Tour of Oman

[Barrus]

What is it with people supporting specific teams on this forum? I've seen people supporting Rabobank, Team Leopard, Team Sky... And then there's also this one guy going totally crazy over BMC...

I thought we were all supposed to support our fellow countrymen. This is new for me. Interesting phenomenon.

Well a lot of the Rabobank fans are Dutch. The BMC fan is more an Evans fan and is Australian, teamskyfan is British. But most are fan of more than just the riders of a single team.

Anyway, the video on the Oman site does not really show anything about the sprint, so we'll need to wait 'till tomorrow to see whether there was really something strange about the sprint

 

[Raceoftruth]

How do we rate the chances of EBH staying close enough tomorrow to challenge for the overall on the final tt?

 

[Barrus]

How do we rate the chances of EBH staying close enough tomorrow to challenge for the overall on the final tt?

I myself: slim to none

 

[The Hitch]

Well a lot of the Rabobank fans are Dutch. The BMC fan is more an Evans fan and is Australian, teamskyfan is British. But most are fan of more than just the riders of a single team.

Anyway, the video on the Oman site does not really show anything about the sprint, so we'll need to wait 'till tomorrow to see whether there was really something strange about the sprint

Having ACF support BMC has been great for this forum.

I love the banter everytime they lose, with those comments about 3 in the top 20 and Kristoff going places and when BMC do win like in Switzerland, you have him going crazy.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I thought we were all supposed to support our fellow countrymen.

Why? Support who you want to support. Why should a guy I don't like born 400km from me under the same flag get my support more than a nice guy born 20km from me (or even 2000km) under a different flag?

This is new for me. Interesting phenomenon.

Not used to people picking specific teams in a sport where riders only seldom actually represent their countries?

Football?

 

[jaylew]

What is it with people supporting specific teams on this forum? I've seen people supporting Rabobank, Team Leopard, Team Sky... And then there's also this one guy going totally crazy over BMC...

I thought we were all supposed to support our fellow countrymen. This is new for me. Interesting phenomenon.

I actually prefer that to support along strict nationalist lines - less ugliness that way, imo. The Olympics, sure. Cycling, I'm not a big a fan of it.

Sure you tend to learn more about the cyclists from your country so you're more likely to root for them, but I'm not a big fan of supporting riders simply because they are from your country and no other reason. Yes, I know I'm in the minority here.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Having ACF support BMC has been great for this forum.

I love the banter everytime they lose, with those comments about 3 in the top 20 and Kristoff going places and when BMC do win like in Switzerland, you have him going crazy.

annoyingly enough they all finnish inside the top 25 together but they are scattered amongst that 10 - 25 range which indicates they aren't working as a team in the leadouts.

Anyway, I think Van avermaet is looking very skinny and he might go alright on Green Mountain.

 

[maltiv]

How do we rate the chances of EBH staying close enough tomorrow to challenge for the overall on the final tt?

Extremely small, unless there's a strong headwind which sort of keeps the group together. I also doubt he will put a minute into everyone in the TT like he did last year.

 

[boomcie]

Why? Support who you want to support. Why should a guy I don't like born 400km from me under the same flag get my support more than a nice guy born 20km from me (or even 2000km) under a different flag?



Not used to people picking specific teams in a sport where riders only seldom actually represent their countries?

Football?

Yeah, I knew somebody was going to mention football . But that sport is so damn commercialized. Just hoping that sh*t won't happen to cycling, but it sure seems to be going in that direction.

And as for supporting ones fellow countrymen: you don't root for your country in the world cup? Just saying.

 

[maratsafin]

support who you like

I'll support who I like methinks whether it be a team or an individual. I think that's one of the cool things about cycling. taking that further you can support sprinters, climbers, tt's whatever rocks your boat

 

[Barrus]

Anyway, I think Van avermaet is looking very skinny and he might go alright on Green Mountain.

I need to agree with you to at least part of the statement, Van Avermaet is looking very lean and I think that he could prove to have a very good season this year. However, I do not think he will be able to compete against several of the climbers that are there and I think it will prove too steep for him at certain points

 

[theyoungest]

Extremely small, unless there's a strong headwind which sort of keeps the group together. I also doubt he will put a minute into everyone in the TT like he did last year.

The road on the climb looks to be quite wide and open (thank you Google Maps ), with barren landscape around, so wind could really play a major role.

 

[Raceoftruth]

Dont see massive time gaps on this one amongst the main favourites!

 

[ingsve]

How do we rate the chances of EBH staying close enough tomorrow to challenge for the overall on the final tt?

