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The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Is this type of thing common and I just don't have a large enough sample size of watching professional cycling with just the Tour each year?
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Some sprinters are dirtier than others. Graeme Brown generally starts a fight whenever he sprints and McEwen doesn't have the best rep either. The basic punishment is relegation to the back of the pack and explusion, I can't recall ever hearing that, and I watched this, from the Tour of Turkey last year...Still don't know how Theo Bos is able to ride anywhere:
Are you kidding me?
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Interesting break today with Hesjedal, Vino, Kloden, and Kiryienka.
Can't let them get too far up the road.

Crap, half my sprinters are gone now.
Farrar has abandoned today.

Hushovd got the green back while being the early break.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

All those attacks from Schleck the other day wore him out.
Go Rodriguez for the Victory!
That little climb caused some damage.

Rodriguez, Contador, Vino in 1st-3rd.
Gaps all over the place.

I bet Vino is ticked at Contador for bridging up to him and then gapping him. He probably had the stage win locked up if Contador doesn't attack.

Schleck finishes 10 sec back.
 
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Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

The Montee Laurent Jalabert is a fun climb! Not quite the Xorret from Vuelta, but good none the less. Gaps, but not big gaps. Basically 10 seconds from Conti on Morazine and 10 back in Mende.

I thought that Rodriquez was a pretty good bet today, so I'm glad he got the stage!
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Fantasy team had a good day today with Kloden, Contador, Roche, and Sanchez all in the top 20 as well as Thor getting the green jersey back.

What the heck has happened to Egoi Martinez? Is he biding his time till the Pyrenees or just not in form this year?

I think with Lance riding his last tour this year, I'm going to be coverting fully over to Nicholas Roche fan next year and then cheer for Radioshack as a team if they are back next year.

Will Taylor Phinney make his debut next year?
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Will Taylor Phinney make his debut next year?
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I would doubt that Phinney would ride any Grand Tours for at least another couple years.
Usually teams don't want to rush young talent into 3 week races, and he's only 20 years old.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Not to rain on your parade, but each of the guys you mentioned, my reaction what, "No." Keep in mind I'm a big Roche fan and would like nothing more than to see him do well.


Martinez is at best a decent climber with some agression. Kind of like Turxuka (who I think is a little worse climber with more agression, so it balances out).

Roche is a decent climber with a decent sprint, a poor-man's Cunego, could win the KoM or even contest a 1 week tour but can't climb well enough consitently win on the big mountains, and can't TT well enough either.

Finally Phinney is, as near as I can see, and prehaps brianvf can speak better, is a classics guy who goes well against the clock. I think he has won the espoirs version of Paris-Roubaix twice. To see him in a GT, let alone as a contender, is a mis-use of his talents.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

brianvf said:
I would doubt that Phinney would ride any Grand Tours for at least another couple years.
Usually teams don't want to rush young talent into 3 week races, and he's only 20 years old.
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Not to get too sidetracked, but is Phinney GT material? I know he was won U23 Paris-Roubaix and a ton of pursuit stuff but that is a big difference from a GT. As I don't follow riders if they are not on a Pro Tour Team I have no clue how younger riders develop before they are on at least a continental team.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

I would guess that Phinney will be on a GT team in the future, but not as the team leader (or even as a protected rider)...at least not at first.
From everything I've ever read from him, he thinks he will follow in the mold of a Cancellara/Boonen type rider. A power rider who can TT and do well in the spring classics.
That said, a lot of the people around him think that if he can improve his climbing a bit more that he could be a decent challenger in stage races (of varying length...who knows about GT). He is certainly talented, so it will be interesting to track his career in the next few years.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

brian, you're right, of course, about using Phinney in a GT team. I was exagerating to defend against the traditional American bias that says that every good cyclist must be a GT contender.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Titleist said:
brian, you're right, of course, about using Phinney in a GT team. I was exagerating to defend against the traditional American bias that says that every good cyclist must be a GT contender.
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No worries. :)
I was mainly responding to MattS' question about him being GT material or not.

What's everyone thinking about tomorrow's stage? Looks like it could have the potential for a sprint finish (if the sprinters can make it over the Cat 3 climb near the end). If the sprinter teams don't think that will happen, we could see another break get a decent chunk of time and be allowed a long leash up the road.

