Mendrisio elite road race - Page 5

Agree with the last point.

Interesting little argument, but it ignores that the non-Spaniards DID try to chase. First Cunego. He was shot by halfway up the hill, though. Valverde was his designated marker, but Valverde was spent, and couldn't use him as a sprinboard for anything. I'm not even sure he caught his wheel again, but I'll have to look at the video.

Then Gilbert had a go or two. Breschel looked like he was leading Fabu out halfway up the hill - both put in surges.( It was Fabu who let Kolobnev's wheel go before the right hander that allowed the break - that's when Sanvhez should have gone. He could have sat up if he was dragging the others with him and pushed on if he'd got away.)

Anyhow - the others did have a crack - but it was too little, too late, and they were spent. Whether you think Sanchez could have gone is the question - because Valverde had nothing to give.

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Very cool, looking great so far. Keep going, I wanna see it finished!

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Cadel's win made the prime time TV news on all the stations last night. That's pretty impressive given it's rugby league grand final week.

The only rider/team that didnt fcuk up was Cadel/Aussies!

Cadel Won and is the World Road Race Champion, he attacked and attacked at the right time!

Everyone else lost including 2nd/3rd as there can be only one winner..

Well done CE, you truely deserve it!

and Evans needs to buy Stuart O'Grady pint... maybe a Keg would be more appropriate given the Herculean amount of work he put in keeping the early break within striking distance...

Ha. Pwned.

Doctor Spoc, you spanish or something?

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I can imagine what Kolobnev & Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver were thinking when they were with Evans...

'Look there is Evans... he will come 2nd as usual....hmmm, that means either I or you are going to win this thing.... Let's just mark each other...and sprint it out at the end."

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That is quite funny

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CE's move was logical as he was prolly slowest rider in that group. He almost got dropped when FC put hammer down on previous climb. Evans read well when Rodrigues cut through the traffic island and was at the front right away. As SS and AV had their markings on this kinda left DC, FG and MB to counter and SS/AV just waited their markings to reel them in for them. Did not happend and so three got off. 1 vs 2....that's much easier than 1 vs 8.

someone told me that Dave Sanders said Gerrans wanted 10 grand Australian, which is about 1 thousand pounds, or 1.5 thousand Euro, if Evans wanted Gerro to work for him.

I hope Evans does not pay anyone in the Aus team a bonus. They just did their job, and I reckon that Gerrans was the real team leader til he was dropped.

Classic1 is brain dead... and there is no argument in there.. were is his arguement? where is his alternate stategy that WOULD have worked out? you can't base your strategy on people (i.e. Cancellara) doing stupid things, that were not in there interest.

the Spanish tactics were sound.. if Cancellara was thinking right he should have realized that give the situation, his best probable outcome was silver and gone on the attack from the bottom of the hill when it was still possible to get to Evans. sure this would have likely resulted in Sanchez or Valverde winning but at least he had a chance for something.. instead he got nothing.. and the Spanish at least got bronze..

notice that Classic1 and the other arm chair quarter backs give no alternate tactics because i think the realized at some point in the discussion that any other tactics also have risks and the fact that Valverde was not on good legs meant that on paper at least that Cunego was the best sprinter in the bunch.. a field sprint with Cunego there was not good odds. the startegy they went with was a good one.. put Rodriguez in the break forcing Cancellara and the others the chase weakening them and giving them two chances for success in the finale.. the others in the group didn't play ball and ended up getting nothing for their efforts.. see Cancellara crying like a baby at the end.. he only has himself to blame... you cannot win from 30 seconds back.. it's impossible.. his only chance for success was to chase.. he didn't and he ended up empty handed..

that's the deal.. don't listen to these armchair quarterbacks judging the spanish after the fact when they have the benefit of knowing that Cancellara and the others would act irrationally.. who would count on that and form a strategy around that? that's stupid. the spanish strategy was sound.. 9 times out of 10 it would have worked and almost assured them the win, but because of the unforeseeable situation as it unfolded on the road it didn't work out.. sh!t happens sometimes.. at least they got the bronze (and their goal was to win a medal after last time being in a similarly good position and getting 6th.. again with Rodriguez actually) which is more than can be said of the other "power house" the italians (who got nothing!)... what did the Swiss get, the belgians, the danes...?

i'm not spanish.. i've just thought it out, but Classic1 and Vader, you and the other idiots on here haven't..

this is true.. CE had to go early whether it worked or not.. it was his only shot at success.. if he waited he had absolutely no chance in a sprint or even if an attack went at the top of the last climb he would have almost 100% been dropped.. he absolutely played his cards correctly... to be truthful it shouldn't have worked given the firepower behind, but as the x'ed themselves out (as often happens) it worked..

i can't say the same for Cancellara.. Cancellara's only chance for success was to attack at the bottom of the climb.. not the top as he did (it was already too late by then).. he would likely have carried SS and must have thought Valverde as well (we now know it would have likely only been SS). SS and AV couldn't work because of Rodriguez.. which was good for them since it ensured that they would be in better shape after any bridging effort.. to my eyes the real f!ck up was Cancellara.. he simply didn't act in his own self interest and that ended up f'ing up everyone else as well (except CE).. but the spanish had a plan "b" and still ended up with bronze..

i can't for the life of me see how anyone can fault the spanish strategy.. it was sound and should have worked if everyone acted in their self interest as you would expect..

this is the perfect explanation of just how incredibly stupid this post is, based on nothing more than the flawed logic of it's contents... classic1 is basically saying because a strategy didn't work, it was wrong... which doesn't follow... it's simply wrong/flawed logic... sometimes you are presented with a zero-sum game as it was in this case..

e.g. the strategy of Cadel Evans, who won the world championships, was simple. he has no sprint in comparison to the others, would likely get dropped on the final climb had he stayed in the group (as he had the previous time up it).. so his only remote chance at success was to go early and pray to god that the riders behind mess it up.. and they did... and he won. it was basically his only option, staying in the group meant that he had an almost 100% chance of failure... no medal.. no nothing. so classic1.. if the riders behind had chased in time and caught Evans.. using your logic his strategy was wrong.. but it clearly wasn't, in his case it was basically his only option and he acted on it.. and he was correct in doing so... win or lose it was the correct strategy...

similarly the spanish implemented a strategy that 9 times out of ten should have worked, but because of how it worked out it didn't work exactly to plan.. does that mean the strategy was wrong? NO.. your logic is seriously flawed classic1, vader et al... contrary to what vader had to say.. he "is not a smart man"... pretty obvious he can't argue or think his way out of a wet paper bag...

Yeah, like even god didn't think Evans was going to bugger it up....

Glad to read that.
Good to see the win getting some coverage in his country

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morelike hypocrisy.