nochain

Great!!!So that gives Hunter a stage win in all 3 Grand tours?If I remember correct he won 1 or 2 stage early in hes career in the Vuelta?

Yes great riding by them both...amazing to see Impey at the front during the last couple of kilometers.It takes a hell of a lot to work for you sprinter at that speed when half the bunch of top riders in the world are just hanging on for life!! Think Hunter got lucky yesterday or he had the right instinct....he was riding on Cavs wheel for most of the last 5km and right at the moment when Cav started to move for the sprint Robbie sort of sat up and bailed left.

Yes brilliant!!Hunter started the kick before Thomas and when Thomas pulled in next to him he did not give a inch and was still kicking after Thomas gave up.Cav had to go left around Hunter...best leadout i have seen Hunter give!

Great ride again by Hunter!!He loves these short TT's...and he keeps on showing us how strong he really is!! From the GC guys it is Kreusiger and Basso that did the best by far with Rodriguez not far behind. Not that a short TT like that means anything but Basso did better than expected! Maybe he will be ready to race by week 3.

I think Frank's form will be fine by the 3rd week and he should be strong,he will the real danger man and should be able to take the Giro...BUT i agree it will be hes mind that I am not sure of.He is still dead set on doing well at the Tour and if he holds back because he is worried what the Giro might do to hes Tour hopes then he won't even be in the top 10.If he is not 100% there to win this thing he will probably just use some excuse of not being able to prepare or something.I really hope he sorts himself out and goes for this big time,will be the best thing ever for both him and Andy. If I had to bet on it now I would go with him not being 100% focussed for the win and he will end up being very bad.Hope he proves me wrong. For now I want to back Kreuziger for a surprize win.

He's the next big thing for SA thats for sure!!!He has got amazing long range sprint ability it seems. Said it before on another tread I see him as a leadout man very soon for one of the big name sprinters,maybe they should put him in front of Kittel!!what a combination that would be and then who knows after a year or 2 in Europe he might become a big name himself! Hope he can stay away from major injuries like JL has been hammered with over the last couple of years.

Nibs i think over the last 2 months have been in the form of he's life!!Hopefully it is just a sign of things to come. Is Kreuzinger riding?looks like he had a good TT in Romandie so he might be strong.

I really hope Sanchez will be riding?He might be a outsider,if riding the Giro was part of hes plans then i think he will be good. Also think Scarponi will be the one to beat and i am hoping Frank will be up there fighting for the win.Will make the race more interesting if Sanchez,Rodriguez and Frank goes well in the mountains. Also don't understand LG not taking Nibs,he is in great form at the moment and Basso is not looking good at all!!Basso stuggled big time yesterday with the uphill TT in Romandie and he really should be close to top form right now if he wants to win the Giro. I think the problem might be Nibs looks like he wants the TDF this year so LG planned It this way and now Basso is not up to standard. Can't wait for the race to start!!

Comrades will be much higher i think??? but then they do allow anybody to try and run the thing that can run a 5 hour Marathon. Epic I think this year was under 20% and then some guys still finished without a partner. You have to also take in to consideration a lot off the guys that did not finish was due to crashes and mechanicals. Ironman I think would have to be the lowest but that I think is because nobody really shows up at an Ironman without being in very good condition. At the Comrades, Especially if you run at the back where I was you see hundreds off runners that really never should have showed up in the first place.

SwissVan, Have also done all 3 and agree mostly with you. Training wise Ironman is a big problem but on the day it is "easier" on the body than the Comrades. Training for the Comrades is easier in terms of hours per week needed, with the Epic probably the most demanding in terms off hours you need to do on the bike. Mostly because the recovery from one day to the other is so important. In terms of physical Pain nothing comes close to the Comrades for me, never really have I experienced something like that before. But I do have to add that after years and years of training on the bike 12 months a year it really is hard to hurt yourself because your body is so adapted to the stress that it handles almost anything. Did this year’s Epic and never really had sore legs, you do feel the damage but it is not that bad. The big thing for me was the long days, day after day so mentally you do get tired and if something goes wrong it has got a huge impact on your race. There is so many factors to having a good Epic it is scary. I would however say that if I was a gifted athlete enough to be able to say race Comrades, Epic and Ironman at the same level it might change my point of view. I think the only way to really compare is to ask someone that is either bad at all 3 or very very good at all 3 because only then would he be able to really judge the effect it had on him.

What about this? Great bike and something different!!

