Sagan is having a great Tour and leads the green jersey by about 100 points. You gotta be a rather harsh critic to find much fault in his performance so far. Losing today's sprint by a centimeter hardly signals lousy tactics on his part.
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Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Webb > Rupp]
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Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [ike]
[ In reply to ]
ike wrote:
Sagan is having a great Tour and leads the green jersey by about 100 points. You gotta be a rather harsh critic to find much fault in his performance so far. Losing today's sprint by a centimeter hardly signals lousy tactics on his part.Seems like Sagan is critical of himself. He no longer measures success by just getting the green jersey. You might be satisfied with his consistency, but Sagan and his fans want to see wins since he is capable of doing so.
"If I look back to the stages we've done, I have two different feelings," Sagan said as he chases a fifth career Tour stage win. "I have a good advantage in the green points classification, I finished always in the front. On the other side, this is not my first Tour de France, it's my third experience, and my aim is to do better and improve year by year.
"I had the chance to take the yellow jersey and I always get closed to win. Even today I wanted sprint but I had no chance. It's a little frustrating, maybe sometimes I ask too much to myself. But now I just want to keep concentrated and to try again."
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Webb > Rupp: Jul 11, 14 9:40
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Webb > Rupp]
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I'm so disappointed in Acededo's riding. He's already 50+min back of the GC... and I was expecting such big things from him. He still may do well on a mountain stage or two but I don't think any good KOM results are likely. I wasted a pick on my Velogames Fantasy team :-(
Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's
Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's
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Doubletime: Jul 11, 14 10:19
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Doubletime]
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Well, it was frankly silly to pick him in the first place since you know he was riding for Talansky, so why would he be going for KOM? Really, the best person for KOM points would be either a GC contender that is a climbing specialist or a climber on a team without a GC contender (usually french or at least on a french team). Those I think describe the KOM winner for the past decade or so.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [echappist]
[ In reply to ]
echappist wrote:
[b wrote:
McNulty[/b]]Carl Spackler wrote:
That's right, forgot about P-N. And then there was that agonizing day-long Vuelta breakaway last year...One absolutely amazing ride.
completely off topic, but do you happen to watch The Wire?
Yes. Big fan. Just had my collarbone pinned and I'm back watching season 1. It's what I do when I go on the DL.
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rooting for GvA again. Rui Costa could do well. Kwiatkowski may do well, maybe that kilo effort yesterday was an opener for him?
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Webb > Rupp]
[ In reply to ]
Sagan isn't going to chase down Nibali. Fabian also said that it was only him and Sagan doing any work at the end of stage 5with everyone else sitting on. Happens all the time in bike racing because it's silly for them to drag others along and then get beaten in sprint.
Today was a different. I bet he was thinking yellow jersey, which meant going long and burning a lot of energy. Didn't work out.
Anyway, his stated goal is the green jersey. Considering the fact that I don't think he's finished lower than 5th on any stage so far, I'd say his tactics to that end are pretty spot-on.
Today was a different. I bet he was thinking yellow jersey, which meant going long and burning a lot of energy. Didn't work out.
Anyway, his stated goal is the green jersey. Considering the fact that I don't think he's finished lower than 5th on any stage so far, I'd say his tactics to that end are pretty spot-on.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Carl Spackler]
[ In reply to ]
Sagan has been in with a chance at winning almost every stage. He has been "the favorite" to win a couple of stages and he's come close, but on these stages there are at least a dozen or so other riders with a shot at winning. When Sagan finishes in second, some people look at that as a failure on his part. If one of the other riders who could have won the stage finishes in 19th place, nobody notices.
I'm sure he wants to win a stage, he's going to keep trying to win a stage, and it's fun watching him try to win. Sure beats looking at the riders, including some of the earlier stage winners, who are noodling to the finish in the autobus.
"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
I'm sure he wants to win a stage, he's going to keep trying to win a stage, and it's fun watching him try to win. Sure beats looking at the riders, including some of the earlier stage winners, who are noodling to the finish in the autobus.
"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Twotter]
[ In reply to ]
Twotter wrote:
Webb > Rupp wrote:
Stage 5, it did not seem like Cancellara and himself even gave it a go to reel in Boom, Fulgsang, and Nibali. You could chalk that up to wet roads, but still.I'm pretty sure that I read an interview with FC after the stage that said that they were caught in a bad position when the Astana riders and Boom went. They couldn't pass on the cobble section where they were. By the time they got to a point where they could FC said that he wasn't going to pull Sagan up to the group only to be out sprinted at the finish. I think that at this point in his career and based on his history with Sagan, FC is perfectly content with what went down vs helping Sagan get a stage win. Sagan clearly would have just sucked FC wheel and sprinted around and done a silly little dance. Aside from a few stage wins where Sagan has gone clear (Gent - Wevelgem 2013), Sagan has used the wheel sucking + sprinting around at the line to win most stages. It looked like he was really unhappy when GvA was trying the same tactic when they got the break.
