat. I'm genuinly wondering what's going on with him, certainly not a tooth infection in march.

 

[El Pistolero]

Nice win for Betancourt.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Nice win for Betancourt.

what's wrong with gilbert tho?

 

[El Pistolero]

what's wrong with gilbert tho?

Don't know, he sucks right now. He probably did very little training during the winter. Might need a Grand Tour in his legs to get back to his old self again.

Thank God I'm not Tour obsessed, so I won't mind if he sucks there. Just hope he gets his act back together for Vuelta, Lombardia and the Worlds.

OR he trained very hard since his last race(LBL) and is still recuperating from that. Kinda like how Freddy Maertens won the World Championship in '81(I think it was that year).

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Volta a Catalunya????????

guys, it isn't who is the worst, but embracing this season as a collective pile of... trash.