2015 'PRO' cycling discussion

[hornedfrog]

These might top Froome looking at his stem. So good.

[ultimobici]

How so?


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[nathanong87]

facesofaru.tumblr.com

[KWalker]

Sometimes when you're tired descending can be hard. I mean, imagine that- having to pay attention and drill it down a mountain when you're pooped.

[xena]

Contador was a monster today. Fantastic. Ryder to was fantastic, he gets caught in breaks so many times yet somehow manages to hang in there.
Porte definitely stopped at the right time
Shame Kruiswijk did not win but Landa had the stage win on a plate and took full advantage of his position.
Very exciting.

[ave]

What a race today! Altough attacking the leader while having a mechanical is quite controversial.

[Tomstr]

facesofaru.tumblr.com

So disappointed that doesn't work

[HillRPete]

What a race today! Altough attacking the leader while having a mechanical is quite controversial.

Yeah although fate called Aru back later in the stage. Katusha also helping with the pulling towards Mortirolo a bit, coincidence or national collaboration?

[ave]

>national collaboration?
Katyusa is a Russian team, so is Tinkoff-Saxo...

[ultyguy]

Astana/Katusha are traditional oligarch/petro dollars teams. Tinkov is a lot of things but he's not part of the Russian establishment that enriched themselves on assets of the state that were divested.


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[luckypuncheur]

What a fantastic race today; it's was like a throwback to a bygone era. The gaps of approx 10 mins to riders in the top 20 makes me think that a lot of riders may miss the time cut.

Contador's ride on the Motirolo was amazing, but then so was Kruiswijk. I would have liked to have seen him win. Landa rode smart and the situation with Aru's demise made it easier for him to avoid working in the group.

^^THIS

But I'm all but happy about it. Seeing domestiques like Landa winning two conesecutive mountain stages obviously easily outclimbing Contador (after never landing a top 10 in either a one week nor a three week tour), Astana on the front all the way up to Madonna di Campiglio with Tiralongo and Kangert taking multiple huge turns and then riding to the finish with a former Giro winner giving his all (Ryder), Contador climbing the Mortirolo literally with his mouth shut making Koenig seem like a bloody amateur - this is just becoming more and more ridiculous.

KWalker's post on Astana rumoured to be running an organized doping programme couldn't be more timely. I just can't fathom that the UCI is incapapable or just unwilling to put an end to this is just mind-boggling.

[tymon_tm]

Aru digged his own grave today.

had he slowed down and waited for Bertie before Mortirolo, I'm sure he would've remained second in the GC. that was a dick move and I was glad to see karma kicking Aru back in the nuts. this Landa guy was disturbingly strong though - given he pulled Aru up the first part of Mortirolo, how come he was this fresh to gain almost 40 seconds on Bertie in final 2-3 kms? but anywayz, this was a solid piece of racing, maybe one of the best stages in GTs in recent years.

my MVP vote goes to Krujswijk though - yet another Dutchman who probably hasn't seen a mountain for the most part of his life but climbs like he was born in the Alps. and he somehow follows the path of the Chicken, who started by winning the polka dot. he's deffinitely a guy to watch out for!

[Bely]

Kudos to Ryder for just keep fighting to stay in there!! That was a solid stage to watch!! Definitely one for the books!!


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[Liggero]

Landa didn't have to hard the *f##k* up to recover 50 seconds after a mechanical, and then he was sucking wheel on the latest climb. He played well his cards, but the time advantage he got at the finish line is quite small considering the situation. I don't see him as stronger than contador, although he would have been a much better rival than aru if he had been the team leader since the beginning of the tour. he is at 4 minutes on gc though, he gotta have some special amterial from vino, which might be possible, to get back those 4 min...

[petepeterson]

I came to the conclusion today that from an entertainment standpoint having a 'bad guy' team like Astana makes watching cycling much more fun. I think that's part of while today's stage was one of the best bike races I've seen in a while. Astana riding hard after Contador's misfortune and the 'good guy' Alberto coming back and dropping Aru on the Mortirolo.

Was also surprised to see Ryder get dropped by Trofimov on the descent. He was really good technically on the MTB. It also could have been that Trofimov was willing to just take more risks on the day.

If it weren't for the ill-timed illness / Hendo tweet I probably wouldn't say this but Aru's swing in form is thought provoking.