HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
You've got to remember he raced last week too! If that was the start of his season I wouldn't be overly concerned.
Tour of Oman (Spoiler)
- Thread starter Flying_Monkey
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Flying_Monkey
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Wow, that mountain stage was as important as I'd hoped. Great performance by Gesink to take it, with Edvald Boasson Hagen in second at 44 seconds behind. In fact Sky had a very strong day all round and look like a much better equiped team this year for these kinds of stages - they really haven't in the past. Even Russell Downing was up there in 18th. Cancellara is lurking ominously but I don't think the TT is long enough for him to make up over a minute on EBH. Not sure whether Gesink has enough left to hold on to the lead though - 44 seconds over EBH. It's going to be a great final TT, and it's a pretty difficult, lumpy one too.
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Flying_Monkey
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Yes, he didn't look tired at all <strokes chin>. Seriously, it was a great performance. I was really expecting his efforts yesterday to cost him.
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Flying_Monkey
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And Cav finally gets his win on the last day, courtesy of a great lead-out... Gesink and EBH are looking like the early form riders of this year, and both still technically 'young' riders too.
Team Fiwip
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I’d hesitate to put EBH in the same class as Gesink (1[sup]st[/sup] overall, 1st young rider classification and 2 stage wins, not forgetting his Tdf 6[sup]th[/sup] overall ). Whilst I admit 2[sup]nd[/sup] overall and the green jersey was a worthy result for EBH he seemed hesitant and unsure at times. Ironically I suspect this may be due to the ban on team radio! For the reason, last year racing with radio Sky were plagued with tactical blunders, the blame for which I put solely on the team’s DS’s, this year without radio the team are still troubled with tactical errors the blame for which unquestionably sits on the shoulders of the riders! e.g. repeatedly riding to the fore with 7km to go and getting swamped in Qatar, failing to provide EBH an adequate lead-out in Oman and more importantly the failure of EBH to counter Gesink’s attack on stage 4 when he clearly had the legs, an error which may have cost him the overall classification. In summary, 6 stage races into the season Sky have managed 3 stage victories. Unsurprisingly I remain unconvinced with Sky’s philosophy but I’m happy to be proven wrong.
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Flying_Monkey
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I'd agree that Sky seemed tactically naive last year, at times even disastrous. They look a little less so this season. But I'm an admirer of EBH (whom I picked out some time ago as one for the future), not Sky - but equally I am not as blinkered by hatred for David Brailsford as you! And yes, I do think EBH is as good as Gesink, but he's a slightly different kind of rider, perhaps with the potential to be the best all-rounder in the peloton.
Team Fiwip
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Calm down FM I didn’t even mention Brailsford, furthermore, I acknowledged EBH’s accomplishment. Do you disagree with my examples of the teams current lack of tactical nous?
Bloody hell FM, are you still banging on about this! Everybody thought he was going to be good when you 'spotted' him, just as everyone thought Ben Swift is going to be useful when you recently 'spotted' him!
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Flying_Monkey
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Bloody hell FM, are you still banging on about this! Everybody thought he was going to be good when you 'spotted' him, just as everyone thought Ben Swift is going to be useful when you recently 'spotted' him!
Give me a break, it's much easier to spot people who are already good!
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Flying_Monkey
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Too early to say. They look better tactically than last season, but that's not saying much. I'm more surprised by Leopard-Trek to be honest, who I was expecting to be far better organised.
Team Fiwip
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Hmm… so disorganised they took the team classification, fear not FM Leopard are a premier outfit with much bigger fish to fry. The Schleck brothers, Cancellara, Monfort, Bennati, Voigt and the young Feillu and Fuglsang will be a formidably force throughout the whole of the coming season
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Flying_Monkey
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It doesn't take huge powers of prognostication to predict that...
Team Fiwip
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Sorry FM I didn’t mean to undermine your role as the Forum’s number one talent scout, I was merely suggesting that the middle eastern Tours may not be particularly high on Leopard Treks agenda
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Flying_Monkey
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I don't suppose they are that high on anyone's agenda, not even (gasp!) Sky... I thought it was an interesting race as far as these things go, certainly better than Qatar.
