Gent - Wevelgem *spoilers*

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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,704
    frenchfighter wrote:
    LeePaton wrote:
    Didn't he win some rainbow bands last year?

    Have you worked out why Contador quit the Tour last year?
    Just in case you are mistaking him, it is the guy with 8 grand tours.

    But quitting the GW isn't the same comparison, FF.
    The Tour is Contador's main goal, whereas Wiggins has Paris-Roubaix, next week.
    GW is a preparation race and as such, given the freak conditions, would have ended up causing more harm than good.

    Better comparison question to ask: Which road race has Contador ridden to win, a week out from the Tour?
    That would be the Spanish RR.
    You probably know his results there; when last entered etc, better than I.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    edited April 2015
    No your point is useless.

    And fyi, when he road it in 2011, he blew the field away but came 2nd...because Rojas (sprinter) beat him in a sprint after he had more or less sucked Contador's wheel the entire way.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    so he blew the field away apart from the man who beat him....hmmm
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    ddraver wrote:
    so he blew the field away apart from the man who beat him....hmmm

    Do you have nothing better to do rather than troll me?

    How about make a worthwhile contribution to this forum.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    like pointing out where bernie says you re wrong?

    I'm not trolling anyone Frenchie - you re talking nonsense and people are saying so.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Yes you are and yes you do.
    ddraver wrote:
    like pointing out where bernie says you re wrong?

    eh. no this is incorrect. firstly wiggins isnt mentioned in the article from eisel i read and secondly so what if he didn't call for one despite it being reported:
    FJS wrote:
    Apparently Wiggins asked the race director to neutralise the race

    http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/1.2287560

    'One of the best races ever', according to 1980s Flandrien Eddy Planckaert

    as i have said all my opinions of him remain the same.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    frenchfighter wrote:
    How many years should pros ride on past glory?
    Well that depends really. Schleck managed a good three years. Cunego is on about his seventh year. A Frenchman can live off a Tour stage win for a decade.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • wallace_and_gromit
    wallace_and_gromit Posts: 3,390
    frenchfighter wrote:
    ...Wiggins...useless but having special dispensation.

    So what special dispensation does Wiggins get? And from whom?

    It must be pretty special for him to win what he's won despite being useless. Do other riders get together and decide every so often that they'll ride slowly so Wiggo can win?
  • andyrr
    andyrr Posts: 1,822
    frenchfighter wrote:
    LeePaton wrote:
    Didn't he win some rainbow bands last year?

    Have you worked out why Contador quit the Tour last year?
    Just in case you are mistaking him, it is the guy with 8 grand tours.

    8 GT wins if you include the ones his name has been removed from. So not 8 really.

    He (Wiggins) is actually pretty unabashedly honest about his attitude - not many people/riders are as willing to say that if their mind is not totally on the case then they can't do the job properly. Understandably an attitude that many don't take to but doesn't seem to try to hide it or look to blame someone other than himself.
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    ddraver wrote:
    I suggest you re read the interview with Bernie Eisel about the neutralisation, but i suspect that might challenge your really very obvious bias...

    Where be this interview?
    Correlation is not causation.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    http://www.ridemedia.com.au/interviews/ ... like-dogs/
    I mean, it was… the whole thing was just stupid… I honestly rode five riders off the road because I couldn’t hold my bike anymore and people just crashed everywhere. So I said, ‘Stuff that.’ I had a meeting and then we stopped the race – neutralised it.’

    “Other teams came back – because I was in the first echelon – and we said, ‘We can’t race here.’ We neutralised it, not the commissaire – the race director – he said on TV he didn’t do anything. And then…”

    So it was an accord in the peloton?
    “Yes. Yeah. I made the call and all riders agreed on it. We can’t race like that. And then we rode easy and all the riders came back, who had been in the third or fourth echelon, and then we saw Quickstep going to the front and started riding. It was like, ‘What are you doing?’ The breakaway had three minutes. ‘Let’s go easy and we stay safe.’ And they just started speeding up, speeding up. And then we came around the next corner and crashed off. Six guys of Quickstep on the ground.

    “You can call that shit ‘Karma’.”
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    I thank you.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,704
    frenchfighter wrote:
    No your point is useless.
    Yet you fail to come with a reason as to why.
    Hardly the stuff of constructive debate.
    frenchfighter wrote:

    And fyi, when he road it in 2011, he blew the field away but came 2nd...because Rojas (sprinter) beat him in a sprint after he had more or less sucked Contador's wheel the entire way.


    2011: The one race day he had between Giro and Tour, so no option other than to race hard.
    How did he get on before, or in the past three years?
    Picking the exception, rather than the norm hardly strengthens your position.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    What is your point here Blazing Saddles?

