Tour of Bejing (9th October - 13th October)

[DJ Sprtsch]

Or are they seven? Anyway, chase 1

 

[ValleyFlowers]

Group of 7 chasing Tony Martin have Edvald Boasson Hagen in the mix there.

 

[wirral]

Think I've seen this a number of times this season, an Omega Pharma Quick Step rider soloing 20 + kms to the finish whilst grinning at the camera.

Thank God it's not Boonen again.

 

[ValleyFlowers]

Chasing 7 aren't making progress on catching Tony Martin.
He's looking confident when the cameras roll by.

 

[thirteen]

yey, Tony!

 

[theyoungest]

Strong win by Tony. The chase group screwed themselves in the final k, and lost almost all advantage to EBH and friends.

 

[maltiv]

Like I predicted earlier in the thread, everyone raced against EBH. Not possible to win a race like this as a climbing sprinter when one has zero teammates.

 

[Pippo_San]

wow Tony, great showing there!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Great win by Tony. The Tour of Beijing is shaping up as an interesting, developing race.

 

[bangnz]

Nice win! 46 second advantage over the 1st chase group and the 10 second bonus seconds..

Will be interesting tomorrow

 

[ValleyFlowers]

 

[theyoungest]

Like I predicted earlier in the thread, everyone raced against EBH. Not possible to win a race like this as a climbing sprinter when one has zero teammates.

Pffff... Tony Martin was just far and away the strongest.

 

[Richeypen]

Nice win! 46 second advantage over the 1st chase group and the 10 second bonus seconds..

Will be interesting tomorrow

Doubt it, Martin has the race in the bag.

 

[Ferminal]

Pffff... Tony Martin was just far and away the strongest.

and had zero teammates.

 

[theyoungest]

and had zero teammates.

That too

It's not like Tony Martin attacked because of EBH.

 

[Tugboat]

No surprise Andy Schleck well out the ****... might even be be dicing with the time cut.

 

[JRanton]

Usual Maltiv nonsense. EBH wasn't good enough today, got dropped on the first climb and had to come back on the descent. Tony Martin was clearly the strongest. Simple as that.

 

[JRanton]

Doubt it, Martin has the race in the bag.

Definitely.

All over, red rover.

 

[The Hitch]

What stage race doesn't have at least one flat stage?

All the other stages have a potential to be fairly entertaining, depending on how they're raced.

Giro trentino

 

[jens_attacks]

nice win by tony,really enjoyed the race even those cops in the woods are creepy as hell...must be millions of them

 

[JRanton]

nice win by tony,really enjoyed the race even those cops in the woods are creepy as hell...must be millions of them

I was thinking exactly the same thing! There seemed to be at least one on every driveway along the route just standing there like statues.

 

[JRanton]

Andy finished third from last on the stage. Still, that's two stages completed in a row now. Progress...

 

[maltiv]

Usual Maltiv nonsense. EBH wasn't good enough today, got dropped on the first climb and had to come back on the descent. Tony Martin was clearly the strongest. Simple as that.

And I fully agree with all of that.

I'm just pointing out some basic cycling strategy here: if a guy attacks from a small group, and said small group contains 1 guy who's a significantly better sprinter than the rest of them, they will not be able to produce an efficient chase as no one wants to tow said sprinter to an easy victory. That's why a guy in Edvald's position desperately needs a team to be able to win a race like this.

Saying that doesn't mean that I think Tony Martin didn't deserve to win, because he most certainly did.

 

[Opalius]

I'm curious to see what Majka (currently eight, and riding as captain for the first time) will be capable of in this race. I think he's really one to watch for in the future.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

And I fully agree with all of that.

I'm just pointing out some basic cycling strategy here: if a guy attacks from a small group, and said small group contains 1 guy who's a significantly better sprinter than the rest of them, they will not be able to produce an efficient chase as no one wants to tow said sprinter to an easy victory. That's why a guy in Edvald's position desperately needs a team to be able to win a race like this.

Saying that doesn't mean that I think Tony Martin didn't deserve to win, because he most certainly did.

This wasn't a one day race though, there were riders in that group with a hope in the overall, did they just decide to abandon those ambitions to stop EBH from winning the stage? A surprisingly entertaining stage anyway, good to see Tony Martin show he's not just a time triallist.