Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 21/03/2016 - 27/03/2016 2.UWT

[Jakub]

Re: Re:

Froome's voice has changed pitch and intonation.

Curious.

Is it now lower or higher?

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Nacer Bouhanni is the best sprinter of this VCC but he must do straiter sprints.

What was wrong with his sprint?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Have no clue what Sky were doing.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

I don't expect Froome ot lead out Swift but surely Thomas & Poels could have helped ...

Of course Froome shouldn't lead Swift out. I'm not blaming him, it was a bad team effort.

Froome finished 15th.

well KIry and Roche were fine...keep SKY at the Front & the GC men safe ...but when Roche hit the front no one followed him and then he ran out of steam and no one took over

But SKY is a team of climber to be fair ...Nieve, Poels, Froome & Thomas are hardly going ot make a top leadout team considering they are top climbers

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Have no clue what Sky were doing.

They've always taken track specialist, sprinters, and domestiques and turned them into climbing giants. They are now trying to turn an elbows out climber into a world class sprinter. He was 15th...he'll get there soon.

 

[del1962]

Swift really should have found someone elses wheel, perhaps he followed OGE

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

I don't expect Froome ot lead out Swift but surely Thomas & Poels could have helped ...

Of course Froome shouldn't lead Swift out. I'm not blaming him, it was a bad team effort.

Froome finished 15th.

well KIry and Roche were fine...keep SKY at the Front & the GC men safe ...but when Roche hit the front no one followed him and then he ran out of steam and no one took over

But SKY is a team of climber to be fair ...Nieve, Poels, Froome & Thomas are hardly going ot make a top leadout team considering they are top climbers

True, but they managed to do a fair job of it yesterday.

 

[Isaak-Gabriel]

Re: Re:

Nacer Bouhanni is the best sprinter of this VCC but he must do straiter sprints.

What was wrong with his sprint?

Bouhanni has deported himself to the right when he knows Meersman could pass him, although he was the fastest rider today. It's not very fair.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Nacer Bouhanni is the best sprinter of this VCC but he must do straiter sprints.

What was wrong with his sprint?

He drafted behind Soupe, was holding his handle bars (that's a pull), IMO he should be DQed . Then we can vote for Bertie as the moral winner . And how come he didn't punch his bike? That's not Bouhani...Cofidis is cheating: they hired a clone ...

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

I don't expect Froome ot lead out Swift but surely Thomas & Poels could have helped ...

Of course Froome shouldn't lead Swift out. I'm not blaming him, it was a bad team effort.

Froome finished 15th.

well KIry and Roche were fine...keep SKY at the Front & the GC men safe ...but when Roche hit the front no one followed him and then he ran out of steam and no one took over

But SKY is a team of climber to be fair ...Nieve, Poels, Froome & Thomas are hardly going ot make a top leadout team considering they are top climbers

True, but they managed to do a fair job of it yesterday.

KIryenkia was still there yesterday

If the wanted Swift ot be in a good position today then they should have spared Kiry and Roche
Maybe have Froome, Poels & Thomas on the front earlier

Anyway Swift cannot depend on a leadout from a bunch of climbers ....cest la vie

 

[Pricey_sky]

I can understand Froome wanting to stay near the front, he doesn't want to drop seconds in a split as that could be costly, as Contador found out in Paris-Nice. However I don't understand the lack of support for Swift there from the rest of the team. Still, I suppose Swift's lead-out isn't exactly a huge priority with this team. He should have just followed another team like he did yesterday when he got on the back of the Orica lead-out.

 

[TMP402]

Thomas' leadout should have been better regardless of his new GC ambitions.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

I can understand Froome wanting to stay near the front, he doesn't want to drop seconds in a split as that could be costly, as Contador found out in Paris-Nice. However I don't understand the lack of support for Swift there from the rest of the team. Still, I suppose Swift's lead-out isn't exactly a huge priority with this team. He should have just followed another team like he did yesterday when he got on the back of the Orica lead-out.

