Season So Far....Please.
LeicesterLad
Posts: 3,908
Hi All
So, i've literally not watched a race yet this year - anybody fancy summing up the season so far for me? What have I missed both on and off the bike?
Oh, and how is everyone? Well I hope?
So, i've literally not watched a race yet this year - anybody fancy summing up the season so far for me? What have I missed both on and off the bike?
Oh, and how is everyone? Well I hope?
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Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
Valverde is also flying this year and has 8 wins, more than anyone.
Sky's stage racing team have been pretty poor and Froome only has 14 days racing or so.
Sky's classics squad have done well. G impressed a lot and Wiggins was super in Roubiax. Stannard was going like a monster but some guy took him out before the big races happened.
The classics season was very good but no one dominant figure throughout.
Gilbert has better form than last year and won Amstel very well but was somewhat lacking in
Frank and Andy are racing together but the latter is still well off the pace (and admits to it). Frank is going well.
Colombia are in the mix but not really lighting up the scene. If they manage to get a full complement of riders to the Giro (issues with visas) then I am sure they will give it their all and some.
MTN Q are a great little team, punching above their weight with a couple of excellent climbers: Kudus and Meintjes.
There is a little Polish superstar in the making called Kwiatkowski. 23 tears old and tearing it up in every race he has entered this year. Will certainly be in the GT mix for the next 10 years but he can also move himself very fast in a TT and in one day races - won Eroica and placed amazingly well in the Ardennes: Amstel 5th, Fleche 3rd and LBL 3rd. You will really like him: humble, stylish, real racer.
I would suggest watching Cosmo Catalan's 'How the race was won' series. Will sum them up well in a short period of time.
Living in exile. I lost the love and enthusiasm for quite a while, I'm now here trying to find it again! Nice to see all the old faces still knocking about!
Just to add: re Nibali: not much to go on based on season so far, not been setting the roads alight. Difficult to imagine him turning up for the Tour in anything but top form though
is that even possible ?
You can up the dosage in the Dolomites
Cheers Frenchie - Seems like I've missed some pretty good racing then. Will definitely be catching up on TA with the news that Contador is back on form. I was a pretty big fan of Kwiatkowski anyway so good to hear he's still doing well. What of the likes of Bardet, Pinot, Elissonde etc?
Good to have you back. FF's resume is fairly good, it was a pretty enjoyable classics season. Should be more open in the stage races as well Sky are faltering and Kwiatowski and Valverde are in good form and Dan Martin showed will in the Ardennes. Sagan riding well but still missing out on a monument
Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
he had his first baby in beginning of March - so bit of a slow start - plenty of cradle celebrations in the summer i'm guessing
I didn't think I could ever give up on the cycling but it happened, I'm quite saddened by it - feel like i've missed out on so much but at the same time finding the effort to be arsed to take a real active interest again has been a real task. Had a fair bit going on over the last 12 months or so - nothing major, just things that have distracted me from doing many of the things I used to enjoy in which time it appears everybody I know has become a cycling expert (which is mildly irritating - those people that laughed at me in lycra, banging on about the art of racing non-stop now don't seem to be laughing anymore!). But heyho, such is life. Onwards and upwards!
Cheers mate! I'll have to catch up on the classics from 'the Source that shall not be named' if they have been uploaded. The Grand Tours sound like they might be a little more open this year which is a good start. So what's happened to king Froome?
Still around, still present, a bit hit and miss, not really lighting anything up. Bardet is very good though.
Barguil is my favourite though. Proper attacker. His dad died a couple of years back which is why he points to the Sky when he wins and often thinks about him when he is on the attack.
Would also add that you should look out for the Yates bros - Simon doing particularly well this year. He did break his clavicule yesterday though and on the same day his brother was second with a great performance on a tough stage in Turkey.
Also beards seem to be 'in' thing for some riders, particularly early season. Very bad look. Noticed Adam Yates had a nasty version when he was standing on the podium.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/04/ ... ity_325593
*runs and hides*...
there seems to have been bugs and niggles around Sky's GT squad. Porte got wiped out with illness early doors and has struggled to recover, thomas has ridden (and crashed) well in lots of races and Froome I think has a knee(?)problem. Anyway whereas they were winning all of the one weekers last year they've won naff all this year.
wiggo and thomas made top 10 in P-R
If you can get to watch the last 10km of Roma Maxima. Valverde shows how to keep your cool under pressure
Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
By contrast, stage racers have become fragile best-in-show display pieces, either crocked or avoiding each other.
E3 was for sure my favourite race of the season, but I definitely agree that in general the cobbled classics were the stand outs so far. Stage racing wise only Contador at TA has really been a pleasure to watch, though there's been some nice stages dotted around.
I'm not sure how much detail you enjoy when catching up with your cycling LL, but Cosmo at cyclocosm has done an amazing job putting out "How the race was won" vids for a lot of the classics (+ covered the tour down under and Paris Nice)
http://vimeo.com/cyclocosm/videos
or
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... luChsADt6D
You are such a minx.
Standout performers so far as mentioned by FF are Kwia, Contador, Valverde.
Gerrans has been good, won races his way, deserves credit
Froome hasn't raced much, back injury and chest infection
Nibali has been taking it easy he had a kid as some peope mentioned.
Classics good, very good. Sagan almost proven to be a green jersey specialist
http://inrng.com/2014/04/kwiatkowski-ma ... r-himself/
Humble origins just like the greats of the past. No silver spoon or state sponsored formative years. Also, only 23 and already giving back to the community.
Note that he is a heavyweight TT rider so when he is a GT climber tearing up the TTs at the same time in the years to come you can rest assured that he has previous and has not come out of nowhere.
Tell you what, I'll rest a lot easier now
Phew!
Oh, and Riis, Contador and Tinkov are now BFFs.
Somehow I thought this as he has been covert. However he has actually raced San Luis (won this), TA (2nd) and Catalunya (5th). 24 days racing, 3700 km - this is on a par the majority of the GT contenders other than Froome and Porte who have done half that.
The classics season has been a bit disappointing. Amstel, Fleche and Liege were all poor, Roubaix was fascinating but fell flat at the finish, not a bad edition but not a classic, Flanders again was interesting but not a classic, MSR was just plain disappointing. Strade Bianche worth watching if we are calling that a classic, I don't see why we shouldn't it's a better race than MSR most years.
Sky have been poor, illness, injury, bad luck and poor form. Stannard and Thomas have shown themselves as big talents but they need to have more luck and maybe more backing, EBH confirms his best days are behind him.
Wiggins had ridden well in Roubaix before so 9th after focusing on it as a target is goodish but for a Tour winner coming towards the end of his peak years it'll be irrelevant when we weigh up his season, he never looked like a possible winner and Thomas was far more impressive.
Contador and Valverde good, Sagan's progress has stalled, Cav been in and out, Giro lacks heavyweight contenders.
Indeed - what the heck is a 'heavyweight TT rider' ? Is it something that one might apply to a TT'er who is heavily built (Kwiatkowski doesn't appear to be or if he is then he'll need to lose some beef if he is do do well in the GTs) - I can probably only think of Cancellara as a (relative) weighty top TT rider, or is it a joke phrase used for those riders that you have decided fit your criteria for being all positive about thus any flaws they have will never be worthy of any mention ?
Seriously I am pleased that my belated use of the 'foe' facility makes skimming through some of the Pro Race threads so much more palatable now that some of the drivel is hidden from my eyes.