Eneco tour
- Thread starter MJtje
- Start date
Whooo.........complete F@#% UP by the organisers of the Eneco tour. Dunno IF anyone saw it today but it was sad and hilarious:
The moto who was supposed to lead the peloton the good way send them instead the wrong way........and after that it was just complete disaster! The whole peloton stopped and after awhile they rode again, but it was obvious the organisers were trying to find the right road again!
The break of 3 riders got up to a massive 14 min (before the peloton was send the wrong way it was only 4/5 min) so the organisers thought lets do it honest: let the break and the peloton stop at the same spot and let the break go again and give them there orginal 4/5 min and after that let the peloton go again...
Funny the organisers tried to stop the break (mccartey?, van de velde, and some lotto guy), but it didn't work so the organisers forced them to stop by sending the police!!!!!!!! The police put his arm on a lotto guy and it was really like: 'were are you going dude'
I could understand the anger of the 3 in the front and the dc's, because it was not there fault that the peloton rode on the wrong road.........
I switched between NOS and Sporza and both commentators said they never saw this before in cycling.........
In the end a lampre guy won. T. dekker showed why he's a big talent working a lot for dekker in the end........and suprisingly boogerd couldn't deal with the pace in the ardennes (his terrain!).Verbrugge still the leader and says he's got 50% chance of winning it......
Saga to be continued........haha
The moto who was supposed to lead the peloton the good way send them instead the wrong way........and after that it was just complete disaster! The whole peloton stopped and after awhile they rode again, but it was obvious the organisers were trying to find the right road again!
The break of 3 riders got up to a massive 14 min (before the peloton was send the wrong way it was only 4/5 min) so the organisers thought lets do it honest: let the break and the peloton stop at the same spot and let the break go again and give them there orginal 4/5 min and after that let the peloton go again...
Funny the organisers tried to stop the break (mccartey?, van de velde, and some lotto guy), but it didn't work so the organisers forced them to stop by sending the police!!!!!!!! The police put his arm on a lotto guy and it was really like: 'were are you going dude'
I could understand the anger of the 3 in the front and the dc's, because it was not there fault that the peloton rode on the wrong road.........
I switched between NOS and Sporza and both commentators said they never saw this before in cycling.........
In the end a lampre guy won. T. dekker showed why he's a big talent working a lot for dekker in the end........and suprisingly boogerd couldn't deal with the pace in the ardennes (his terrain!).Verbrugge still the leader and says he's got 50% chance of winning it......
Saga to be continued........haha
This is a better report (better english
)
Ballan wins incident-packed Benelux fourth stage
PARIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Italy's Alessandro Ballan won the 232-km fourth stage of the Tour of Benelux in Verviers on Sunday after a bizarre day of racing resulted in the main pack losing their way.
The Italian Lampre rider, 25, surged in the last stretch to beat Belgian overall leader Rik Verbrugghe, who strengthened his red jersey with a six-second lead over Australian Allan Davis.
Belgian Leif Hoste crossed the finish line third ahead of Davis.
The stage threatened to end in chaos after the main pack, led by organisers' cars and motorcycles, took an incorrect turn 50 km from the finish.
Americans Jason McCartney and Christian Vandevelde and Belgian Bart Dockx were leading by seven minutes on the Wanne climb when the whole peloton turned into the wrong road and were forced to backtrack.
When they made it back to the right road, the lead of the three breakaways had risen to more than 15 minutes.
But the race jury decided to wipe out the lead the three pace setters had established while the main bunch were on the wrong route.
Despite being asked to stop, the leaders initially refused to follow orders until stewards threatened to kick them out of the race if they did not obey.
After long and animated discussions, the three finally accepted to start again with the same lead they had when the incident occurred and the stage continued. The trio subsequently lost their momentum and were caught 15 km from Verviers by American Bobby Julich, Italian Davide Rebellin, Russian Sergei Ivanov and Spaniard Jose-Ivan Guttierez. The four led for most of the finale before being swallowed in turn by the peloton, leaving Ballan to sprint for his first major pro victory.
)Ballan wins incident-packed Benelux fourth stage
PARIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Italy's Alessandro Ballan won the 232-km fourth stage of the Tour of Benelux in Verviers on Sunday after a bizarre day of racing resulted in the main pack losing their way.
The Italian Lampre rider, 25, surged in the last stretch to beat Belgian overall leader Rik Verbrugghe, who strengthened his red jersey with a six-second lead over Australian Allan Davis.
Belgian Leif Hoste crossed the finish line third ahead of Davis.
The stage threatened to end in chaos after the main pack, led by organisers' cars and motorcycles, took an incorrect turn 50 km from the finish.
Americans Jason McCartney and Christian Vandevelde and Belgian Bart Dockx were leading by seven minutes on the Wanne climb when the whole peloton turned into the wrong road and were forced to backtrack.
When they made it back to the right road, the lead of the three breakaways had risen to more than 15 minutes.
But the race jury decided to wipe out the lead the three pace setters had established while the main bunch were on the wrong route.
Despite being asked to stop, the leaders initially refused to follow orders until stewards threatened to kick them out of the race if they did not obey.
After long and animated discussions, the three finally accepted to start again with the same lead they had when the incident occurred and the stage continued. The trio subsequently lost their momentum and were caught 15 km from Verviers by American Bobby Julich, Italian Davide Rebellin, Russian Sergei Ivanov and Spaniard Jose-Ivan Guttierez. The four led for most of the finale before being swallowed in turn by the peloton, leaving Ballan to sprint for his first major pro victory.
Madmax won again with ease!!!!!!!!! He got a good lead-out from disco.........
