Vuelta speculation

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Has anyone ever been arguably the strongest climber at all 3 grand tours?

Yes, Landa in 2017.

Where is the evidence in Le Tour?

Em...where was th evidence in the Giro ??? in 3 breakaways and beaten in 2

I knew the hype would be unbearable

It's perfectly possible to be the best climber and the worst sprinter.

Sigh....not if you cannot drop the 'best sprinter' on the climbs ...

 

[Samamba]

Valls broke his hip, so Hansen will start after all.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Valls broke his hip, so Hansen will start after all.

For god's sake.

 

[Escarabajo]

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

 

[Red Rick]

The Lord of France has come to expand his reign
To conquer the land that has been his bane
The Shark of the Straight has come to ignite
The race of his greatest shame and restore his pride
The King of the past, time calls his name
He's come home to ignite the old flame
Then the pretenders, coming from far
waiting for a chance to become the new star

This is the first chance for the young and the bold
This is the last stand for the hero of old
Past, present and future have all come to fight
To take all the glory and have wrongs me made right
When naught is to lose and all is to gain
the battle shall commence in the mountains of Spain


GET HYYYYYPE

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

The Lord of France has come to expand his reign
To conquer the land that has been his bane
The Shark of the Straight has come to ignite
The race of his greatest shame and restore his pride
The King of the past, time calls his name
He's come home to ignite the old flame
Then the pretenders, coming from far
waiting for a chance to become the new star

This is the first chance for the young and the bold
This is the last stand for the hero of old
Past, present and future have all come to fight
To take all the glory and have wrongs me made right
When naught is to lose and all is to gain
the battle shall commence in the mountains of Spain


GET HYYYYYPE

Senor Red "Cervantes" Rick, beautiful words.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Valls broke his hip, so Hansen will start after all.

For god's sake.

Its a setup!

 

[HelloDolly]

When has Hansen not done his team duties ?....people are so mealy mouthed , cynical and elitist around here ...maybe some fans want to see Hansen and his record....not everything is about drolling (mostly erroneously) over the lastest Spanish climbing sensation

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

When has Hansen not done his team duties ?....people are so mealy mouthed , cynical and elitist around here ...maybe some fans want to see Hansen and his record....not everything is about drolling (mostly erroneously) over the lastest Spanish climbing sensation

I think some are just genuinely wondering if Hansen really has deserved taking part in his 19th GT in a row. hrotha described it the best up-thread - and yes, everything in the Vuelta is about trolling over the latest Spanish climbing sensation.

 

[yaco]

You don't ride 18 consecutive GT's without fulfilling your role - What a strange concept.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

You don't ride 18 consecutive GT's without fulfilling your role - What a strange concept.

So there's nothing gimmicky about it what so ever? Nothing for the media?

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

It's perfectly possible to be the best climber and the worst sprinter.

Sigh....not if you cannot drop the 'best sprinter' on the climbs ...

Point of order, Nibali caught Landa on the descent, then outsprinted him for the W.

Losing to TJ on the summit, though. Yeah. You can understand why Landa went out and won the next one by 2 minutes. Just making absolutely 100% sure of it, like.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

When has Hansen not done his team duties ?....people are so mealy mouthed , cynical and elitist around here ...maybe some fans want to see Hansen and his record....not everything is about drolling (mostly erroneously) over the lastest Spanish climbing sensation

Presumably in one or other of his more recent Grand Tours, hence his not being selected for the upcoming one.

I think "gimmick" may be laying it on thick, but at the same time his run had to end sooner or later, and he's not such a valuable asset to any team that he would ever be the guy in position to make that call himself.

 

[Leinster]

And of course this was as inevitable as death, taxes, and multiple stage top 10s without a win for Alberto;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hansen-added-to-lotto-soudal-roster-as-vuelta-a-espana-replacement/

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

The fact that the team has been happy to include Hansen in so many GTs is a vote of confidence for Hansen you would think not to mention the occasional stage win thrown in as well .

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

When has Hansen not done his team duties ?....people are so mealy mouthed , cynical and elitist around here ...maybe some fans want to see Hansen and his record....not everything is about drolling (mostly erroneously) over the lastest Spanish climbing sensation

Presumably in one or other of his more recent Grand Tours, hence his not being selected for the upcoming one.

I think "gimmick" may be laying it on thick, but at the same time his run had to end sooner or later, and he's not such a valuable asset to any team that he would ever be the guy in position to make that call himself.

Maybe his teammates don't see it that way.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

The fact that the team has been happy to include Hansen in so many GTs is a vote of confidence for Hansen you would think not to mention the occasional stage win thrown in as well .

