Tour Of Beijing ***possible spoiler***

LeicesterLad

Theres not been a single thread about the actual racing yet, i know its not Le Tour, but come on, are you all fair weather fans?

Mountain stage today, must have been something to talk about?! (i don't know because i'm at work)

andyp

I think 'mountain stage' is over egging it somewhat, it was hilly rather than mountainous. A group of 50 came in pretty much together.

LeicesterLad

andyp wrote:

I think 'mountain stage' is over egging it somewhat, it was hilly rather than mountainous. A group of 50 came in pretty much together.

So P*ss poor then?

I havn't looked at the route or anything, but on yesterdays highlights they were banging on about how today would shake things up in the GC...evidently not then.

Turfle

A good 9 man group got away on the penultimate climb, but were pulled back. Then Deignan, Roche, and Froome attacked on the final climb, and hung on to beat the remainder of the peloton by a second.

It wasn't a tough enough stage to have much effect on the GC, but it was tough enough to get rid of Sagan and all the other sprinters.

squired

I was told that there aren't even any time bonuses in this race. Is that true? It seems silly that a race starting with a time trial and little in the way of tough terrain doesn't have bonuses to at least shake things up.

Going into the race I think it was someone like Chris Froome who predicted today's "Queen stage" would end up with a group of about 60 riders. He wasn't far off with that prediction.

LeicesterLad

squired wrote:

I was told that there aren't even any time bonuses in this race. Is that true? It seems silly that a race starting with a time trial and little in the way of tough terrain doesn't have bonuses to at least shake things up.

Going into the race I think it was someone like Chris Froome who predicted today's "Queen stage" would end up with a group of about 60 riders. He wasn't far off with that prediction.

Not sure to be honest, but surely the people who would usually be trying to grab the bonus seconds, will just be trying to grab a few normal seconds instead? Shouldn't effect the race that much should it, or am i missing something blindingly obvious?

dave_1

looked a good stage. Can't help but think Roche should refocus on non grand tour races as he has a finish.

mroli

Happy for him (and AG2R). Not steep enough for Froome to really do damage though.

inkyfingers

Dave_1 wrote:

looked a good stage. Can't help but think Roche should refocus on non grand tour races as he has a finish.

I've thought that for a while. His problem seems to be that he's a good all rounder but not the best at any one thing. Would rather see him properly focus on one day races or GT stage wins rather than just going for a top 10 finish in GTs.

RichN95.

Roche is only winning because he's got a book to sell.

andyp

I think cyclingnews have gotten a bit over excited about Roche's win:

cyclingnews.com wrote:

For Roche it was an important marker in the 27-year-old’s career. Although he has forged a career as a promising grand tour rider he has lacked a genuinely world class win in his career.

He's still lacking a genuinely world class win.

squired

LeicesterLad wrote:

squired wrote:

I was told that there aren't even any time bonuses in this race. Is that true? It seems silly that a race starting with a time trial and little in the way of tough terrain doesn't have bonuses to at least shake things up.

Going into the race I think it was someone like Chris Froome who predicted today's "Queen stage" would end up with a group of about 60 riders. He wasn't far off with that prediction.

Not sure to be honest, but surely the people who would usually be trying to grab the bonus seconds, will just be trying to grab a few normal seconds instead? Shouldn't effect the race that much should it, or am i missing something blindingly obvious?

I don't think time bonuses would have made huge differences, but at least they would have given people a chance to move up the GC. For example, if Roche had picked up 20 seconds today he would now be in the top 10. Given that you only get World Tour points for a top 10 it is a shame that there is going to be so little movement (unless something surprising happens) possible post time trial.

As for Roche, is it that he decides to focus on Grand Tours or that as he is Ag2r's best Grand Tour rider they want him focusing on Grand Tours? Of course they do have Gadret, but he will never do anything big in the TDF. JC Peraud seems decent, but is already in his 30s.

Tom BB

Roche's big problem (apart from not being quite good enough in the mountains!) is that his is awful at TTing. He's a very good rider, and does have a very quick finish-maybe he should focus on one day races?

frenchfighter

Some lovely scenery and different background lead to some interesting and good photos.

Shame Samu had a bad stomach bug along with his whole team.

EKIMIKE

Tom BB wrote:

Roche's big problem (apart from not being quite good enough in the mountains!) is that his is awful at TTing. He's a very good rider, and does have a very quick finish-maybe he should focus on one day races?

He'd surely make a fantastic stage hunter a la LL Sanchez.

frenchfighter

1 Sky Procycling 40:58:58
2 Omega Pharma - Lotto 0:00:59
3 Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:08
4 Quick Step Cycling Team 0:01:10
5 Team RadioShack 0:01:11
6 Pro Team Astana 0:01:12
7 Movistar Team 0:01:29
8 Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:30
9 Saxo Bank SunGard 0:01:36
10 Katusha Team 0:01:43
11 Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:04
12 Lampre - ISD 0:02:16
13 Team Garmin - Cervelo 0:04:04
14 AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:12
15 Vacansoleil - DCM Procycling Team 0:07:54
16 HTC - Highroad 0:10:49
17 BMC Racing Team 0:15:45
18 Team Leopard Trek 0:21:31
19 Chinese National Cycling Team 0:29:54

Tusher

Well, I suppose the Chinese National Team can only improve.

RichN95.

Tusher wrote:

Well, I suppose the Chinese National Team can only improve.

A rider from Hong Kong was second on GC, so that's a start.

rick_chasey

Tom BB wrote:

Roche's big problem (apart from not being quite good enough in the mountains!) is that his is awful at TTing. He's a very good rider, and does have a very quick finish-maybe he should focus on one day races?

I get the impression he's not bad over 3 weeks because his recovery is quite good.

I recon he should target the tier 2 one weekers, and bag a couple of those.

rick_chasey

Quick Step 4th in a team GC competition :shock:


Shurely shome mishtake.

Kléber

It's like the Tour of Qatar, minus the sunshine.

inkyfingers

Kléber wrote:

It's like the Tour of Qatar, minus the sunshine.

At least the tour of Qatar has a point in that it's for the sprinters to burn off their beer bellies before the classics. It also wasn't parachuted straight into what should be the list of truly top level races.