Tour of the Basque Country 2012

[nvpacchi]

You mean like this:

Stage 1 of the race last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl4TGsbA76w

Watch from about the 4 minute mark. J-Rod caught Horner at the very top of the climb. Horner lacks some of the explosiveness of Rodriguez on the steep, but took advantage of a Andy Schleck lead-out. Pretty even match to the top.

opps same footage (different link as above) a little different conclusion.

OK to say: Where's his team in this race on today's final climb. The Hog will appreiate it.

Libertines post says all. Im not saying horner does not excels on steep pitches, but there is more than one isolated incident to demonstrate prods dominance

 

[nvpacchi]

Yeah but he was going well on the steep section on stage 3. Also JROD will lose double the time he gains in the ITT. Horner just wants to distance Martin, that will be his main concern.

Martin will be a frightening shadow for horner, but I see Sanchez as threat number 1 still. Skipped PN which he has not missed for the past few years, meaning a peak which he has not had for pvp in some time

 

[BillytheKid]

Libertines post says all. Im not saying horner does not excels on steep pitches, but there is more than one isolated incident to demonstrate prods dominance

Except The Hitch took my orignal post off-topic. Horner is a more of a GC guy in a race like this because of what you exactly point out. Horner could loose everything if he did a full-out effort with those two on his wheel because they both can jump him. The upside for Horner was that Sammu wanted the three-time win on this stage more than trying to have the two minutes over Tony Martin to win GC. Sammy had to keep an eye more on J-Rod than Horner.

My original post on the matter was the two marking each other was what resulted in the mere 12 seconds to Martin and the chase group. If all three really wanted the GC and worked better together, they could have had at least 30 seconds.

 

[Eric8-A]

So should Tony Martin now be classified as a five star GT contender?

 

[nvpacchi]

So should Tony Martin now be classified as a five star GT contender?

1-week races: absolutely

GTs: TBD, leaning towards No

 

[Eric8-A]

1-week races: absolutely

GTs: TBD, leaning towards No

That's the way I see it as well. Probably like a Michael Rogers.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

With the TT to come, Jrod is a bit of an irrelevance - he'll win the stage, but no one needs to be afraid of him on the GC, unless he finds a way to take nearly a minute in a few hundred metres.

 

[krismtb]

3rd (after letting Samu and J-Rod basically do all the work up the climb, except for couple pulls he took)

What race were you watching? Samu did no work almost; horner did much of the pulling.

 

[Cancellator]

I guess the only way for Horner to get this GC is to have three factors in his favour:

>Gain a decent amount of time on Tony on the road
>Do a (significantly) better TT than his effort at T-A
>Tony still not 100% for the TT (or maybe hindered by rain somehow)

Otherwise, Tony gets this. I hope at least it will be a close one, should give plenty of excitement.

 

[jens_attacks]

i saw the stage.
lol they were at just 10 meters away at one moment,tony was tired as hell because otherwise he should have closed that gap on the false flat easily.

what about papy horner?all the climb out of the saddle???you don't see that every day.


wow the start of the climb was so slow...thanks god we have chris and purito!the ascent was done slower than in the last years but still 40 guys in one minute is unexpected.they weren't too slow though:

Michael Rogers ‏ @mickrogers Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
@marcopinotti yes Marco I can confirm 1750 VAM. Boys in the front almost 1850. #moving


don't know if the distance is right,probably not,the speed looks above the physics laws a little bit...if anyone knows it perfectly,let me know.
from this point:
crossroad in front of corte ingles,eibar

to
top of the climb

2012:5,8 km@8,4%---14:38---average speed 23.78 km/h(Horner-S.Sanchez-Rodriguez)
2011:5,8 km@8,4%---14:28---average speed 24.06 km/h(Xavier Tondo)
2010:5,8 km@8,4%---13:58---average speed 24.92 km/h(Chris Horner)

in 2009 they approached the climb from a different road.it was the fastest ascent by far,with a horner killing everybody and then alberto finishing it off.you can compare it if you want with the 2010-2011-2012 ascents,if you start your stopwatch a little bit later,from this crossroad:

back then contador did to the top of the climb 12:12,basically flying.


henao faced yesterday the big boys from europe,he should learn from it.definitely has the heart of the champion,he wanted to be there but still just like the boss said,he has a lot to learn.he will.
today,purito should win this easily.interesting to see if tony will lose more than 20 seconds to horner.let's hope so,it will make the itt maybe more interesting.

 

[Eric8-A]

i saw the stage.
lol they were at just 10 meters away at one moment,tony was tired as hell because otherwise he should have closed that gap on the false flat easily.

If that's the case, this was only a 6k climb. The ones in the Tour will be longer than that. And if he gets tired on a 6k climb, maybe he's not the GT contender people make him out to be.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

lol at ur lol.

