PTP Chat [now contains spoilers]
ContrelaMontre
Posts: 3,027
Thought I'd start a new thread rather than clutter up PTP Vuelta.
Just wanted to say, thanks AFX for keeping my scores up to date whilst I was away!
Cheers Noodley Bananas for making sure AFX kept my scores up to date whilst I was away!
But perhaps you shouldn't have - I've managed to close the gap during my absence from 29 to just 8!
I think I was the only one who got excited about ENECO - I kept checking l'equipe to see how Dekker was doing - thought I was on course for picking my third stage race victory of the season, but hey-ho!
I wish I could say it's good to be back but I'm at work!!
And the cycling in France was nice, but the drivers are ignorant pigs!! Worse than the English!! I think I'll go back to Spain next time I want a cycling holiday
Just wanted to say, thanks AFX for keeping my scores up to date whilst I was away!
Cheers Noodley Bananas for making sure AFX kept my scores up to date whilst I was away!
But perhaps you shouldn't have - I've managed to close the gap during my absence from 29 to just 8! I think I was the only one who got excited about ENECO - I kept checking l'equipe to see how Dekker was doing - thought I was on course for picking my third stage race victory of the season, but hey-ho!
I wish I could say it's good to be back but I'm at work!!
And the cycling in France was nice, but the drivers are ignorant pigs!! Worse than the English!! I think I'll go back to Spain next time I want a cycling holiday
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster
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welcome back. I thought I'd take it easy on you in your absence
Time for the gloves to come off again. :twisted: 0 -
Noodley wrote:welcome back. I thought I'd take it easy on you in your absence
Time for the gloves to come off again. :twisted:
Looks like it's down to who will win the Vuelta out of Vlad the karpet fitter (and all his hair) against Carlos (nice but dull) Sastre*.
I hope our contest (and PTP in general) isn't decided by the execrable Tour de Pologne.
Can't believe I've picked the second place rider twice now in the Vuelta and if I'd picked them the other way round I'd have had two winners! Typical! But did you score today? Or is the gap actually just four now?
*My second GC pick if Vlad hadn't been racing!
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Correction - we've both got 8 points so far:
http://www.cageofmonkeys.co.uk/ptp/vuelta.txt
bloody hell yace is off to a flyer! :shock: I was hoping to start closing the gap and moving up back ahead of the likes of yace, but what can you do about punditry like that?? :roll:
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
I like the fact that I am already in Baton Rouge position...it's not even in alphabetical order down there.
This is not going to be a grand race for T-Mobile. As they say on their website "We don't have an out-and out GC rider"...or anyone to win stages!
Roll on Poland!Half man, Half bike0 -
ContrelaMontre wrote:Noodley wrote:I hope our contest (and PTP in general) isn't decided by the execrable Tour de Pologne.
I seem to remember I did quite well in the Tour of Poland last year - so you can almost guarantee I'll make an arse of it this time. :oops: 0 -
Ridgerider wrote:I like the fact that I am already in Baton Rouge position...it's not even in alphabetical order down there.
This is not going to be a grand race for T-Mobile. As they say on their website "We don't have an out-and out GC rider"...or anyone to win stages!
Roll on Poland!
Dude, I totally felt your pain when I saw Scott Davis toiling away on that final 3rd cat climb today...0 -
Is that Scott Davis, their designated climber...
The only moving images of cycling I see are of the TdF on ITV4, but their riders don't seem to be featuring in the Cyclingnews Live Coverage of the Vuelta...Half man, Half bike0 -
Just been looking at the Vuelta rankings and noticed the key, which really made me giggle!!CE = Cadel
CS = Sastre
DC = Dai Cunego
GM = Gomez Marchante
OP = Pereiro
SD = Davis (Allan's bro, Scott)
SS = Sam Sanchez
VK = Big Bad Vlad
AP = Ale Jet
DB = Benna
EZ = Erik
GG = Guerini
OF = Oscarito
PB = Bettini
TB = Boonen
I love the fact that my pick has been dubbed "Big Bad Vlad" (how can he lose with a moniker like that) and that Cunego is Dai - does that mean that he's now Welsh rather than the Irish Damian O'Cunego!!
