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2012 Stage Races

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I think its amazing the organisers wouldn't have it worked out so the race schedule didnt clash with the train schedule

Would have liked to see Cooke win, I hope Gossy can win some stages in the TdF or Gerro or someone in a breakaway.

Gee Sagan is in ripping form.
 
With a train every half an hour (or in some parts of Europe every 15 minutes or quicker) that's pretty difficult to do.

There's clear rules about it, though. If a group gets split, the first part has to wait for the second part. This is to stop riders risking their lives by crossing when the red light is on, but the bar's not down yet. If a group is ahead and the chasing group gets held up, tough luck. They shouldn't have waited so long to start chasing anyway.

Sagan should change his name to Sagawesome.
 
Yes I thought about that after I posted, im from country victoria where the trains are coming through once every 2 weeks at the moment.

Did anyone see the end of stage 3 or Tour de Suisse? Sagans pedal unclipped on one of the final corners, he lost the wheel of Cooke, but still managed to cruise passed him in the last 50 meters, all on wet roads. Freak.
 

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Quite right! Haven't been able to get into this one, I can't handle the commentary.

Euska is winning the team classification. End of the world in 2012 and all that.
 
Massive result for Kessiakoff last night, that was huge. Great year for Astana. Jeez Canc would have to be shattered, RadioShack are having a shocking run. This weekend should be a belter, with Gesink, Kreuziger and Schleck all within reach of Rui Costa.

Euska still in front of teams comp zomg.
 

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Loving the last 30kms - though i'm sure the rider's won't
 
I ended up tweeting the eurosport commentary team to tell them to call the right names, and they told me to watch more carefully. Lol, they are in denial about how bad they are.

Anyway, was a good stage. It always surprises me how form and fitness can fluctuate so much. I would have bet my house that Mollema would be up with the top climbers but he just doesn't have the legs yet. Bet he will by the tour though. Nieve was the surprise for me. I know he is a good climber but he has come off the Giro and still looks in ripping form. Will be interesting to see who ends up leading Euska at the tour. I think they would have been planning for it to be Sanchez, but his fall at the Dauphine may force them to rethink.
 

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Yep, the main commentator is terrible for this race. Oh well. Well done to Albasini, he has had a fantastic season and seeing him head toward the line with all of those Swiss flags in the hands of the fans was a great sight to see. It was an exciting stage with the GC guys, Valverde did a fantastic job pacing up Rui Costa and keeping him in yellow. For a while I thought Piti had abandoned him, but he dropped back and did a great job keeping him in contention tomorrow. Schleck again showed us some excitement, chapeau to him in this race, he has been the most impressive in the mountains. He will have to ride like this in July in every mountain stage. On the other hand, Gesink has been very disappointing and surely some alarm bells are ringing in the Netherlands. Ten Dam is an absolute beast. Every time he is on screen he seems to be spitting, have snot streaming down his face or be covered in bandages. Respect the man.

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Levi wheel sucked like always, he won't attack so won't win. Kreuziger's heavy early season schedule seems to have caught up to him. Nieve on the other hand seems to be better than ever. He is a sniff tomorrow, as is Danielson.

Tomorrow we have three climbs toward the end, two HC's and a gentle cat 2. I am unsure on Rui's descending skills, that could be key. Frank, Levi are not good descenders so if Rui Costa can keep his cool on the last HC he should hang on. If I were one of those guys chasing him I would be attacking on the penultimate climb tomorrow, the cat 2 seems very gentle.
 
donsman4eva said:
Nieve was the surprise for me. I know he is a good climber but he has come off the Giro and still looks in ripping form. Will be interesting to see who ends up leading Euska at the tour. I think they would have been planning for it to be Sanchez, but his fall at the Dauphine may force them to rethink.
Click to expand...

I am confident it will be Samu. He really kept out of trouble after his crash in the Dauphine, he was in recovery mode. I can't see Nieve maintaining this after the Giro, it is just too difficult with the way that guys target the Tour nowadays. Anton has no form so for me Samu is the only GC option, while Astarloza and Izagirre will look for breakaways.

Gora Euska for Teams classification, they are all over it.
 
Well done to Movistar, that was a terrific team effort last night. Schleck went on the penultimate climb, and had about a minute over them. Unfortunately for him nobody could go with him, so it was not difficult for Rabobank to pull him back. If Danielson and Nieve had been able to keep up it may have bee a different result. Valverde rode a great race today, and it was heart-warming to see how happy he was for Costa, as well as Costa immediately seeking him out to thank him. Astana continued their excellent season with another stage win.

As for the Tour men, Schleck certainly looks good. He will be willing to attack often and early, hopefully he gets some kind of reward in July. I am not sure on Gesink. In the mountains he is looking bad, he was dropped again today on the HC, but his ITT was very strong. Valverde looks very strong, he put in a lot of work for his teammate over the weekend. Levi was there, as always but would be disappointed with his ITT work.

1. TA (Interesting, varied course, 3 possible winners going into the final ITT.)
2. TdS (Decided on the final stage, Sagan.)
3. GdT (TTT + 3 mountain stages. Not bothering with flat stages FTW or wasting mountains.)
4. PN (Technically tight until the finish, though Wiggo always looked the winner. Bit of a dull course.)
5. TT (Keisse's win and the epic scenery, including gorges.)
6. CdD (Result never in doubt, course poorly weighted.)
7. TC (Queen stage snowed out, overall race over very early. Still had a strong field with some fun attacks.)
 
Eneco Tour got underway last night, win for Kittel in a sprint. This is a tour of the lowlands of the Netherlands and Belgium, and includes a TTT tonight and also an ITT. The final stage is a bit interesting with the cyclists tacking the Muur a couple of times. Contador is also back for this race. It is on Eurosport if you have it.
 

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