2015 Tour de France

[deanbean]

Been trying to think of another sportsman who is that good, with what looks like such a relaxed persona and sense of humour. Not coming up with many...

 

 

Minaar and Rossi

and Dale Steyn

 

Saw this this morning :clap:

Carlton Kirby @carltonkirby

After Stage 16 I found myself sharing a pissoir with Laurent Jalabert. As with his recent comments... I remain unimpressed

8:57 PM - 20 Jul 2015

[Gen]

Okay... I found another interview..

 

He was on a Belgium show last night, skip to 23'20" for the Sagan part,

 

Shame they ask him why he jokes with Froome so much, "I want him to smile".

 

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/programmas/ViveLeVelo_2015/2.40116

[HappyMartin]

Been trying to think of another sportsman who is that good, with what looks like such a relaxed persona and sense of humour. Not coming up with many...

Valentino Rossi.

 

But yes Sagan is a flipping legend. Amazing talent. Great personality.

 

I wasn't so impressed with his descent yesterday. Looked ragged and he made up no time. He was the same speed as every one else as far as I could see. Except for Niballi who appeared faster and was certainly smoother. A case of more haste less speed for Sagan. Where he was out of his skin amazing was on the climb.

[Bonus]

and Dale Steyn

 

Saw this this morning :clap:

Carlton Kirby @carltonkirby

 

After Stage 16 I found myself sharing a pissoir with Laurent Jalabert. As with his recent comments... I remain unimpressed

 

8:57 PM - 20 Jul 2015

 

Brilliant.

 

I assume he was holding up his pinky and wiggling it in schoolboy fashion to make the point clear.

[Gen]

Valentino Rossi.

 

But yes Sagan is a flipping legend. Amazing talent. Great personality.

 

I wasn't so impressed with his descent yesterday. Looked ragged and he made up no time. He was the same speed as every one else as far as I could see. Except for Niballi who appeared faster and was certainly smoother. A case of more haste less speed for Sagan. Where he was out of his skin amazing was on the climb.

You nuts    , when sagan crest the top he was 1'05" behind, he brought the gap down to 30sec where it stayed until the end.

 

But his grit on that climb was incredible.

[Bonus]

Valentino Rossi.

But yes Sagan is a flipping legend. Amazing talent. Great personality.

I wasn't so impressed with his descent yesterday. Looked ragged and he made up no time. He was the same speed as every one else as far as I could see. Except for Niballi who appeared faster and was certainly smoother. A case of more haste less speed for Sagan. Where he was out of his skin amazing was on the climb.

There are some nice slo-mo shots of Sagan on a decent last year. His bike was skipping and jumping around at high speed. Very impressive.

[Gen]

There are some nice slo-mo shots of Sagan on a decent last year. His bike was skipping and jumping around at high speed. Very impressive.

 

he uses his body weight so well too.  When he does make errors his skills are so good that he can correct it very quick.

[HappyMartin]

And on the topic of chilled talent with a sense of humor how about our homegrown talent Greg Minaar. He is as funny as hell and is only the most successful DH racer of all time.

[Patchelicious]

*snip

I wasn't so impressed with his descent yesterday.

Holy moly, what does it take to impress you then, getting his knee down?

[isn]

I wasn't so impressed with his descent yesterday. Looked ragged and he made up no time. He was the same speed as every one else .

You definitely got that wrong. If they were descending at the same speed he wouldn't have gained on them. Recheck the top time gap as well as the finishing gap difference.

 

Descending that type of hill at speeds which sometimes tend to become a bit uncontrollable and you must correct a 2 wheel non motorised carbon frame around almost 80° bends at speeds which you can flip off that bike like a sky rocket, try to sit with your upper body on top of your handlebar and still control your bike at that speed?

 

You sure you know cycling? What S4gan did down that hill is an ART my friend.

[Mntboy]

he uses his body weight so well too. When he does make errors his skills are so good that he can correct it very quick.

That's where his mountain biking background aids him most I think. Got used to making decisions on the fly and it's helped him so far with his racing. Not just descending but also with the climbing. Pity about the fact that he's getting marked to death out there!

[Mntboy]

And on the topic of chilled talent with a sense of humor how about our homegrown talent Greg Minaar. He is as funny as hell and is only the most successful DH racer of all time.

Mr Minn has been defining cool for 15 years. The finest extreme sport athlete to come out of SA ever.

[Gen]

and while we are on a rest day..

 

prize money so far.

 

 

1. Tinkoff-Saxo 72.580 € 2. Etixx-Quick Step 50.690 € 3. Lotto-Soudal 47.470 € 4. BMC 46.190 € 5. Team Sky 36.130 € 6. MTN-Qhubeka 30.600 € 7. AG2R 26.810 € 8. Katjoesja 26.650 € 9. Movistar 23.820 € 10. Giant-Alpecin 22.640 € 11. Bretagne 15.660 € 12. Cannondale 15.560 € 13. Lampre 14.770 € 14. Europcar 13.300 € 15. Astana 12.270 € 16. Bora-Argon 12.090 € 17. Cofidis 11.780 € 18. Trek 11.200 € 19. LottoNL-Jumbo 11.180 € 20. FDJ 10.280 € 21. IAM Cycling 9.880 € 22. Orica-GreenEdge 6.100 €

[Andrew Steer]

You can add Jose Antonio Hermida to the chilled, super athlete brigade... maybe not quite the pedigree of the others, but being a World Champ and European Champ is surely enough 

[HappyMartin]

Holy moly, what does it take to impress you then, getting his knee down?

Niballi impressed me like I said. He gapped the peleton and picked up a little time with a very smooth ride. Sagan took huge risks and gained nothing for it.

 

I am pretty sure I did get the splits wrong on Sagan chasing the lead guy but I would like to see the times between Sagan and Niballi on that downhill. Be surprised if there was a big difference.

 

To be honest I think it's time to change these grand tours. Or change back a little bit. It always favors climbers these days. Was not always like that. A course could be made that gave riders like Sagan a chance of taking the GC.

[Gen]

Niballi impressed me like I said. He gapped the peleton and picked up a little time with a very smooth ride. Sagan took huge risks and gained nothing for it.

 

I am pretty sure I did get the splits wrong on Sagan chasing the lead guy but I would like to see the times between Sagan and Niballi on that downhill. Be surprised if there was a big difference.

 

To be honest I think it's time to change these grand tours. Or change back a little bit. It always favors climbers these days. Was not always like that. A course could be made that gave riders like Sagan a chance of taking the GC.

Nibbles is a very good descender that's no secret.. if you can try and remember the one TDF when Sagan and NIbbles were both at Cannondale, and they attacked on the descent.. was very impressive.

 

Someone pointed out yesterday that Nibbles had a 20sec gap at the top of the climb and he finished 20sec in front of the GC guys on the line.

 

Also, the GC guys weren't interested in closing down Nibbles he is over 8min down, Froome actually said that in an interview afterwards, So nibbles didn't have much pressure on him, just to go down there as smoothly as possible and get some time, whereas Sagan was chasing a stage win. But to close almost 40sec on that descent is very impressive and it's not like Plaza wasn't taking risks either, he did a fine job to stay ahead. . If you look at the IAM cyclist that was behind Sagan and you see how much he had to pedal just to stay in contact with Sagan. (yes i have lost count how many times I have watched that descent lol)

 

Look that's a hairy descent, Jens Voigt mentioned it again yesterday that he still feels that that descent shouldn't be in the TDF, it's just to dangerous.