Tour de Suisse - Stage 1 *Spoiler*

knedlicky

Turfle wrote:

Coverage of the prologue should be about to start here:
http://www.bestsportgo.tv/20130607/vv-5 ... 65664.html

Cam Meyer leading at the mo

In the live stream commentary Backstedt has mentioned the wind having changed direction since the first riders went off.
It hasn’t just changed direction, it has become stronger and gustier.

After about 85 riders,

1 Meyer (OGE) 9:39
2 Terpstra (OPQ) +0:10
3 Haussler (IAM) +0:14
4 Rasmussen (GRS) +0:15
5 Verdugo (EUS) +0:16
6 Hollenstein (IAM) +0:16
7 Hesjedal (GRS) +0:19
8 Tosatto (TST) +0:19

DeadCalm

Thanks. Is there a list of start times and/or live results anywhere?

Turfle

start times:
http://www.tourdesuisse.ch/fileadmin/us ... ologue.pdf

2nd intermediate times:
http://www.matsport.fr.php53-23.ord1-1. ... ype=&race=

Final times:
http://www.matsport.fr.php53-23.ord1-1. ... ype=&race=

Turfle

Meyer's time could easily last at least until Cancellara.

DeadCalm

Awesome. Thanks Turfle.

Turfle

Not the most exciting stage!

Well done Cam; gotta take advantage of your luck when you get it. Very impressive from Cancellara.

Some GC riders:
Cameron MEYER
Peter VELITS 19 seconds
Ryder HESJEDAL 19 seconds
Maxime MONFORT 25
Thibaut PINOT 32
Tanel KANGERT 32
Maxime BOUET 33
Michael ALBASINI 34
Rui Alberto COSTA 40
Bauke MOLLEMA 41
Janez BRAJKOVIC 42
Wilco KELDERMAN 42
Roman KREUZIGER 44
Tejay VAN GARDEREN 45
Diego ULISSI 46
Thomas LÖVKVIST 49
Daniel MARTIN 58
Michele SCARPONI 1 minute

garyhoop1

Watch videos from the Tour de Suisse here - http://bit.ly/129J3X2

DeadCalm

Turfle wrote:

Not the most exciting stage!

Well done Cam; gotta take advantage of your luck when you get it. Very impressive from Cancellara.

Some GC riders:
Cameron MEYER
Peter VELITS 19 seconds
Ryder HESJEDAL 19 seconds
Maxime MONFORT 25
Thibaut PINOT 32
Tanel KANGERT 32
Maxime BOUET 33
Michael ALBASINI 34
Rui Alberto COSTA 40
Bauke MOLLEMA 41
Janez BRAJKOVIC 42
Wilco KELDERMAN 42
Roman KREUZIGER 44
Tejay VAN GARDEREN 45
Diego ULISSI 46
Thomas LÖVKVIST 49
Daniel MARTIN 58
Michele SCARPONI 1 minute

Yep, dozed off there for a while. Congrats to Cam Meyer and a great effort by Cancellara. Also, a decent ride by Sagan.

GC not looking like one would expect. I bet TJVG wasn't expecting to be behind Thibaut Pinot at this stage. Could make for some interesting racing.

I'd add Pozzovivo and Peraud (who are 44 and 45 seconds back respectively) to your list of GC guys.

Very disappointed in JTL who, looking at the times of the riders who went before and after him, doesn't have the weather to blame for losing 1.09.

frenchfighter

Was that a really hard climb? Not sure why Fabu is that far back?

frenchfighter

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

Was that a really hard climb? Not sure why Fabu is that far back?

There was a big change in the wind. It massively favoured those that started early (you'll notice the top 10 knedlicky posted after 85 riders is almost exactly the final top ten. It was actually a pretty decent effort from Cancellara.

frenchfighter

Thanks.

dab_32

Don't feed the troll.

inkyfingers

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

52nd is better than Bertie managed in the Dauphine TT

To be fair, that Sky squad is clearly not there for GC.

inseine

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

I tried to resist, but here goes. With a team ranked 19th of the 21 they clearly sent a young team to gain experience and I applaud that rather than mock them.
We all know that you hate Sky, though you profess to love cycling. Well after 35 years of cycling, racing and working in the industry I love it too and love the way Sky and Wiggins and all the rest you hate have changed cycling from a minority sport to the main stream. I love that I can see the Tour series on TV, that there are dozens of cycling mags not just a couple and that I can talk to 'ordinary' people about the sport.
Really dude, to bother scrolling down to 52nd place to find the first Sky rider and bother to inform the world takes a level of obsession that makes me worry for your health. How about just talking about the race?

DeadCalm

inkyfingers wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

52nd is better than Bertie managed in the Dauphine TT

To be fair, that Sky squad is clearly not there for GC.