His further goals are the worlds which is a slight uphill finish which is his favorite sort of finish...........
Furthermore very boring tour.........!
His further goals are the worlds which is a slight uphill finish which is his favorite sort of finish...........
Furthermore very boring tour.........!
Roadrash Dunc said:haha today they made the ToBritain look smooth.
That Max has had his way highlights the sad state of things for Zabel, also a participant in the ENECO tour. Zabel would have hoped, I would have thought, that he would win over Max.
BTW, Discovery has a perfect match for a sprinter in Max. Even though he is uneven and cannot beat other sprinters when they are at their best, he is also a sprinter who doesn't expect to participate in the TdF and who is not so well-regarded that he wouldn't be willing to work as quasi-domestique for flatter stages in Grand Tours other than the TdF. He doesn't need dedicated lead-out men, can rely on other DC domestiques, and he can do the Classics in support of Hincapie and others (while contesting the matter if it comes down to a bunch sprint).
BTW, Discovery has a perfect match for a sprinter in Max. Even though he is uneven and cannot beat other sprinters when they are at their best, he is also a sprinter who doesn't expect to participate in the TdF and who is not so well-regarded that he wouldn't be willing to work as quasi-domestique for flatter stages in Grand Tours other than the TdF. He doesn't need dedicated lead-out men, can rely on other DC domestiques, and he can do the Classics in support of Hincapie and others (while contesting the matter if it comes down to a bunch sprint).
Max van heeswijk needs to be mentally right......because when he is he can beat every sprinter.......The problem is that hasn't been the case the last few months (split with wife but he's back again).........And there are other reasons: he's no leader, he doesn't like pressure etc........
From his generation (dekker, boogerd) he is considered the better talent, but if the head is not right then you won't win much.....
And youre really underestimating max........he beat zabel allready last year during tour of murcia like zabel was standing still......
As THE disco spokesperson of the whole forum you should know!
From his generation (dekker, boogerd) he is considered the better talent, but if the head is not right then you won't win much.....
And youre really underestimating max........he beat zabel allready last year during tour of murcia like zabel was standing still......
As THE disco spokesperson of the whole forum you should know!
musette said:That Max has had his way highlights the sad state of things for Zabel, also a participant in the ENECO tour. Zabel would have hoped, I would have thought, that he would win over Max.
BTW, Discovery has a perfect match for a sprinter in Max. Even though he is uneven and cannot beat other sprinters when they are at their best, he is also a sprinter who doesn't expect to participate in the TdF and who is not so well-regarded that he wouldn't be willing to work as quasi-domestique for flatter stages in Grand Tours other than the TdF. He doesn't need dedicated lead-out men, can rely on other DC domestiques, and he can do the Classics in support of Hincapie and others (while contesting the matter if it comes down to a bunch sprint).
MJtje said:
Hmm, with all respect to Max, he cannot beat every sprinter (e.g., Petacchi, Robbie, even not Boonen). Also, one must not forget that Max had an unusually good year last year, and his "normalized" performance is not reflected by last year, when he had more wins (albeit not as prestigeous wins) than LA himself!
Also as noted, Max also tends to do better on slightly uphill finishes.
But, as I mentioned, Max is a perfect fit for DC as a sprinter. Not too demanding of having support; not too demanding of inclusion in Grand Tour teams; can produce some wins; not a sprinter who detracts from DC's goal of winning the GC on Grand Tours.
Oh disco rider wins, so the fangirl wakes up!
and you took your time to figure that he's a good sprinter? Do you not remember that he was winning quite a few races for them last season? Oh no, of course not, it's not the tour de france, and the only reason you've heard about this is because it's a protour race that cyclingnews cover a lot more than usual.
and you took your time to figure that he's a good sprinter? Do you not remember that he was winning quite a few races for them last season? Oh no, of course not, it's not the tour de france, and the only reason you've heard about this is because it's a protour race that cyclingnews cover a lot more than usual.
musette said:That Max has had his way highlights the sad state of things for Zabel, also a participant in the ENECO tour. Zabel would have hoped, I would have thought, that he would win over Max.
BTW, Discovery has a perfect match for a sprinter in Max. Even though he is uneven and cannot beat other sprinters when they are at their best, he is also a sprinter who doesn't expect to participate in the TdF and who is not so well-regarded that he wouldn't be willing to work as quasi-domestique for flatter stages in Grand Tours other than the TdF. He doesn't need dedicated lead-out men, can rely on other DC domestiques, and he can do the Classics in support of Hincapie and others (while contesting the matter if it comes down to a bunch sprint).
Van Dijk won today...........2nd van heeswijk! Don't understand why the lotto rode hard in the front, because it's obvious Steels is past his prime........Max got 2nd, because it was a flat finish which favors the explosive sprinters like van Dijk!
So who will win the eneco tour tomorrow after a 26,5 km TT??
My guess:
1) E. Dekker
2) Verbrugge
3) T. dekker
So who will win the eneco tour tomorrow after a 26,5 km TT??
My guess:
1) E. Dekker
2) Verbrugge
3) T. dekker
IMHO during the last week zabel has shown it was a corret decision to leave him at home in july. He's up there when the sprint goes but the all the other just go past him. He can do good in classics etc but for big(small in this case) bunch sprints he's now totally gone.
On a side-note Kroon to CSC next year.......WHY? Same reason as de Jongh(quickstep) they will get more freedom........
Seems to be the problem with Rabo, it's all for the 2 dekkers, boogerd, freire......the rest must help and aren't allowed to do anything else.....
Seems to be the problem with Rabo, it's all for the 2 dekkers, boogerd, freire......the rest must help and aren't allowed to do anything else.....
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