Stoner - Member
not sure if I like him yet or not
He's only been a pro (and wining races) for, like, 3 years. Oh and mountain bike world champ before that. How long does it take to form an opinion? 😛
"The gnarliest final????"
It's a road race FFS!! 🙄
he can even win on his sisters bike
Sagan drew a significant attention when he appeared at the Slovak Cup with a bicycle borrowed from his sister after he had mistakenly sold his own and the one from Velosprint sponsor was delayed. Riding the supermarket bike with poor brakes and limited gear, he won the race
Can't wait to see how he handles the mountains.
Ooops! Looks like someone went up the service road.
Yeah I thought I saw that too - who was it?
Ferri Valls by the looks of it. There were 2 Vacansoleil riders at the front at the time of the crash. He came in 33rd.
Blimey, Voeckler is over 7 minutes down
Blimey, Volkler is over 7 minutes down
Well he's had a rubbish season and injuries, I don't think anyone was expecting anything from him.
Wasnt expecting him to be that bad
Well now he's this far down he could get away on a solo break, but I don't see him pulling it off.
I guess it depends on how motivated people are to catch him. They could be closely marking each other enough for him to escape. But yes, his form doesn't look that great.
I don't think it was Brad who fell. Team Sky tweeted it was Froome who went over the bars high on the barriers.
Think he'll retire...
was complaining about his knee today
just watched it wow. sagan has confidence by the boat load. What a celebration. There wasn't a bead of sweat on him
2.31 in
crackin' last few minutes, proper bike racing
check him out..
bit handy on a bike
Too early to speculate about Sagan being caught doping?
Too early to speculate about Sagan being caught doping?
It's never too early to decide that a rider is a cheat. Just come up with some vague witnesses and a story about how you met a guy in the pub once who said he saw a dude sell something to a guy who could've been that guy who knew Sagan.
His junior and neo pro results were good and he is now developing into the rider that many have been predicting for the last two years. Its not like he has appeared from nowhere with a massive jump in performance levels, just being bloody good shouldnt necessarily arouse suspicions
I saw Sagan buying a coolbox from a bloke in a motorway services carpark...
I heard he went on holiday to Spain, once...
I didn't expect him to win that stage.
Shame Chavannel didn't kick it..
Did you see Valverde go off?..
Stoner - Member
not sure if I like him yet or notHe's only been a pro (and wining races) for, like, 3 years. Oh and mountain bike world champ before that. How long does it take to form an opinion?
He is a great talent, "one is a generation" and all that, but I'm also not sure if I like him. Cancellara told Sagan again and again to share the last climb with him in Stage 1 and he just sucked onto Cancellara's back wheel and then took the win. But it wasn't a sprint finish, it was a hill climb... Jury's still out for me.
He's an exciting rider therefore a great addition to our sport.
As for not working with Cancellara, they had different aims so fair enough.
Cancellara told Sagan again and again to share the last climb with him in Stage 1 and he just sucked onto Cancellara's back wheel and then took the win
Its called racing. If he doesn't want to do a turn he doesn't have to. quite simple.
the peleton will stop hauling in the breakaways on any stage with short sharp climb finish and leave all the work to liquigas if he carries on winning them. He didn't seem to have the top end speed on a full bore sprint stage, but it's early days. Also if one man starts dominating the organizers will change things, IMO more short sharp climb finishes were put in to stop the relentless march of Cav.
also the organizers bright idea of making the leading team wear yellow helmets. Heads up fellas it only works if no one else is wearing a yellow lid.
I heard that contador cooks Sagans meals
Cav's intermediate sprint was fantastic
Sagan - im still not sure, he irked me by refusing to help Fabian at all and just pinch that stage on the line, yesterday he looked really strong. Cycling needs a big clean character tho, see how he fares in the mountains, fingers crossed.
I don't follow this whole 'he should have helped Fabian' argument. It was brilliant race craft to follow Cancellara when he went. It would only have been a mistake not to take a turn if they were caught by the bunch and someone nipped it on the line. It is a shame that Cancellara is such a marked man these days though.
The whole point of road racing is to cross the line first after having done as little work as possible. Sagan just played it perfectly on stage 1.
If Sagan annoys the rest of the riders won't that cause him trouble later on with the peleton? (newbie question)
Francis - I found him quite endearing to start with but now I've had enough. We've got another (nearly) 3 weeks of this!
It's such an honour, to be riding the same tarmac as the pros.
Yes Francis. It's a road.
Looks like I've been kicked off the league. 🙁
its because the bigger man would have helped drag cancellara to yellow and still pinched the stage win.
add in a smile and some humility and you have a win/win/win/win situation
I don't follow this whole 'he should have helped Fabian' argument.
I hate to say it, but it must be from people who have clearly never raced. You don't go to the front with like 300m to go unless you want to lead the other guy out.
Unless you expected a 22 year old to ride Cancellara off his wheel?
Looks like I've been kicked off the league.
No one to my knowledge has been kicked off the league.
If anyone's kicked out it should be that Jonny- come-lately Rorshach. 👿
Sagan - im still not sure, he irked me by refusing to help Fabian at all and just pinch that stage on the line
I heard he was told by the team car to stay behind fab and not work with him
I hate to say it, but it must be from people who have clearly never raced. You don't go to the front with like 300m to go unless you want to lead the other guy out.Unless you expected a 22 year old to ride Cancellara off his wheel?
I think what folk are saying is that it is very unsporting to just wheel suck [ ie not put in any effort yourself] but it will most likely let you win. - See chuckles and the Schleks in the mountains last year for example
Mercyx and Hinaut would have at least tried to drop Cancellara ..probabl;y even today oif they rode [ PS RM what would Jens do 😉 ]
Spartacus was blowing through his arse, he wouldn't have beat the Tourminator (rubbish nickname) either way.
Jens would've done the exact same thing, but attacked, got caught, attacked, got caught, attacked, got caught.. until he either wins or loses.
It's not unsporting. Fabian initiated the move, Sagan responded then countered over the top. Fabian only wanted him to come through so he could attack over the top of Sagan. Sagan knew this, and most likely, Fabian knew that Sagan knew this. Asking him to come through was an act of desperation.
Fabian made the mistake. He either should have attacked earlier, or stronger. Sagan proved himself to be the stronger rider.
Wot he /\ said....I don't care either way.They're both in my team 😀
Looks like I've been kicked off the league.No one to my knowledge has been kicked off the league.
Found me, I'm off the bottom. 😀
yep, ive never raced.