Tour de Romandie 2012

[Ferminal]

Exciting time trial again though. They've been more exciting than the mountain stages so far this year. I say more time trials, less mountains.

What mountain stages?

 

[dlwssonic]

Actually winning this TT gives 106 world points so it worths more than a monument too

are they fking serious???

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

What mountain stages?

this was my next question too

 

[Bala Verde]

Second time LLS loses the leader's jersey, previously in the illustrious vuelta Castilia y Leon. Terrible ride, losing over 1:20... He's Spain's itt champ, so this was below par. Mollema was over his Ardennes peak, so you can't really blame him. He needs to recharge his batteries. Clement was Not good, although the parcours didn't suit him, I expected a stronger time nonetheless. Kelderman, well, it's his first year, so this was a good experience for him.

Did the headwind pick up near the end? Wiggins put in a brilliant ride. He was very strong throughout the ride, uphill, he didn't lose his cool when he dropped his chain. (was it attributable to the oval rings he is using?). Great result from talansky too. He almost beat wiggins, which would have been great for him. Rogers a little off the pace too, but then again richie Porte putting in a great result, completing a sky 3/5 in GC (?).

 

[theyoungest]

Ok, he, who's supposed to be a time-trialist who can climb and who has been top 10 in Tour and Vuelta, did great today. Go Luisle.

Those top-10s were thanks to breakaways.

 

[jens_attacks]

40 seconds faster.

Errm.

With a mechanical.

Edit, corrected to 1 second.

Phew.

i was like

too bad for the mechanical,lost 20 seconds there,it would have been easier for him.anyway he did looked more tired than in paris-nice here in romandie but still i think he's far from his july peaking sensation.and also all the uk postal boys who did good nonetheless

andrey talanskiy, this young russian was in pretty awesome form,too bad i don't like him at all

congrat to wiggo for a champ attitude and nice win.now let's move on to italy

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Talansky showed little recovery ability last year though. In the last days of the Vuelta he could barely follow the peloton. It's nice if in the last week of the Tour you can still ride a bit

Then again, this is an absolutely incredible performance, so whatever they've done to him over the winter, it has worked.

still its not like his tt ability came from no where.
16th @ worlds
6th @ romandie tt 11'
5th @ Basque tt 11'
7th @ PN tt 11'
5th @ Criterium Int. tt 11'

this is def. his best tt to date, but progress is suspected. Still outstanding stuff today.
Very good rider, has a great tt, but this is no indication of a GT performance, I don't think froome19 understands the recovery and recuperation of multiple climbs stages, factors in GTs.

 

[Froome19]

I know that, and I questioned and said it unlikely when he said it back in February, and Talansky being talented is no news, those of us who followed him in his espoirs days new then already he was going to be a massively talented rider and already last year he was producing real quality ITT performaces rather then climbing ones (I always said he was gonna bigger then TJVG) but this course is no indication of the tour lol, and he is not gonna be challenging the head of state at the TDF at this point of his career anyway, despite what your ignorance leads you to believe.

Whatever you may think, look at the previous stages and you will see that Talansky has been one of the strongest riders consistently in the mountains.
He has shown brilliant potential and ability in TT but I believe he also has it there when it comes to climbing and so does Vaughters, and anyway whats the fun in not hyping riders a bit OTT?

Of course if you asked me for my top10 in the tour right now I wouldnt put him in, but I still think he has the potential to spring a suprise.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Exciting time trial again though. They've been more exciting than the mountain stages so far this year. I say more time trials, less mountains.

The idea is balance. If the time trials are long enough, the TT guys will just control everything else. If the time trials aren't long enough, the mountain guys won't attack.

So far this year, we haven't had a single balanced stage race parcours. They have pretty much all sucked.

 

[Parrot23]

Big win for Wiggins to prevail with a 1) a mechanical AND 2) a big climb.

Mentally tough, too, just like after last year's Tour (bouncing back to hammer the Vuelta). Resilient.

And Sky is deep. Looking how BMC and Radioshack should be performing.

........

Gee, Talansky is tiny. Leipheimer, jockey size.

