Tour de Romandie 2012

[Winterfold]

None of the streams on steephill were working (for me) and I miss the greatest sprint victory of all time

I hope someone puts the last k or 10 on youtube.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Mollema usually has a decent sprint on him, I guess they were pulling for him. And TBH if you'd asked me "who will sooner win a bunch sprint: Wiggo or Mollema" I'd have known my answer.

It wasn't really a bunch sprint. Wiggo pretty much hit the front and rode everybody off his wheel with about 500m to go. He was more in IP mode, rather than sprinting.

 

[Winterfold]

oh right completely forgot about the pope also dropping him and gesink if he recovers.

Keep saying it maybe it will come true

 

[Fetisoff]

Menchov, seriously Menchov. Wake up this is not 5 years ago. Neither is a better TTr. Evans might be stronger and win a TT in week 3, Menchov will be no where

Yaaawn. I got sick of this endless discussion in the "tour contenders" thread, so I will not argue with you here. We will just have to wait and see


EDIT: Spilak, the silent assassin... LOL

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Menchov, seriously Menchov. Wake up this is not 5 years ago. Neither is a better TTr. Evans might be stronger and win a TT in week 3, Menchov will be no where

You're right, Menchov seems a light of former days, he couldn't beat a half fit Wiggins in the Vuelta. The question is not whether Wiggins will win the Tour (that much is obvious). The question we need to ask is, will Wiggins do the time trial and road race double at the world championships?

 

[Parrulo]

Menchov, seriously Menchov. Wake up this is not 5 years ago. Neither is a better TTr. Evans might be stronger and win a TT in week 3, Menchov will be no where

2010 wasn't 5 years ago. menchov's 2010 tour itt is more impressive then any itt wiggins has done on a GT ever

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

2010 wasn't 5 years ago. menchov's 2010 tour itt is more impressive then any itt wiggins has done on a GT ever

Stop living in the past.

 

[FF'Wilco]

Gadret lost 2:27, Fuglsang over 5mins, Froome over 11.

 

[will10]

I know the parcours isn't like super tough, but I certainly doubt that Clement will still be in 4th come the TT at the end.

At his very best, Clement is good climber. As someone else alluded to, for a TT specialist he is quite light, and occasionally he has shown some good climbing legs.

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10839

Wouldn't rule out him hanging on during the next couple of days and being there or thereabouts for a top 10 GC following the ITT.

 

[Parrulo]

Keep saying it maybe it will come true

and me thinking menchov was dropping wiggins on the vuelta mountains on the second week. it's not menchov's fault the parcours were so pathetic that there were no decisive stages on the last week, otherwise he would have easily passed wiggins.

but i guess bradley i have never won a GT wiggins is much better then a 3 time GT winner denis menchov. it just makes perfect sense

 

[Parrulo]

Stop living in the past.

that's what many people were saying last year when some evans could win the tour

 

[Gloin22]

Gadret lost 2:27, Fuglsang over 5mins, Froome over 11.

Froome was helping CAv

 

[Azabael]

What I find weird is that, in a large group apparently with no sprinters, Rabo was so keen on forcing a bunch sprint, instead of going wild off the front and trying to get a split or a breakaway.

I can't really blame you. This must be due to the fact on this forum whenever people are not dutch and see Rabobank, they take their chances at bashing them not necessarily out of justice but very often out of sheer nature, implented by being around on these forums for a while.

But for those who actually watched the entire last 20/30k, it was clear that Rabo constantly tried to establish a group or go solo. To name a few: Ten Dam, Clement, Kelderman and Sanchez. And not just by wheelsucking to control the race. No, by taking initiative. So yes, when at 4k from the finish everyone once again got together, they saw it would be impossible to ignore a bunch sprint, they once again took initiative and tried to play their cards as well as they could.

Quit the auto-bashing. It shows your unintelligence.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

but i guess bradley i have never won a GT wiggins is much better then a 3 time GT winner denis menchov. it just makes perfect sense

Nobody's saying that Menchov doesn't have the better GT record.

Both have a lot to prove, actually. Menchov that he still has it and Wiggins that he can go well on stages with multiple HC climbs, deep into a 3rd week. Wiggins does look in sensational shape - there's no point saying otherwise - but none of us know, including himself, just how he's going to perform with the aforementioned conditions.

 

[DominicDecoco]

Gadret lost 2:27, Fuglsang over 5mins, Froome over 11.

Jakob is still riding with a broken bone.

 

[will10]

I think Wiggins' good form could make for some really exciting racing at Le Tour. Even back in 2009 the big guns were keen to get rid of him, that will be the case once again this summer.

 

[theyoungest]

Jakob is still riding with a broken bone.

And in two weeks he'll be the Shack's GC leader in the Giro?

At his very best, Clement is good climber. As someone else alluded to, for a TT specialist he is quite light, and occasionally he has shown some good climbing legs.

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=10839

Wouldn't rule out him hanging on during the next couple of days and being there or thereabouts for a top 10 GC following the ITT.

Clement can indeed climb a bit, but that particular climb was more of a false flat. Very good for time trialists like Clement and Zabriskie.

 

[Swifty's Cakes]

Which is still incredibly bad.

exactly

 

[cineteq]

"Official race radio said Westra abandoned in feeding zone. It was Lagutin and they didn't correct it until they announced the top-3."

LOL!!!

 

[Lexman]

I predicted at Dekker Tifosi a few days ago Westra would end second again ;-)

 

[will10]

I predicted at Dekker Tifosi a few days ago Westra would end second again ;-)

I thought it was Lagutin.

 

[hrotha]

I can't really blame you. This must be due to the fact on this forum whenever people are not dutch and see Rabobank, they take their chances at bashing them not necessarily out of justice but very often out of sheer nature, implented by being around on these forums for a while.

But for those who actually watched the entire last 20/30k, it was clear that Rabo constantly tried to establish a group or go solo. To name a few: Ten Dam, Clement, Kelderman and Sanchez. And not just by wheelsucking to control the race. No, by taking initiative. So yes, when at 4k from the finish everyone once again got together, they saw it would be impossible to ignore a bunch sprint, they once again took initiative and tried to play their cards as well as they could.

Quit the auto-bashing. It shows your unintelligence.

Nevermind that the biggest Rabobank bashers are Dutch.

I didn't say they didn't ride the last 30 km. I'm talking about the finale. I didn't say they did the wrong thing - as others have said, Mollema and LLS are not exactly slow either. I just said I found it WEIRD that, in a group with 60 Leukemanses, the finale was undistinguishable from the preparation for a real bunch sprint, including how convinced the Rabo guys were when they chased Madrazo, as if they had a strong sprinter.

So, quit the defensive knee-jerk reactions based on making huge assumptions about someone else's posting habits. I could say they show your unintelligence, if I thought insulting people out of the blue was justified.

 

[will10]

Or using just half the team that was left.
Suggests Clement and a couple of others were used up.
Still, they have multiple threats for later in the race,
even if Wiggins can mark them all, a la Turkey Grabovski.

It looks like Sky actually have a team around Wiggins though, which is more than can be said for Gabrovski. Although Turkey today was very entertaining with Gabrovski covering nearly every move for 100km

 

[Winterfold]

Parrulo- its not what you are saying - its the absolute certainty with which you (and others) say it.

Wiggins has done a pretty good job of managing to do what the CN forum says he cant over the last 12 months and it just comes across as being in denial.

 

[Lexman]

I thought it was Lagutin.

Lagutin abandoned and not Westra, officials were wrong, VCD twittered it themselves that Westra finished the stage ...