Will Bertie ever win a one day race ?

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  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Jez mon wrote:
    IF Fab was given a tour with plenty of TTing in it with no really difficult mountains... then perhaps he could get in the top ten...

    You couldn't get an easier Tour route than last year, and he was still nowhere near.
  • Bakunin
    Bakunin Posts: 868
    I would suspect that AC's desire to contest some of the classics has been pushed onto the backburner for the foreseeable future.

    It is much more important to erase Armstrong's 7 TdFs --especially after LA's nonsense this year.

    I think one can make a serious criticism of AC in that he follows the LA/JB race scheduling -- Tour, Tour and more Tour.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    Bakunin wrote:
    I would suspect that AC's desire to contest some of the classics has been pushed onto the backburner for the foreseeable future.

    It is much more important to erase Armstrong's 7 TdFs --especially after LA's nonsense this year.

    I think one can make a serious criticism of AC in that he follows the LA/JB race scheduling -- Tour, Tour and more Tour.

    Except for that Giro and Vuelta he won...
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    afx237vi wrote:
    Jez mon wrote:
    IF Fab was given a tour with plenty of TTing in it with no really difficult mountains... then perhaps he could get in the top ten...

    You couldn't get an easier Tour route than last year, and he was still nowhere near.

    He wasn't riding to get a good GC placing though. I should point out that for him to get in the top ten I would think he would have to get in a long successful breakaway on a transition stage too. Which is difficult to see happening,
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    Bakunin wrote:
    I think one can make a serious criticism of AC in that he follows the LA/JB race scheduling -- Tour, Tour and more Tour.

    Except for that Giro and Vuelta he won...
    To be fair to Bakunin, the year he won both he wasn;t allowed to do the Tour. I think the criticism on his schedule is fair. Although LA/JB didn't invent the singleminded focus on the Tour
  • jim one
    jim one Posts: 183
    Jez mon wrote:
    afx237vi wrote:
    Jez mon wrote:
    IF Fab was given a tour with plenty of TTing in it with no really difficult mountains... then perhaps he could get in the top ten...

    You couldn't get an easier Tour route than last year, and he was still nowhere near.

    He wasn't riding to get a good GC placing though. I should point out that for him to get in the top ten I would think he would have to get in a long successful breakaway on a transition stage too. Which is difficult to see happening,

    The Andorra stage he rode for himself though in an attempt to keep hold of the yellow jersey. He did quite a good job but then totally blew and eased off to save energy at something like 6k to go.
  • ultimobici
    ultimobici Posts: 44
    calvjones wrote:
    Always still amazes me that LeMond never won a Classic.
    He may not have won a classic, but look at his record a little closer and you'll see that he was in at the kill more than any other Tour winner since Hinault and Fignon.

    1982 – Renault-Elf-Gitane
    UCI Road World Championships Road Race (2nd-Silver Medal)
    Grand Prix des Nations (2nd)
    1983 – Renault-Elf-Gitane
    UCI Road World Championships Road Race (1st - Gold Medal)
    Giro di Lombardia (2nd)
    1984 – Renault
    Liège-Bastogne-Liège (3rd)
    1985 – La Vie Claire
    UCI Road World Championships Road Race (2nd - Silver Medal)
    Paris-Roubaix (4th)
    Omloop Het Volk (4th)
    Tour des Flandres(7th)*
    Gent - Wevelgem(18th)
    Liège - Bastogne - Liège (17th)
    1986 – La Vie Claire
    Milan-Sanremo (2nd)

    Not a bad record especially when you look at the rest of those seasons and the opposition. Kelly, Anderson, Vanderaerden, Kuiper & the Planckaerts were at their peak.

    *1985 was particularly impressive - a storm broke in the second half of the race and the he weather became so bad that only 24 made it to the finish. The race historian, Rik Vanwalleghem, said: "It was a legendary Ronde, one which wrote Sport with a capital S. It was as cold as Siberia all day and the rain fell in torrents [regende het pijpenstelen]. Of the 173 starters only 24 were counted in at the finish. In this apocalytpic background Eric Vanderaerden got back to the front after looking beaten to ride 20km at the head of the race alone. Impressive."

    I can't see any of the recent Tour contenders sticking it out past the first feed in conditions like that. Lemond did AND podiumed at the Giro and Tour that year.

    It's not just Contador but all of the true contenders who choose to ignore the classics. LA used to finish his season on the Champs Elysees.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    From the man himself:
    I’ll definitely start at the Volta ao Algarve. Last year I really liked the race and I think that it’s a perfect way to start the season. In 2009 I won, but this year I’m going to take it relatively easy, although I always like to arrive in good shape to the races and besides, I’m eager to start racing. After that I’ll go to Paris-Nice, where more than anthing else we want to work on teamwork, on coordination and the tactics of controlling a race. Then I’m planning to ride the Volta a Catalunya and probably País Vasco, although I’m also leaving the door open for the classics, but I’ll decide about that later.

    AC Press Room.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • William H
    William H Posts: 61
    ultimobici wrote:
    It's not just Contador but all of the true contenders who choose to ignore the classics.

    Cadel Evans doesn't.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    William H wrote:
    ultimobici wrote:
    It's not just Contador but all of the true contenders who choose to ignore the classics.

    Cadel Evans doesn't.

    Indeed

    My point about LeMond is exactly that - he was clearly very good across many Classics, I think its a real shame he wasn't the first American to win one.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Dgh
    Dgh Posts: 180
    I don't think there's much doubt that LeMond was a seriously good one day rider as well as GT rider. Two golds and two silvers in the Worlds, competing against the likes of Hinault, Kelly, Argentin, Saronni et al demonstrates that amply. Esp when you remember the Worlds were 3 weeks after the Tour then, and everyone was in shape and around.

    As for Bertie, he could win the Worlds if the course is tough enough, like Cuddles. However, like Cuddles, he'll need a very tough course. I don;t see him winning LBL, possibly Lombardy if he stayed in shape, but even then could he stay away from someone like Cunego?

    Bertie's a great rider, but my problem with him is that he seems to miss the big picture. With hsi riding style and the general anti-americanism in Europe, he could be a huge star if he signed up with a team with an aggressive anti-doping stance. Weren't Garmin after him end of last year? Instead, he flirts with Caisse d'Epargne and then stays with Astana.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Interesting Lemond's brought up here - yes, he took the classics seriously early in his career, but he was also the one to introduce the single-minded focus on the Tour de France (and Worlds) in his post-accident years. In 1989 and especially 1990 he didn't do a lot beyond July and August - of course LA perfected that, not even taking the Worlds seriously any more, but it was Lemond who started the focus on just the summer and sod all to the rest of the season.
  • Dgh
    Dgh Posts: 180
    Lemond rode the Giro every time he won the Tour. He only really stopped riding the classics after getting shot. Who knows how he would've approached things after 86 but for the accident?

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