Discussion
S10GTA said:
johnxjsc1985 said:
Peter Sagan still only 24 years old he seems to have been around for ages.
Just getting my fix on ITV 4 of yesterdays TTT.
Future Grand Tour winner imhoJust getting my fix on ITV 4 of yesterdays TTT.
Sagan can do it all ... he's the best climber out of the sprinters and when it reaches the finish, he's the best sprinter out of the climbers!
I can see Nibali struggling to make the time up he's lost, however Contador is the type of rider who just seems to be able to operate on another level when required so wouldn't bet against him making some inroads. I just hope this year that we don't lose any of the man GC hopefuls to give us an exciting remainder.
I can see Nibali struggling to make the time up he's lost, however Contador is the type of rider who just seems to be able to operate on another level when required so wouldn't bet against him making some inroads. I just hope this year that we don't lose any of the man GC hopefuls to give us an exciting remainder.
JEA1K said:
Sagan can do it all ... he's the best climber out of the sprinters and when it reaches the finish, he's the best sprinter out of the climbers!
I can see Nibali struggling to make the time up he's lost, however Contador is the type of rider who just seems to be able to operate on another level when required so wouldn't bet against him making some inroads. I just hope this year that we don't lose any of the man GC hopefuls to give us an exciting remainder.
The trouble is he isn't the best sprinter out of the sprinters and not the best climber out of the climbers. The fact he is not a great climber - merely OK (everything is relative!)- will hurt him. He will start to lose touch with the main contenders this week.I can see Nibali struggling to make the time up he's lost, however Contador is the type of rider who just seems to be able to operate on another level when required so wouldn't bet against him making some inroads. I just hope this year that we don't lose any of the man GC hopefuls to give us an exciting remainder.
He is an enormously impressive all round bike rider, but this is an era dominated by specialists. He will have a great classics career ahead of him. But for me the jury is really out on GC - if I had to put my money somewhere I would say no.
He will need to find A LOT of time on the flat to compensate for what he will likely lose going uphill.
Edited by Vocal Minority on Monday 13th July 16:13
ewenm said:
pablo said:
Apparently Basso has recieved a positive diagnosis for testicular cancer, hope he has a successful recovery. Given there are no highlights on ITV4 tonight, why not use that time wisely and have a feel?!...
There is a highlights program tonight but good point 
pablo said:
ewenm said:
pablo said:
Apparently Basso has recieved a positive diagnosis for testicular cancer, hope he has a successful recovery. Given there are no highlights on ITV4 tonight, why not use that time wisely and have a feel?!...
There is a highlights program tonight but good point 
S10GTA said:
I'll hold you to that.
I could just about see it with Geraint Thomas, who is another fairly strong all rounder (though no sprint) as he has the right body shape, Sagan is a tank full of fast twitch, you don't just go from that kind of rider to be a hill climber able to live with people like Quintana and Contador, Froome etc.
Speaking of Sagan, saw this the other day
Sagan started to ride bikes at the age of nine when he joined Cyklistický spolok Žilina, a small local club in his home town. Throughout his junior years Sagan rode both mountain bikes and road bikes, and was well known for his unconventional style of riding in tennis shoes and t-shirts and drinking just pure water. Sagan drew a significant amount of attention when he appeared at the Slovak Cup with a bicycle borrowed from his sister. Sagan had mistakenly sold his own and had not received a spare from the Velosprint sponsor in time. He won the race despite riding a supermarket bike with poor brakes and limited gearing.
Sagan started to ride bikes at the age of nine when he joined Cyklistický spolok Žilina, a small local club in his home town. Throughout his junior years Sagan rode both mountain bikes and road bikes, and was well known for his unconventional style of riding in tennis shoes and t-shirts and drinking just pure water. Sagan drew a significant amount of attention when he appeared at the Slovak Cup with a bicycle borrowed from his sister. Sagan had mistakenly sold his own and had not received a spare from the Velosprint sponsor in time. He won the race despite riding a supermarket bike with poor brakes and limited gearing.
I dont think any would have predicted Wiggo being a TdF winner whilst he was winning Gold in Beijing and Sagan is arguably coming from a better place having not been track-centric for so long so it remains possible. I guess its like Murray and tennis, Murray is without doubt one of the best, it just so happens that there are three or four other guys out there who are better. To win Wimbledon he has to beat at least one from Federer, Djokvic and Nadal and thats the problem with Sagan.
