USAPCC Prologue: Colorado Springs ITT 8.3km (22/8)

[jobiwan]

Great win for Gretsch! This was a hard course, that last kilometer was tough, and it looked like the conditions might have been slightly harder at the end!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Impressive from Evans with so little racing under his belt.

I wonder if air pressure has played a factor, Waterloo.

I was a little surprised by his ride. Didn't think he'd go that well tbh.

Funnily enough he was the 3rd best BMC rider.

 

[auscyclefan94]

From the TT specialists Leipheimer, Evans and Van Garderen all did their job. From the climbers Gesink did the best job

So is Gesink back to not being a good time triallist?

 

[theyoungest]

So is Gesink back to not being a good time triallist?

Gesink is back to not being a good rider

Although tonight we'll see if he really managed to turn this around.

 

[Kwibus]

I'm getting the feeling that Basso is on his way down. This year has been dissapointing all the way. Sure 7th in the TdF is not bad, but dissapointing for Basso.
Maybe he can surprise us next year.

I can see Evans winning this race. Gesink 17th is looking ok. I wonder how he will do on the mountains though.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm getting the feeling that Basso is on his way down. This year has been dissapointing all the way. Sure 7th in the TdF is not bad, but dissapointing for Basso.
Maybe he can surprise us next year.

Basso has done just fine. Winning the Giro is about equal to getting just outside the top-5 in the Tour. Sure, he seemed to fade away a bit toward the end of the Tour, but I don't think he could have been on the podium anyway.

Basso has arrived in Colorado just 3 or 4 days ago, that's not enough to adjust to the altitude, so I doubt he'll shine in this race.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So is Gesink back to not being a good time triallist?

Since when do downhill prologues have anything to do with TT-ers.

He is a decent tt-er, but not specialist no. I never claimed that.

Sometimes you can't understand a thing can you?

 

[theyoungest]

Since when do downhill prologues have anything to do with TT-ers.

He is a decent tt-er, but not specialist no. I never claimed that.

Sometimes you can't understand a thing can you?

You know it's bad when ACF has a better sense of humor and relativation than you.

 

[The Hitch]

Basso has done just fine. Winning the Giro is about equal to getting just outside the top-5 in the Tour.

huh? He beat this years Tour winner Evans in that race. Previous Tour winner Sastre too, and Nibali who when a far weaker rider was already managing that "just outside top 5" spot at the Tour.

Winning Tour > Winning Giro
Winning Giro > 2nd in Tour.

 

[theyoungest]

huh? He beat this years Tour winner Evans in that race. Previous Tour winner Sastre too, and Nibali who when a far weaker rider was already managing that "just outside top 5" spot at the Tour.

Winning Tour > Winning Giro
Winning Giro > 2nd in Tour.

I think we can safely say that Evans was far from his best in that Giro. The same could be said about Basso in this year's Tour, but like I said, I doubt he could have done much better. The level of racing is just much higher at the Tour, ask Contador if you don't believe me.

 

[greenedge]

Shlecks sucked and so did Basso. Good work by Gretsch i now hope for all the best for you at Skil and hope you get opportunities there. Voigt and Hincapie the 2 hardass old timers 5th and 6th. Nice work.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Since when do downhill prologues have anything to do with TT-ers.

He is a decent tt-er, but not specialist no. I never claimed that.

Sometimes you can't understand a thing can you?

Get your knickers out of a knot, Ruben.

 

[hrotha]

With all the "OMG downhill prologue" stuff you guys make it sound like they were descending Alpe d'Huez or something.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

With all the "OMG downhill prologue" stuff you guys make it sound like they were descending Alpe d'Huez or something.

Did you see it? It was pretty much downhill all the way until the final km or something

 

[hrotha]

Did you see it? It was pretty much downhill all the way until the final km or something

Yes, I saw it. It was downhill. It wasn't technical or anything. It just meant you had to move bigger gears than usual.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yes, I saw it. It was downhill. It wasn't technical or anything. It just meant you had to move bigger gears than usual.

Ah ok, now I understand your Alpe d'Huez comparison.

It's just that we don't see a lot of downhill prologues, or downhill TT's for that matter. It was pretty high speed. (only 1 corner), so that's why everyone was like "omg downhill tt". You would think the fattest guy could win.

 

[theyoungest]

With all the "OMG downhill prologue" stuff you guys make it sound like they were descending Alpe d'Huez or something.

Yeah, only the first part was semi-technical, after that 90 degree bend it was just grinding on the big gear. More about power than technique.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

If a 100kg athlete (yes they do excist) was there, could he use the sheer force of gravity to win you think?

 

[just some guy]

If a 100kg athlete (yes they do excist) was there, could he use the sheer force of gravity to win you think?

Depends.

Mass is a factor yes gravity is the same for everyone

as is aerodynamics

as skill in riding ie using less road , breaking

as is how many watts are produced in pedaling

but a heavier will roll faster down a hill as a simple answer but it is not that simple.

 

[TRDean]

Don't know if its been said...but very nice ride by Ben King...if he didn't have to slave for Leipheimer he maybe could do something...

 

[The Hitch]

I think we can safely say that Evans was far from his best in that Giro. The same could be said about Basso in this year's Tour, but like I said, I doubt he could have done much better. The level of racing is just much higher at the Tour, ask Contador if you don't believe me.

I never said it wasnt higher but rather that a win at the Giro is worth so much more than a 6th place at the Tour like you suggest.

Up until this July everyone was saying Menchov had had a far better career than Evans. That would not be the case if Evans two seconds at the Tour where seen as significantly greater achievments than winning 3 gts.

 

[jens_attacks]

menchov is a big champ but ne never NEVER won the vuelta 2005.that was robertito's and now a court gave him the right to claim back the trophy.denis acted like he should be and said even since the first day that he's not interested in winning vuelta in such a manner and heras won it on the road.class act just like andy schleck did in rebellin and alberto's cases.

i repeat myself,the guys that saw that vuelta know it too,roberto heras won it.and in that vuelta,it was the weakest heras i've seen in all vueltas but he had luck because rabobank sucked balls big time.menchov had just kolobnev for the mountains lol and just two another guys.

 

[ingsve]

It seems that Tobias Ludvigsson (Skil-Shimano), who finished 58 seconds down, was riding on a road bike with aero bars. Must be a big disadvantage on a course that was mostly downhill that went at 60-70 km/h most of the time.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He's far from the only one. Many riders, especially the ones from European teams, rode on normal bikes.

They only brought TT bikes for some leaders / TT specialists to reduce costs. I imagine Skil didn't bring a TT bike at all even.
At Rabobank only Clement and Gesink rode on their TT machines

 

[movingtarget]

Shlecks sucked and so did Basso. Good work by Gretsch i now hope for all the best for you at Skil and hope you get opportunities there. Voigt and Hincapie the 2 hardass old timers 5th and 6th. Nice work.

I'd say they were typical TT's for the Schlecks and Basso. No better or worse than expected. The veterans did well.