And I'm sure Scott isn't related to Allan!! Or is that serious?
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
That's true! He really is his brother.0
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afx237vi wrote:That's true! He really is his brother.
Wow - a productive mother then! I checked wikipedia, which doesn't mention them being related, but did let me know there is only just over a year difference in age!!
You learn summat new everyday then, dontcha!
[dopage aside] Is this another nail in the coffin for T-Mob due to Allan's involvement in Puerto? Just another link between 'team clean'* and dopers! [/dopage aside]
* :roll: :twisted: :!:
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Cunego (my GC pick) is 18 mins back on GC after Stage 4 - anyone know if there is something up with him? Heard he had a tumble and banged his knee on the first stage so maybe this explains it??0
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Bronzie wrote:Cunego (my GC pick) is 18 mins back on GC after Stage 4 - anyone know if there is something up with him? Heard he had a tumble and banged his knee on the first stage so maybe this explains it??
I picked the cheeky Welsh Prince, that's why
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Strava is not Zen.0 -
A general rule of thumb for the Giro and Vuelta - pick a rider from the home country as anyone else is only there because the sponsors made them.calvjones wrote:Bronzie wrote:Cunego (my GC pick) is 18 mins back on GC after Stage 4 - anyone know if there is something up with him? Heard he had a tumble and banged his knee on the first stage so maybe this explains it??
I picked the cheeky Welsh Prince, that's why 0 -
andyp wrote:A general rule of thumb for the Giro and Vuelta - pick a rider from the home country as anyone else is only there because the sponsors made them.
DOOOOOH!0 -
Cunego crashed into Danielson on stage 1 and had to have 12 stitches in his elbow and arse. Surprised he's still in the race tbh.0
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You'd have thought he'd have slipped off back home at the earliest opportunity. Mama's cooking has to be better than Spanish food* no?afx237vi wrote:Cunego crashed into Danielson on stage 1 and had to have 12 stitches in his elbow and ars*. Surprised he's still in the race tbh.
An interesting fact - in the 61 previous editions of the Vuelta, Italian riders have stood on the top step of the final podium just four times. In contrast in the Giro, only Miguel Indurain, in 1992 and 1993, has stood atop the podium for Spain.
* described by Robert Millar as 'muck with olive oil' at the end of his career. French food was just 'muck'. I guess pros don't get the culinary delights available to the rest of us.0 -
What I want to know is why Big Bad Vlad went and lost 5 seconds today and Chicchi, my saucy wildcard, hasn't even finished yet I think!!!!
But at least I wasn't the only poor performer today...83º 112 BENNATI, Daniele ITA LAM a 5 :!:
If PTP was anything to go by Benna was favourite today!
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Has Freire peaked too early for the Worlds?'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'0
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LangerDan wrote:Has Freire peaked too early for the Worlds?
Time will tell, but he looks in awesome form at the moment! His confidence must be soaring!
I only didn't pick him today because he said after yesterday's win he wasn't the fastest cyclist and won thanks to a combination of luck and getting in the right place - very modest indeed! Maybe he can still go faster!
Does the Worlds course suit him this year?
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Ah, Chicchi actually finished ninth - makes me feel a bit better about picking him. He can't've had a transponder because of the earlier crash I guess, hence his absence from the prelim. results. So better than Benna, Il Grillo and 'Bloody' Davis, but unfortunately I don't get any points for that!
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Here's the Worlds profile. Multiply it by 14 laps.
http://neu.radwm2007.de/filerepository/ ... LJNVtr.jpg
Looks really hard compared to the last few years. Maybe one for Di Luca or Schleck Snr or wait for it... Valverde
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When does it not?ContrelaMontre wrote:Does the Worlds course suit him this year?
