doctorSpoc said:
i've managed to watch the coverage again and i go with my original recollection in spite of what that moron vader said.. Rodriguez just ended up in that break.. it was not planned, but they let it go because it should have cause the others to chase and left the Spanish in a better position... that's why Sanchez let it go. YOU know
in hind sight that, that wasn't a good idea, but on the road, at that time it must have seemed perfectly reasonable.. i actually think that Sanchez did have a laps in attention and let the wheel go causing a gap, but then must have thought.. hell that's my man up there, one of you guys fill it.. fatal mistake in hind sight, but if the others were looking out for their own best interests they should have filled it right away...
if you read Sanchez' account he had already talked to Valv and he said he wasn't up to it... so their sprinting trump card was a no go or at least very risky..
The Olympic champion confirmed that the favourites for the title had marked each other out of contention at the finish. "I spoke with Alejandro [Valverde], and as he was feeling below his best we decided that he would follow the attacks of [Damiano] Cunego and I would follow [Fabian] Cancellara's, because he was the strongest and I could follow him better on the descents."
Sánchez Rues Fourth Place Finish At Worlds | Cyclingnews.com
i agree that they can't be totally happy with that result, but it's better than nothing, which is what Cancellara and the the others that didn't pull when they were obliged to got for their efforts... in any case i think their is a lot of second guessing of tactics based on your knowledge of what DID happen vs. what a normal person would have expected to happen on the road at the time without being clairvoyant. given the situtation on the road i just can't fault the spanish.. their was nothing particularly wrong with what they did.. they force the situation into a zero-sum game that all things being equal and other looking out for their own best interests should have netted them the win, but cancellara the bone head didn't realize what he was dealing with and bascically ended up x'ing everyone out.. i put the blame for this ending squarly on cancellara's shoulders... in a zero some game we all get something but if one person doesn't act right then we all end up with nothing and that's what happened.. valv and sanchez could not pull that's a given... how long has cancellara been riding? and he didn't realize that? he had to chase, attack something but he didn't..
when Rodriguez went, I thought I saw a red orange jersey, swing off to the left of the road. I assumed it was a Spanish jersey, to let Rodriguez, Evans, and Kolobnev go.
I do not think Rodriguez was leading, I thought he was third man, and there was a 4th Spanish man.
So, a little like 3 years ago in Austria Salzberg, where I think it was Joaquim Rodriguez letting the gap go to Valverde Sammy Sanchez and Valverde, another Spaniard here let the group go off the front.
Now this is counter to what Evans said. He said when he said Rodriguez go, he needed to go. But I thought that it was not a direct move, and Kolobnev was on the front, Evans, then Rodriguez.
So, who would have been the Spaniard to let the group go? It must have been Valverde or Sammy Sanchez.
The way it needed to play out, as I have said, was the Spaniards to orchestrate a move with Cancellara and Sammy Sanchez.
Now, this should have been pretty easy to coordinate. Because Cancellara was marked by 3 Spaniards on that climb, they should have made sure they put Sammy Sanchez on Cancellara's wheel, and let them go off the front, and blocked.
I think if it had been a disparate group behind, and the Spaniards as an anchor, there is no way that the group left were going to bring back Cancellara and Sammy Sanchez. Kolobnev was perhaps, with Evans, if working together, the only ones who could have held the gap. But I do not think they could have brought Cancellara back, if Sammy Sanchez pulled through, but did not do too much to threaten his legs with a jump from Cancellara behind.
Sammy Sanchez would have got Cancellara in the sprint.
The stupid cnut Doctor Proctologist has said that the Rodriguez group guaranteed a bronze. Well, at worst, if Sanchez was off the front with Cancellara it was a silver.
Spain needed to put their best shot, off the front. Perferably mano a mano with Cancellara. If it came back together, Rodriguez could have made sure Valverde had his nose out of the wind, and to try and close the attacks for a decimated field sprint.
I do not think that it can necessarily work with a DS in the team tent directing them, they needed to be well prepped, and know who was where, and on their limit. And an agreement when the final group was down to 5 or 6, to put the strongest like Sammy Sanchez, off the front with someone he would beat in a sprint. Cancellara would have been the perfect companion off the front. But they were not thinking.
They were just neutralising all the moves, without being proactive, and taking the race by the horns. They were relying on Valverde if it came back together, and what they did was have their weakest rider off the front when he was only gonna get third. They needed to use their strongest rider, and be aggressive. They were too defensive, and just neutralising attacks, and then going with an attack that was never gonna succeed for them.
Come on Dr, get with it.