La primavera - Milan San Remo 2016 **SPOILERS**

joelsim

gsk82 wrote:

Thank god for the panache of Team Sky eh? No one else wanted to make anything happen.

I always find this race odd. Kwiatkowski had a go, if a few others of the likes of Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar went with him, they'd have a great chance. Better than waiting for a sprint anyway.

Stybar crashed into a dog on the way down the Cipressa at full tilt.

TheBigBean

It always amazes me how many second tier sprinters that can climb a bit there are.

Only Freire has won more than once since 2002.

Mad_Malx

gsk82 wrote:

Thank god for the panache of Team Sky eh? No one else wanted to make anything happen.

I always find this race odd. Kwiatkowski had a go, if a few others of the likes of Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar went with him, they'd have a great chance. Better than waiting for a sprint anyway.

The Kwia move on that sort of hill is what he does best though - it's how he won Strade a couple of years back, the worlds and most of his other wins. not many who can stay with him on that, especially with a helpful moto. Unfortunately for him there was still 5km left.

rick_chasey

TheBigBean wrote:

It always amazes me how many second tier sprinters that can climb a bit there are.

Only Freire has won more than once since 2002.

Kittel could have gotten up the Poggio with the main group with the speed they were going up today.

ozzzyosborn206

gsk82 wrote:

Thank god for the panache of Team Sky eh? No one else wanted to make anything happen.

I always find this race odd. Kwiatkowski had a go, if a few others of the likes of Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar went with him, they'd have a great chance. Better than waiting for a sprint anyway.

I didn't really get what nibs was up to, he asked people to be aggressive but astana didn't do a huge amount on poggio and he waited way longer than he should have done before hitting out

onyourright

I guess Etixx–Quick-Step didn’t think Kittel would last 300 km, given his poor showing at Paris–Nice. Probably right. Maybe he’ll do well in this race one day.

Happy for Demare. He’s happy too. (That meaningless “quoi” at the end sounds so Parisian to me.)

Not sure that Nibali had the belief to muster a proper attack here. He must have doubted his realistic chances.

Does anyone know what, if anything, happened to Bouhanni’s gears?

thchris1958

Swift has been good too to avoid the crash of Gaviria. Happy for him after a good P-N with 3 top ten

Statistics for the race, we can see who tried something
Cipressa:

2016:5,7 km@4,1%---10:07---average speed 33.81 km/h(Stannard-Visconti)

Poggio:

2016:3,7 km@3,9%---6:10---average speed 36.00 km/h(Michal Kwiatkowski)

Shadowrider

I wonder if swift had tucked in under Demare, like Demare did on the lotto rider maybe he would have got round, but kept his nose in the wind, having that smart in a sprint has always been an issue of swift's. IMO

DeVlaeminck

I think it's the opposite, he's often in the right position but lacks the top end power to go from the front or to come round a pure sprinter. Still you don't get his results in MSR without having something special - would like to see him in a team where he has the freedom to go for grand tour stage wins as he can get over lumps, handle distance and from a small group would outsprint most.

Bo Duke

I thought Fab was in with a shout until the last accident, he was holding back on the descent (why....?) and looked in great shape from 5-6 kms out I thought it was his.... gunned up in his last MSR. Shame.

disgruntledgoat

OnYourRight wrote:

Does anyone know what, if anything, happened to Bouhanni’s gears?

French freighter's got his mojo working

AK_jnr

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I think it's the opposite, he's often in the right position but lacks the top end power to go from the front or to come round a pure sprinter. Still you don't get his results in MSR without having something special - would like to see him in a team where he has the freedom to go for grand tour stage wins as he can get over lumps, handle distance and from a small group would outsprint most.

He cant win in the small races he is nominated for so you think he can win GT stages?

Richmond Racer 2

AK_jnr wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I think it's the opposite, he's often in the right position but lacks the top end power to go from the front or to come round a pure sprinter. Still you don't get his results in MSR without having something special - would like to see him in a team where he has the freedom to go for grand tour stage wins as he can get over lumps, handle distance and from a small group would outsprint most.

He cant win in the small races he is nominated for so you think he can win GT stages?

Like Coppi e Bartali? Or that teensy Pais Vasco race?

He's not prolific, for sure, but he is class. And most of the time he's on his todd in terms of team help. Plus a lot of what holds him back is confidence

blazing_saddles

I'd seen Demare with Matthews at the foot of the Cipressa, about 30 seconds behind the bunch.
I next saw him on screen, last man in the much depleted peloton, at the top of the Cipressa.
Here's how:-

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/statu ... 0619508737

DeVlaeminck

AK_jnr wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I think it's the opposite, he's often in the right position but lacks the top end power to go from the front or to come round a pure sprinter. Still you don't get his results in MSR without having something special - would like to see him in a team where he has the freedom to go for grand tour stage wins as he can get over lumps, handle distance and from a small group would outsprint most.

He cant win in the small races he is nominated for so you think he can win GT stages?

