Tour de Suisse Stage 9 *spoiler*

emadden

No surprises here.. Cancellara already up almost 30 seconds at the first check (after 9km) .. Martin second so far....

YAAAAWWWWNNN

emadden

its a disgrace... Swiss TV havent even shown the yellow jersey once...


AND THE BIGGEST JOKE = Cancellara catching Kreuziger!

CyclingBantam

Why is it the biggest joke?

emadden

Its the biggest joke in that the race was designed to come down to the final time trial on a course where cancellara can even make the pre-race favourite look pathetic. Undermines the history of this race

blazing_saddles

Cancellara makes a mockery of both the opposition and the week's (weak) parcours.
How can you have race, where the leader can lose almost 4 minutes, against the clock, but a climber hasn't the opportunity to take 30 seconds, anywhere?

I never knew there were so many flat roads in Switzerland.....
.....until this week.

claudb

Does it not just show that Cancellara is a superb Time Triallist in superb form.
Watching Cancellara from the TV Moto immediately behind him was, at times, awesome !!! What we did see of Valjevec, he did not seem to be trying.

dave_1

likewise, I was complete baffled that someone who is a complete non climber wins the Tour De Suisse...but then again, look at the TDF stages in the pyrenees...two complete jokes of stages containing prestige hors cat climbs and flat run ins that will make a mockery of the stage climbs like tourmalet...... so the Tour De Suisse is not alone in being crap organisers

blazing_saddles

claudb wrote:

Does it not just show that Cancellara is a superb Time Triallist in superb form.
What we did see of Valjevec, he did not seem to be trying.

Well. I'm not surprised he was trying, with just a 4" lead and on Cancellara's heels, we had Kreuziger, Martin and Kloden.
He should have abadoned on the start ramp in protest!

As for Cancellara's "superb form". A stark contrast to the rest of his year.
Probably would have gone 3 minutes slower, 3 weeks ago.

Yes, Dave. The Tour will dish out more of this deadly dull stuff, with silly mountains in the middle of nowhere.

dave_1

Blazing Saddles wrote:

claudb wrote:

Does it not just show that Cancellara is a superb Time Triallist in superb form.
What we did see of Valjevec, he did not seem to be trying.

Well. I'm not surprised he was trying, with just a 4" lead and on Cancellara's heels, we had Kreuziger, Martin and Kloden.
He should have abadoned on the start ramp in protest!

As for Cancellara's "superb form". A stark contrast to the rest of his year.
Probably would have gone 3 minutes slower, 3 weeks ago.

Yes, Dave. The Tour will dish out more of this deadly dull stuff, with silly mountains in the middle of nowhere.

I did not look at the TDF route close enough when it came out..pruedhomme must be taking the race to the town that pays most...makes me sick to see the TDF go through the pyrenees and waste the opportunity that territory offers... will not bother switching on those days..cav will maybe win the stage over the Tourmalet..at least I hope so, make a mockery of pruedhomme and the idiots he must have surrounding him.

andyp

Dave_1 wrote:

I did not look at the TDF route close enough when it came out..pruedhomme must be taking the race to the town that pays most...makes me sick to see the TDF go through the pyrenees and waste the opportunity that territory offers... will not bother switching on those days..cav will maybe win the stage over the Tourmalet..at least I hope so, make a mockery of pruedhomme and the idiots he must have surrounding him.

The Tour route is designed to keep the main contenders close together until the final week. That's why there is only one Pyreneen stage that will shake up the GC.

CyclingBantam

I agree with the comments about the Tour de Suisse however, I do think sometimes the organisers can't win. At the end of the day, the riders all know about and have the same course to ride of if it doesn't 'suit' them, they need to find a way to use it to their advantage. Is that not the whole point of racing?

moray_gub

Dave_1 wrote:

likewise, I was complete baffled that someone who is a complete non climber wins the Tour De Suisse...but then again, look at the TDF stages in the pyrenees...two complete jokes of stages containing prestige hors cat climbs and flat run ins that will make a mockery of the stage climbs like tourmalet...... so the Tour De Suisse is not alone in being crap organisers

I thought that when i saw the route last October to have to classic climbs like the D'Aspin and Tourmalet so far from the finish is ridiculous and looking at Stage 8 i think would look far better in reverse with a short drop of the top of Port d'Envalira instead of a 40km flat dash to Saint Girons

teagar

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Cancellara makes a mockery of both the opposition and the week's (weak) parcours.
How can you have race, where the leader can lose almost 4 minutes, against the clock, but a climber hasn't the opportunity to take 30 seconds, anywhere?

I never knew there were so many flat roads in Switzerland.....
.....until this week.

Ah, I'm sure the Swiss were totally loving it, and the racing wasn't too bad.

Everyone knew the profile beforehand, but only now some big hunk of a man won everyone's moaning it's flat. Kreuzinger who was third is hardly a beefy mofo is he?

dave_1

andyp wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

I did not look at the TDF route close enough when it came out..pruedhomme must be taking the race to the town that pays most...makes me sick to see the TDF go through the pyrenees and waste the opportunity that territory offers... will not bother switching on those days..cav will maybe win the stage over the Tourmalet..at least I hope so, make a mockery of pruedhomme and the idiots he must have surrounding him.

The Tour route is designed to keep the main contenders close together until the final week. That's why there is only one Pyreneen stage that will shake up the GC.

true, but even the Giro managed a couple of uphills in stage 3 and 4, am sure the TDF could have put in a smaller summit, give something like the Giro...but ah well...terrible shame to pass the pyrenees like that. Fingers crossed cav or Boonen wins the tourmalet stage- a true joke that will shame the organisers and the race

Kléber

Dave_1 wrote:

I did not look at the TDF route close enough when it came out..pruedhomme must be taking the race to the town that pays most...makes me sick to see the TDF go through the pyrenees and waste the opportunity that territory offers

Not so. Each year ASO receives about 200-250 candidatures for a stage finish from towns in France. The fee is the same.

Instead Prudhomme and his team of course designers headed by Jean-Francois Pescheux are trying to reform the race away from the historic formula of: week 1, sprinters, week 2 climbers, week 3 breakaways. The idea is to let the GC evolve throughout the three weeks and at the same time you can't have a full block of stages in the Pyrenees in case the GC is half-decided by then. It will be a very hard tour for the GC contenders, they will need to be on form for the opening TT, ready for the TTT and then for the climb to Andorra and then to hold the form all the way to Mont Ventoux's evil summit.

Cumulonimbus

Disappointing TT there by Kirchen. Did he go off too fast trying to get second or something. Bit odd seeing T Dekker's name that close to the top of the standings.

teagar

Cumulonimbus wrote:

Disappointing TT there by Kirchen. Did he go off too fast trying to get second or something. Bit odd seeing T Dekker's name that close to the top of the standings.

He's coming into form at the right time. Should be useful for Evans. I wonder whether he's got any better at riding the pack recently...