As stated above, that cuts both ways: the fact that the team was going to cut him from the Vuelta roster despite the obvious publicity return on investment suggests the team wasn't happy anymore.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

When has Hansen not done his team duties ?....people are so mealy mouthed , cynical and elitist around here ...maybe some fans want to see Hansen and his record....not everything is about drolling (mostly erroneously) over the lastest Spanish climbing sensation

I think some are just genuinely wondering if Hansen really has deserved taking part in his 19th GT in a row. hrotha described it the best up-thread - and yes, everything in the Vuelta is about trolling over the latest Spanish climbing sensation.

Last time I looked, his team are not exactly breaking records or having a great year. As far as domestiques go he probably is the next best option and he can win stages from breaks.

 

[hazaran]

I'm pretty sure at the end of this Vuelta Hansens GT streak is the only thing frikken "Lotto-Soudal" will have achieved. Useless team about to get a reality check. The last time they did anything in the Vuelta was, oh the irony, Adam Hansen winning a stage in 2014.

I guess his problem is he's no Belgian Bart or Maxime that struggle massively to an anonymous 16th or so GC. They ride as if the mechanics put that glue on their tires.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

The fact that the team has been happy to include Hansen in so many GTs is a vote of confidence for Hansen you would think not to mention the occasional stage win thrown in as well .

As stated above, that cuts both ways: the fact that the team was going to cut him from the Vuelta roster despite the obvious publicity return on investment suggests the team wasn't happy anymore.

Possibly, but not necessarily. The fact that that he was the first replacement tells me they aren't unhappy with what he's done. Good chance the original decision didn't have a whole lot to do with Hansen and was more about other riders on the team that they wanted to see in the Vuelta.

I do agree with your earlier post. It was more fun to see him in every GT back when he was always trying to get in breakaways and he was visible. The streak isn't as interesting to me when he rides more anonymously. I understand he's older now, but maybe he'd still be capable of doing some of that stuff if he didn't ride every GT on the calendar.

Still, I have to say that it's remarkable that he's finished 18 in a row. You'd think he'd have DNFs in there somewhere from fatigue, crashes, something...

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

The fact that the team has been happy to include Hansen in so many GTs is a vote of confidence for Hansen you would think not to mention the occasional stage win thrown in as well .

As stated above, that cuts both ways: the fact that the team was going to cut him from the Vuelta roster despite the obvious publicity return on investment suggests the team wasn't happy anymore.

Possibly, but not necessarily. The fact that that he was the first replacement tells me they aren't unhappy with what he's done. Good chance the original decision didn't have a whole lot to do with Hansen and was more about other riders on the team that they wanted to see in the Vuelta.

I do agree with your earlier post. It was more fun to see him in every GT back when he was always trying to get in breakaways and he was visible. The streak isn't as interesting to me when he rides more anonymously. I understand he's older now, but maybe he'd still be capable of doing some of that stuff if he didn't ride every GT on the calendar.

Still, I have to say that it's remarkable that he's finished 18 in a row. You'd think he'd have DNFs in there somewhere from fatigue, crashes, something...

Well perhaps this year was his closest to not finishing a GT. His saddle sores were pretty bad...that could have also been one reason for him not being an immediate choice for the Vuelta.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

I don't have a problem with Hansen as long as he does his team duties.

The fact that the team has been happy to include Hansen in so many GTs is a vote of confidence for Hansen you would think not to mention the occasional stage win thrown in as well .

As stated above, that cuts both ways: the fact that the team was going to cut him from the Vuelta roster despite the obvious publicity return on investment suggests the team wasn't happy anymore.

Possibly, but not necessarily. The fact that that he was the first replacement tells me they aren't unhappy with what he's done. Good chance the original decision didn't have a whole lot to do with Hansen and was more about other riders on the team that they wanted to see in the Vuelta.

I do agree with your earlier post. It was more fun to see him in every GT back when he was always trying to get in breakaways and he was visible. The streak isn't as interesting to me when he rides more anonymously. I understand he's older now, but maybe he'd still be capable of doing some of that stuff if he didn't ride every GT on the calendar.

Still, I have to say that it's remarkable that he's finished 18 in a row. You'd think he'd have DNFs in there somewhere from fatigue, crashes, something...

I bet Contador is jealous of that record or maybe wondering what Hansen's secret is to avoiding race ending crashes over a mind boggling 378 race days !

 

[yaco]

I am surprised Hansen doesnt cut back to 2 GTs per year This would give him more flexibility in his calendar.

 

[Finn84]

Since 2005 at least one rider has finished all GTs. If I looked correctly, 15 riders finished Giro and Tour. Hansen may be the only hope to go for three. He was the only one in 2012, 2013 and 2014. 2015 had Chavanel and 2016 Valverde alongside him.

Giro+Tour finished:
Amador, Bak, Gastauer, Geschke, Hansen, Kiriyienka, Kiserlovski, Landa, Marcato, Molard, Mollema, Quintana, Rolland, Ten Dam, Zeits

 

[del1962]

Hansen was lucky to finish last years Vuelta