Looking at that squad, you'd almost be forgiven for thinking that the Tour de Suisse is the equivalent of the Naughty Step for Team Sky.

inkyfingers

DeadCalm wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

52nd is better than Bertie managed in the Dauphine TT

To be fair, that Sky squad is clearly not there for GC.

Looking at that squad, you'd almost be forgiven for thinking that the Tour de Suisse is the equivalent of the Naughty Step for Team Sky.

I can see what you mean, but actually I think it's quite good as hopefully some of their other riders will get a chance to go for wins when otherwise they wouldn't get the chance. Hopefully we'll see some aggressive racing from them.

DeadCalm

inkyfingers wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

52nd is better than Bertie managed in the Dauphine TT

To be fair, that Sky squad is clearly not there for GC.

Looking at that squad, you'd almost be forgiven for thinking that the Tour de Suisse is the equivalent of the Naughty Step for Team Sky.

I can see what you mean, but actually I think it's quite good as hopefully some of their other riders will get a chance to go for wins when otherwise they wouldn't get the chance. Hopefully we'll see some aggressive racing from them.

I know FF is on a wind up but he's right inasmuch as that was pretty poor from the entire squad. Maybe they were saving themselves and the plan is to target stage wins?

wombly_knees

Sweet win for Meyer. Rather steady year he's having so far. Also liked that he turned up for the crapulent Oceania road championships.

Turfle

Not a whole lot of climbing support for Meyer in the Orica squad, but defending should suit him better than attacking. See if he can dig as deep as Rohan Dennis did.

tailwindhome

frenchfighter wrote:

Another example of a team of two speeds.

Two speed team as in two speed peleton?

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

OK I'll bite. Who on the Sky team for this race do you consider to be a GC contender and which of those would you expect to see performing in a TT? Out of the top 50 how many would you count as being GC contenders in this race? The Sky team looks like a development squad with some old hands to look after them. I'd have thought it's reassuring that they aren't right up there. I'm not quite sure what you are implying with the comment about a team of two speeds. Bear in mind the A team is at Dauphine, the B team has just finished the Giro and this race has what's left. I think we get that you don't like Sky which is fine and I can understand it but in other races you have commented negatively on how many of their riders have done well in TTs, you can't have it both ways. You never know maybe Josh, Dom or JTL might give you a bit of attacking when it gets lumpy.

DeadCalm

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

OK I'll bite. Who on the Sky team for this race do you consider to be a GC contender and which of those would you expect to see performing in a TT? Out of the top 50 how many would you count as being GC contenders in this race? The Sky team looks like a development squad with some old hands to look after them. I'd have thought it's reassuring that they aren't right up there. I'm not quite sure what you are implying with the comment about a team of two speeds. Bear in mind the A team is at Dauphine, the B team has just finished the Giro and this race has what's left. I think we get that you don't like Sky which is fine and I can understand it but in other races you have commented negatively on how many of their riders have done well in TTs, you can't have it both ways. You never know maybe Josh, Dom or JTL might give you a bit of attacking when it gets lumpy.

FF was clearly being provocative but, as someone who has high hopes for some of the Sky youngsters in this race, I was pretty disappointed with their performance as a team, Dombrowski excepted. I was certainly hoping for better from Luke Rowe and Josh Edmondson. And JTL managed to lose 24 seconds to Pozzovivo despite going in better conditions than him! Hopefully they were instructed to forget GC, take it easy today and light up the race in search of stage wins.

Pross

Pretty hard to judge them on their performance over a short TT when none are TT specialists. Also not sure why you say 'except Dombrowski' I didn't see the race so did something happen to him as he was as far down as many of the others.

knedlicky

DeadCalm wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Not the most exciting stage!
Well done Cam; gotta take advantage of your luck when you get it. Very impressive from Cancellara.
Some GC riders:
Cameron MEYER
Peter VELITS 19 seconds
Ryder HESJEDAL 19 seconds
Maxime MONFORT 25
Thibaut PINOT 32
...

Yep, dozed off there for a while. Congrats to Cam Meyer and a great effort by Cancellara. ... I bet TJVG wasn't expecting to be behind Thibaut Pinot at this stage. Could make for some interesting racing....
Very disappointed in JTL who, looking at the times of the riders who went before and after him, doesn't have the weather to blame for losing 1.09.

The wind conditions changed fairly abruptly, between Meyer (49th starter) and Velits (58th starter), although Velits (and shortly after him, Monfort and JTL) might not have got the full brunt of how it later became.
Hesjedal and Pinot can consider themselves fortunate having started early.
Cancellara was by far the best of those who had the worst conditions.

DeadCalm

I'm cutting Dombrowski some slack because I'd expect him to be totally shoot at the TT. JTL set off only 12 minutes after Meyer and 14 minutes before Pozzovivo who managed to only lose 44 seconds to Meyer. I'd have expected JTL to have at least matched Pozzovivo's performance.

wombly_knees

Turfle wrote:

Not a whole lot of climbing support for Meyer in the Orica squad, but defending should suit him better than attacking. See if he can dig as deep as Rohan Dennis did.