Didn't realise MSR was a small race. Surely he's got all the attributes to win a grand tour stage from a break - he seems able to handle distance so he should be strong after a long break and he can sprint better than 90%. I'm not suggesting he go for bunch sprints against the likes of Cav or Greipel clearly he isn't fast enough.

milton50

Bo Duke wrote:

I thought Fab was in with a shout until the last accident, he was holding back on the descent (why....?) and looked in great shape from 5-6 kms out I thought it was his.... gunned up in his last MSR. Shame.

I didn't get that either. He's in such great form his best chance was surely to attack near the top of the Poggio and give it everything out of the corners on the descent. I don't know why he just followed people on the descent and then tried to ride people of his wheel on the flat.

The_Boy

Demare making a statement at 1730 this afternoon apparently. I gather too that the commissaires have investigated and will be taking no further action due to lack of evidence.

Fwiw, I've had a quick scootch at the part of the race in question and Demare appears to get away from the crash ahead of Kenyuck and then make it back to the peloton ahead of him by a similar sort of margin. Quite prepared to believe that he took a cheeky tow , mind, but the 80km/h touted by the renowned champion for truth Gazetta dello Sport seems a little far fetched.

Turfle

I think for Swift a lot of the reduced sprint stages still aren't hard enough for him. He's made for stages like the Pais Vasco one where he was sprinting against Valverde and Gallopin (?). Couple of good chances this week in Catalunya.

Richmond Racer 2

Turfle wrote:

I think for Swift a lot of the reduced sprint stages still aren't hard enough for him. He's made for stages like the Pais Vasco one where he was sprinting against Valverde and Gallopin (?). Couple of good chances this week in Catalunya.

Yeah, Matthews got dropped on the final climb (IIRC?) of that Pais Vasco stage

Richmond Racer 2

The_Boy wrote:

Demare making a statement at 1730 this afternoon apparently. I gather too that the commissaires have investigated and will be taking no further action due to lack of evidence.

Fwiw, I've had a quick scootch at the part of the race in question and Demare appears to get away from the crash ahead of Kenyuck and then make it back to the peloton ahead of him by a similar sort of margin. Quite prepared to believe that he took a cheeky tow , mind, but the 80km/h touted by the renowned champion for truth Gazetta dello Sport seems a little far fetched.

It appears that immediately after the finish, a number of riders reported that Demare had got a row at warp speed up the Cipressa. Capecchi and Tosatto were just two who've been quoted, but there were plenty others, apparently

joelsim

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

Demare making a statement at 1730 this afternoon apparently. I gather too that the commissaires have investigated and will be taking no further action due to lack of evidence.

Fwiw, I've had a quick scootch at the part of the race in question and Demare appears to get away from the crash ahead of Kenyuck and then make it back to the peloton ahead of him by a similar sort of margin. Quite prepared to believe that he took a cheeky tow , mind, but the 80km/h touted by the renowned champion for truth Gazetta dello Sport seems a little far fetched.

It appears that immediately after the finish, a number of riders reported that Demare had got a row at warp speed up the Cipressa. Capecchi and Tosatto were just two who've been quoted, but there were plenty others, apparently

Ha ha ha ha.

What a prime chump.

Let's hope someone has some footage on their phone.

ademort

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

onyourright

ademort wrote:

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

Are the commissaires allowed to dip into people’s computers?

It would be some upset if at this late stage the win is given to Swift!

joelsim

ademort wrote:

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

Yes it should, although I suspect it's had a coffee spilled all over it or been lost.

The_Boy

OnYourRight wrote:

ademort wrote:

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

Are the commissaires allowed to dip into people’s computers?

If they have multiple complainants all making statements to the same effect, do they really need to?

ademort

The_Boy wrote:

OnYourRight wrote:

ademort wrote:

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

Are the commissaires allowed to dip into people’s computers?

If they have multiple complainants all making statements to the same effect, do they really need to?

Complaints are one thing but cast iron evidence from the riders computer showing he cheated will be hard to refute in any court case or disciplinary hearing dont you think.

The_Boy

ademort wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

OnYourRight wrote:

ademort wrote:

Surely if Demare did hitch a lift and was riding at 80 Km/h as was stated in the Belgian press analysis of his computer should clarify if he is guilty or innocent.

Are the commissaires allowed to dip into people’s computers?

If they have multiple complainants all making statements to the same effect, do they really need to?

Complaints are one thing but cast iron evidence from the riders computer showing he cheated will be hard to refute in any court case or disciplinary hearing dont you think.

X riders say that rider Y cheated. Their statements are broadly matching in their description of what has happened.

In such an event you approach the accused and offer them a chance to respond to the accusations and present any counter-evidence - in this case there is an easy way to disprove the accusations. If rider Y can't disprove the accusations then you DQ the rider given that all the evidence points to them cheating and you've provided fair opportunity for the accused to defend themselves.

If the UCI rules don't have procedures in place for how to deal with accusations of cheating then frankly one has to wonder what the point of them is.

disgruntledgoat

Surely one of velons fancy cameras that are going to change the way I "consume" cycling will have picked it up?

The_Boy

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Surely one of velons fancy cameras that are going to change the way I "consume" cycling will have picked it up?

I was actually going to suggest that someone from Velon would be saying "I told you so" at some point .

ademort

I think its in the winners best interest and the interest of the team and sponsors that Demare makes all his computer information available for inspection in a similar way that SKY have done for Froome in the past.