P.S. Great tour Nico. Unlucky to miss out on a top ten place and a stage win. A different team, improved climbing and time trial would see him on the podium I think ... easier said than done I know.
P.S. Great tour Nico. Unlucky to miss out on a top ten place and a stage win. A different team, improved climbing and time trial would see him on the podium I think ... easier said than done I know.
"Just to be clear, Poite is an idiot" The Plastic Paddy 11-04-2012
Roche had a great tour - agree he needs to work on time trialing and climbing. However with a team around him that were all helping him (not French) then he might just have a chance of a top 5...
Martin is a rough diamond - through with a bit more guidance he could be a surperb GC rider. Mind you Garmin were all over the shop this tour so you never know.
Wiggins and Sky were supreme. Bossen Hagen put in so much work. Will be interesting to see if Wiggins will defend or will Brailsford allow Froome go for it. Brailsford is one hard nut and could well drop Wiggo as team leader if he sees fit...
Very enjoyable Tour
\'For he that hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart\'.
Henry V - Battle of Agincourt 1415
It will all come down to the route for next year.. already strong rumours that the mountains will be a much bigger part. This years tour was heavily biased to time triallists, I don't think I can remember a tour where the mountain stages had such little influence on the overall results as happened this year.Originally Posted by thisyear?
If the route next year is a mountainous as expected I'd suspect Froome will be the chosen one for Sky, but they're also in danger of losing Cav with the way they treated him this year.
Have to say I have huge time for Cav, he wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't play the PR game at all, but is still a team player as he's very well aware of how dependent he is on his teammates. the Olympic road race is going to be very interesting with Cav, Wiggo, Froome, Millar and Thomas .. Millar the only one not a member of team sky.. you have to wonder will the guys work for cav if he survives box hill.. or will it be every man for himself ???
Plato: \"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.\"
Don't think Froome or Cav have much room to move - both have 2 years ( I think) left on their contracts and no one will have the money to buy them out, unless Bruyneel can deal a miracle (as he's bound to lose the Schlecks), although he's likley to be embroiled in the ongoing USDA/Armstrong saga.
The Olympics should be really interesting, looks like UK v Australia v Germany - would always back Cav he's just a real spirited sportsman.
Other than the London Jamboree it's the Vuelta, Lombardy (Nibali ???) and the Worlds (Sagan ???)
Can't wait to see the Tour route in October :-)
Sky boss is talking about letting Cav leave his contract if he wishes as Sky will be concentrating on winning the tour over the next few years(Read it somewhere in the last few days).
Otaga Daily Times 2/5/2012
Taz-Where did you get that information as I have seen nowhere that he(Penney) was ruled out?
Editor - The writer stands by the Penney information.
Otaga Daily Times 3/5/2012
Editor-- This article originally said Rob Penney had missed out on the Munster coaching job. That information was incorrect.
it was mentioned on twitter yesterday. have to wonder though how sky wouldn't see the appeal in trying for both the yellow jersey and the green...
Plato: \"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.\"
I think what it showed this season that even with a supreme team,they still have to take the decision of going for stage wins or protecting the yellow jersey.
Otaga Daily Times 2/5/2012
Taz-Where did you get that information as I have seen nowhere that he(Penney) was ruled out?
Editor - The writer stands by the Penney information.
Otaga Daily Times 3/5/2012
Editor-- This article originally said Rob Penney had missed out on the Munster coaching job. That information was incorrect.
Sky don't have the set up to go for both - especially if their leader is Wiggins, he needs a team around him in the hills, plus Cav is the sort of rider who would need some form of train to go for Green.
It's all very well saying Cav can go but where ??? He's a UK rider and there's only one UK team - HTC was built around him and has now gone. The Italians, French and Spainish build teams around their own, Germany has Greipel so they won't. Very hard to see where he'd go, unless someone builds a team.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why Ireland only have a team of three, whereas the Uk have five?? What's the point in competing at all if you are numerically disadvantaged from the very start??
"Just to be clear, Poite is an idiot" The Plastic Paddy 11-04-2012
UKs higher world ranking gave them more places in the road race
Spot on - all based on UCI rankings, same goes in the World Championships; can sometimes work to the advantage as the top nations are looked at to control the race (and therefore wear themselves out) - realistically the smaller nations need to get someone in the break and hope the bigger nations are also there so they don't chase down the break - its the only way to keep the peleton at a reasonable number.
This guy has to win gold
http://www.london2012.com/athlete/bauer-jack-1125589/
The Source for this post is The Internet
_________________________________
I don't know Jeff!
Munster Squad Tracker 2011/2012
Munster Squad Tracker 2010/2011
Just to let ye know, there is a new program about cycling on ITV4 'The Cycle Show'
Supposed to be a Top Gear style program. The logo even looks like the top gear one, see below.
http://www.bikebiz.com/index.php/new...cycling/013384
“You don’t have to be a structural engineer to know that if you load the top and weaken the bottom, even the mightiest of towers can fall with a crash.”- Eddie Butler
take him too long
24 hrs, probably
Here is hoping for an all out attacking race at the weekend. Breakaway staying away? The breakaway will probably need 4mins after box hill to stay clear
EBH?
I shall go for Belgium to take it, Gilbert Boonen?
Rumours of Roche heading to Saxobank at the end of the season! Will they see something different on his calander? By all accounts he definately won't be in a French team for 2012
Phinney great bet ew for the TT
Last edited by banjaxed; 27th-July-2012 at 04:53.
