Pro Cycling - 2012 Season

[DOD]Asprilla · 20 Jan 2012 at 09:52

Do we have two identical teams at the top of the OcUK league? Is anyone going to crack and make that change that could win or loose the competition for them?

Edit: Just realised they scored differently on the last round.

I'm coming for you guys; if only I hadn't been greedy and taken that 20 point penalty....

Ging3r · 20 Jan 2012 at 10:25

Glad i got rid of Greipel for the that stage!!!
Although his replacement really wasn't much good

Will be an interesting stage 5 with the hilltop finish

[DOD]Asprilla · 20 Jan 2012 at 10:34

Ging3r said:
Glad i got rid of Greipel for the that stage!!!
Although his replacement really wasn't much good

Will be an interesting stage 5 with the hilltop finish

I kept him, I wasn't expecting those hills to damage him so much. It's actually my Domestiques that are keeping me ticking over at the moment.

touch · 20 Jan 2012 at 10:57

Ging3r said:
Will be an interesting stage 5 with the hilltop finish

Yep. They actually do the same hill twice, finishing on the top the second time. Should see some decent time gaps after all that climbing.

I'd like to see Boassen Hagen doing well tomorrow. Gerraint Thomas was strong last season and might be able to help out on the climbs, but not sure what the weather will be like, if it's still 40C then it might be a bit much for him.

George Hincapie · 20 Jan 2012 at 12:59

TDU Stage 4 Results

1. Oscar Freire (Spa) - Katusha
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) - RadioShack-Nissan
3. Gerald Ciolek (Ger) - Omega Pharma - QuickStep
4. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC

Greipel was dropped and lost a lot of time so Kohler regains the leader's ochre jersey. It's a see-saw, ding-dong Down Under battle!

Ging3r · 21 Jan 2012 at 14:45

TDU Stage 5 Results

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 3:45:48
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEDGE
3 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:02
4 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:00:04

Will make an interesting finish tomorrow with Valverde and Gerrans being on the same time!

And my fantasy picks definitely came up trumps on this stage!

touch · 22 Jan 2012 at 12:10

TDU Final standings:

Code:

1 	Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEDGE 		20:46:12 	 
2 	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 	Same Time 
3 	Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 	0:00:08 	 
4 	Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 	0:00:14 	 
5 	Rohan Dennis (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 	Same Time  	 
6 	Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan 	0:00:16 	 
7 	Edvald BoassonHagen (Nor) Sky Procycling0:00:18 	 
8 	Javier Moreno (Spa) Movistar 		0:00:23 	 
9 	Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank 	0:00:29 	 
10 	Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha 		0:00:32

Good for greenedge to get a win in their first ever race, especially in front of a home crowd.
Nice to see Greipel so dominant as well, i hope he can keep his form for some of the grand tours later in the year.

IMO, there should have been a time trial. There were so many bunch sprints where everybody gets the same time and most of the gaps that do exist are from bonus time. A TT, or even another mountain stage, would have helped to put 'real' gaps between people.

Paris -> Nice next up on the 4th March. Quite a wait

Ging3r · 23 Jan 2012 at 19:32

Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman have been added to the road.cc fantasy league.

I think i read somewhere Cav was going to have his first sky outing in one of these, so should be interesting!

Ging3r · 13 Feb 2012 at 17:56

Tour of Oman starts tomorrow, get your transfers in

touch · 13 Feb 2012 at 18:31

Ging3r said:
Tour of Oman starts tomorrow, get your transfers in

Haha, i'v made 20 transfers so far for this (and they're only the ones i'v saved) and i'm still not happy with my team

I cant decide whether it's an uphill finish or a bunch sprint :confused:

(Also, be aware - the stage profile for stage2 on the official website is wrong)

touch · 17 Mar 2012 at 08:59

Well, the season starts here folks!
Milan - San Remo today, which most people say is the "real" start of the season.

It's the longest single day's racing on the calendar at around 190 miles.
Usually a very exciting finish to this race, it's often too tough for the pure sprinters to get over the final couple of climbs with the main bunch, but not always - Cav has won in the past.

My money is on Edvald Boassen Hagen to win today, should see Cancellarra up there as well.

Edinho · 18 Mar 2012 at 20:37

Cavendish was cooked. To me he looks overweight. I just don't understand how anyone can be overweight riding 500-1000 miles per week. I have enough trouble trying to keep weight on at 150 miles per week.

Gratz to Gerrans though who ironically was with Sky last year.

One More Solo · 18 Mar 2012 at 20:46

Edinho said:
Cavendish was cooked. To me he looks overweight. I just don't understand how anyone can be overweight riding 500-1000 miles per week. I have enough trouble trying to keep weight on at 150 miles per week.

Gratz to Gerrans though who ironically was with Sky last year.

Have to agree, doesn't look in great shape to me.

One More Solo · 25 Mar 2012 at 16:18

Another poor performance from Cav today. EBH was looking in good shape but didn't have much support in the finale. I'm not convinced Sky can support Wiggins and Cavendish based on these early season showings, they are very slow to switch tactics when the first plan fails.

