tombeej Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Go Wiggo! Last season... come on, you grumpy codger... the run-in to Roubaix glory starts this weekend!
rudi-h Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I hope it'll be a year for the old boys. These guys have been racing bikes beautifully for the past decade, I hope they can show the new folk why we all know their names. Gilbert for sanremo, boonen for de rondte and spartacus for roubaix. Maybe we can see some young explosive guys ripping it up in the finale of the ardennes races! I like sagan too, but he has many more years to shine!
tombeej Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 A very interesting rider entry for this race has to be World U23 road race champ, young Sven Erik Bystrøm. I saw this lighty for the first time when he made his devastating break out of the leading pack with a few kays to go, crushed everyone on the last hill and then dropped like a bat out of hell down the other side to the finish. I have to admit, that ride blew me away too - I was watching it live at the time. This long and lanky 23-year old from Norway was signed with Katusha at the insistence of countryman Kristoff (who considers him a one-in-a-generation talent). Lots of power on the flats, but super strong on the climbs too. He has an ideal classics rider build. He's got a really big future in this sport. What out for him this classics season - he's on the Katusha team roster for the these races: 28 Feb: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite 04 Mar: Le Samyn 07 Mar: Strade Bianche 25 Mar: Dwars door Vlaanderen 27 Mar: E3 Harelbeke 31 Mar: Driedaagse De Panne For Saturday, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets sent up ahead if his team leader and training buddy (Kristoff) is being too heavily marked. From what I saw at Worlds, I have no doubt he's got the chops to pull off a big early win in his neo-pro year. At the very least, he's going to be turning heads.
tombeej Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Now for the other major signing that people need to take up and notice: Fernando Gaviria has just signed for Etixx–Quick-Step. Remember how he dominated Cav in 2 sprint finishes at this year’s Tour de San Luis. Then last week he went on to win the Gold medal at the Track World Champs in the mens Omnium (he already has 2 rainbow jerseys in the junior worlds). But it was the way he won that gold that impressed me the most. I stayed up to watch the racing and saw him take a big spill while in the lead. He calmly got himself together, picked up his bike, strolled back to the track boards with no rush and got going again. He charged back into the race and kept racking up the points until he eventually won pretty comfortably. Against some of the biggest names in track cycling, many of them 10 years his senior. He races with such relaxed confidence and incredible power that it's difficult to believe that he's just 20 years old. This lighty has a huge future ahead of him. Now he's with Cav and the other big names at Etixx–Quick-Step, it's going to be fascinating watching this young neo-pro take on the big boys in top flight racing. I don't believe for a second that he'll be intimidated at all. In fact, many of those big names are probably eyeing him out with a just a little bit of concern. For now, he'll just play the role of stagiaire and then join the team full time from 2016. Remember his name. You'll be hearing his name for years to come.
meathead Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Always enjoy your insight into new talent Tombeej.
tombeej Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Alexander Kristoff on the signing of Bystrøm: "I told the team last year that I had a good training mate at home and he was almost as strong as me, maybe not in the sprint but for the rest. So I said that they should have him and then they signed him, and a few months later he won the World Championships. I felt quite smart that I had recommended him. "It's good because, ok I can sprint but I need to be pushed in the climbs, and he can do it at home in training and I must suffer to stay in the wheel and that makes me stronger. Maybe that is why I was able to get over the Poggio this year [2014 - which he won]." Remember Kristoff's stage 2 win at this years Tour of Qatar - it was Bystrøm along with Paolini and Kuznetsov who protected him in the crosswinds when the echelons formed and they were there to the end (Bystrøm eventually finished 18th on that stage, 15 seconds down). The boy is strong. My pick as a future monument winner.
'Dale Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Nice perspectives there, tombeejYou rockstar youKeep on bringing them in!
tombeej Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 BTW, where is Paolini? He's not in the Katusha line up for Saturday, and he won it in 2013. Is he injured?
tombeej Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2014 - How The Race Was Won
'Dale Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 BTW, where is Paolini? He's not in the Katusha line up for Saturday, and he won it in 2013. Is he injured?Good question...I've not seen any reports from Katusha other than J Rod finishing 5 mins behind the mountain finalè winner in Oman.And Kristoff's sprint victories.
T-Bob Posted February 25, 2015 Author Posted February 25, 2015 2014. http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Kuurne-2014-120-greipel-620.jpg
T-Bob Posted February 25, 2015 Author Posted February 25, 2015 2013http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/kuurne-brussels-kuurne-2013-030-620.jpg
tombeej Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Looks like this year's race should be sunny. Weather forecast for Ghent:
tombeej Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 I really enjoyed this preview of the coming weekend on Cycling News... Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks coming of Belgian spring Figuring out precisely when and where the cycling season truly begins is a subjective matter in the modern era, but when the peloton lines up in Ghent's Sint-Pietersplein for the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on the last Saturday in February, one can't help but guess that this must be the place. Read it here.
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