Tour du Haut Var (FRA) 18 and 19/02

[Papparrazzi]

... I'm still waiting for a quote from Marc Madiot

 

[hatcher]

The level of superiority over the rest suggests at least "very good". Simon/El Fares/Pinot/Clarke are all good riders and he made them look second rate in 1km

Yeah I tend to agree. The suggestions have been there for a couple of years. Even on a race like the Tour of Britain some pretty good, punchy climbers (Cummings, Gerdemann etc) couldn't hold his wheel on the hills. But again, the caveat is he was probably much closer to peak than they were.

Taking it all into account, suggestions point to "very good" IMO.

 

[pastronef]

@SimoClarke
5th again. Absolutely devoed. Battery went flat with 10km to go, so no 53 and had to ride the last climb at 26% with only the 19 cog...

That's got to be the best excuse so far of 2012

excuse?
remember that FDJ guy stuck with a big gear at the foot of the Kemmelberg during gent-wevelgem 2-3 years ago?

things that can happen with the Di2

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

@SimoClarke
5th again. Absolutely devoed. Battery went flat with 10km to go, so no 53 and had to ride the last climb at 26% with only the 19 cog...




excuse?
remember that FDJ guy stuck with a big gear at the foot of the Kemmelberg during gent-wevelgem 2-3 years ago?

things that can happen with the Di2

Bet his sponsors are delighted they provide free equipment and he goes on twitter to point out it's ****.

 

[Captain Sensible]

No way Adidas would agree to that!

True but sometimes things like this does happen it might depend on how much adidas put into the team .

 

[Captain Sensible]

Is this a joke I don't get or what?

No joke why do you think it is ?

 

[theyoungest]

Bet his sponsors are delighted they provide free equipment and he goes on twitter to point out it's ****.

It's his own fault, change the battery stupid!

 

[La Pandera]

It's his own fault, change the battery stupid!

I'm not familiar with the new electronic systems but shouldn't they have some type of low battery indicator so incidents like this don't happen in the middle of a race? Also I would think that it's the team mechanics responsibility to make sure that everything on the bike is race ready, not the rider themselves.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm not familiar with the new electronic systems but shouldn't they have some type of low battery indicator so incidents like this don't happen in the middle of a race? Also I would think that it's the team mechanics responsibility to make sure that everything on the bike is race ready, not the rider themselves.

Yeah okay, but I mean, if you have equipment which runs on batteries, chances are that the batteries run out at some point... hardly an indication that it's crap equipment.

 

[Andy99]

Yeah okay, but I mean, if you have equipment which runs on batteries, chances are that the batteries run out at some point... hardly an indication that it's crap equipment.

It's just an indication of cr@p team management.

There is no excuse for a battery going flat, if indeed that is what happened.

 

[La Pandera]

Yeah okay, but I mean, if you have equipment which runs on batteries, chances are that the batteries run out at some point... hardly an indication that it's crap equipment.

I agree that it wasn't wise to criticize a team equipment sponsor to the media. Maybe in his post-race-adrenaline-fed mind he was just being honest in his response as to the reason for his poor performance. Not necessarily that the equipment was crap but that for whatever reason it had failed to perform/function properly at a crucial moment.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gilbert only 16th. Clearly not in any sort of form yet. Last year he won races even in 70% of his top form

 

[El Pistolero]

Gilbert only 16th. Clearly not in any sort of form yet. Last year he won races even in 70% of his top form

Last year he got blown away in Mallorca,Algarve and the Omloop as well... It's FEBRUARY. Gilbert peaks for LBL, not for Milan-San Remo...

I know he won a stage in Algarve, but he was nowhere on the climb or time trial.

From his site:

In 2005 - toen het nog een eendagswedstrijd was - won Philippe, maar dat wil niet zeggen dat hij dit jaar kost wat kost wil winnen. Al geeft Philippe ook toe dat het speciaal zou zijn om te winnen in Frankrijk. "De wedstrijd is dichtbij mijn huis in Monaco en er komen enkele vrienden kijken." Toch zal hij doen wat hij de laatste jaren altijd doet: "Ik wil gewoon week na week beter worden, maar als ik kan winnen zonder kracht te verbruiken, dan doe ik het."

Bij BMC hopen ze toch dat Philippe iets kan bereiken in de Ronde van de Haut Var. "Als we in het algemeen klassement iets kunnen doen met Philippe, dan zou dat een mooie test zijn richting het Belgisch openingsweekend."

 

[maltiv]

Gilbert only 16th. Clearly not in any sort of form yet. Last year he won races even in 70% of his top form

Hushovd didn't even finish. BMC isn't exactly looking great ahead of Omloop.

 

[Andy99]

last 10 mins here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=yAYVnlM-Z7U

 

[taiwan]

No joke why do you think it is ?

I don't think it's a deal that could be made because of Endura being a rival clothing manufacturer to Adidas, who sponsor Sky.

 

[Panda Claws]

Gilbert did say that his form now is the same as it was last year. Then again as El Pistolero said, the stage he won in Algarve was nowhere near as hard as this.