To win a grand tour Sagan will always be against TvG, Quintana, Pinot etc and as others have said, the time he loses in the big mountains will be greater tha nany time he can recoup opn the rolling stages. He could get lucky and find a race with fewer mountain finishes than previous races, like Wiggo did in 2012, or he could get lucky with some guys out through injury or favouring the giro/vuelta, or he could just get better at climbing
To win a grand tour Sagan will always be against TvG, Quintana, Pinot etc and as others have said, the time he loses in the big mountains will be greater tha nany time he can recoup opn the rolling stages. He could get lucky and find a race with fewer mountain finishes than previous races, like Wiggo did in 2012, or he could get lucky with some guys out through injury or favouring the giro/vuelta, or he could just get better at climbing
pablo said:
I dont think any would have predicted Wiggo being a TdF winner whilst he was winning Gold in Beijing and Sagan is arguably coming from a better place having not been track-centric for so long so it remains possible. I guess its like Murray and tennis, Murray is without doubt one of the best, it just so happens that there are three or four other guys out there who are better. To win Wimbledon he has to beat at least one from Federer, Djokvic and Nadal and thats the problem with Sagan.
To win a grand tour Sagan will always be against TvG, Quintana, Pinot etc and as others have said, the time he loses in the big mountains will be greater tha nany time he can recoup opn the rolling stages. He could get lucky and find a race with fewer mountain finishes than previous races, like Wiggo did in 2012, or he could get lucky with some guys out through injury or favouring the giro/vuelta, or he could just get better at climbing
Wiggins another classic slow-twitcher with a small body frame, I can't think of any sprinter types who are built like sagan that have managed to do it thinking off top of my head?To win a grand tour Sagan will always be against TvG, Quintana, Pinot etc and as others have said, the time he loses in the big mountains will be greater tha nany time he can recoup opn the rolling stages. He could get lucky and find a race with fewer mountain finishes than previous races, like Wiggo did in 2012, or he could get lucky with some guys out through injury or favouring the giro/vuelta, or he could just get better at climbing
What you're forgetting is that Wiggins took time on the time trials, Wiggins is one of the best time trialists there has 'ever' been, Sagan is not, and would not be able to take the time out of people that Brad did.
The only way he's going to get better at climbing is losing a lot of weight, probably a stone, I don't think his body type will allow it though, and even then it's questionable whether he has the engine, I personally doubt his power output over an hour is much different to someone like Froome, certainly to my mind he doesn't have the engine of someone like Cancellara who sworded him a couple of times in classics.
Anyway, its going to be hard to judge as he won't be bothered about getting up the mountains in any really quick time, but if it all goes mad tomorrow then one of the top GC guys could put minutes into another of the top GC boys, let alone someone like Sagan...
S10GTA said:
He might not be perfect at the TT, but no worse than Quintana. How much time has he grabbed in time bonuses?
As for going up hill, Sagan is only 75kg. If he dropped a few KG he could keep up I think.
I should hope he isn't any worse than a 58kg pure climber in a TT As for going up hill, Sagan is only 75kg. If he dropped a few KG he could keep up I think.
I don't think he has the engine to be honest unless he got very light - 75kg is a lot for a pro cyclist unless they're big, he is 6ft, not that big.
okgo said:
S10GTA said:
He might not be perfect at the TT, but no worse than Quintana. How much time has he grabbed in time bonuses?
As for going up hill, Sagan is only 75kg. If he dropped a few KG he could keep up I think.
I should hope he isn't any worse than a 58kg pure climber in a TT As for going up hill, Sagan is only 75kg. If he dropped a few KG he could keep up I think.
I don't think he has the engine to be honest unless he got very light - 75kg is a lot for a pro cyclist unless they're big, he is 6ft, not that big.
I don't think you are quite appreciating the difficulty of losing 10kg when you're already riding 25 hours a week as a pro cyclist and your body has settled at 75...he ain't gunna be taking bonuses with 10kg less, that is for sure.
Quintana could probably take 10 minutes or more out of Sagan in the next 3 days even if Sagan was trying, that is why he is a GC contender...
Anyway, we'll see, my money would be on him not even attempting it (win a GT that is)
Quintana could probably take 10 minutes or more out of Sagan in the next 3 days even if Sagan was trying, that is why he is a GC contender...
Anyway, we'll see, my money would be on him not even attempting it (win a GT that is)
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