XDS Astana team

[Samson]

in juniors Kangert was consitantly better than Taaramäe but his knee problems almost ruined his career and has really slowed his progress.

It's nice that Astana (and his manager Kirsipuu) had faith in him and now he's slowly starting to pay it back.

He had knee problems at the start of this year too. That's why he started the season bit later.

 

[shinoda13]

Pretty funny story about Kasheckin from the inrng blog.

Round Rings for Wiggins
Not the Olympics, but chainrings. I keep being asked why Wiggins isn’t using oval chainrings. He used the Osymmetric rings in the Tour de France last year but is back to round ones for the Giro. Did Shimano pay him a lot of money to ride on their equipment or were the gains not there? I don’t know.

What’s more certain is that the use of oval rings lends itself to longer distance linear efforts where steady pacing works. In other words they can be effective on a long and regular climb like you get to a ski station in the Tour de France, But on the winding tarmac that was once a goat path style of climb in the Giro they’re less use, more so when you’re changing pace to win sprints for time bonuses. So my hypothesis would be that these chainrings are more suitable for the Tour than the Giro and this is why Chris Froome continues to use them whilst Bradley Wiggins has stopped. Add to this the fact that Wiggins has dropped his chain a few times and the gains, if they exist, are small once you net off the risk of stalling because you’ve dropped your chain. Note it’s not just Sky, Europcar’s Pierre Rolland is using them and his slow grinding style is suited to this.

I still laugh at the tale of Astana’s Andrey Kasheckin who bought a pair and gave them to a mechanic to fit. Hours later the Kazakh went for a ride but didn’t like them at all. Only the mechanic had installed them the wrong way, rotating them 90° so rather than having more power on the downstroke Kasheckin was reduced to pedalling hard across the top and bottom of the revolution.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Pretty funny story about Kasheckin from the inrng blog.

Round Rings for Wiggins
Not the Olympics, but chainrings. I keep being asked why Wiggins isn’t using oval chainrings. He used the Osymmetric rings in the Tour de France last year but is back to round ones for the Giro. Did Shimano pay him a lot of money to ride on their equipment or were the gains not there? I don’t know.

What’s more certain is that the use of oval rings lends itself to longer distance linear efforts where steady pacing works. In other words they can be effective on a long and regular climb like you get to a ski station in the Tour de France, But on the winding tarmac that was once a goat path style of climb in the Giro they’re less use, more so when you’re changing pace to win sprints for time bonuses. So my hypothesis would be that these chainrings are more suitable for the Tour than the Giro and this is why Chris Froome continues to use them whilst Bradley Wiggins has stopped. Add to this the fact that Wiggins has dropped his chain a few times and the gains, if they exist, are small once you net off the risk of stalling because you’ve dropped your chain. Note it’s not just Sky, Europcar’s Pierre Rolland is using them and his slow grinding style is suited to this.

I still laugh at the tale of Astana’s Andrey Kasheckin who bought a pair and gave them to a mechanic to fit. Hours later the Kazakh went for a ride but didn’t like them at all. Only the mechanic had installed them the wrong way, rotating them 90° so rather than having more power on the downstroke Kasheckin was reduced to pedalling hard across the top and bottom of the revolution.

And he still would have top 10 that tour if Astana had not pulled out...








(Yes, I know this was not 2007 it is a joke!)

 

[Samson]

Kirsipuu said to Estonian madia that Kangert could get free role in Vuelta.

 

[maxmartin]

Kirsipuu said to Estonian madia that Kangert could get free role in Vuelta.

why not? Nibali may only use Vuelta as a training preparation for the WC, so Kangert could very well be the GC protected rider. I mentioned this in Nibali thread.

 

[search]

mind you, we haven't seen any proper climbing stages so far in this giro. Kangert is doing very well but going for GC in the Vuelta is a totally different matter

 

[SafeBet]

mind you, we haven't seen any proper climbing stages so far in this giro. Kangert is doing very well but going for GC in the Vuelta is a totally different matter

Vuelta doesn't have any proper climbing stage normally.
Maybe this year is different though.

 

[search]

okay, yeah, that's true, I didn't have a closer look at the profiles so far as well. But this giro is also very much about coping with the bad weather and so on, so I would not make too many conclusions from that.

 

[The Hitch]

Vuelta doesn't have any proper climbing stage normally.
Maybe this year is different though.

Route was released in January. 10 mtfs and a proper 230km mountain stage (though in France)

 

[SafeBet]

Mikkel Condé v2.0 ‏@mrconde 59m

Paolo Tiralongo has been suffering with breathing problems the last two weeks. X-ray just confirmed pneumonia

 

[maxmartin]

Mikkel Condé v2.0 ‏@mrconde 59m

Paolo Tiralongo has been suffering with breathing problems the last two weeks. X-ray just confirmed pneumonia

he should just quit, there is nothing he can do at this moment

 

[whittashau]

Well that certainly explains a few things

 

[Kokoso]

And what's wrong with Kessiakoff? He's really underperforming...
On the other hand Kangert si doing very well.

 

[Netserk]

And Aru is back kicking ass!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Mikkel Condé v2.0 ‏@mrconde 59m

Paolo Tiralongo has been suffering with breathing problems the last two weeks. X-ray just confirmed pneumonia

He should quit the giro, get healthy and kick *** in the Vuelta and Lombarida

 

[Netserk]

He should quit the giro, get healthy and kick *** in the Vuelta and Lombarida

Or peak for Tour and ride for Saxo

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Or peak for Tour and ride for Saxo

I don't know how long it takes to recover from such a lung disease?
But I doubt he can recover quikly enough and reach top form for July

 

[Netserk]

I don't think Alberto cares (if top form or just decent). It's not like he will take a spot on his team

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I don't think Alberto cares (if top form or just decent). It's not like he will take a spot on his team

Tiralongo will be to busy leading the Astana train in attack mode with Birdsong and Brajko to care to wait for a second rate spaniard climber

 

[Netserk]

I must say that despite all the illness Astana as a team has really impressed me in this Giro. Just imagine a top-form Brajko and Tira on top _O_

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I must say that despite all the illness Astana as a team has really impressed me in this Giro. Just imagine a top-form Brajko and Tira on top _O_

That would be about just as fun to watch as last years tour with Sky

 

[Netserk]

Difference is that they would launch Nibbles when he is on the offensive

Nibali could have won the stage today if they had gone full gas from the bottom.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

And what's wrong with Kessiakoff? He's really underperforming...

I don't think he ever, ever showed anything in the Spring.

Usually his reasoning is seasonal allergy or something.

Kangert is really great.

I think they could go with him on Vuelta's GC if they wanted to.

 

[Kokoso]

I don't think he ever, ever showed anything in the Spring.

Usually his reasoning is seasonal allergy or something.

Kangert is really great.

I think they could go with him on Vuelta's GC if they wanted to.

Do you think he has a chance to get to top ten?

 

[LaFleur]

Do you think he has a chance to get to top ten?

In the Vuelta or in the Giro? In the Giro definitely not, because he's not gonna go full strength in the coming stages. In the time trial, if he has good legs, he will give 95% of himself (he said in the media). In the Vuelta, I don't believe he will be given a free role or even the leadership. Simply because his knees can't handle a full year of this much racing. I think he will have a good chance of going for the GC in the Tour of Switzerland maybe.