Mambo95 said:I voted no, not because he isn't good enough, but he's been marked out as an overwhelming favourite and there's many good teams out there trying to thwart him.
Like on Sunday, right?
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Mambo95 said:I voted no, not because he isn't good enough, but he's been marked out as an overwhelming favourite and there's many good teams out there trying to thwart him.
Buffalo Soldier said:OK, what Gilbert did in FW was great, I really loved it, but let's put this in some perspective:
From the riders that ended in front of Gilbert last year, only 2 managed to get top 10 this year. From the 2009 & 2008 top 10, only one made it this year.
Evans, Contador, Gesink, Cunego,... doesn't have the top form yet Gilbert clearly has.
An other thing that payed in his favor: nobody dared to go early on the mur (I presume after what happened last year to Contador) -> first half was rather slow.
Normally this finish is always to hard for Gilbert. This by a combination of a lot of things (also Phill's own super form of course) made it possible for him to win.
In LBL, they won't wait for the Saint-Nicolas, I expect a better competition, and the race is more tactical. Gilbert definitely didn't win LBL yet!
auscyclefan94 said:Will Gilbert complete the "ardennes triple" by winning liege?
Discuss...
Because Anton and Contador forced everybody to start too early last year.El Pistolero said:But he rode faster on the Mur than Cuddles last year.
He distanced Rodriguez by 3 seconds(could have easily been 5-6 seconds). Last year Rodriguez stranded on Cuddles his wheel.
Buffalo Soldier said:Because Anton and Contador forced everybody to start too early last year.
Euhm. NoEl Pistolero said:Gilbert went just as early as Contador.
Captain_Cavman said:I voted, 'Yes'.
In order to stop Gilbert there probably needs to be a concerted anti-Gilbert tactic from all the big teams. I don't think we'll see it.
To compare with Cancellara again: I don't think there was a concerted tactic in the Ronde, it just so happened that BMC had the manpower and decided to chase. I didn't detect any will to chase from anyone else. And of course the only man down the road was Chavenel. But for Roubaix, the tactic was clear; every team kept sending men down the road until the break stuck, then sit on and let Cancellara bring them back on his own.
Lotto are too strong and the other teams too unconcerted to force a repeat of Roubaix. If Gilbert loses, it will be because an individual is stronger than him on the day. But that doesn't look likely at the moment.
Lanark said:Not really, maybe fysically (altough I would say it would still favor guys like Vinokourov and Schleck more, Gilbert's strenght is explosiveness, not endurance), but tactically it will be hard if you have a group consisting solely of team leaders early on, and they'll look at Gilbert to do the work. If a large group starts at the Roche-aux-Faucons, Gilbert can reduce it to 3 or 4 guys, they'll have to cooperate to stay in the front, giving him the opportunity to drop the rest on the Saint Nicolas.
roundabout said:They lack a genuine GC leader but they have a strong supporting cast for stage races.
luckyboy said:Looking at what he's done the past week, and remembering that people have said Cancellara can transform to take some Ardennes classics, there's no way he could beat Gilbert on these hills.