Tour of the Basque Country 2012

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, kinda like it was interesting watching a one trick pony take all the ardennes classics last year

You mean last year when he got third at Milan-San Remo, blew the race apart in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, got second in a prologue at the Tour of Belgium and won the queen stage and overall, won a flat Belgian championship road race, won the national time trial title, got second in a bunch sprint of the Tour was fighting for the green jersey with Cavendish him self? Or when he beat Boonen in a sprint at Paris-Tours?

How exactly is Gilbert a one trick pony compared to Rodriguez who can't time trial, descent, ride on cobbles and can't actually climb very consistently either.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Boy does Martin look silly now after his shenanigans early in the climb.

he simply bluffed

 

[lukinox]

Martin 55 secs back in GC

 

[The Sheep]

Boy does Martin look silly now after his shenanigans early in the climb.

better to start at the front than at the back

 

[El Pistolero]

Seriously

Yes, FW is about as interesting as a sprint in Milan-San Remo or G-W.

Mind you, I'm not the one complaining about this route: I like it. Libertine is doing all the complaining here.

 

[BillytheKid]

Boy does Martin look silly now after his shenanigans early in the climb.

That should have been a rated climb. I wonder if it was wildly know how hard it was? Still, the strong men won the day.

 

[hrotha]

he simply bluffed

I prefer the alternative interpretation: that he pulled a 2010 TdF Wiggins. It's funnier.

 

[Flamin]

Pretty ironic that Martin lost more time today than on the 2 'GC-stages'.

Anyway, nice battle tomorrow for overall between Samu and Martin.

 

[The Sheep]

You mean last year when he got third at Milan-San Remo, blew the race apart in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, got second in a prologue at the Tour of Belgium and won the queen stage and overall, won a flat Belgian championship road race, won the national time trial title, got second in a bunch sprint of the Tour was fighting for the green jersey with Cavendish him self?

So he won some races, big deal, Cav did the same thing.

 

[Fetisoff]

You mean last year when he got third at Milan-San Remo, blew the race apart in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, got second in a prologue at the Tour of Belgium and won the queen stage and overall, won a flat Belgian championship road race, won the national time trial title, got second in a bunch sprint of the Tour was fighting for the green jersey with Cavendish him self?

Exactly. You want a list of Purito's results on non "short, punchy climbs"? Unless you're banned in google, I'm sure you can find them yourself

 

[Gloin22]

Nordhaug 5th. Another good result for him. Wonder how he'll TT tomorrow. Henao looked weaker today.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

you are such a patehtic hater really. kepe whining about the course blabla. fact is this is one of the best races of the year and big chance martin won't despite itt

"One of the best races of the year" doesn't really say much in 2012, stage racing in particular has been pretty damn poor this year so far.

Today's stage was good. Very good in fact. That final climb should have been categorised really, especially given some climbs they've categorised in the past. If the final climb in Zumarraga last year was a cat.2, this should have been cat.3.

If it hadn't been for the rain and Kiserlovski, it would have been a 4km shootout, but still, that would have been better than I initially expected.

 

[iZnoGouD]

so Martin still gets yellow tomorrow?

 

[theyoungest]

Boy does Martin look silly now after his shenanigans early in the climb.

No he doesn't. I don't know if you noticed, he did the same yesterday, trying to keep them at his own pace.

Well, Kiserlovski and the weather meant they couldn't just group ride to the hill at 4 to go, which meant we had a reduced bunch and the pressure was on the heavier guys like Martin.

Credit to Robert and to meteorology for potentially saving this race.

This is nonsense, Libertine. If this wasn't a typically Basque final, I don't know what is. And this weather isn't exactly unusual either.

 

[insideout leadout]

J-Rod showing russian pride on his head

 

[jsem94]

Samu's not going to lose 56 to Martin.

 

[El Pistolero]

Exactly. You want a list of Purito's results on non "short, punchy climbs"? Unless you're banned in google, I'm sure you can find them yourself

That depends on what you call short. I call a 6km climb short and if it's steep punchy as well. Most of Purito's wins last year came from uphill finishes, if not all of them...
I'm sorry, but if Rodriguez is not a one trick pony then no one is. It's not an insult, it's the truth.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Samu's not going to lose 56 to Martin.

Why 56?

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Samu got 56 seconds? :O gona be a nice little fight right there!

 

[insideout leadout]

Samu's not going to lose 56 to Martin.

Last year he lost 1.17 to Martin over 24km. It's 19km this time. It might be close.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

No he doesn't. I don't know if you noticed, he did the same yesterday, trying to keep them at his own pace.


This is nonsense, Libertine. If this wasn't a typically Basque final, I don't know what is. And this weather isn't exactly unusual either.

If the weather hadn't been so bad, Kiserlovski probably wouldn't have got up the road (he got there when everything splintered when the rain was pouring). And if Kiserlovski hadn't got up the road, we wouldn't have seen the bunch thinned out so much before the final climb.

The finish was a typical País Vasco finish, which was misleadingly profiled and not points-paying. It was a much better stage than the original profile would have suggested. But had it not been for the weather and Kiserlovski, we would probably have seen all but the sprinters come to Oñati together before the final loop, FW-style.

I'm happy to be wrong here, because the race was good. But it's still not because it was a good route. It was better than I thought it was, but it was still not a good one.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Samu got 56 seconds? :O gona be a nice little fight right there!

Nope. Samu has 47. J-Rod has 56.

 

[Fetisoff]

Samu got 56 seconds? :O gona be a nice little fight right there!

Purito's 56. Samu's only 47

 

[hrotha]

If the weather hadn't been so bad, Kiserlovski probably wouldn't have got up the road (he got there when everything splintered when the rain was pouring). And if Kiserlovski hadn't got up the road, we wouldn't have seen the bunch thinned out so much before the final climb.

The finish was a typical País Vasco finish, which was misleadingly profiled and not points-paying. It was a much better stage than the original profile would have suggested. But had it not been for the weather and Kiserlovski, we would probably have seen all but the sprinters come to Oñati together before the final loop.

But the ones to blame for that would have been the riders and DS's.

 

[El Pistolero]

I don't care who wins. Who ever wins will have fought for it.