Then Sunday is back in the mountains with the long, steep climb up Port de Pailhères, then the summit finish at Ax-3 Domaines.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Andy schleck 22
levi leipheimer 12
chris anker sorensen 8
roman kreuziger 14
mark cavendish 20
cancellara 10
volodimir gustov 4
lars boom 4
ryder hesjedal 6

She didn't make it in time for the velogames deadline, but this is FirstLadyJohnson's team.
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She didnt make the USCHO group but right now this bunch has accumulated 2127, which ranks her just ahead the top 500 entries overall and would be in first in the USCHO group.

The First Lady is wiping the floor with us right now.

Guess how she picked Hesjedal? She liked his name.:eek: ;)
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

pardonme said:
I think Vino might murder Contador in the bus tonight.
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To be honest I don't even know if Vino would have been able to hold on for the win. With Contador and Rodriquez in the Schleck group they may have caught him.

After looking at the stage profile today went about as I expected though I thought the break would stay away but too many heavy hitters in the break. I figured that Contador would try to pip 20-40 seconds from Schleck at the line not enough to take yellow but enough to narrow the gap.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Probert said:
To be honest I don't even know if Vino would have been able to hold on for the win. With Contador and Rodriquez in the Schleck group they may have caught him.

After looking at the stage profile today went about as I expected though I thought the break would stay away but too many heavy hitters in the break. I figured that Contador would try to pip 20-40 seconds from Schleck at the line not enough to take yellow but enough to narrow the gap.
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Yeah, Contador actually tried to slow up when they caught him, but Rodriquez wanted to keep going so they had to drop him. Also, it isn't like Contador made the first move out of the peloton either. I think I actually saw a quote from Vino after the stage that said he understood that Contador needed to get whatever seconds he could. Not quite as tense as Armstrong-Contador last year.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

brianvf said:
No worries. :)

What's everyone thinking about tomorrow's stage? Looks like it could have the potential for a sprint finish (if the sprinters can make it over the Cat 3 climb near the end). If the sprinter teams don't think that will happen, we could see another break get a decent chunk of time and be allowed a long leash up the road.

Then Sunday is back in the mountains with the long, steep climb up Port de Pailhères, then the summit finish at Ax-3 Domaines.
Click to expand...


I think depending on how hard they want to ride, sprinters like Thor, Rojas, and maybe Petacchi can get over it, but the question is whether the teams want to ride...I think in a bizarre scenario, Cervelo SHOULD ride, since Thor is likely to lose points to Petacchi (and Cav) in Bordeaux and Paris. SO I say, yes, they chase.

By the way I've watched the replays of the race the last few days, I usually watch Eurosport on the computer, and am stunned at the amount of talk about the Team GC. Really RS (and I guess C d'E) its that big a deal?


Also I think that J. Rodriquez was going to catch Vino with or without Conti so it was moot.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Titleist said:
Also I think that J. Rodriquez was going to catch Vino with or without Conti so it was moot.
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That may have been, but he was far enough behind that Contador didn't have to chase him down, and could have let him go. I think he should have held back, and let Vino try to get the stage win.

And so much for Lance helping out Levi on the climbs. Nowhere to be found, leaving poor Levi isolated as usual.

Good stage for my team, withRodriquez and Contador 1-2, and Sanchez and Menchov in the top eight. Need to get some points, as I'm draggin up the rear.
 
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Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Titleist said:
I think depending on how hard they want to ride, sprinters like Thor, Rojas, and maybe Petacchi can get over it, but the question is whether the teams want to ride...I think in a bizarre scenario, Cervelo SHOULD ride, since Thor is likely to lose points to Petacchi (and Cav) in Bordeaux and Paris. SO I say, yes, they chase.

By the way I've watched the replays of the race the last few days, I usually watch Eurosport on the computer, and am stunned at the amount of talk about the Team GC. Really RS (and I guess C d'E) its that big a deal?


Also I think that J. Rodriquez was going to catch Vino with or without Conti so it was moot.
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I think Freire along with Thor will almost certainly be at the finish if they finish in a bunch.

I am not sure if this is the only reason the Team GC has been played up but his Lanceness and the other Shack riders have been playing it up in their interviews. Paulino even mentioned it after his stage win.
 
Re: The 2010 Cycling Thread!

Vino is just too awesome! It's Astana's tour, others are simply riding around France for fun and health.
 
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