Tour of the Basque Country 2012

[jsem94]

My bad. Might be close, but I hope and think Samu's going to win.

 

[insideout leadout]

I think Martin will beat him with 30-40 seconds. Don't think Sanchez will lose it in the end in front of home crowd, no way

 

[BillytheKid]

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

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

Acutally, I applaud Martin for doing as well on such steep digs and the unrated "sneek" climb. Had he gone off like Kiserlovski...not there yet? Never. He's much better than PN.

 

[meat puppet]

Screw the whining, that was exciting. While it lasted.

Samuel to win GC.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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

Yes, because the route wasn't quite as crappy as it initially looked, which gave more incentive to race.

The rest of the route is the organisers' fault. The first two stages were pointless, and all but the last 700m yesterday were. Wednesday was a pretty decent stage, maybe would rather have had Karabieta to lead us in as it's a bit tougher, but there's only so much you can do with Arrate and from that point on it's up to the riders; today was a much better stage than it looked.

It's going to be decided in the ITT again, but the time gaps are enough to make it interesting now.

This isn't a good route. I thought it was a 2009 Tour de Suisse/2011 Paris-Nice level farce, but it's not as bad as those by a long shot.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

"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.

there's always rain in pais vasco. if it wasn't for froome and cobo we woukd've had a boring vuelta blabla

 

[El Pistolero]

]Screw the whining, that was exciting. While it lasted.[/B]

Samuel to win GC.

Exactly........

 

[cesko_jr]

Proud to be Croat! Hvala Robert!

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Samu's not going to lose 56 to Martin.

he doesn't need to either

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

does anyoen have forecast for tomorrow? of it's dry it should be doable for martin

 

[theyoungest]

Yes, because the route wasn't quite as crappy as it initially looked, which gave more incentive to race.

Not as crappy as it looked... to you. And to the guy who said that the climb in the final was nothing more than a false flat.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Not as crappy as it looked... to you. And to the guy who said that the climb in the final was nothing more than a false flat.

yeah. lol


...

 

[cineteq]

General:
1. Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) 20:29:18
2. Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) a 9
3. Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) a 26
4. Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) a 33
5. Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) m.t.
6. Sergio Luis Henao (Sky) a 34
7. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) a 35
8. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) a 40
9. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) m.t.
10. Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nisan) a 44
11. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) a 45
12. Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) a 45
13. Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar Team) a 50
14. Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) a 51
15. Simon Spilak (Katusha) m.t.
16. Rui Costa (Movistar Team) a 52
17. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) a 56

 

[insideout leadout]

Hey Tony it's just a false flat, push the pace and you will get over it quickly

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

peraud could be dangerous on this course

 

[Bavarianrider]

So second place is a lock for Tony.
To beat Sanchez he'll need a golden day though.

 

[shinoda13]

Last year, Samu lost 1'17'' to Martin on 24km. Should be interesting tomorrow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Not as crappy as it looked... to you. And to the guy who said that the climb in the final was nothing more than a false flat.

The initial profiles indicated:
- finish on Ibardin, but at first we were not made aware that the steep final 700m had been added, so it appeared we had a 6km @ 4,5% finish after 30km of flat
- the TT was flat but for a couple of pimples (which are steeper than initially appeared to be the case)
- the run-in to today's stage was more or less flat.

All of these turned out not to be the case, for the better. The route of stage 4 was still weak (no connecting climbs, seriously?), and the first two stages were still utterly pointless, but the race is better than it seemed. Normally they come out of the blocks pretty quickly in País Vasco, this year they decided to have over half the race gone before they decided to get interesting.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Samu's not going to lose 56 to Martin.

it's not that hard

 

[Arnout]

Normally Pais Vasco stage 4 and 5 are pretty pointless. The race needs a few city finishes, for money purposes.

Anyway, Sanchez looks stronger than ever. If he isn't gonna win this year, he'll never do it. He should be able to make it in the TT.

 

[meat puppet]

Come to think of it, greedy as I am more of that would have been welcome. Screw the route.

 

[theyoungest]

Normally Pais Vasco stage 4 and 5 are pretty pointless. The race needs a few city finishes, for money purposes.

Anyway, Sanchez looks stronger than ever. If he isn't gonna win this year, he'll never do it. He should be able to make it in the TT.

Don't fret, he'll win this. If today's final is the TT course, that's perfect for him. Incredibly technical.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Last year, Samu lost 1'17'' to Martin on 24km. Should be interesting tomorrow.

that was dry.

 

[Lupetto]

At plataformarecorridosciclistas the tt course is described as technical with changes of rythm and also dangerous if it rains. They also described it as "muy ratonero”. Can somebody please translate this?

 

[search]

that was dry.

and Tony had an easy week in the grupetto previously...