Tour de Pologne 2.WT 31/07 - 06/08

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I was annoyed that Poels spent most of his time on the penultimate climb looking back where Marcato was. He wasn't really into winning himself, not even near the end where I'm sure his plan was to pull for Marcato. But was suprised he got a gap and decided to try to win...

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I was annoyed that Poels spent most of his time on the penultimate climb looking back where Marcato was. He wasn't really into winning himself, not even near the end where I'm sure his plan was to pull for Marcato. But was suprised he got a gap and decided to try to win...

Presumably he had some pretty strongly worded team orders!

 

[Lanark]

Presumably he had some pretty strongly worded team orders!

Van Poppel was in the team car?

 

[Anonymous]

Final 10k
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkdfa9_tour-of-poland-stage-6_sport

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Final 10k
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkdfa9_tour-of-poland-stage-6_sport

Nice work as always.

(Although on this occasion a lot o the best action happened in the 2km before that).

 

[KubaWinter]

If it is truly the same finish as last year (can anyone else confirm) then I'm not seeing whatever it is you're seeing.

Here's the finish of the same stage last year:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_59487&user=CanalF10#p/search/4/Tqj0UJDxptk

There was a slight bend with a couple kms to go, but even in the wet the pavement was fine and there was nothing especially difficult about it.

This was a true mass sprint, won by Greipel ahead of other pure sprinters in a true bunch kick. That finish certainly would not have favored Sagan and I don't think he could have top 3'd a sprint like that. Obviously thats a year ago and a very different race, but if tomorrow's finish is indeed the same, I can't see Sagan getting the bonus he needs in the sprint.

Hard to look past Kittel for the stage win if that's the case.

I was writing about intermediate sprint which is held at Main Square in Cracow. Last year the circuits were a little bit different, but they were riding at Main Square and finish was held in the same place as it's this year.

Here is video from lower rank race in Cracow's Main Square: http://youtu.be/mMOH2r0aH3c But in TdP bunch will ride with higher speed, because they will bump in after long straight - here they were going around Main Square.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice work as always.

(Although on this occasion a lot o the best action happened in the 2km before that).

yeh, it was pushing it to half an hour though, and i try to keep videos down to about 20 minutes max. Its why i like races that put the result up as they cross the line, saves five minutes on the end

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

yeh, it was pushing it to half an hour though, and i try to keep videos down to about 20 minutes max. Its why i like races that put the result up as they cross the line, saves five minutes on the end

Fair enough!

 

[royalpig180]

I was writing about intermediate sprint which is held at Main Square in Cracow. Last year the circuits were a little bit different, but they were riding at Main Square and finish was held in the same place as it's this year.

Here is video from lower rank race in Cracow's Main Square: http://youtu.be/mMOH2r0aH3c But in TdP bunch will ride with higher speed, because they will bump in after long straight - here they were going around Main Square.

Ahhh thanks for the clarification. So the intermediate sprint is clearly "Saganesque" while the finish is a little too easy for him. Maybe the intermediate sprint is the better option for Sagan after all. If the sprint goes something like Sagan Haussler Marcato 1-2-3 that would work for him. The issue is Garmin may have Haussler just lead out Martin so he could try and get third. Sagan-Marcato-Martin doesn't work...

Should be an exciting stage regardless.

 

[El Pistolero]

I already switched it off at that point out of frustration Poels didn't win

Less bad than his second place at the stage Gilbert won at T-A though. With a bit of common sense he would've won there

 

[Tuarts]

I'm not sure that Martin is necessarily the most tactically subtle rider.

He seems to have a fondness for what we might call the "Colombian strategy": Wait until it gets steep and then attack until there's nobody left on your wheel.

The "Luis Herrera".

 

[jens_attacks]

dan martin showed some balls today,kudos to him.