I'm pretty sure I read the same interview and FC actually said something along the lines of "Others were looking at me and Peter to do all the work...but I had to hedge my bets" If you watch that part of the race you'll see both FC and Sagan doing most of the pulling in that chase group but neither wanted to kill themselves to close the gap and finish 7th/8th when they could ride it out and sprint for 4th. FC has shown on a number of occassions this year that he's got a pretty decent kick for a sprint (Paris Roubaix comes to mind...coincidentally, that's also a race where Sagan burned one too many matches in the last few KM's only to lose the sprint for podium to others)
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Jason N]
[ In reply to ]
Jason N wrote:
So...how bad do you think Froome's injuries are? Enough to keep him out of the Vuelta. Wouldn't it be an awesome shit show to see Froome wanting to race the Vuelta but Wiggins says he doesn't want him there...or that Brailsford insists Froome is there and Froome kicks Wiggo out? HAH!Apparently he's had confirmed fractures to both his left wrist and right hand. Guess you can't really blame him for not carrying on! I'd have thought he could be back on the trainer pretty much straight away so shouldn't lose much fitness, seems like Vuelta should be a good possibility.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [cartsman]
[ In reply to ]
Ohhhh Froome in Vuelta, will tune in to Sky Drama TV now. The Vuelta seems exciting now having Quintana/Valverde, Wiggo/Froome, Conti, Uran?, Horner, etc. in the roster. Maybe I'll have to watch some stages this time around instead of reading about it from time to time...
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Alvin Tostig]
[ In reply to ]
Exactly. He clearly wants a win but his consistency is remarkable. One day he's battling FC on the cobbles and the next contesting sprint with Kittel (or at least following his wheel). Every day I'm also more in awe of how he surfs his way to the front. He looks well out of it and then manages a top 5.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [McNulty]
[ In reply to ]
McNulty wrote:
echappist wrote:
McNulty wrote:
Carl Spackler wrote:
That's right, forgot about P-N. And then there was that agonizing day-long Vuelta breakaway last year...One absolutely amazing ride.
completely off topic, but do you happen to watch The Wire?
Yes. Big fan. Just had my collarbone pinned and I'm back watching season 1. It's what I do when I go on the DL.
damn, sorry to hear that. bike racing related? whatever it is, speedy recovery.
after watching one season of the Wire, seeing the name McNulty, well, it conjures up a certain image ;)
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [trail]
[ In reply to ]
wait. just so i know and can be prepared. is wiggins reading l'equipe officially a meme?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Carl Spackler]
[ In reply to ]
Just read that he's the first since Pelissier in 1930 to go top 5 on the first seven stages. He's really made for the green jersey competition. Hoping he can pick up at least one stage this year. Looked like he didn't fully commit in his attack today and then that and cumulative fatigue from his falls and also as a result of being up there so much is what might have held him back that little bit in the sprint.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Slowman]
[ In reply to ]
>wait. just so i know and can be prepared. is wiggins reading l'equipe officially a meme?
I think one more and it can be official. Do it.
I think one more and it can be official. Do it.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Slowman]
[ In reply to ]
Slowman wrote:
wait. just so i know and can be prepared. is wiggins reading l'equipe officially a meme?I came up with this one, just because I loved the ridiculousness of the throne...
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [trail]
[ In reply to ]
"I think one more and it can be official. Do it."
i don't even remember the original headline. was it this?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
i don't even remember the original headline. was it this?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [GaryV]
[ In reply to ]
not bad. not bad.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [echappist]
[ In reply to ]
echappist wrote:
McNulty wrote:
echappist wrote:
McNulty wrote:
Carl Spackler wrote:
That's right, forgot about P-N. And then there was that agonizing day-long Vuelta breakaway last year...One absolutely amazing ride.
completely off topic, but do you happen to watch The Wire?
Yes. Big fan. Just had my collarbone pinned and I'm back watching season 1. It's what I do when I go on the DL.
damn, sorry to hear that. bike racing related? whatever it is, speedy recovery.
after watching one season of the Wire, seeing the name McNulty, well, it conjures up a certain image ;)
Ha, yeah. McNulty is compelling.
Broke it racing a circuit in WVa a couple of weekends ago. A head shaker. Not a dramatic Cav sprint kind of thing. Guy just laid his bike down out of the blue and I was the lucky guy on his wheel. One plate and 8 pins later, I'm spending a lot of time online, getting fat.
That's racing.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [McNulty]
[ In reply to ]
I have a question.
Why do a few riders break in front of the peleton? They always seem to get caught 2/3 into the race and I don't see any mountain points that they are after.
Why do a few riders break in front of the peleton? They always seem to get caught 2/3 into the race and I don't see any mountain points that they are after.
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [KingMidas]
[ In reply to ]
They don't always get caught. : )
Stage 5 was won by an attack that went Boom's way after the others in the lead group essentially blew up and Boom did not.
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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram
Stage 5 was won by an attack that went Boom's way after the others in the lead group essentially blew up and Boom did not.
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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [KingMidas]
[ In reply to ]
Because there will always be the dream of living the David Bowie song, and maybe 5-10% of the time, the breakaway manages to sneak off and steal a stage. (see Lars Boom in stage 5)
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [KingMidas]
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plus they get TV time for their sponsors and can fight for the combativity award
Re: TdF (Tour de France) 2014 Thread [Doubletime]
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That Horner interview is *gold*, totally worth a look. Thanks for the link...