What's wrong with Roberto Heras?

iBanesto said:

What is with his horrible performance at this year's and last year's Tour de France?

He has won the Vuelta 3 times, he should be in the top ten at worst!!!

Is he falling apart due to the pressure of Lance and his Team Discovery team?
Can't he handle the pressure?
Will he bounce back to perform at this year's Vuelta?

Very good question. Also what's up with Mayo?

what happens to Heras? He sucked that's all! :p

mareblu said:

what happens to Heras? He sucked that's all! :p

Well he did suck, but I think it is mostly intentional. He is saving himself for the Vuelta de novo.

wilmar13 said:

Well he did suck, but I think it is mostly intentional. He is saving himself for the Vuelta de novo.

So your saying once he was out of contention for the TDF, he just switch off to save himself for 4th Vuelta?

I think Heras and Beloki both rode the TDF with the expectation of doing reasonably well.
Their form wasn't great and I think that perhaps they (and Saiz) made the decision to finish out the TDF, with a view to doing a good Vuelta.

I am looking forward to the Vuelta because in recent years the racing has been superb.
I would expect to see Heras doing well there.

Although the Vuelta will be even tougher because of the Pro-tour stipulations :teams will send stronger squads, I reckon.

I wonder will Selle Italia send Ivan Parra : that man can really climb (as seen in the Giro).

limerickman said:

I think Heras and Beloki both rode the TDF with the expectation of doing reasonably well.
Their form wasn't great and I think that perhaps they (and Saiz) made the decision to finish out the TDF, with a view to doing a good Vuelta.

I am looking forward to the Vuelta because in recent years the racing has been superb.
I would expect to see Heras doing well there.

Although the Vuelta will be even tougher because of the Pro-tour stipulations :teams will send stronger squads, I reckon.

I wonder will Selle Italia send Ivan Parra : that man can really climb (as seen in the Giro).

don't forget Jose' Rujano 😉 a revelation at the Giro this year.

[font=Verdana]Can you get rid of your massive signature picture ? It takes up way to much room on these threads...... its also kinda of stupid and a bit camp.....
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mareblu said:

don't forget Jose' Rujano 😉 a revelation at the Giro this year.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Can you get rid of your massive signature picture ? It takes up way to much room on these threads...... its also kinda of stupid and a bit camp.....
[/font]

totally agree,the signature is bad and uses too much space and he is clearly a moron

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Can you get rid of your massive signature picture ? It takes up way to much room on these threads...... its also kinda of stupid and a bit camp.....
[/font]

i think the sig is a little big as well...it kinda lags me 🙁
i like having picture sigs (i have one myself!) but they should be wide and short, as they are on most forums.
you could easily crop it to just have ur name and the quote and it will still look cool.

Patrick1983 said:

totally agree,the signature is bad and uses too much space and he is clearly a moron

I don't like the signature either, and I also think it is inappropriate, but you are unlikely to make him (?) change it by calling him a moron.

Mareblu, please ignore the bad manners of the others, but please make a major modification to your signature. It is too large and distracting - one pulls up a thread and that is all one sees. Sometimes my eyes say: skip Mareblu, please, it doesn't matter what the content is, just skip it, give your eyes a break!

don't forget Jose' Rujano 😉 a great big doper at the Giro this year

😄 😄 😄

[font=Verdana]...and what’s with 'Loving cycling everyday more'....? Apart from very poor grammar is there not a point where you just don’t have anymore love to give to cycling ? I mean you just can’t keep loving all day and everyday...... in short just reduce the size of that thing before we all get totally sick of it….
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JRMDC said:

I don't like the signature either, and I also think it is inappropriate, but you are unlikely to make him (?) change it by calling him a moron.

Mareblu, please ignore the bad manners of the others, but please make a major modification to your signature. It is too large and distracting - one pulls up a thread and that is all one sees. Sometimes my eyes say: skip Mareblu, please, it doesn't matter what the content is, just skip it, give your eyes a break!

While agree with whiteboy on this point--I must admit the signature does highlight the pharmaceutical champions of the 2005 Tour.

I only wish it was a current photo of Michele Ferrari instead. I am for improved disclosure.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]Can you get rid of your massive signature picture ? It takes up way to much room on these threads...... its also kinda of stupid and a bit camp.....
[/font]

I believe Heras was treating the Tour as more than just training for the Vuelta.

