Well I was going to consult the “What did you eat so far today” thread to see how much coffee TriBriGuy had so far today, but I probably don’t need to…
Say what you want about my “knowledge” of cycling, you’re opinion’s aren’t really important enough to me to rattle off my “qualifications” here, however:
Are you implying that there are many, many teams and professional riders out there that also don’t “understand” cycling. Guys like Pettachi, are in it for the stage wins. That’s what he can do. Right now, it’s what his team and sponsors want as well. The GC is not possible for him. What do you suppose, nobody’s told them that it’s not the guy with the most stage wins that bags the whole thing??? May be you should contact them and fill them in with your vast accumen.
Regardless of how “weak” anyone may feel going just for stage wins is, it’s still an impressive display of strength, speed, and luck to get this many…
Whoa. . .I never claimed GC was unimportant. You, however, demonstrated a lack of understanding of european professional cycling in claiming that Petacchi’s wins were unimportant and unimpressive.
GC riders race everyday? Once again, you demonstrate a lack of understanding. Do you think the GC contenders EVER stuck their noses in the wind today? Did they jump out of the bunch to take mountain points? Intergiro sprint points? Hell no. They sat deep in the peleton, surrounded by their teams. That’s hardly “racing.”
Huh? I was pointing out the folly in denigrating Petacchi’s accomplishment. If I read your post correctly, I’m in 100% agreement. I was replying to triclyde’s post, not yours.
And do you think Petacchi was pulling the peleton all day? You however demonstrate a lack of unsderstanding that I did not say his wins were unimportant and unimpressive. I tend to look at the big picture, the GC. It is more impressive to me that a rider, whether in the middle of the peleton or not, shows up every day, is almost an hour ahead of some riders and gets less recognition than the other guy.
What is more impressive, Mario Chippolini winning as many stage races as he has or Lance Armstrong winning 5 tours and hopefully 6?
What I find to be a joke is Petacchi isn’t even in the top half of the GC, 51 minutes down headed into the mountain stages. Everyone is making a big deal about all these stage wins yet I doubt many people could even say who is leading the GC right now. Its like awarding prizes for those triathletes who cannot win a race but have fast transistions and giving transistion wins. My point is they should put more emphasis on the GC and not the stage wins.
Ok, so you used the word “joke”. . .unimpressive. . .whatever. . .you totally discounted what he’s done. 23 Grand Tour stage wins in just over a year. . .Yeah, I agree, that’s a joke.
And that’s Cipollini to you, Mr. Triclyde, not Chippolini.
Who’s more impressive? Hmmmm. . .how about neither. And I’m a fairly huge Lance fan. . .
Really, comparing great cyclists of differing disciplines or different eras. . .that’s a lesson in folly.
What’s more impressive?. . .Lance x 6 TdF or Eddie Merckx 525 career wins, including 11 Grand Tours and 4 World Championships?
I must bow to you o’ one of great cycling wisdom. I am sorry I would ever try to offerMY opinion on this forum. I will post in the future only with your permission. How does it feel to be so great and smart and so athletically talented. You are my new GOD, O’Great One.
Dude, ya gotta have thick skin once in a while on this forum. And don’t start gunfights when all ya got is a penknife. Ya don’t see me wading into Kraig Willet’s path on physiology.
I’m totally impressed by Lance, but Merckx by far had the more impressive career, an opinion I’ll keep even if Lance wins six. Frankly I’m not sure I would put Lance in my top five. Merckx, Anquitiel (sp), Coppi. Indurain, Hinault, all were very impressive.
i’d submit that the sprinters and the gc guys have a lot more in common than you’d think. basically, both put out the big efforts when the course/stage suits their style/ambitions. how many stages are the gc guys putting out big efforts? the mountains and the tt’s and that’s pretty much it. the rest of the time they are in cruise control in the front 1/3 of the group. similarly, while petacchi obviously isn’t a climber, i am sure he could push harder, but instead the mountains is where he puts it in cruise control.
in fact, you could argue that petacchi ‘races’ more often in that there are about 11 stages suited to sprinters this year. that’s 11 times when petacchi will put in a big effort. in contrast, i think there are only 4-5 mountain stages and 1 tt–thus the gc guys aren’t putting out monster efforts quite as often.
i have no doubt petacchi could probably even out his effort a bit more(i.e. push harder in teh mountains and don’t contest a couple sprints) and be higher placed on gc, but if you aren’t going to finish on the podium, racking up as many stage wins plus the points jersey seems to be a better alternative.
No doubt we’re missing folks like Zabel and Freire, but there’s still plenty of the top sprinters in the game there. . .Cipo (until the wreck), McEwen, Svorada and Furlan.
I think there is some small merit to your point, however. Probably the most deciding factor is that the other teams, particularly McEwen’s, don’t have all their strong men at the race. That leaves them a bit hamstrung, much like Zabel at the tour in the last couple of years where he didn’t have the super train to lead him out.
All three tours? Egad. . .! “Alex. . .what is “When genetically doping is financially feasible!””