    If you make one then it would help me to give you a constructive response.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    frenchfighter wrote:
    No your point is useless.

    And fyi, when he road it in 2011, he blew the field away but came 2nd...because Rojas (sprinter) beat him in a sprint after he had more or less sucked Contador's wheel the entire way.
    He did it in 2011 becuase he was on the verge of a ban so was getting in as much racing as possible.

    And as for 'blowing the field away'. Movistar/Caisse d'Epargne run the Spanish champs. They didn't bother chasing as they knew Rojas - who Contador failed to drop - could win the sprint doing wheelies.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    He doesn't ride the champs as they either don't fit his schedule or are for sprinters.

    Your second point is not how things work. If they could have followed him they would. It was a climb followed by a descent then a little flat.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    frenchfighter wrote:
    How many years should pros ride on past glory?

    He won the TT world championship 5 months and 7 days ago. You've lost it.
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    frenchfighter wrote:
    He doesn't ride the champs as they either don't fit his schedule or are for sprinters.

    Your second point is not how things work. If they could have followed him they would. It was a climb followed by a descent then a little flat.

    Wow JJ Rojas must be quite the climber then. He managed to climb with Contador and out climb all the other Spanish climbers. What's he doing trying to be a sprinter?
    Correlation is not causation.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,704
    frenchfighter wrote:
    What is your point here Blazing Saddles?

    If you make one then it would help me to give you a constructive response.

    That quitting during a race run in appalling conditions, two weeks before your seasons goal,
    is no worse than not turning up at all to compete in a national championships, two weeks before your seasons goal.
    Hopefully others won't find that comparison useless.
    frenchfighter wrote:
    He doesn't ride the champs as they either don't fit his schedule or are for sprinters.

    Gent Wevelgem being known as what?
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Hopefully others won't find that comparison useless.

    Now you have made yourself clear I can readjust my view and suggest that no, your point it not useless. I disagree with the comparison however.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,704
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Hopefully others won't find that comparison useless.

    Now you have made yourself clear I can readjust my view and suggest that no, your point it not useless. I disagree with the comparison however.

    Fair enough. I won't labour with it further.
    You got the second point that G-W is known as a sprinter's race, I expect.
    Since we are talking about disagreeing with comparisons.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • wombly_knees
    wombly_knees Posts: 657
    Above The Cows wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    He doesn't ride the champs as they either don't fit his schedule or are for sprinters.

    Your second point is not how things work. If they could have followed him they would. It was a climb followed by a descent then a little flat.

    Wow JJ Rojas must be quite the climber then. He managed to climb with Contador and out climb all the other Spanish climbers. What's he doing trying to be a sprinter?
    I think everyone's still trying to figure that out, regardless of his climbing.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    ^^Yes I am aware that is is normally a sprinters race. Again I do not know what your point is. If it is a reinforcement of your first point, which we are at odds on, I say we drop it.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    wombly knees wrote:
    Above The Cows wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    He doesn't ride the champs as they either don't fit his schedule or are for sprinters.

    Your second point is not how things work. If they could have followed him they would. It was a climb followed by a descent then a little flat.

    Wow JJ Rojas must be quite the climber then. He managed to climb with Contador and out climb all the other Spanish climbers. What's he doing trying to be a sprinter?
    I think everyone's still trying to figure that out, regardless of his climbing.

    Yes. Rojas is well known to be a good climber.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    edited April 2015
    frenchfighter wrote:
    How many years should pros ride on past glory?
    You mean in relation to the reigning British, Olympic and World ITT champion?
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    If you win a TT WC, how many races the following year can you slack in?
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    frenchfighter wrote:
    If you win a TT WC, how many races the following year can you slack in?
    All the ones being ridden as prep for a single objective?
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Daz555 wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    If you win a TT WC, how many races the following year can you slack in?
    All the ones being ridden as prep for a single objective?

    Are you allowed to have a single objective and slack the rest if you win the TT WC the previous year?
    Contador is the Greatest
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    frenchfighter wrote:
    If you win a TT WC, how many races the following year can you slack in?
    About 80% of them.

    Last year Tony Martin did 82 race days. He scored CQ ranking points on 18 of them.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • wombly_knees
    wombly_knees Posts: 657
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Yes. Rojas is well known to be a good climber.
    Was just trying to be tongue in cheek over his lack of wins. Not very well, admittedly.

    Would agree with you about Wiggins' Roubaix leadership status. Thomas and Stannard look the safer bets with my limited knowledge.

    Wouldn't begrudge anyone an abandoning in this race though.

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