Pure Climbers

timoid.

LeicesterLad wrote:

Yeah i'm a big fan of Martin and its hard to tell how he has progressed because opportunities may be a little thin on the ground at Garmin. Thing is though he's getting older now, we keep hearing he's breaking through or going to break through in a couple of seasons, but he hasn't really done anything noteworthy yet (excluding stage wins here and there)...

I could even suggest that he's more of a puncheur than a true climber, I always think of him when there is a short sharp uphill finish rather than on long winding mountain passes, a little like Rodriguez but without the final ability on the long stuff...

Agree with your second paragraph, but at 25 he's a GT stage winner (where finished 13th overall) and monument runner up, so the first is a little harsh.

frenchfighter

http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2012/ ... as-52.html

By most accounts, the fastest time up Letras was accomplished by Santiago Botero in 2007. He managed to complete the ascent in just under three hours, on his way to winning the Vuelta a Colombia that year. With this in mind, any time under four hours is considered very good. That's four hours of nothing but climbing, though most fit Colombian amateurs (who live at altitude) make it in around 5-6 hours.

Turfle

I could definitely see Martin winning a Vuelta, or maybe a Giro. The Tour will always be tough because of the TT miles usually involved. The Giro may be tough because of his allergies.

He also the punch to win any number of one day races.

I can't wait for Pete Kennaugh to give up the track so we can really see what he can do. His performance over the big, big Cols at the Route du Sud last year was tremendous.

Turfle

For modern day pure climbers, you have to throw Quintana in there. Proper little dancer.

Turfle

andyp wrote:

Chiappucci had the heart of a lion, the tactical sense of a giraffe and a well stocked medicine chest.

Yeah sums it up nicely. He was my favourite rider growing up, probably because we shared a tactical nous, and partly because he looked like snooker legend Joe Johnson, but Joe Johnson on a bike. He was as entertaining a rider as there has ever been.

Not a pure climber though.

sonny73

frenchfighter wrote:

Another great graphic FF. Really striking the difference in climb lengths when you see it like that.

Remarkable

Here is an interesting article for those of you who follow woman's cycling:

http://www.procyclingwomen.com/Climbers.html



Edit: Some of the videos have been removed from youtube, but its worth a read all the same.

frenchfighter

Thanks, good link.

inkyfingers

frenchfighter wrote:

http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2012/ ... as-52.html

By most accounts, the fastest time up Letras was accomplished by Santiago Botero in 2007. He managed to complete the ascent in just under three hours, on his way to winning the Vuelta a Colombia that year. With this in mind, any time under four hours is considered very good. That's four hours of nothing but climbing, though most fit Colombian amateurs (who live at altitude) make it in around 5-6 hours.

Wow, that is quite something.

I can't imagine climbing solidly for 5-6 + hours without any descents etc to break it up, as a "Rouleur" something like that strikes fear into my heart (and legs or course)!

LangerDan

frenchfighter wrote:

http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2012/ ... as-52.html

By most accounts, the fastest time up Letras was accomplished by Santiago Botero in 2007. He managed to complete the ascent in just under three hours, on his way to winning the Vuelta a Colombia that year. With this in mind, any time under four hours is considered very good. That's four hours of nothing but climbing, though most fit Colombian amateurs (who live at altitude) make it in around 5-6 hours.

That graphic is quite misleading as it tries to translate the length of the climb into the elevation gain by assuming the slopes of all these climbs are the same. The altitude gain of Alto de Letras is only about 3 times that of Alpe d'Huez - not the 5 or 6 times that it appears.

Le Commentateur

Yes, I was thinking it's probably mostly a boring slog.

ocdupalais

Le Commentateur wrote:

Yes, I was thinking it's probably mostly a boring slog.

Most climbs are a boring slog when you're off the back.

frenchfighter

Enjoy:

http://www.cycleboredom.com/retrofetish ... o-ditalia/

liquor box

inkyfingers wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2012/ ... as-52.html

By most accounts, the fastest time up Letras was accomplished by Santiago Botero in 2007. He managed to complete the ascent in just under three hours, on his way to winning the Vuelta a Colombia that year. With this in mind, any time under four hours is considered very good. That's four hours of nothing but climbing, though most fit Colombian amateurs (who live at altitude) make it in around 5-6 hours.

Wow, that is quite something.

I can't imagine climbing solidly for 5-6 + hours without any descents etc to break it up, as a "Rouleur" something like that strikes fear into my heart (and legs or course)!

I cant imagine it either, but am now going to dream about the decent, imagine the speed and ease of going downhill for 50 miles!!!