Who exactly was going to be this support .....Boswell, KIry & Roche had done their job on the front

So Nieve, Poels & Thomas left .....should they risk losing energy & maybe more to leadout Swift ??

 

[classicomano]

This was hella boring. Has there ever been a poorer sprinting field assembled in a WT race? Woefull stuff.

Bring on the mountains.

 

[HelloDolly]

One last word on Sky's leadout train...they all finished together at least (nearly)
15th Froome,
16th Thomas,
18th- Swift
19th - Poels...
.just need more training and discovery of those leadout marginal gains

 

[TMP402]

Re:

This was hella boring. Has there ever been a poorer sprinting field assembled in a WT race? Woefull stuff.

Well, Swift has won WT races, so...

 

[TommyGun]

Re:

One last word on Sky's leadout train...they all finished together at least (nearly)
15th Froome,
16th Thomas,
18th- Swift
19th - Poels...
.just need more training and discovery of those leadout marginal gains

Looks like an Olympic-winning team pursuit outfit to me?

 

[Velolover2]

Who is the favorite for tomorrow? The gaps shouldn't be huge. I think The Tasmanian Devil could cheat them all and win.

I've the idea that Froome/Contador/Quintana will be saving their legs for the big mountain stage to Port Ainé.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

Who is the favorite for tomorrow? The gaps shouldn't be huge. I think The Tasmanian Devil could cheat them all and win.

I've the idea that Froome/Contador/Quintana will be saving their legs for the big mountain stage to Port Ainé.

Hard to know and not exactly the hardest climb ever

Maybe by a process of elimination ?

I don't think it will be Aru or Quintana or Van Garderen

I think it needs a turn of speed ...so maybe Martin, Porte,Bardet, Froome or Contador

would have picked Chaves but no sure of his form, same with Purito ...either could come out all guns blazing or roll in way down

And then there is Zakarin, Thomas & Poels.....but imagine they will set up their leaders...but as SKY are so strong they could be up there too

 

[RedheadDane]

And meanwhile Giant-Alpecin decided to have a positive outlook on things, pointing that that Arndt was the first to cross the line in 39th position.

 

[Metabolol]

I wonder why Tsatevich was angry at Gilbert? I didn't see Gilbert doing anything wrong in the sprint, Tsatevich was simply not strong enough to go around him.

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Who is the favorite for tomorrow? The gaps shouldn't be huge. I think The Tasmanian Devil could cheat them all and win.

I've the idea that Froome/Contador/Quintana will be saving their legs for the big mountain stage to Port Ainé.

Hard to know and not exactly the hardest climb ever

Maybe by a process of elimination ?

I don't think it will be Aru or Quintana or Van Garderen

I think it needs a turn of speed ...so maybe Martin, Porte,Bardet, Froome or Contador

would have picked Chaves but no sure of his form, same with Purito ...either could come out all guns blazing or roll in way down

And then there is Zakarin, Thomas & Poels.....but imagine they will set up their leaders...but as SKY are so strong they could be up there too

Good analysis. Tejay and Quintana have no chance. Aru can be punchy (Ermita de Alba) but I think he is using this race as a warm-up. He is peaking for Pais Vasco.

Isn't Poels normally quite explosive? Maybe Froome will allow him to take the victory and then he can win stage 4. He was pretty impressive in the Vuelta some years ago. He finished second to Rodriguez on a steep climb.

Purito is a question mark. He could be the big favorite if he can repeat his 2014 victory but so far he has been invisible. Not sure he is in super-shape yet. Same with Chaves.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Swift has always been on his own really. Sky might do a half-hearted leadout once in a while, but let's face it, that's not their focus.

And it's not like he's a top class sprinter who would be winning loads of races with the right support. I like him, he's a good all-rounder who likes tough races and has an OK finish, and he seems to specialise in MSR podiums. But any specialist sprinter is going to beat him.

 

[Escarabajo]

Does somebody have the gradients of the last climb tomorrow?

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Does somebody have the gradients of the last climb tomorrow?

It's pretty gentle at 4.5% for 10,1km but the last k is 7%.

The big favorites might wait for stage 4.