Sanchez and Rodriquez wanted the stage, Horner could only hope for time with a downhill finish and he has zero sprint. Horner knew he could not drop the two, and if he started dragging them, he ran the risk of getting attacked and dropped. Gesink got dispatched like that right over at top of the climb two years ago. Sanchez won that stage, Valverde second, Horner third. Horner went on to win the overall.

yeah you kepe tlaking but it's still the same. did you even see the race? purito made a lot of force and the 2nd group was coming back. from 20 seconds to a few seconds. and in the final downhil part they extended till 12 again. maybe they were the strongets 3 yesterday. especially purito and horner. but not by much

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

If that's the case, this was only a 6k climb. The ones in the Tour will be longer than that. And if he gets tired on a 6k climb, maybe he's not the GT contender people make him out to be.

martin wasn;t tired. he was argubaly the strongest in the group with henao. however when martin was closing the gap he simply didn't want to close it by himself and he looked behind to lampre for closing the final few metres but they didn't/couldn't

 

[search]

martin wasn;t tired. he was argubaly the strongest in the group with henao. however when martin was closing the gap he simply didn't want to close it by himself and he looked behind to lampre for closing the final few metres but they didn't/couldn't

but he was dropped on the steep part at the foot of the climb, he came back together with Spilak later on (in contrast to Moreno and Peraud, which were dropped when the pace was rising on the flatter part)

I wonder if horner even knows that they added a steep section at the top of the last climb today?!

“Tomorrow’s final climb isn’t really steep enough and none of the domestiques are strong enough to explode the field,” commented Horner when asked about the closing climb. “I think it will be a big group until the last 500 meters, so we’ll only see a small separation at the top, maybe a handful of seconds."

It's up to 19%, and even if it's just 500 metres above 10% I think guys like Tony Martin will lose at least ~40 seconds on that section to Horner and Rodriguez.

 

[Lexman]

what happened to Gesink : sick?

 

[theyoungest]

what happened to Gesink : sick?

Yes. The flu. Kruijswijk as well.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

but he was dropped on the steep part at the foot of the climb, he came back together with Spilak later on (in contrast to Moreno and Peraud, which were dropped when the pace was rising on the flatter part)

I wonder if horner even knows that they added a steep section at the top of the last climb today?!



It's up to 19%, and even if it's just 500 metres above 10% I think guys like Tony Martin will lose at least ~40 seconds on that section to Horner and Rodriguez.

martin I don't think was ever dropped in the climb. the group wa sbig but when it was paced by ehnao I saw nordhaug and others drop. but martin was there I'm pretty sure. but even if he wasn't there it's not too stranbge as he sucks in placing himself and isn't explosive

 

[Euskaltel!]

Anyone see past J-rod for today? I guess Horner will be up there, and I'd love it if Antón could show us something before August...

 

[search]

martin I don't think was ever dropped in the climb. the group wa sbig but when it was paced by ehnao I saw nordhaug and others drop.

I just watched it again and Martin wasn't in the first group at that point of the race. When Henao and Kiserlovski took over the pace (with 3.8k to go) just Cunego and Scarponi could follow. Moreno, Nordhaug and Peraud were dropped. Later on (at 3.2k to go) they came back and were joined by Mollema and Spilak. Martin must have come back to that group even later on.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

ok then. but it's impressive then he came back as he was porbably placed badly.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Raining at the start

Brajkovic, Silin and Kruiswijk DNS

 

[BillytheKid]

Anyone see past J-rod for today? I guess Horner will be up there, and I'd love it if Antón could show us something before August...

Horner needs his team on the finishing climb, but don't count on it.

I can't picture Frank Schleck coming to front once. His all important base mileage might be infringed upon. Klöden has been ill as well and might still be suffering from the effects.

Most likely J-Rod as every knows. I am hoping for a big gap on Martin. Horner and Sanchez might have a shot at the GC if they have a 1:15 advantage.

Horner has been the best ITTer among these climbers, but looked shaky at TA.

It should be a great final.

 

[search]

I can't picture Frank Schleck coming to front once.

yesterday he dropped his chain (or clipped out of the pedal, I don't really know) at the foot of the last climb, so he was in a bad position from the start on. maybe he can be a bit of a help today.

 

[theyoungest]

Horner needs his team on the finishing climb, but don't count on it.

I can't picture Frank Schleck coming to front once. His all important base mileage might be infringed upon. Klöden has been ill as well and might still be suffering from the effects.

Most likely J-Rod as every knows. I am hoping for a big gap on Martin. Horner and Sanchez might have a shot at the GC if they have a 1:15 advantage.

Horner has been the best ITTer among these climbers, but looked shaky at TA.

It should be a great final.

The TT in Tirreno didn't suit Horner at all. And he had a knee problem or something, which bothered him. The Pais Vasco TT is good for Horner (even if Libertine would have us believe that it's dead flat).

 

[Angliru]

So should Tony Martin now be classified as a five star GT contender?

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