I feel a bit sorry for Boasson Hagen because he has the makings of a very good Classics rider but he will never get the support that he needs while Cav is on the team.

touch · 25 Mar 2012 at 16:47

One More Solo said:
Another poor performance from Cav today. EBH was looking in good shape but didn't have much support in the finale.

He didnt have many team mates to help him in the final stages, but IMO, the whole team (indirectly) supported EBH today.

We saw how hard team sky are willing to chase in the Milan - San Remo. But they didnt do that today, maybe a few of them were tired, or maybe they decided that they had a better chance of winning with EBH in the front group and they let him have his chance. If they pulled Cav back to the front, they would have also pulled back a lot of other fast sprinters who were in the group with Cav (griepel, farrar, kittel, etc).
Knees was the only other sky rider who got into the break with EBH and i think he played it perfectly. He attacked just inside the last 5k and forced boonen's Omega-Pharma team mates to chase him down, i think that would have been much more effective than trying to set up a 1-man leadout or something.

One More Solo said:
I'm not convinced Sky can support Wiggins and Cavendish

Yep. They wont be able to ride for both of them in the grand tours this year. Dave Brailsford suggested this week that they might prioritise Wiggins for the TdF and Cav for the olympic road race.

One More Solo · 25 Mar 2012 at 18:02

touch said:
Yep. They wont be able to ride for both of them in the grand tours this year. Dave Brailsford suggested this week that they might prioritise Wiggins for the TdF and Cav for the olympic road race.

I just find it mad that Cavendish would want to sacrifice a shot at the green jersey for a gold medal - the only person that seems to care Samuel Sanchez won the 2008 race is Samuel Sanchez and his bloody golden bike.

I just see the road Olympic cycling events as well down the list in terms of prestige in cycling and I would be disappointed if Cav is put to one side to give Wiggins at shot at the Tour.

The way Cavendish has performed in the Classics doesn't give me much hope for the Olympics either as I can see other teams setting a very quick pace up the hills to ensure he is kept out of the leading group, and with Wiggins unlikely to be interested to pull like he did at the Worlds and Millar 50/50 on being allowed to compete the GB Olympic team looks a bit weak to me.

Edit: I should clarify that I'm not one of those bizarre Cavendish/Sky critics that you get on some cycling forums, I want them to do well but I'm not convinced they are going about it the right way.

touch · 25 Mar 2012 at 19:18

One More Solo said:
I just find it mad that Cavendish would want to sacrifice a shot at the green jersey for a gold medal

I guess that what has actually happened is that he has sacrificed a shot at the green jersey for a gold medal + a pay rise. Which would be disappointing if true.

Hopefully the idea is that the team all work for wiggins in the TdF and cav is strong/smart enough to get himself in the right place and win stages without a proper leadout. He's shown that he can do that a few times in the past. Also, looking at Omega-Pharma and Lotto-Belisol, they both have good sprinters who are in good form this year (boonen + greipel) and i cant see any obvious contenders for a top10 GC finish, so those 2 teams might do most of the work in chasing down breaks and ensuring a sprint finish, which would work out well for sky/cav.

You're right that sky cant support both wiggins and cav, and if they try, i suspect neither will achieve what is expected of them.

touch · 8 Jun 2012 at 23:07

***bumping this thread ready for the Tour de France (anybody else excited yet?

)***

Well, the Criterium du Dauphine finishes this weekend and for most of the big names (except the ones who have chosen to ride the Tour de Suisse instead, which starts tomorrow), i think that will be the last big race in their preparation for the TdF.

Provided that he doesnt fall off again, i really cant see past Wiggins this year.
He seems to be in great form, beat world time trial champin, Tony Martin, in yesterday's TT stage of the dauphine - by a comfortable margin as well. Now today he is able to match the attacks of Evans on the climbs. (I think Evans will be his main rival considering the flattish/TTheavy parcours of this year's TdF).

The team also seems to be strong. Both the columbian climbers were very impressive in the Giro. I think we all expected Rigoberto Uran to be up there but Sergio Henao surprised me by keeping up with some of the best climbers around (like Scarponi, Basso, Cunego, etc) and finishing 9th overall.
If theres room in the team for both of them, they'll be a great help for wiggins.

I've a tenner on Wiggins @ 3.25 e/w (did this before the dauphine, odds have dropped quite a bit now that he's doing so well there)
Also got £6 on Tony Martin for a top6 finish @ 6.3 (he'll make up a lot of time in the TTs, hopefully he doesnt lose too much of that on the climbs)

bobo696 · 9 Jun 2012 at 00:52

not for the classement general, but Pierre Rolland can repeat his heroics this year !

Evans won last year without being boss, no one has been boss. If the Schleck want to win, they will have to attack attack. If not, well, small time players...

George Hincapie · 9 Jun 2012 at 08:05

bobo696 said:
Evans won last year without being boss, no one has been boss. If the Schleck want to win, they will have to attack attack. If not, well, small time players...

Attacking will not win the Sclecks the TdF. They need to put significant time into Cadel and Brad in the mountain stages to make up for the fact they both can't TT to save their lives. As we saw last year, attacks are just wound back in. Especially if they don't commit 100%.

Watching the Schlecks ride is an exercise in frustration - I'll attack, ride 50m up the road, then 'OMG! Where's my brother?!1111!'. Argh!