I think the only reason the Giro is mentioned so early is because it's visiting Ireland and he must want to be part of that. On the other hand the Irish stages look unlikely to suit him from what I recall.
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I think the only reason the Giro is mentioned so early is because it's visiting Ireland and he must want to be part of that. On the other hand the Irish stages look unlikely to suit him from what I recall.
I completely forgot about the Giro starting here! Yeah, could easily just be a marketing move by Garmin.
And whoever's asking the questions as well. Journalists asks will you be at the Giro as it's starting Ireland etc. I guess it's still not closed off that he can produce over 3 weeks for a GC bid, but if he can, you'd think Giro and Vuelta courses would tend to suit him better with less time trialling and perhaps the best time trialling GC contenders not necessarily there.
Roche will be one of three riders with 'support', but Kreuziger will lead the team at the Vuelta. I guess if he goes well early they'll focus on him more.
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-n...ger-is-leader/
Brilliant stage win by Nico today. Tactically perfect and with the legs to match
http://balls.ie/cycling/video-nicola...uelta-despana/
Oh and Dan Martin wants to be World Champion
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/15...-about-GC.aspx
Congrats to Nico Roche and it has been a great year so far for Irish cycling ..... congrats again
Over the moon for Nico. Superb win. Since San Sebastian I thought his form was good.. if he maintains it and Saxo back him he could finish very well indeed.
Managed to avoid the result for the afternoon until the ITV highlights. When he made the move I was thinking "please not another second", so pretty much in line with what he said post stage! Brilliant win, great to see him have the killer instinct.
A few interesting things post stage as well about the Tour. Him saying the plan was never for him to be there in the high mountains for bert, he had a different, specific role for the medium mountains, with Kreuziger and Rogers the designated high mountain domestiques. Maybe it wasn't, notwithstanding to distaste of working with Riis, such a rubbish move for him afterall. Also, relations between him and Kreuziger seem ok, with Kreuziger tweeting pics of the jerseys and that last night.
Also, more on Deignan going back to the World Tour, no confirmation yet it's Sky, but Sky don't annouce signings during the season. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/deig...worldtour-team
Good news: Roche now leads overall by 17 seconds and appears to be in the form of his life. He also holds the mountains jersey and the combined jersey while holding second in the points category. Magnificent stuff.
Bad news: Martin had to withdraw after yesterday's crash. Nothing too serious, will hopefully be able to get himself in top shape for the worlds.
Bravo Nico - fair play ... i take it all back about you :)
Roche rode brilliantly again.. looks like he lost the jersey by a second though.. waiting for confirmation.
But disappointing he didn't have more support from Saxo in the end.
Damn.. confirmed he lost it by a second. 4th on the stage. If he could have taken third or finished a second faster he would have held the jersey.
Mad how goals change. Roche finishing 4th on a stage like that would usually be seen as a great result. Yesterday we were kinda disappointment
Today is huge though and I expect the big boys to come out strong
Roche 7th today (provisional, I've seen a few different results posted). Was only able to follow on Twitter but he was dropped repeatedly and fought back every time. Only conceded 22 seconds to Nibali- that's a very good performance. Now 3rd overall.
Horner won solo.. at 41. With a very dodgy history. And an attitude to doping as late as last year he was defending Armstrong. That doesn't smell good at all.
Meanwhile Fernando Alonso is to rescue the Euskatel team who previously looked doomed. He's great friends with Contador, so that could be interesting to see how that develops.
Horner has always bugged the **** out of me. he's a godd time trialist too. If Nico is still 3rd after the time trial he has a great chance of a podium. Will still be tough
Roche usually suffers the day after a rest day and his time trialling is suspect so it could be very tough. On the other hand he has put in some decent TTs this year and is in the form of his life, while the course includes a 3rd cat climb so won't be all about the specialists. Instinct is he'll slip[ back a bit but hopefully not.
Roche 4th after first split.. same time as Nibali.. he's flying.. hopefully he can keep it going. (Note: Health Warning- a lot of first splits have been wrong)
Roche 5th at second time check. Same time as Valverde. Nibali 11 sec faster than Roche
Roche 5th +1:48 .. Nibali to come though will probably bump him down a place. Super, super stuff though.
Horner will probably drop back though.
Roche now second on the GC.
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 41:22:22
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:33
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:46
4 Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack Leopard
5 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:02:33
6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:44
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:55
8 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:03:35
9 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:46
10 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha 0:03:56
back leader of the combination jersey too. Great ride. Who knew actually training with a TT bike would help...
