Who will win Tour of California 2012?

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Not too sure.
Maltiv and I allready said it before the TT. Gesink will do really well in the TT, but we expect him to fail on the MTF.

I certainly hope not. I actually voted for him to win it all, but that was more wishful thinking then common sense.

Allthough a Gesink in good form certainly is capable of winning it, but I have my doubts about his climbing this year.

I had my doubts last year. He seems ok now. Looking forward a good TdF...

 

[Nick C.]

Is Mt. Baldy hard enough that they can put enough time into Zabriskie? I know it is "like the Alpe D'Huez" but thats from the Phil and Paul and Roll comedy trio.

 

[TheEnoculator]

As much as I'm a big Rabo fan, I don't think Gesink will win it, even though he's in great position right now. Baldy is a very tough climb and you have to be at 100% NOT to lose time. Gesink is just getting back into form, I think he has a good chance to be on the podium. I'd put my money in Velits or one of the Garmin riders (not Zabriskie, of course) to win it.

 

[Froome19]

So basically you are looking for someone completely nuts to agree on your bet?

 

[jens_attacks]

Is Mt. Baldy hard enough that they can put enough time into Zabriskie? I know it is "like the Alpe D'Huez" but thats from the Phil and Paul and Roll comedy trio.

it's pretty hard gotta say.

still i would like to know if someone can inform me what is the altitude difference between the finish and the Mt. Baldy Rd-Glendora Ridge Rd. crossroad.there are 8,1 kms from there to the finish and i would like to know the average gradient.looked to me like well above 8%?

 

[Nick C.]

So if it is a bit much for Zabriskie then my guess is that Gesink should win with Velits second. Talansky is a semi-unknown quantity and Danielson always underperforms in my eyes. TJVG I'm not totally sold on. Levi and Nibali aren't going to put over a minute into all of them.

 

[El Oso]

Is Mt. Baldy hard enough that they can put enough time into Zabriskie? I know it is "like the Alpe D'Huez" but thats from the Phil and Paul and Roll comedy trio.

Yes, it is hard enough to put a lot of time into DZ. It should really break up the GC.

Last year's results:
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 3:33:01
2 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack
4 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:01
7 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad 0:01:29
13 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:34
25 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad 0:04:08
32 Andrew Talansky (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:06:25
63 David Zabriskie (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:14:11


While I'm sure the comparison to Alpe D'Huez is an extreme exaggeration (I know shocking!), it still will hurt the riders. Last year a vast majority of them looked completely spent.

it's pretty hard gotta say.

still i would like to know if someone can inform me what is the altitude difference between the finish and the Mt. Baldy Rd-Glendora Ridge Rd. crossroad.there are 8,1 kms from there to the finish and i would like to know the average gradient.looked to me like well above 8%?

According to Strava it's an average of 8.6% over 7.7 km.

 

[El Pistolero]

With a name like Mount Baldy it reminds me more of Mont Ventoux.