Smashing result for Dan. He looked gone at start of last hill but clawed his wa back up. Fnished first of a group with Belloema, Nibali, van den brocke
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Smashing result for Dan. He looked gone at start of last hill but clawed his wa back up. Fnished first of a group with Belloema, Nibali, van den brocke
Great ride from Martin again to take 5th at Liege Bastogne Liege. Roche was well back. Martin, Roche and Brammeier all going to Romandie, while Deignan is at the Tour of Turkey.
Brammeier was in an early break too. As he tweeted last night 'its not my race...'
Martin was brilliant though. He went on an attack after Nibali and Iglinsky, but got caught by leading group as Rolland didn't help him. Finished 3rd in a slow sprint for the podium
Yeah, saw that sprint, it was like they were riding through treacle! Hardly surprising mind you.
No, 3rd tough race in a week for most of them. When you see Gilbert crawling over the line in 20th (or similar) you know its a tough one
Wee bit on Roche and his contract situation: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nich...ork-on-results
2 irish in breaks today
Brameier in the break in Romandy
Deignan in the break in Turkey
http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-2.php
Live English language commentary from Turkey
Brammeier interview.. hopes to do a grand tour this year, presumably the Vuelta.
Roche on the attack in California tonight. Couldn't make it stick but still a decent effort and good to see him being aggressive.
Bit of an interview with him before the race.
Had to laugh when I read this: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gadr...ks-to-teammate
Gadret you absolute ballbag.
Great news- looks like Martin is going to le Tour: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dani...e-france-debut
Reckon Brammeier may make his Grand Tour debut this year too.
Funny I think if Roche built his year around the Giro I think he could go really well there.
Garmin get a Grand Tour before Sky - Wigan 1, United 0? Although hard not to see Wiggins going well in the Tour if he can maintain his form.
btw Finished Millars book. Gotta say I've warmed to him after reading it. He doesn't come across as contrived as he can do in interviews imo.
The build up around Wiggins in some of the UK outlets has been pretty mad. The pressure on him to deliver will be absolutely immense and he is set up for a hell of a fall.
That said, he has nailed it so far this season and the course suits him well.
Incidentally, I'd quite like to see Roche go to Sky for a few years.. obviously they'd not have him as team leader, but I really think they'd help him improve.
Sky would at least get/ allow Roche, to give more focus to time trialling. He could be a really decent week long stage racer imo, where as I'm not sure he'll ever be a genuine contender in a Grand Tour. Garmin mightn't be too bad a fit either - they've a few that are coming near the end of their careers (VDV and Danielson) so there should be space in next year or two, and they definitely have a track record of allowing riders to have a shot if they're going well. Superdomestique to Martin, if he's not going to challenge himself?
Martin's time trialling is even worse though :(
As long as he gets out of AG2R and finds another world tour team that's the main thing.
No doubt, but his climbing is better, and I don't think it's the team holding him back if he had the desire to really work on it. So yeah, get him out of AG2R, with a team like Sky or Garmin the preferred option!
I'd love Dan to get the Polka Dot jersey. Just to complete the set for Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
Delighted for Garmin winning Giro. Think we all agree a rider like Hjesdal would have no chance in the HGH days either so taking that as a positive
Interesting to see An Post Sean Kelly looking at stepping up to Pro-continental but also keeping their continental team as well. Would love to see this happen.
bad crash involving Dan martin yesterday. Initial fears were that he'd miss Tour but as the pic shows, he's been taped up and is continuing on today
https://twitter.com/DanMartin86/stat...37775573745664
It was 3 years ago he got injured after being selected for his first tour
Roche seems to feel good about his Tour build-up: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12...oNation.com%29
Has been doing wind tunnel work to improve his TTs, let's hope it pays off.
Does anyone think TTs should play a role in major tours? I suppose they break the day in / day out regularity of stage races, give TT specialists something to shoot for rather than just the sprinters or climbers, they create a chance to split the riders and they're entertaining. Despite all that I just don't think they really fit.
