2015 'PRO' cycling discussion

[tymon_tm]

Interesting words from Fredrik Kessiakoff: http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/02/ ... ort_361792

When athletes are exposed to this type of pressure from their employer one can perhaps understand why some "buckle" and make the choice of doping.. Fortunately Kessiakoff probably didn't and made the sane decision to quit.. Sad for him though.

wow there's a proper name for that: mobbing. this is the sort of the situation UCI should dig into asap - playing with athlete's health and well-being shouldn't take place in any team, especially not a WT squad.

[stella-azzurra]

I can see this happening on the Kazakhstan team. You got Vinokourov and the way he was brought up training in harsh conditions, you got the backing of the Kazakhstan government totally gonna happen. It's the Kazakhstan way.

[stuka666]

I can see this happening on the Kazakhstan team. You got Vinokourov and the way he was brought up training in harsh conditions, you got the backing of the Kazakhstan government totally gonna happen. It's the Kazakhstan way.

Or the highway.

[Vagabond]

It's a a bit absurd to suggest that Stannard should have helped pull. C'mon. If it had been riders from four separate teams that's one thing. But to help three Quick Steps to the line? Who would do that? Nice ride Ian. And nice ride today by Cav. The tour sprints should be fun with him fired up. I'll be rooting for him in San Remo.

[gravity]

^exactly my point. Why would he want to pull when he knew his chance will get blown off out of the water if he did.

Exhibit 1 - He sat on Etixx's wheel for the better part of the last 40km. Etixx mistake number 1 (or not so. Etixx would have known that Stannard will never want to pull anyway). Nothing smart or strong on Stannard's ride here. Plus, Etixx spent a lot of energy here trying to get away from chaser group led by Vanmarcke.

Exhibit 2 - Boonen attacked 4km to go. That's mistake number 2. Stannard closed the gap - no surprises here, since he sat on the wheels all along. He should be fresher than the rest since he never made a pull.

Exhibit 3 - Terpstra attacked and Stjin followed. That's mistake number 3. Terpstra spent his energy here which have cost him the sprint.

Exhibit 4 - Stannards attacked and won. He's fresher having sat on Etixx's wheel almost all the way and all Etixx guys burned their matches earlier unnecessarily.

The only thing smart about Stannard's ride was he didn't panic. Etixx just screwed up.

[Nefarious86]

Well composed ride. I think he did very well not to take the bait and burn himself out panicking in the 3-1 group. There are no points for pulling turns and if you can find a bus to follow then follow.

[Tinea Pedis]

Stannard doesn't pull through, lambasted for no panache.

Stannard pulls through, lambasted for being tactically stupid.


I'm not Sky fan boy, but seems like the lounge-chair fans would sink him either way.

[nathanong87]

this is like a worse version of the gerrans-cancellara discussion every year...

[Kjetil]

I'll be rooting for him in San Remo.

And I'll be rooting for Kristoff.

Actually I'm just hoping for the usual MSR cliffhanger, which of course will be even more of a cliffhanger if they're both still in the mix down the Poggio. Ah, the anticipation!

[Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez]

Kristoff was good yesterday but hit the front early. He even remained seated in front of everyone before sprinting.
With headwind this is actually brilliant. Was so much easier to jump from behind.

[HillRPete]

Amused to see people slagging off Stannard. Isn't the first rule that the winner is always right, and the losers are left to discuss their tactics? The way he pulled to drop Boonen, even though Terpstra was in his wheel, was nothing short of majestic (to use the word from above). Who has the confidence to pull like this, with the sprint coming up? That was absolutely fabulous.

[Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez]

This is really the key moment of his win, and it doesn't only require good legs, but tactical instinct/genius

Usually a rider who see someone coming back in his wheel would stop pulling, but he saw Boonen with 4 bikes lengths back and he knew he had to hammer down again even with Niki on the slipstream

I'm pretty sure I saw Boonen easying a bit when Niki closed the gap, thinking Stanimal (love Wawrinka too) would stop his effort.

[KWalker]

I thought Cav was going to suck and not win this year because he is too fat and Marcel Kittel?!?!?!?

I love how every year everyone is worried Cav is done for, then he wins a bunch of shit. At what point are we just going to finally admit that he is probably the greatest sprinter of the modern era and possibly all time? Sure, the HTC train was awesome for him and he was more dominant then, but he still has far more wins than the next 3 riders down the list combined.

[guyc]

Doesn't look too fat in that shot does he.

[btompkins0112]

I think that it is mostly attributable to his position on the bike.....scrunched up so it appears he has a bit of a jelly belly.