Tour de Romandie 2012

Page 77 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
May 3, 2011
1,793
13
10,510
BillytheKid said:
Another possible is a nagging knee problem. A tendon problem cna keep reoccuring. You may still be able to ride, but have to refrain from hard acceleration.

Possible. My knees are like that all the time now.:D

Just ruined them completely. I am working on getting them fixed.

Sounds all to familiar :(
 
Mar 13, 2009
2,890
0
0
Froome19 said:
I got that nearly right..... but I guess you cant call Wiggins just no one

The aussies we used to have a rugby player with the nick name "nobody". Why? because nobody is perfect.
Wiggins TTs this year...might be appropriate.
Evans was disappointing, considering how he usually performs leading up to the tour. Evans overall Romandie results in the past, latest result first, 29, 1, 7, 4, 1. I know he didn't push too hard and has been sick, but that is sign of concern for Evans fans no?
 
Sep 27, 2011
501
0
9,580
karlboss said:
The aussies we used to have a rugby player with the nick name "nobody". Why? because nobody is perfect.
Wiggins TTs this year...might be appropriate.
Evans was disappointing, considering how he usually performs leading up to the tour. Evans overall Romandie results in the past, latest result first, 29, 1, 7, 4, 1. I know he didn't push too hard and has been sick, but that is sign of concern for Evans fans no?

Nah, he has a nice win already under his belt this year so his form is ok and has 2 months to get right for the tour. This result is because of his recent illness.
 
Oct 16, 2009
3,864
0
0
The illness, his Crit.Int. win and the fact that he wasn't actually that good at Romandie last year means there's really no reason to worry. But there's certainly no reason to celebrate either, in fact his performance was disappointing.
 
Mar 13, 2009
2,890
0
0
He's been ill hence not performing as he could be, but surely that takes away from the peak he'd have had in July. If Evans was Basso or Menchov, this is the sort of build up I'd expect, but Evans in the past has raced to win and is always good. I don't find it too hard to believe that he rode well within himself knowing the form wasn't there.
Wiggins and SKY on the other hand, flying, Peaked too early? Really worked on their TTs. I think this Romandie team will be pretty much the Tour team, though Froome will have to improve.
 
May 3, 2011
1,793
13
10,510
karlboss said:
He's been ill hence not performing as he could be, but surely that takes away from the peak he'd have had in July. If Evans was Basso or Menchov, this is the sort of build up I'd expect, but Evans in the past has raced to win and is always good. I don't find it too hard to believe that he rode well within himself knowing the form wasn't there.
Wiggins and SKY on the other hand, flying, Peaked too early? Really worked on their TTs. I think this Romandie team will be pretty much the Tour team, though Froome will have to improve.

TBH I dont think that Wiggins was anywhere near top form this past week, dont think he was even anywhere near his P-N form. There is a lot more to come from him.
 
Sep 30, 2011
9,560
9
17,495
Richeypen said:
TBH I dont think that Wiggins was anywhere near top form this past week, dont think he was even anywhere near his P-N form. There is a lot more to come from him.

Again i agree with this.
 
Mar 13, 2009
2,890
0
0
I'm hoping for Schleck/RSNT Nibali/Liquigas+Snachez will make it interesting. To hope for Menchov to be in form is like asking to watch 3 weeks of Romandie. There may be small gaps on MTFs but that's about it.
I agree Wiggins looked better in Paris-Nice, and will be better again in July, but he won't become my favourite until he demonstrates he can climb a mountain, what has been his toughest so far this season? Mende? 3km at 10%.
 
May 3, 2011
1,793
13
10,510
karlboss said:
I'm hoping for Schleck/RSNT Nibali/Liquigas+Snachez will make it interesting. To hope for Menchov to be in form is like asking to watch 3 weeks of Romandie. There may be small gaps on MTFs but that's about it.
I agree Wiggins looked better in Paris-Nice, and will be better again in July, but he won't become my favourite until he demonstrates he can climb a mountain, what has been his toughest so far this season? Mende? 3km at 10%.

Bradley-Wiggins-Dauphine-celeb_2609196.jpg


What like last years Vuelta? Or last years Dauphine? Or Verbier in 2009?

You dont come 5th on the Angliru unless you can climb a mountain.

Wiggins can climb with the best of them as long as the tempo stay constant and it doesnt get too steep.
 
Jun 10, 2010
19,894
2,255
25,680
This year his climbing ability hasn't really been put to the test though, so I'm afraid we won't be truly sure about his Tour chances until the Dauphiné.
 
Mar 13, 2009
2,890
0
0
Richeypen said:
Bradley-Wiggins-Dauphine-celeb_2609196.jpg


What like last years Vuelta? Or last years Dauphine? Or Verbier in 2009?

You dont come 5th on the Angliru unless you can climb a mountain.

Wiggins can climb with the best of them as long as the tempo stay constant and it doesnt get too steep.

Yes pretty much, remember Vino and Kloden in the tour 07, had great form leading into the tour, but once there showed it was only TT form.
If Wiggins climbs like he did in last years Dauphine or Vuelta, there was only 1 MTF rather than Hilltop finish in each and on each of them he dropped 1 minute to the best climber...he'll need to be better than that, to be "my" favourite in my mind.
 
Mar 11, 2009
10,526
3,563
28,180
I'm still a bit skeptical about his Tour chances. But I have to admit this was a great win and he's had a great spring.
 
Apr 11, 2009
2,250
0
0
Libertine Seguros said:
Just because you're not riding for yourself doesn't stop it being surprising when you don't even finish a race until the end of April.

A red blood cell disease sounds like a good explanation to me. How literal does one have to be: parasites eating his red blood cells while he is trying to race. Sounds like a very tough proposition to me.

Cobo's depression problems apparently are major, from what he has said (to a clinical extent). He's not the first rider to have this problem. Jiménez was another. Tyler Hamilton another to some extent. Ocana, Obree, the list goes on. Huge exercise-induced swings in endorphins from extreme physiology of long-hours on a bike won't have helped any of these folks, if prone to clinical depression.

Both of these guys have big/recurrent problems: one a physical, another a psychological, illness.
 
Nov 11, 2010
3,387
1
0
I don't know if this has been brought up. But I've noticed that the bikes that Wiggo used in today's TT, and the one in Paris-Nice looks like he doesn't use handlebar tape and the front wheel appears to be smaller. Are any of these things true? Or am I just not paying close attention to the pictures?
 
Aug 5, 2009
15,733
8,144
28,180
hrotha said:
This year his climbing ability hasn't really been put to the test though, so I'm afraid we won't be truly sure about his Tour chances until the Dauphiné.

Menchov dropping out of the Romandie is not a good sign but when does Menchov show great form before a grand tour ? Sastre was the same. Evans is obviously behind in his conditioning but these days it seems you don't have to be great in the Dauphine to do well in the Tour unlike the past where where most Dauphine winners went on to win the Tour. There is still quite a period of time between the finish of the Dauphine and third week of the Tour. Wiggins will probably win the Dauphine again this year. Evans was second last year.........again, but the Dauphine is not the test is used to be.

Watching Wiggins this year reminds me of Evans pre Tour last year. Quietly confident, relaxed and consistently winning. The parallels are there. For some reason I am expecting one of the favourites to fail badly this year, maybe opening up a spot on the podium for a less favoured rider. Sanchez seems to be doing quite well, VDB and Gesink are hard to assess, Menchov needs some racing kms in his legs, Nibali is doing well, Froome seems to be getting better, Leipheimer has had a lot problems and Andy Schleck continues to do what Andy Schleck does ! As usual all of this guess work is thrown out the window come day one of the Tour.