"Actually, Heras rode this last week already thinking about the Vuelta a España, where he hopes to heal all the wounds opened in France...." (If Heras was not hoping to do well in the TdF, why would he have any wounds?)

"Manolo Saiz concludes the 2005 Tour with mixed feelings, ... disappointed because Roberto Heras did not manage to make his mark in the overall." (If Saiz was disappointed, he must have hoped for Heras to do well in GC at TdF)

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=77

"Roberto Heras finished the Tour de France today a little sad at not having been able to fight for the overall..."

"Q: How does this disappointment influence you? It affects me and it hurts me to find that once again I was not able to reach the level I wanted, but in the face of the future it means nothing, because I believe that you learn most from the bad times."

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=78

JRMDC said:

Mareblu, please ignore the bad manners of the others, but please make a major modification to your signature. It is too large and distracting - one pulls up a thread and that is all one sees. Sometimes my eyes say: skip Mareblu, please, it doesn't matter what the content is, just skip it, give your eyes a break!

Yes, please make it smaller at least.

An interesting theory that Saiz and Heras have been exploring is maybe Heras performs better in his second Grand Tour in a given year than his first (maybe because Heras always does well in the Vuelta), with the possibility that the second is somehow aided by Heras' having participated in the first.

Therefore, they are thinking about having Heras possibly ride the Giro next year, so that the Tour would be his second Grand Tour of the year instead of his first. The problem with that approach is what happens to the Vuelta, if it would be Heras' third Grand Tour participation next year? I guess, if he wins 05 Vuelta, Heras would want to defend properly in 06. If he does not win the 05 Vuelta, Heras would want to try to break the record (I'm not sure about the record point) and have the most Vuelta wins in history by trying for a Vuelta win in 06. So, given the importance of the Vuelta in 06 either way to Heras and given his historically better chances for success in the Vuelta than in the Tour, how would Heras and Saiz decide among the three Grand Tours?

"Q: Manolo Saiz has pointed towards the possibility that next year you could ride in the Giro before the Tour, what do you think of the idea?
Heras: It’s a theory based on the experience of recent years, in which I have not been able to perform well in the first major tour but I have in the second. After a first great effort I may feel better. For the time being, nothing has been decided, we shall see next year."

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=78

"Q: Roberto Heras was not able to reach his level, how do you rate his performance? Saiz: ... The fact that [Heras] has not been able to perform well in the Tour in the last two years [his only post-USPS years] has made us consider him riding the Giro next year, which doesn’t mean that he will not ride in the Tour again, as some people have interpreted, but maybe after doing the Giro he could come here with some other kind of guarantee, because we believe that Roberto could be a rider with second strengths, as he proved in the Vuelta."

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=77

this post proves that all of your cycling opinions revolve around 'le tour'. have you not considered the possibility that Heras will just not bother with the tour and take part in the Giro as a warm-up to the vuelta instead?

he's not going to be stupid enough to take part in three grand tours in a year. is this yet more criticism of anyone non-discovery and how inferior everyone else is in comparison to them?

Could the reason I referred to the Tour be what the Liberty Seguros Wurth website said, in an interview with Heras?

musette said:

"Q: Manolo Saiz has pointed towards the possibility that next year you could ride in the Giro before the Tour, what do you think of the idea?
Heras: It’s a theory based on the experience of recent years, in which I have not been able to perform well in the first major tour but I have in the second. After a first great effort I may feel better. For the time being, nothing has been decided, we shall see next year."

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=78

"Q: Roberto Heras was not able to reach his level, how do you rate his performance? Saiz: ... The fact that [Heras] has not been able to perform well in the Tour in the last two years [his only post-USPS years] has made us consider him riding the Giro next year, which doesn’t mean that he will not ride in the Tour again, as some people have interpreted, but maybe after doing the Giro he could come here with some other kind of guarantee, because we believe that Roberto could be a rider with second strengths, as he proved in the Vuelta."

http://www.libertyseguroswurth.com/prensa_1.asp?opc=2&ide=77

Oh, and I guess the topic of the thread being why Heras hasn't done too well in the Tour (the only Grand Tour he has ridden this year so far)?

well, this interview is during the tour, and so therefore it will be referring to his possible future non-participation in the tour.

what are you trying to say? Heras' possible non-participation in the tour and instead taking part in the giro shows how awful and lazy he is since he left that guy's hard-working team?