I would say slim to fair. EBH never ceases to amaze me so I'm not going to bet against him before we know for sure. He has shown that he can handle multiple climbs that are 2-3 km like he did last year in Dauphine and Montreal so the step isn't too far to handle a 5.8 km climb. Also since he doesn't need to be better than everyone else but only not lose too much time then I think there is at least an outside chance he can stay within striking distance.

At any rate it will be interesting to see and we will perhaps learn something from it.

 

[boomcie]

I've been hearing a lot of chit chat on this "green mountain stage" and if proves to be as fearsome as some people are making it out to be, it is gonna be one hell of a stage .

As for the favorites: Gesink and Rodriguez both suck at ITT (but this has already been discussed on the forum). Maybe we should be looking for someone who masters both climbing and time trialing. Someone like Monfort perhaps (not sure about his form though)? It wil all depend on the actual toughness of the remaining stages. Anyway, Gesink will have to put the hammer down tomorrow, all eyes on him.

 

[Barrus]

I've been hearing a lot of chit chat on this "green mountain stage" and if proves to be as fearsome as some people are making it out to be, it is gonna be one hell of a stage .

As for the favorites: Gesink and Rodriguez both suck at ITT (but this has already been discussed on the forum). Maybe we should be looking for someone who masters both climbing and time trialing. Someone like Monfort perhaps (not sure about his form though)? It wil all depend on the actual toughness of the remaining stages. Anyway, Gesink will have to put the hammer down tomorrow, all eyes on him.

Paging Dekker_T, paging Dekker_T

In short Gesink does not suck at ITT

 

[boomcie]

Paging Dekker_T, paging Dekker_T

In short Gesink does not suck at ITT

Depends on how you define suck, but he kind of does.

 

[roundabout]

I need to agree with you to at least part of the statement, Van Avermaet is looking very lean and I think that he could prove to have a very good season this year. However, I do not think he will be able to compete against several of the climbers that are there and I think it will prove too steep for him at certain points

Depends what he means with alright. It's not a particularly deep field of climbers in this race so he might end up placed reasonably high on the stage.

 

[janraaskalt]

Sure you tend to learn more about the cyclists from your country so you're more likely to root for them, but I'm not a big fan of supporting riders simply because they are from your country and no other reason. Yes, I know I'm in the minority here.

I'm such a minority type of fan as well.

 

[theyoungest]

Depends on how you define suck, but he kind of does.

Have you checked the TT profile? That's the kind of TT Gesink usually does well at.

I'm really channelling Dekker_T here. But it's true.

 

[boomcie]

Have you checked the TT profile? That's the kind of TT Gesink usually does well at.

I'm really channelling Dekker_T here. But it's true.

Looking at it as we speak. It is not entirely flat indeed, but it does not look very challenging either.
The kind of profile Gesink usually does well at is a climb (because he is a climber ). If the time trial does prove to be challenging, he might have a shot at a decent position.

Let's just wait and see.

 

[theyoungest]

Looking at it as we speak. It is not entirely flat indeed, but it does not look very challenging either.
The kind of profile Gesink usually does well at is a climb (because he is a climber ). If the time trial does prove to be challenging, he might have a shot at a decent position.

Let's just wait and see.

Doesn't look very challenging? It has a 3 km climb at about 7% and a 1,5 km climb at 13%. That's quite a hard time trial.

 

[Moondance]

Looking at it as we speak. It is not entirely flat indeed, but it does not look very challenging either.
The kind of profile Gesink usually does well at is a climb (because he is a climber ). If the time trial does prove to be challenging, he might have a shot at a decent position.

Let's just wait and see.

Really...? Its an 18.5km tt, with about 5kms of pure climbing looking at the profile, at pretty reasonable inclines too.

That, to me, sounds like a pretty brutal short TT. That's not to say I necessarily expect Gesink to do really well. Although if Gesink has good early season form I'd expect him to do well enough to defend a lead of 45 seconds over the likes of Fuglsang or Vinokourov, should be able to amass a lead of such size tomorrow.

 

[boomcie]

Doesn't look very challenging? It has a 3 km climb at about 7% and a 1,5 km climb at 13%. That's quite a hard time trial.

We'll see how hard it turns out to be. Ayway, the harder it is, the more chances Gesink has. But that doesn't make him a good time trialist, it just makes him a good climber. Trying to make a point here.

 

[Barrus]

We'll see how hard it turns out to be. Ayway, the harder it is, the more chances Gesink has. But that doesn't make him a good time trialist, it just makes him a good climber. Trying to make a point here.

Where is Dekker_T when you expect them

Now I do hope we get some footage sooner and better tomorrow than what we got the last few days