Vuelta a Espana Stage 1: Benidorm TTT 13.5km

[ingsve]

That that we know what happened to Sky, what the heck happened to:
168 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:01:25 ?
Anybody's heard anything?

He didn't want to decide the GC battle to early so he thought he would give himself a handicap before crushing everyone in the mountains.

 

[Papparrazzi]

Ben Swift the pundit.

Sure is. Done a decent job too.

I didn't think so. He gives no insight at all, just answers like a footballer "Yeah they'll bounce back", "That's cycling isn't it", "Yeah _ _ _ _ could do a good ride, he's a quality rider", "HTC are experts at the TTT"
He's only there this weekend, so it's not an issue, but you need a more mature rider if you want in depth answers and analysis.

 

[cineteq]

He didn't want to decide the GC battle to early so he thought he would give himself a handicap before crushing everyone in the mountains.

Psssst...Bavarianrider might not like this... LOL

 

[The Hitch]

Psssst...Bavarianrider might not like this... LOL

When Bavarian rider isnt hyping Tony Martin or losing avatar bets, hes hating on the Vuelta.

Such a beautiful race. I wish they would turn this into a 2 week race at least.
Why not run it against the Vuelta in Spetember? Vuelta is dead meat anyway.

So i dont think he cares.

 

[Tank Engine]

JRo and Igor will be pretty happy, but of course the real winner among the GC guys was Nibali. I wasn't expecting Sky to be that high up, but today was just a comic disaster.

 

[goggalor]

That that we know what happened to Sky, what the heck happened to:
168 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:01:25 ?
Anybody's heard anything?

He was straight up dropped with a few k to go. They showed it on the TV.

 

[screaming fist]

Maybe he had just burried himself for the team until that point, similar to DZ a few backs when Slipstream won the Giro TTT

 

[cineteq]

When Bavarian rider isnt hyping Tony Martin or losing avatar bets, hes hating on the Vuelta.
So i dont think he cares.

Actually, I just saw him in his own bandwagon thread...he seems very sad...

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Maybe he had just burried himself for the team until that point, similar to DZ a few backs when Slipstream won the Giro TTT

That would make the most sense to me. It seems fairly unlikely that Martin would be dropped because of weakness in a TT even if his form was quite bad. But bad form could still be the explanation because if his form was good you'd not have him kill himself and be dropped.

 

[cineteq]

He was straight up dropped with a few k to go. They showed it on the TV.

You right, he just shut "the engine" down with few kms to go, Cavendish was still there though, watch @ 42 min.
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/...dorm-benidorm-20-08-11-segunda-parte/1178526/

 

[auscyclefan94]

Hey, Karsten Kroon still races! Who knew?

Don't follow him on twitter. He has just signed up and posts some freaky ****!

Cadel-less Boys very average, also behind Skil at T1

Very average? They finished 11th. And beat Rabobank! Rik Vebrugghe said BMC rode conservatively as they weren't targeting any sort of result.

Marginally better than that French shambles, so last but one.
I thought Taylor Phinney was riding?

LOL, the fact they came 11th just proves how subjective you are when judging a teams peformance.


What a bizzarre TTT. A very much unexpected result for so many teams.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

There's no Cavendish at 42 minutes. He got dropped much earlier. Albasini is 71, not Cavendish, he's 72.

 

[icefire]

Rik Vebrugghe said BMC rode conservatively as they weren't targeting any sort of result.

Is that their strategy for the coming 3 weeks or was it only for today?

 

[hrotha]

Very average? They finished 11th.

Well yes, 11th out of 22 is pretty much the epitome of average.

 

[The Hitch]

Is that their strategy for the coming 3 weeks or was it only for today?

Its their strategy for most of the season.

 

[Fetisoff]

Well yes, 11th out of 22 is pretty much the epitome of average.

I don't get it. I don't see what's so average about having 10 teams come in with a better time at you, and 10 teams come in with a time that worse. That's nonsense, nonsense i tell you

 

[auscyclefan94]

but very means when something is in a high degree so ultimately "very average" = well below average and for a team which doesn't really have anyone except Phinney, it was a good effort.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Taking it technically what you are saying is not logical.
When something is average to the highest degree it means that it's a almost perfect case of being average. Which would be the the middle of all performances. 11th out of 22 is pretty much as exact as its gets when you are talking about the middle, in fact closer is impossible. But this is only talking placings of course.
Of course the argument shouldn't be about pure placings, which you did point out. So placing 11th with riders that are not capable of more as a team performance might be very good, but still very average in placing.

I find it very hard to judge performances in TTTs by anything other than placing though, which is easily plausible considering the placings Liquigas teams manage all the time. As looking at the riders simply doesent seem to explain that at all.

 

[cineteq]

Of course the argument shouldn't be about pure placings, which you did point out. So placing 11th with riders that are not capable of more as a team performance might be very good, but still very average in placing.

It was also very close to the average time between 1st place and last place, but Lampre's was the closest to the time average of all teams at +32 sec. They placed 16. In the end, it's a fact, BMC's performance was average

 

[royalpig180]

wow really surprised at SKy.

what happened to Cav?

The climb happened...


Here's to hoping Sagan manages to pull on red tomorrow!

 

[dlwssonic]

So what if BMC didnt do a good time? It wasn't as if the team was very strong or they had a gc contender to ride for. Its like saying vacasoleil sucked. Some of you are just hating on BMC because you can't get over the fact that they got Gilbert.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

So what if BMC didnt do a good time? It wasn't as if the team was very strong or they had a gc contender to ride for. Its like saying vacasoleil sucked. Some of you are just hating on BMC because you can't get over the fact that they got Gilbert.

Got paranoia? The creative lengths you will travel to imagine enemies of BMC is astounding.

 

[AussieGoddess]

hmm - so Wiggins' Vuelta is over before it began

Mind you - my boy Scarponi is all that much better off ..... but he can climb pretty well, so is still in with a chance.

Well done to Nibbles. Showing some pretty good form

And whoever said the defending champion in the jersey on day 1 is great - totally agree !!!!!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Got paranoia? The creative lengths you will travel to imagine enemies of BMC is astounding.

No, dwlsonnic can see through your trolling. Is it just a coincidence that BMC will get bagged more than other teams? no. It is because you can bait myself and dwlsonnic about it just for kicks.

 

[Woody22]

Man are there some bitter posters at the moment.
BMC finish mid field and yet they are picked out to bag ahead of the teams they beat. Some of the same people picked them to finish no better than mid field in the tour with a stronger team yet seem suprised when they finish in that position 4 weeks later with a weeker team.

Guess Evans win combined with recent big name signings is just too much for some to take.