 

[gilbertador]

The idea is balance. If the time trials are long enough, the TT guys will just control everything else. If the time trials aren't long enough, the mountain guys won't attack.

So far this year, we haven't had a single balanced stage race parcours. They have pretty much all sucked.

I would argue Tirreno Adriatico was perfectly balanced even with the route change and Basque country wasnt bad either. I dont understand the hate for paris nice it was tense and enjoyable for sure.

Romandie and Catalunya have been utter failiures though

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Whatever you may think, look at the previous stages and you will see that Talansky has been one of the strongest riders consistently in the mountains.
He has shown brilliant potential and ability in TT but I believe he also has it there when it comes to climbing and so does Vaughters, and anyway whats the fun in not hyping riders a bit OTT?

Huh, mountain stages? When ?
I guess clement might top 5 at the tour also

Again, this race is no indication if a GT performance at all.
please keep your feet on the ground,

PS. I'm all for hyping, just not to an unrealistic measure

 

[cycladianpirate]

The CN forum whines about the parcours again!!

I fancy that the truth of the matter is that you secretly yearn for the Armstrong/Ullrich days and all that entails...

 

[movingtarget]

Another sold ride by Porte. I noticed Evans did not make the top 20. How far back was he ?

 

[Poursuivant]

Wiggins is a powerhouse. Great effort from Talansky. I predicted LLS top 5! Oh dear.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

The CN forum whines about the parcours again!!

I fancy that the truth of the matter is that you secretly yearn for the Armstrong/Ullrich days and all that entails...

for the sake of entertainment yep.

but really, surely no once can defend this romandie course, the stages were a joke.

 

[hrotha]

Those top-10s were thanks to breakaways.

He didn't gain 20 minutes in those breakaways I don't think, but you can substitute top 10 for top 12 or whatever he'd have been without them. The point still stands. In theory, he can TT very well. He can climb. He's a very good descender and strong on rolling terrain. He was the race leader. But I guess beating Clement by fractions of a second and not losing too much to the likes of Weening was brilliant.

 

[BillytheKid]

For me that was a great ITT. It had every thing. In the modern era, it freaks me out that some very talented pros obviously still don't spend training Ks on a TT set up and are just bad at it. Position is all for a serious climb like this. Basically you raise the stem as much 7-8cms or use risers on the pads. You can then grip the bars midway on the climbs, your up more but still aero. This is stuff we did twenty years ago? LL the worsed example today.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I would argue Tirreno Adriatico was perfectly balanced even with the route change and Basque country wasnt bad either. I dont understand the hate for paris nice it was tense and enjoyable for sure.

Romandie and Catalunya have been utter failiures though

Tirreno was pretty good. País Vasco was good for the second half but woeful for the first half. The Oñati stage was much better than it looked on first glance.

Paris-Nice was really, really mediocre. The penultimate stage could, nay, should, have been so much more. I miss the Nice-Nice final stage loop as well.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Exciting time trial again though. They've been more exciting than the mountain stages so far this year. I say more time trials, less mountains.

If I preferred say, Wiggins to the sport, I would agree.
To me exciting time trial is an oxymoron.

AS LS says. The most important thing is balance: something that the past half dozen Romandies have lacked, but none more so than this edition.

 

[spalco]

Actually, yes, totally horrible time by Lulu.

I suppose your standards for him are different than mine.

 

[hfer07]

Congrats to Wiggo - a well deserved victory
*horrible ITT by LuLu- WTF was he thinking with that massive gear mashing??-he's a decent TT'er with a record to support it-today he just miscalculated the effort...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Another sold ride by Porte. I noticed Evans did not make the top 20. How far back was he ?

Evans was 40th, 1.45 down

Porte gained 28 places in GC today by the way
The questionable honor of losing the most places goes to Wilco Kelderman, dropped from 7th to 30th... but considering he is a 20yo neo... I forgive him

 

[Moviefan1203]

Great, great ride for Talansky. Another young gun I look forward to watching in the future.

 

[movingtarget]

for the sake of entertainment yep.

but really, surely no once can defend this romandie course, the stages were a joke.

Unless you want to watch endless descents.