 

[El Pistolero]

DNF [NED] VEELERS Tom PRO 0
DNF [FRA] JEROME Vincent EUC 0
DNF [CAN] VEILLEUX David EUC 0
DNF [USA] RATHE Jakob GRM 0
DNF [AUS] HAAS Nathan GRM 0
DNF [NED] KREDER Raymond GRM 0
DNF [NED] DEKKER Thomas GRM 0
DNF [ITA] NOCENTINI Rinaldo ALM 0
DNF [FRA] PERAUD Jean-Christophe ALM 0
DNF [FRA] GEORGES Sylvain ALM 0
DNF [FRA] PINEAU Cédric FDJ 0
DNF [NOR] HUSHOVD Thor BMC 0
DNF [AUS] ROE Timothy BMC 0
DNF [ITA] SANTAROMITA Ivan BMC 0
DNF [NED] LINDEMAN Bert-Jan VCD 0
DNF [DEN] MORTENSEN Martin VCD 0
DNF [KAZ] MURAVYEV Dmitriy AST 0
DNF [ITA] GUARNIERI Jacopo AST 0
DNF [SUI] ALBASINI Michael GEC 0
DNF [JPN] BEPPU Fumiyuki GEC 0
DNF [ISR] MARGALIOT Ran SAX 0
DNF [POL] MARYCZ Jaroslaw SAX 0
DNF [SLO] KOCJAN Jure TT1 0
DNF [BEL] ISTA Kevyn ACC 0
DNF [BEL] DE WILDE Sjef ACC 0
DNF [LUX] DRUCKER Jempy ACC 0
DNF [BEL] DE VOCHT Wim ACC 0
DNF [BEL] VERBIST Evert ACC 0
DNF [BEL] CAMMAERTS Edwig COF 0
DNF [BEL] ZINGLE Romain COF 0
DNF [FRA] HUPOND Thierry PRO 0
DNF [FRA] ROLLAND Pierre EUC 0
DNF [BEL] DE BACKER Bert PRO 0
DNF [FRA] BERTHOU Eric BSC 0
DNF [FRA] COLIN Anthony RLM 0
DNF [FRA] DESRIAC Loic RLM 0
DNF [FRA] LALOUETTE Kévin RLM 0
DNF [FRA] BLAIN Alexandre EDR 0
DNF [GBR] BIBBY Ian EDR 0
DNF [GBR] THWAITES Scott EDR 0
DNF [GBR] DOWNING Russell EDR 0
DNF [GBR] WILKINSON Ian EDR 0
DNF [CAN] HOULE Hugo SPI 0
DNF [CAN] GILBERT Martin SPI 0
DNF [CAN] LACOMBE Keven SPI 0
DNF [CAN] LAMBERT-LEMAY Simon SPI 0
DNF [USA] MCCARTY Jonathan Patrick SPI 0
DNF [ESP] VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco Jose MOV 0
DNF [FRA] DION Renaud BSC 0
DNF [FRA] BACON Romain AUB 0
DNF [FRA] DASSONVILLE Flavien AUB 0
DNF [FRA] FAUCON Guillaume AUB 0
DNF [FRA] MOMBAERTS Johan AUB 0
DNF [FRA] RACAULT Ronan AUB 0
DNF [FRA] THIRE Jonathan AUB 0
DNF [FRA] JULES Justin VRU 0
DNF [FRA] JARRIER Benoît VRU 0
DNF [FRA] MALLE Guillaume VRU 0
DNF [FRA] DENIS Kevin VRU 0
DNF [FRA] MARTINEZ Yannick LPM 0
DNF [LTU] SISKEVICIUS Evaldas LPM 0
DNF [LAT] SKUJINS Toms LPM 0
DNF [FRA] VAUBOURZEIX Thomas LPM 0
DNF [ESP] LOPEZ GARCIA David MOV 0
DNF [FRA] GAUDIN Damien EUC 0

 

[jens_attacks]

it looks like jon locke did some damage looking at that long list

 

[Captain Sensible]

I don't think it's a deal that could be made because of Endura being a rival clothing manufacturer to Adidas, who sponsor Sky.

I agree with you but i dont know how much Adidas pay into the team on how long there contract is with Sky i was just trying to say a way that could help Sky get there man if they really think they need him badly enough.

 

[Froome19]

Happy to see Kessiakoff finish 7th he should be building up to the Giro where he will storm the opposition after Kreuziger loses too much time.

 

[issoisso]

JTN's name could only be more stereotypically british if he changed his first name to Nigel.

NTN. That has a ring to it. Do it Jonathan, you know you want to!

 

[roundabout]

Happy to see Kessiakoff finish 7th he should be building up to the Giro where he will storm the opposition after Kreuziger loses too much time.

No, they both will be helping Masciarelli to victory.

 

[Andy99]

JTN's name could only be more stereotypically british if he changed his first name to Nigel.

NTN. That has a ring to it. Do it Jonathan, you know you want to!

Surely you mean JTL an opposed to JTN..?

 

[ferryman]

JTN's name could only be more stereotypically british if he changed his first name to Nigel.

Au contraire. Not a lot of British in there at all. In fact none, now that I have googled Locke.