For what it's worth, I think ITT's should be there. Grand Tour winners should be an alrounder rather than a specialist climber or specialist TTer. I also think the grand tours should include stages like the roubaix ones a few years ago, or the puncheur suited stages of last year, and stages where the wind can rip the race apart.
I'd more question the Team Time Trials to be honest, as I feel it leads to a more focussed team make up rather than all round team make up, and can distort the individual standings a bit much for my liking (even though my favourite team is good at them!).
Agree with Macy. ITTs definitely have a place. It's not like a dominant TTer has had a shot at a grand tour since Indurain (maybe Armstrong).
Need to be an all rounder these days
Decent start in Switzerland for Roche.. 25th in prologue and 6th on mountaintop finish. 5th overall currently. A good indication of decent form ahead of the Tour, let's hope he can keep it going.
Olympic team was selected. Martin, Roche and David McCann. Cycling Ireland's points system was ridiculous and meant Brammeier missed out. He's appealing. Hopefully they re-consider (if unlikely)
I like Peter Sagan- but this is getting boring. 3 stages in four days in Switzerland. Roche still 5th overall.
Martin still upbeat with just having finished Dauphine.
Armstrong charged by USADA. Not just a simple doping charge either. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/arms...oping-by-usada
Kimmage welcomes it http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12...the-truth.aspx
Also optics bad for Contador in terms of dot joining.
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12...announced.aspx
Dan Martin confirmed for Tour
What are the dots? Same doctors / team mnager (Bruyneel)?Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
Armstrong's legal defence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/lance.html
One of the trainers listed was also his personal trainer for a period.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I see Brammeier won the national championship. What's the story with the apparent dislike for him? Even on the article I read the first comment was by someone saying they can't take to him and they were dissappointed that he won. Can any of you dedicated cycling fans shine any light on this? It seems he should have been a cert fot the Olympic team and he's only being left out for some sort of personal reasons.
To start from the last point - the reason he wasn't selected was because of the (ridiculous) points system used. Never going to suit a rider who's essentially a domestique. There seems to be some debate on how hard Box Hill actually is, but if it was on the easy side of the commentary he'd probably be the best suited of our top riders. I think it's still in the appeal process though. Dan Martin was giving out about the points system earlier in the season too.Quote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
Never met the guy, so unless it's his personality, I'd say any ill feeling is because he was a very late decision to represent Ireland. He was born in Liverpool, represented Wales in a commonwealth games and now represents Ireland. Must admit this type of nationality hopping doesn't sit too well with me, but thems the rules in cycling, so he's one of us now. Also, would've been nice to see Roche take it for the simple fact he'll be in the tour.
Didn't realise there was any dislike for him. In fairness to Brammeier he's attended every National Championship (winning the last 3 and a TT one too) and rode for the Sean Kelly team. Think he left GB as he asn't happy with how they treated him after injury.
He absolutely should be on the team ahead of McCann. he didn't win any points because he raced pretty lightly (as a domestique) as he's expected to race the Vuelta.
Anyway, Tour starts on Saturday. Roche's diary returns in the Indo. Dan Martin has one in the IT too. He seems as frank and opinionated. Really looking forward to this Tour
And just like that brammeier confirms he's heading to Vuelta
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12...onals-win.aspx
Hadn't really myself until recently, but he certainly doesn't get the attention or support the other guys get.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
I have seen a few people comment on things he said after the timings debacle in the TT championship as not really being acceptable if someone does actually consider themselves Irish, but that's purely going on others opinions as I didn't see anything untoward in what I've come across tbh.
good start for the Irish lads. Not a bad prologue. Martin 8th, Roche 18th today. Few top 10 hopefuls lost time (Froome, Kessiakoff)
Sagan won his second stage today, Roche 7th - lots of crashes and can't find any word on Martin.
Just over 5 minutes down.. think he got caught behind one of the crashes/ had to go back for Danielsen.