Pross

Has Raul Alcala had a mention at all? He is one of the climbers I remember from when I first started watching cycling. Apparently he is back racing in his late 40s!

iainf72

Pross wrote:

Has Raul Alcala had a mention at all? He is one of the climbers I remember from when I first started watching cycling. Apparently he is back racing in his late 40s!

He wasn't really a climber though. He could climb, but I remember him performing very well in TT's

frenchfighter

'Some Tours de France are just okay and some are great - but the Tour of '58 was truly sensational. It opened with controversy, witnessed countless astonishing breakaways, and ended with one of the most dramatic and shocking turnarounds in cycling history.

The characters who starred in this drama filled Tour came straight out of Shakespeare. There was the ageing monarch, thre time Tour winner Louison Bobet, a sort of King Lear, along with his French national teammate and defending champion Jaques Anquetil, imagined as an impregnable Julius Caesar looking for a second triumph in his second Tour. The opposition included a third Frenchman, Raphael Geminiani, a Prince Hamlet seeking revenge, and a noble Luxembourger, Charly Gaul, a Brutus like figure who lived above the fray but was ready to get his own back for old grievances. And finally came the Banquo type character, the seemingly innocuous, sympathetic Italian, Vito Favero.'

The opening paragraphs of a superb and long article on this by John Wilcockson which I will type up here when I have time.

frenchfighter

Want to know who the next big climbers are going to be?

Tour du Val d'Aoste. This race could give an indication. It is for espoirs and is packed with mountains. This year there were three summit finishes and 1 Mountain TT. One mountain with a 11% average and a 22% max.

Fabio Aru won it this year, as he did last year. Watch out for him in Astana next year.

Also Jungels. Yeah that same rider you saw in TourdeLux. He won the Queen Stage with a solitary break, finishing a whopping 6mins clear. He is not in the top 10 as he got smoked two other days for about 30mins each time.

Aru


This years results. 10th place is over 20mins back. They should televise this sort of race.
1. Fabio Aru (ITA, Team Palazzago) en 22h09'34"
2. Sergei Chernetckii (Equipe de Russie) à 3'25"
3. Andrea Manfredi (ITA, Hoppla-Wega-Truck) à 3'50"
4. David Formolo (ITA, Petroli Firenze) à 4'12"
5. Gianfranco Zilioli (ITA, Team Colpack) à 4'35"
6. Fausto Masnada (ITA, Team Colpack) à 5'45"
7. Pierre Paolo Penasa (ITA, Zalf-Euromobil-Desirée-Fior) à 7'34"
8. Lachlan David Morton (AUS, Chipotle-First Solar) à 10'10"
9. Francesco-Manuel Bongiorno (ITA, Hoppla-Wega-Truck) à 14'56"
10. Joshua Thomas Edmondson (GBR, Team Colpack) à 21'28"

See here for previous winners. Note among other placings that Pinot won this race and Dan Martin came 2nd.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_la ... 9e_d'Aoste

FJS

Nice report on Tour d'Aosta, Frenchie. Tour de L'Ain, in a couple of weeks is a bit similar, although not exclusively for young riders, and there's other tours packed with climbs for younger riders, like Tour d'Alsace and Circuito Montanes.

Crozza

frenchfighter wrote:

Aru

are we sure this isn't Daniel Navarro, sneaking into the kids race?

Looks a lot like him

knedlicky

FJS wrote:

Nice report on Tour d'Aosta, Frenchie. Tour de L'Ain, in a couple of weeks is a bit similar, although not exclusively for young riders, and there's other tours packed with climbs for younger riders, like Tour d'Alsace and Circuito Montanes.

The Tour de l'Ain is one of the races John Gadret has won.
A recent issue of the french magazine Bike about successful climbers in the Tour between Charly Gaul and 2011 mentioned Gadret as one of the few pure climbers around today.

But Gadret seems to prefer cross to road and the Giro to the Tour (he didn't want to be in the Ag2R Tour team in 2011 and 2012, although he was pushed into being there in 2011; Ag2R management have also stated he is more suited to the Giro), so although he does okay in the Giro, I don't expect he'll ever make it big in the Tour (and as long as Roche is with Ag2R!)

LeicesterLad

knedlicky wrote:

FJS wrote:

Nice report on Tour d'Aosta, Frenchie. Tour de L'Ain, in a couple of weeks is a bit similar, although not exclusively for young riders, and there's other tours packed with climbs for younger riders, like Tour d'Alsace and Circuito Montanes.