Always
Huge congratulations to Vino, superb ride. And sucker punched poor Uran for a ride to the line. Some way to see out the career.
The breakaway did stay away but didnt need the 4mins, 1 min was sufficient! As the brits couldnt do the job alone. Shame no irish guy got in the breakaway
There is concern for Spartacus, wiped himself out after doing so much work during the breakaway.
Always
Shame no Irish rider did a turn on front of Peleton!
Just watching the women's road race, some serious cheating by the Italians use their team car to draft. Why don't the teams attack en masse instead of ones? Surely a team of five could break away and stay away?
Maximum size of teams is four for the women.
Enjoyable finish!
I am the million man.
1st Holland
2nd GB
3rd Russia
It's a bit silly that the break groups don't appear to get time checks, surely they should be allowed team radios or at least have a motorcyclist givin them the split times.
A motorcyclist held up a board at one stage today for the three breakaway riders. The Dutch girl even give the thumbs up sign.
Yes, I saw that. It happened once, and it was unofficial. Compared to any of the grand tour stages, it was shambolic in terms of timings.
Where/whom in Limerick does the best bike service?
Last edited by Huwie; 30th-July-2012 at 13:24.
“You don’t have to be a structural engineer to know that if you load the top and weaken the bottom, even the mightiest of towers can fall with a crash.”- Eddie Butler
The break had 4 mins at one stage and although the break evolved it did prove to be too much for a small GB team to track down - coverage was appalling, too few time gaps and no feed of the people in the breakaway.
Can't say i'm pleased Vino won - attacking rider but a very iffy history, he was always going to do Uran (climber) over in the sprint just as Vos was always going to beat Armistead in the womens. Was disappointed Oz & Germans didn't chase..... Interesting race due to small teams, I wonder if Monsiuer Prudhomme was watching.........
Roche to Saxo is interesting but may have him riding shotgun for Contador, will be very interesting to see how Riis handles him.
Phinney not a bad punt - I assume Cancellara will suffer after a hard crash on the road, Martin there are question marks, Froome & Wiggins must be favourites and LL Sanchez will be up there. Is Pinotti riding for Italy he may be interesting odds.
watched most of the mens race & bits of the womens. Marianne Vos is scarey.. the way she sped up the hill to join Armitstead on the break was incredible and the conditions in the womens race were horrible.
utmost respect to the british cyclists in both races they worked their socks off throughout. Cav was sooo disappointed in the mens race, and having someone like Vino win with his history does add impetus to WADA's proposed rule change to ban drug cheats from olympics in addition to their normal bans.
Plato: \"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.\"
Thought Armitstead was gonna topple the bike in the last few yards, she was knackered but that bike was jerking all over the joint in that sprint.
Vos is a machine, borderline Germanic in her relentlessness and efficiency.
I am the million man.
Watched both races too. Brits/Sky just couldn't dominate/control a single race like that in the men's, but they did try. Wonder if it'll dent Wiggo for the TT. Vino won it well in the end, but would have liked to have seen Spartacus stay up until the end. And is 260km too far for a single race?
Women's was a far more interesting race even if the conditions were treacherous. Do we not have any women of the standard this time?
Armitstead worked her socks off in the women's, but Vos was the strongest cyclist by far in that race. Women's cycling in Holland is big and now that Vos has succeeded van Moorsel it'll give it another boost. Interesting that Zabelinskaya's dad was Olympic champion way back in 1980.
Mens Time Trial
Start time - race number - name
14:15:00 - 37 - Mouhcine Lahsaini (Morocco)
14:16:30 - 36 - Tomas Gil Martinez (Venezuela)
14:18:00 - 35 - Alireza Haghi (Iran)
14:19:30 - 34 - Ahmet Akdilek (Turkey)
14:21:00 - 33 - Magno Nazaret (Brazil)
14:22:30 - 32 - Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
14:24:00 - 31 - Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan)
14:25:30 - 30 - David McCann (Ireland)
14:27:00 - 29 - Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)
14:28:30 - 28 - Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
14:30:00 - 27 - Fabio Duarte (Colombia)
14:31:30 - 26 - Lars Boom (Netherlands)
14:33:00 - 25 - Jack Bauer (New Zealand)
14:34:30 - 24 - Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia)
14:36:00 - 23 - Maciej Bodnar (Poland)
14:37:30 - 22 - Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
14:39:00 - 21 - Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)
14:40:30 - 20 - Ryder Hesjedal (Canada)
14:42:00 - 19 - Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain)
14:43:30 - 18 - Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark)
14:45:00 - 17 - Nelson Oliviera (Portugal)
14:46:30 - 16 - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
14:48:00 - 15 - Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
14:49:30 - 14 - Denis Menchov (Russia)
14:51:00 - 13 - Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands)
14:52:30 - 12 - Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
14:54:00 - 11 - Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
14:55:30 - 10 - Michael Rogers (Australia)
14:57:00 - 9 - Bert Grabsch (Germany)
14:58:30 - 8 - Sylvain Chavanel (France)
15:00:00 - 7 - Chris Froome (Great Britain)
15:01:30 - 6 - Marco Pinotti (Italy)
15:03:00 - 5 - Juils Leon Sanchez (Spain)
15:04:30 - 4 - Taylor Phinney (USA)
15:06:00 - 3 - Tony Martin (Germany)
15:07:30 - 2 - Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain)
15:09:00 - 1 - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
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