TNT, I have spent enough time racing with the pros over the years and spend enough time riding with some good teams and with some very good riders to at least know this. Going into those last 3km,Gerrans or he’s team manager had to do the following. 1.Look at the riders with him at that stage in the break and decide what he’s options are for a win….for example should he launch early or does he believe he is the fastest and backs himself to take it close to the line. From what we have seen and most people on this topic rate him as n sprinter so surely the answer to that one would, back yourself you are the fastest. 2. He had to look at what is happening behind, what is the team situation and what is happening with the chase. The answer to that was he had a bunch of sprinters about a 150m right behind him. Less than 10 seconds at that stage. So now he makes a decision. I take a couple of pulls because I believe I am the fastest in this group and I think the chase is to close and I want to make 100% sure I win this thing or I just sit there and hope to hell Cancellara does not run out of legs and I take the win. In the end he did the right thing, he gambled and made it by 2 seconds and that yes is racing…sorry for Cancellara. Just not the way I would like to see guys race….that’s simple. My view point on tactics.

Nah I still race my bike thanks,but if I was a team manager I sure as hell would not work with riders with a weak ass view like yours.I would prefer to work with riders that like to take there destiny into there own hands and not just sit there and hope it works for them this time. It is not about helping the other rider it is about helping yourself to increase your chance of success!!!! I would always back the teams that take the racing to the other weak on tactics teams that hope for a break or hope it works for them. It's still tactics yes just not the type off attitude that will see you win many races.

It's because he races for a living that i find it hard to believe he would be that stupid.By not pulling he takes a big risk of the bunch catching them.The tactic then is just sit there and hope like hell cancellara does not run out of steam!!how profesional is that?In the end they had 2seconds .....2seconds!!! Surely he should have backed himself in the sprint even after taking a couple of pulls?Why would greenedge not tel him to pull?everybody knows you will rather take on a guy like cancellara at a sprint than 10 guys at the back.In the end Goss was 15th and 20seconds back....he was never in it after the poggio so Gerrans was their only option. So like I said before,it's sit there and hope like hell Cancelarra makes it to the line before the bunch or pull and make sure you have a shot at the sprint.They got away with it this time.....by 2seconds.......

Sky was still there with Hagen and Thomas....they send the rest of the guys back to help Cav man after he dropped off.They pulled hard for like 50km and got to within 1min before they gave up.Think they all had to stop after that. The Poggoi was way to hard this year for Cav so sky madea mistake to send back so many riders,they maybe should have put the guys there for EB Hagen.

Yes i see now he is on he results 20secondsdown...i looked like him next to the road and the italians said it was Boonen.Looks like the only big sprinter that was therein it with a shot was Oscar Freire.Sagan did really good at that distance.Maybe LG should have backed him completely for the win.

Sorry 90km from the finish....he is not that k@k....hehe

Grumpy,cav man dropped of the back on a climb 90km into the race.bad position on the climb I think but he did not look good anyways.Boonen crashed close to the finish in the sprint....think he might have had 4th in the bag,was looking very good. Nibali started the attack that made the final move,he is looking very good. Hoogerland was also very aggresive.

Yes i hope he gets a big classic this year.Very few riders in the peleton would have been able to stay away like that without any help. That i think is part of the problem for him,had Gerans gone with Nibali and say hoogerland it would have been a bit off a joke and in the end a real sprinter would have won. But yes he is a marked man and he needs to think about other ways to win maybe. It is interesting to see how many guys find it ok to take a risk like that,wonder what the team orders would have been to Gerans....just sit there and hope to hell he is strong enough so you can take the win..if not sorry we try next year.Or should it be,the bunch is5sec behind you, take turns.....you are the faster rider so we can take this one if you guys work together and stay away.

I watched it on videochat.gazzetta.great quality for the net,could watch it on the ipad with 3g and no problems with feed or sound. Thanks 8ta!!:-)))

Nibali had a option in the chasing bunch so it would be the right thing to sit on...and i don't think he had the legs to sprint anyways.Thing with Nibali was that he attacked before cancellara so he basicly just joined him.Don't think it was the right tactics for LG with Sagan there. Think the problem with Cancellara is he is so strong that he believed he might still win even after all that work...personaly i would have sat up and told Simon to go F$&k himself and then i would have like to see if he can sprint with the real sprinters back in the bunch.

Watched the last 40km or so on the net.follwed the rest on cyclingnews.

There is a big difference between wheelsucking in a bunch and wheelsucking in a break like that.Especialy if you are that close to the finish with the bunch 10seconds behind you...only reason at that stage to not help is if you don't have the legs and you will settle for 2nd or 3rd.

Not when you sprint from a break!he took the chance and it paid off for him but had the bunch closed the gap he and Greenedge would have been left with nothing.When the bunch is that close everybody normaly would race as hard as they can and do their bit to make sure the break works.Then the last 100m its a free for all!!Personaly i would not want to win like that but thats just me. Sprinting from a bunch when your team works for you is somethng completely different.