 

[Dedelou]

Let's see if Sagan can bring tomorrow's stage to a race to the wire

 

[bicing]

there;'s a huge strange ireland-krakow connection, irish ppl seem to own one third of the city, and there's a potato sack full of irish living there. danny boy will win, its anear enough to his his home tour.

the stage profile is dupa, there's no hills nothing, and the stage finish is nothing special it'll be a kittel special with feillu, haussler and no sagan.

sagan doesn't mind anyway, two stages plus overall at TdP vs. two stages at Vuelta, plus form for the worlds... duh!!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Watching the slow motion of the video (thanks TeamSkyFans!) - it seems to me that Sagan was not detached from the group that began to cross the line at 6s - I can't see why his is listed at 13 seconds.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Watching the slow motion of the video (thanks TeamSkyFans!) - it seems to me that Sagan was not detached from the group that began to cross the line at 6s - I can't see why his is listed at 13 seconds.

Sagan is not in the group of 6s. Not anywhere. Not even near the tail. You are obviously confusing some other rider for Sagan. I see no yellow jersey there no matter how many times I look

 

[Tank Engine]

As for subtlety, you attack in the terrain that suits you best and when you can make a difference. Danny Boy attacking on the steep part of the penultimate climb, when the last climb is a drag seems a pretty sensible option to me. Maybe he was surprised that no-one could go with him. He said that he held back when he was dangling in front of the group and he could still attack and win on the final climb, so he can't have done much wrong. That was a great duel with Sagan glued to Danny's wheel until the Slovak cracked. I was surprised that Scarponi was nowhere, but we're in for a great last stage. Three guys still in it with a climber ahead of two all rounders, who'll be looking for sprint bonuses. If a break gets pulled back before the intermediate sprint, it will be interesting to see how Garmin play it. I think there would be a few guys interested in it and maybe going with Haussler would be a better bet than Martin getting third. Either way, the final sprint will be all out. My guess is that normally Sagan would finish 5-6th, but with the chance of on overall win, who knows?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

As for subtlety, you attack in the terrain that suits you best and when you can make a difference. Danny Boy attacking on the steep part of the penultimate climb, when the last climb is a drag seems a pretty sensible option to me.

Maybe I'm being a bit unfair. He didn't win Tre Valli Varesine with a suicide attack, or Toscana. And, it's not as if he has a way of beating Sagan without ripping the legs off him on the climbs.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I'm not sure that Martin is necessarily the most tactically subtle rider.

He seems to have a fondness for what we might call the "Colombian strategy": Wait until it gets steep and then attack until there's nobody left on your wheel.

Probably right.
Watch Giro dell Emilia last year. Dan Martin was doing almost all the forcing/attacking on the front of the last climb. Only to be outsprinted in the final 200m by Gesink.
If he rode a bit smarter he might have more left and won. He was definately the strongest there, but didn't ride a smart climb.

But hey, attacking riders are fun, and today it paid off.
Who knows if Sagan would have lost time if Dan Martin waited till the last climb? Maybe Sagan was fresher then and would have held the jersey.. so in this case attacking might have been the best tactic

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

dan martin showed some balls today,kudos to him.

Yes, definately showed some cojones.

 

[Descender]

What a joke of a World Tour race...

 

[roundabout]

Wait til they get to Beijing.

If they do.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

How is it a joke of a World Tour race? It was pretty interesting, more so than Paris Nice this year... (which was the biggest dissapointment imho)

 

[wirral]

Blythe and Chicci didn't finish or were time-eliminated so that's a small help to Sagan as there are 2 fewer sprinters to compete against at the line.

 

[greenedge]

Dan Martin is proving good form for the Vuelta. He could definitely top 10 there. Sagan will win a few stages there and this race is indicative of the fact he could probably in the future win one week races like this.

Kennaugh is proving good talent here and at other races. I think Busche will smash at the Vuelta as long as he does not have to escort riders ( like in stage 4 here for Tiago ) Speaking of Tiago what is everyone's view of him on here now that Busche seems to be MAYBE surpassing him as RS's young rider along with MK ( who is however really young )