Seriously, it has to be a very selective course, i.e. hilly but with long steep hills, for it not to suit Freire. And, at the end of a long, hard 250 km+ race I think he stands head and shoulders above the other sprinters, as his record in such races (the Worlds, Milan-San Remo) shows.0 -
You think? On paper it looks no harder than Hamilton or Verona. It all depends on how hard the race is of course so expect the Italians to be busy buying up domestics for the day.afx237vi wrote:Here's the Worlds profile. Multiply it by 14 laps.
http://neu.radwm2007.de/filerepository/ ... LJNVtr.jpg
Looks really hard compared to the last few years. Maybe one for Di Luca or Schleck Snr or wait for it... Valverde
I think for a course to be truly selective they need to stick a 5-6 km climb on it which is steep, i.e. averages close to 10%. Much like the Olympic road race course next year I believe.0 -
andyp wrote:When does it not?
Seriously, it has to be a very selective course, i.e. hilly but with long steep hills, for it not to suit Freire. And, at the end of a long, hard 250 km+ race I think he stands head and shoulders above the other sprinters, as his record in such races (the Worlds, Milan-San Remo) shows.
Or alternatively a completely 'unselective' course, which would make life easy for the pure speed merchants. Although at the moment I think Freire is faster than those guys for various reasons. I'm thinking of Boonen, Petacchi, Hushovd et cetera...
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0 -
Theres no climb with more than ~120m elevation gain on the circuit so I don't think it will be enough to shell out the non-climbers. It has a Liege or Amstel look to it. However I heard last week that they are tipping new sprint "wunderkind" Edvald Boassons to succeed Ciolek as U-23 champion and he strikes me as more in the Boonen than Friere mould.'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'0
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andyp wrote:
You think? On paper it looks no harder than Hamilton or Verona. It all depends on how hard the race is of course so expect the Italians to be busy buying up domestics for the day.afx237vi wrote:Here's the Worlds profile. Multiply it by 14 laps.
http://neu.radwm2007.de/filerepository/ ... LJNVtr.jpg
Looks really hard compared to the last few years. Maybe one for Di Luca or Schleck Snr or wait for it... Valverde
I think for a course to be truly selective they need to stick a 5-6 km climb on it which is steep, i.e. averages close to 10%. Much like the Olympic road race course next year I believe.
Maybe. Sometimes race profiles can be quite deceiving. Like in the Vuelta - the 3rd category climb in stage 3 caused far more damage than the 1st category climb in yesterday's stage.
But I think the Stuttgart course is harder than Verona. AFAIR, the Verona course only had 1 climb per lap, whereas the Stuttgart one has 3 climbs. Granted, they're not big, but the relentlessness of them in quick succession will make the race hard. Like LangerDan says, it looks like a Liege-Bastogne-Liege or an Amstel Gold.0 -
More like Amstel than Liege I'd say, but even then the climbs only gain a 100 metres or so which isn't a lot.afx237vi wrote:Maybe. Sometimes race profiles can be quite deceiving. Like in the Vuelta - the 3rd category climb in stage 3 caused far more damage than the 1st category climb in yesterday's stage.
But I think the Stuttgart course is harder than Verona. AFAIR, the Verona course only had 1 climb per lap, whereas the Stuttgart one has 3 climbs. Granted, they're not big, but the relentlessness of them in quick succession will make the race hard. Like LangerDan says, it looks like a Liege-Bastogne-Liege or an Amstel Gold.
The Verona course did have just the one climb and it wasn't that hard. This course looks very like Hamilton to me and that was a race where it nearly came down to a bunch sprint. I think it'll be a sprint, mainly because no-one team is strong enough to tear it up from the off. The Spanish team will be very strong and won't be seen near the front until half distance at the earliest so Friere will be well protected I think.0 -
I reckon Freire must be in with a shout.
He certainly seems to be firing on all cylinders this week.0 -
ContrelaMontre wrote:LangerDan wrote:
I only didn't pick him today because he said after yesterday's win he wasn't the fastest cyclist and won thanks to a combination of luck and getting in the right place...
That's exactly why I DID pick him.
Better being lucky and in the right place than fast and stuck out the back 0 -
Noodley wrote:That's exactly why I DID pick him.
Better being lucky and in the right place than fast and stuck out the back
:x Grr, well I know that now... :evil:
Rule No.10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster0
