Where is Denis Menchov?

[blaxland]

I think Menchov fans are actually calm right now. I'm as calm as the Pope himself. Now if he sucked in the prologue, that would be a totally different story. Everyone knows it's a 3 week race, but a good showing like this does just that - calm me down and give me cautious optimism

Its good to see that his fans are still remaining optomistic"

 

[Fetisoff]

Its good to see that his fans are still remaining optomistic"

So far I don't see any reasons not to be

 

[karlboss]

It's a prologue and nothing more than an indicator of form. That being said, of all the favourites it is menchov who had out performed expectation. Which is why there is this optimism, wouldn't you be after a multiple gr winner has his best ever prologue?

 

[Carols]

IMO anyone who discounts Menchov after today's performance does that at their own peril.......specifically Mr Evans!

We are talking about a man with 3 GTs wins in the bag and 2 Tour podiums. And Evans says only 1 GC guy finished in front of him....NOT!!!

 

[RHRH19861986]

I also think of Lance now, who did very well in the 2010 prologue (3rd or 4th or sth like that), and had a mediocre Tour then.

The game is far from won for Menchov, but after his year so far, one would´ve expected a prologue slightly better or equally to the one S. Sanchez and Schleck showed yesterday, so after all, one can be really optimistic now.

After Seraing, we´ll even know more, the finish suits him, another Top10 stage placing here is realistic.

 

[DenisMenchov]

It's a prologue and nothing more than an indicator of form. That being said, of all the favourites it is menchov who had out performed expectation. Which is why there is this optimism, wouldn't you be after a multiple gr winner has his best ever prologue?

His best ever prologue was this, and guess what, he won that race.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=2844

 

[Swede1]

I am really hoping menchov can win this tour! I have always been a fan but he went through some tough times with geox.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I'll put all my eggs in the Menchov basket this year it looks like

 

[BoxCoppi]

His best ever prologue was this, and guess what, he won that race.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=2844

Sastre 4th? A wild guess would be that the prologue was not exactly flat... But I'll join the hopes of this being a sign of Menchov in shape!

 

[greenedge]

http://www.katushateam.com/2012/06/tour-de-france-menchov-8th-in-the-itt-prologue/


“I had very good feelings today before the start – said Menchov – and during the race I felt in a good shape, even if it’s not my kind of races: I prefer longer time trials, that was too short to do something better; moreover it was not a technical ITT, with just two difficult corners.

I never would have thought he wanted a technical course with his renowned bike handling skills.

 

[greenedge]

but it has no bearing on whether he can reproduce that in the mountains where he may very well have declined.

He is in good form but a prologue is such a totally different effort to the ones which are required later on that this is no indication of what really matters just that his body is in good shape which should be expected considering he has been made this race the pinnacle of his season and has used all other races as build up.

Yeah Wiggins with his intensive training should have been ten times better at this prologue as he has also been using other races for build up ( no real rests ) and Wiggins is therefore screwed as it was only a prologue.
Above was sarcastic.
Overall i doubt Menchov will have lost all talent in the mountains. He might have a bad day/ not gain enough time on Wiggins/ Evans but he will probably only go bad in this TDF if he does not ITT well/ be in good form for the first week.

 

[greenedge]

I've been quietly optimistic since this
http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=22899

Not that great competition.
Gusev has failed in recent years.

 

[gerundium]

http://www.katushateam.com/2012/06/tour-de-france-menchov-8th-in-the-itt-prologue/


“I had very good feelings today before the start – said Menchov – and during the race I felt in a good shape, even if it’s not my kind of races: I prefer longer time trials, that was too short to do something better; moreover it was not a technical ITT, with just two difficult corners. I’m not at my top condition, but ‘Tour de France’ is still long and after this performance I can say I’m more and more confident about the rest of the competition”.

If he finished way down in the prologue in 2010 and yesterday gets 8th in the prologue while not being 'at my top condition' i think we will be seeing a scarily good Menchov this tour.