The Tour de l'Ain is one of the races John Gadret has won.
A recent issue of the french magazine Bike about successful climbers in the Tour between Charly Gaul and 2011 mentioned Gadret as one of the few pure climbers around today.

But Gadret seems to prefer cross to road and the Giro to the Tour (he didn't want to be in the Ag2R Tour team in 2011 and 2012, although he was pushed into being there in 2011; Ag2R management have also stated he is more suited to the Giro), so although he does okay in the Giro, I don't expect he'll ever make it big in the Tour (and as long as Roche is with Ag2R!)

Gadret? He's 33 and in his twilight, he won't be winning any Tour's or Giro's from here on in. Unless nobody else turns up, of course

Even now though he is a better climber and GC guy than Roche, in my opinion Roche is pretty average at everything, for a supposed GC contender anyway.

frenchfighter

FJS wrote:

Nice report on Tour d'Aosta, Frenchie. Tour de L'Ain, in a couple of weeks is a bit similar, although not exclusively for young riders, and there's other tours packed with climbs for younger riders, like Tour d'Alsace and Circuito Montanes.

Talansky of Garmin is currently leading after stage 4. Yesterday Navarro won solo from 5km (23 riders in an escape gaining 22mins, then wittled down before he attacked). Talansky won today.

GC now:
1 Andrew Talansky Uni Garmin - Sharp 13:16:03
2 Sergio Pardilla Bellon Spa Movistar Team +12
3 Daniel Navarro Garcia Spa Team Saxo Bank-tinkoff Bank +38
4 Mads Christensen Den Team Saxo Bank-tinkoff Bank +1:03
5 Daan Olivier Net Rabobank Continental Team +1:08
6 Jerome Coppel Fra Saur - Sojasun +1:17
7 Guillaume Bonnafond Fra Ag2r La Mondiale +1:21
8 Yohan Bagot Fra Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne +1:31
9 Serge Pauwels Bel Omega Pharma-quickstep +1:37
10 Juan Ernesto Chamorro Col Colombia +1:54
11 Alexey Lutsenko Kaz Continental Team Astana +2:09

Bold highlights: 19 yr olds.

FJS

More youngsters in today's final mountain stage in the Ain. Pinot we know, and Rolland in third, but looks like the French have another promising 22 year old climber in Bardet. Talansky takes the overall

DeadCalm

FJS wrote:

More youngsters in today's final mountain stage in the Ain. Pinot we know, and Rolland in third, but looks like the French have another promising 22 year old climber in Bardet. Talansky takes the overall

I'm a big fan of Bardet. He was pencilled in to start the tour but got injured beforehand. Next year hopefully.

Gavin Cook

My hero when I was growing up was Lucho Herrera. He was almost untouchable in the mountains.

Gav

frenchfighter

Tour de l'Avenir finishes today. So far it doesn't look like there has been much differences.

Top 20 of stage 4 which was up the Telegraphe

1 Warren Barguil (Fra) France 4:11:52
2 Gennady Tatarinov (Rus) Russian Federation 0:00:02
3 Juan Ernesto Chamorro Chitan (Col) Colombia
4 Daan Olivier (Ned) Netherlands
5 Sergey Chernetski (Rus) Russian Federation
6 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Italy
7 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Australia 0:00:21
8 Sergey Pomoshnikov (Rus) Russian Federation
9 Pierre Paolo Penasa (Ita) Italy 0:00:24
10 Antoine Lavieu (Fra) France
11 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Italy
12 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) United States of America
13 Théo Vimpere (Fra) France
14 Jesper Hansen (Den) Denmark
15 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Austria 0:00:28
16 Ever Alexander Rivera Gurrero (Col) Colombia 0:00:32
17 Ian Boswell (USA) United States of America
18 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Sweden 0:00:40
19 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Eritrea 0:00:56
20 Tim Wellens (Bel) Belgium

LangerDan

frenchfighter wrote:

Tour de l'Avenir finishes today. So far it doesn't look like there has been much differences.

Top 20 of stage 4 which was up the Telegraphe

1 Warren Barguil (Fra) France 4:11:52
2 Gennady Tatarinov (Rus) Russian Federation 0:00:02
3 Juan Ernesto Chamorro Chitan (Col) Colombia

Barguil is an incredible talent - he's been the best Espoir rider in France this year by some margin. I think he's signed to Argos - Shimano as stagiare, which seems a slightly odd team choice.

frenchfighter

Got it. First time I came across that name. Will look out for him.

Turfle

Would have loved to see Joshua Edmondson climbing against them in L'Avenir. Real shame that GB didn't send a team this year.