He'll have worn all four jerseys on a stage now. That must be pretty unusual.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Now is the big question - can he maintain this till sunday week?
And a bit of self belief too. Also, as the doping conspiracy* theorists are ramping up, an up and down course and out of the GC contenders none that have TTing as their real speciality also helped. Brilliant performance none the less, as even with those factors, he previously would be losing 4 or 5 minutes to Martin or Cancellara. Really hopeful of a podium for him now - key stage is that Tour de France-esque one, which is kinda different to the normal Veulta stages. Amazing performance whatever happens from here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
*I'm pretty cynical about cycling performances, but I wandered into The Clinic to see how his performance went down. Christ on a bike, the whack jobs twist everything to suit that a rider is doping. One of them suggested he'd transformed from a sprinter to a tdf mountain domestique since going to saxo, ignoring his previous GC results and the fact he was pretty rank in the high mountains of the Tour! There's been no exceptional improvement, bar the TT. His results on the climbs are remarkably similar to his previous results on the very same climbs!
The big reasons for Roche's results being better in this Vuelta are
a) the field is remarkably weaker than in previous years IMO. No Wiggins, Froome, Contador. Of the young guys Mollema and Martin crashed. Rodriguez never really gets going until half way through the race. The only genuine GC challenger in the race is Nibali and he's leading (and should win comfortably). If Roche was to win, it would be no real different to Hesjedel winning the 2012 Giro.
b) his confidence is sky high after that win (on a one mountain parcours, it should be noted, not the long up and down days to come).
His record in the Vuelta is 13th, 7th, 16th and 12th and that was with a poor team behind him
Yeah, the clinic is a fooking Zoo. I'm very cynical also, but some of those guys can't accept that any cyclist ever is clean. Like you say, everything is taken as evidence of doping.
Just to clarify, I have no doubts about Roche. There's been nothing exceptional, and even his TT was within what you'd expect considering one of the factors of moving was to work on that area. Great performance - veulta has been a success for him whatever happens from here on in!
Philip Deignan officially confirmed move to Sky team.
Thats great newsQuote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
All the "experts" think he'll be part of Richie Porte's team for the Giro. Him being an Ulsterman should mean he gets a fair bit of publicity from the opening weekend
Delighted for him. Although must admit to being slightly disappointed that he only got a 1 year deal - sky have chewed up and spat out a few riders since their formation (Russel Downing the prime example).
Roche up to 5th as Saxo repeat their Tour De France feat and split the peloton in crosswinds. Great stuff, and super to see the team going all out to back him. He closed the gap in the green jersey competition too as he came in 10th.
How that one bad day in the cold messed thing up though :(
Roche holds out today despite not being on a good day and ends up 5th. Very good performance from him and he has racked up some nice UCI points as well. Hopefully he can carry the form into Lombardia and the Worlds. Pity he had that bad day in the cold. But reassuring that he isn't on top form every day.. looks human at least.
Meanwhile Brameier has been going pretty well in Belgium while I think Lavery has been solid enough with Cofidis to date.
Felix English, Peter Hawkins, Philip Deignan, Sam Bennett and Daniel Martin all doing the Tour of Britain this week. Pity to see Ronan McLaughlin miss out on selection.
Bennett just lost out on a stage win to Ciolek (winner of Milan SanRemo) earlier this week. Has been rewarded with a place on the worlds team- http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/15...nd-Martin.aspx
Martin, Roche, Brammeier, Bennett. Deignan unfortunately misses out as he crashed at the Tour of Britain.
Edit: Just read back through this thread and what a year it has been! Not over yet either :)
Martin on the attack today at the Tour of Britain, but it's Sam Bennett that wins the stage! Nice!
Brilliant win for Bennett. That was very hilly and the "peleton" was down to 15 a the end
Matt Brammeieir won a race in Belgium too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=roTUPh-jh2s
Bennett's win.
Another super result for Sam Bennett as he takes second in a bunch sprint to Cavendish. Excellent effort and he beat some serious class. Big things ahead for this lad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-L076cK4Zw
13th for Roche at the Worlds TT. Excellent stuff. Really looking forward to the Road Race.
Brian Cookson is the new President of the UCI - he has ousted PMQ by 24 votes to 18 in this mornings vote in Italy. Rumours were abound on twitter this morning that Cookson allegedly offered €25k to the Greek delegate in return for its backing.
It's funny and as great as it is to get rid of McQuaid - I have the same feeling about cycling now than i did when Tommy No Bobs took over Cork City from Arkaga. It's like delaying the impending doom.