 

[Froome19]

Except that this is a tt tour so showing he can put a good time on a flat course is very important

As for his climbing being in decline, if anything looked in decline it was Menchovs tt performances as he narrowly beat known tt specialists jose rujano and joaquim rodriguez in the giro tt and almost rodriguez, and his Vuelta tt was meh.

Climbing wise, this was a guy who following a chasing pack of gc contenders up angliru a piece of cake.

To come 6th in a proloogue like this, its not the accident you make it out to be.

Well let us see how he does in the TTs because this is certainly not a definitive indication of how he will do in them.

 

[SilentAssassin]

Well so far this tour is looking to be a cadel versus menchov rivalry just as I predicted. Scary thing is Menchov can climb better than Cadel if he's in top form.

 

[karlboss]

I considered that, but looked at the names and decided he was stronger here. I'll agree 1st is better.

His best ever prologue was this, and guess what, he won that race.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=2844

 

[CraZyCaLL]

There were steep climb in first 2kms http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005//vuelta05/?id=stages/vuelta051

 

[Galic Ho]

No, i was sarcastically repeating what most of the forum has been saying about Menchov for the last 6 months anytime anyone has dared tip him for the overall.

Ive been one of those trying to remind people of Menchov's quality the whole time. I even put 30 squid on him to take the overall.

That's what I thought. Couldn't pick up on the humour exactly, though it is what I assumed you were doing.

Maybe slap on one of these guys next time...

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Not as impressive today as yesterday - right at the back of the 'group' that was given the same time.

They were sufficiently strung out with small gaps that he actually came home a fair bit behind the leaders.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Not as impressive today as yesterday - right at the back of the 'group' that was given the same time.

They were sufficiently strung out with small gaps that he actually came home a fair bit behind the leaders.

To be fair this is probably the type of hills that Menchov is worse at. Wouldnt read to much in it really

 

[K-0tic]

To be fair this is probably the type of hills that Menchov is worse at. Wouldnt read to much in it really

Exactly. Menchov is not the type of rider to do something explosive uphill. He didn't lose anything so he'll be satisfied.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

To be fair this is probably the type of hills that Menchov is worse at. Wouldnt read to much in it really

I don't know where that idea comes from. But this isn't true. His positioning is bad, which causes him problems. But he isn't bad at a short interval effort on a short hill like this. In fact, he even beat Valverde in his top EPO days on a finish like this in the Vuelta. Very short climb, Menchov blasted him away (and the rest), with Menchov in his iBanesto period still....

He's actually very explosive. But like I said, poor positioning. It isn't a type of finish that doesn't suit him though. If they have him in front at the start of a climb he'd do well

 

[maxmartin]

I don't know where that idea comes from. But this isn't true. His positioning is bad, which causes him problems. But he isn't bad at a short interval effort on a short hill like this. In fact, he even beat Valverde in his top EPO days on a finish like this in the Vuelta. Very short climb, Menchov blasted him away (and the rest), with Menchov in his iBanesto period still....

He's actually very explosive. But like I said, poor positioning. It isn't a type of finish that doesn't suit him though. If they have him in front at the start of a climb he'd do well

agree, he also showed explosiveness in Giro in his heydays

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I wasn't saying it was a bad performance.

Just reassuring for those of us worried he was in storming form after the prologue and more inclined to see others win.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I don't know where that idea comes from. But this isn't true. His positioning is bad, which causes him problems. But he isn't bad at a short interval effort on a short hill like this. In fact, he even beat Valverde in his top EPO days on a finish like this in the Vuelta. Very short climb, Menchov blasted him away (and the rest), with Menchov in his iBanesto period still....

He's actually very explosive. But like I said, poor positioning. It isn't a type of finish that doesn't suit him though. If they have him in front at the start of a climb he'd do well

Mybe i should have refrased myself. I did not mean that it is suprising to see him following the main bunch in this kind of climbing. But an on form Menchov is still more likely to loose time today than in the high mountains is what i tried to say (you can also look at his giro win, when he followed Di Luca on almost every acceleration so the acc is there absolutely)