I don't think he'll hold it. Even if he had support, he's not exactly a great climber. I'm more expecting him to churn out a decent result rather than defend.

Then again, tis a rather weak field.

Richmond Racer

As pointed out, this squad is, with the exception of Sutton and Boswell, the riders who arent riding the Dauphine or who rode the Giro.

The babes have been sent with the guiding hands of Eisel, Hayman and Rasch. As said in a Joe D Velonews interview, the plan is for some of them to be given a chance to show what they can do on stages, without having to work for a GC contender. Today's stage and I think stage 7 are the ones that will give Dombrowski, Edmonson and JTL a chance to show what they can do against more experienced climbers.

Looking forward to it.

Oh and Cam Meyer is a decent enough climber. Finished 5th overall in California.

Pross

DeadCalm wrote:

I'm cutting Dombrowski some slack because I'd expect him to be totally shoot at the TT. JTL set off only 12 minutes after Meyer and 14 minutes before Pozzovivo who managed to only lose 44 seconds to Meyer. I'd have expected JTL to have at least matched Pozzovivo's performance.

JTL has no history of being able to TT at all plus Pozz had a reasonable TT at the Giro so maybe improving? If they have no intention of challenging for GC it makes sense to not go all out in the TT. I'll be disappointed if we don't see a bit of Dombrowski and Edmondson in the hills though (hopefully JTL too).

wombly_knees

"Oh and Cam Meyer is a decent enough climber. Finished 5th overall in California."
Yep, he's a decent climber. For this race, I'm not expecting all that much though, what with quite a few GT top 10 riders and a gun like Ulissi.

How is Dombrowski in inclement weather? All I remember is from the Girobio last year and he was mint on the climbs but not all that good on the Strade Bianchi type surfaces and crap in the prologue. Never really watched the American races.

frenchfighter

inseine wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky fanboys how did your rider's do today? Best placed rider in 52nd. 'GC' riders in the 100s...

Another example of a team of two speeds.

I tried to resist, but here goes. With a team ranked 19th of the 21 they clearly sent a young team to gain experience and I applaud that rather than mock them.
We all know that you hate Sky, though you profess to love cycling. Well after 35 years of cycling, racing and working in the industry I love it too and love the way Sky and Wiggins and all the rest you hate have changed cycling from a minority sport to the main stream. I love that I can see the Tour series on TV, that there are dozens of cycling mags not just a couple and that I can talk to 'ordinary' people about the sport.
Really dude, to bother scrolling down to 52nd place to find the first Sky rider and bother to inform the world takes a level of obsession that makes me worry for your health. How about just talking about the race?

So because they are young and new to the ranks they need to be inconsequential?
With 35 yrs following the sport I am sure you could trot off many names of youngsters who have ripped it up. Those same youngsters that give you more pleasure then then established ones because it is surprising.
Pppl went head over heels for Rohan Dennis, rightly so. They went head over heels for Thibaut, rightly so. Some in the know are happy with Aru, rightly so (viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12636081&p=17762029&hilit=aru#p17762029) Note also on that link who is in 10th place.
But with Sky, these 'lads' are allowed to rock up and ride around for 'experience'? Great for those that have the safety of big bucks backing.
Did you watch the Giro Bio with Dombrowski? I suggest YT it. The guy has some serious talent and knows how to attack. Was very exciting to watch. Since joining Sky he is insignificant. That detracts from my viewing pleasure. Ditto other riders. Ppl were going nut cracker crazy over JTL. Zero this year.
From one hand you could say this is a good thing because maybe they will develop into something even better in a few years but from the other you know this makes it less exciting.
Which is why I watch. To be entertained.
Sky don't do that for me. They stymie that pleasure. I've been watching just about every race I can on a crappy stream for the past six years and I know my cycling emotions. I know those are why I began to watch and continued to watch. I loved it when I was beside myself with happiness and joy watching these guys suffer and lose, suffer and win, cruise and win, cruise and lose. I remember going out on a weekend on my racer psyched, bobbing and weaving up the hills.
Sky as an individual team dont give me any of those and worse still they corrupt that ability to excite in other teams. They have dramatically changed the landscape of cycling and I don't give two hoots about it being more mainstream. This doesn't increase my viewing pleasure - being niche would be better.
I dont hate Sky, I dislike them. Hate is a strong word, oft overused and should be reserved for those that deserve the emotion.

Ok so it is a ITT and those guys are not known for the ITT however if they want to be GT contenders they do need to be up there. Lets see what these rookie climbers do on the mountains, unless they are kept on a leash. If they attack and make it I will be so happy. If they attack and fail I will also be happy. If they ride wheels for 'experience' I will be pissed.

Oh, and as for scrolling down the rankings. I do that a lot. Often times a lot more interesting then looking at the top 10.