Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 10:47 AM |
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Upfront talk about Cance and Sagan but oh my Nibali found a new skill and looks to be really enjoying himself. I just found BIG respect for the dude. |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 07/09/2014 11:01 AM |
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| as they ride past the nuclear cooling tower, fitting symbol for today. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 11:07 AM |
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| Some knucklehead riding from Belkin going on if GC is the object. But a victory for the ages for BOOM! One to remember. |
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Inferno7
Posts:344
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| 07/09/2014 11:22 AM |
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Wow Nibali second today +2 on everyone......this tour just got real interesting.
Lars BOOM, I bet my neighbor is psyched he's a cross racer went to worlds this year for USA. He'll be stoked to see a cross racer win. |
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Yo Mike
Posts:338
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| 07/09/2014 11:24 AM |
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| Porte is French for 'door' and it is now open |
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jmdirt
Posts:775
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| 07/09/2014 11:32 AM |
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I wish I could have seen it because it sounds fantastic. I thought that VN's handling skills could see him do better than some of the other GC guys, but he really showed something special today!
I hate to see Froome go out because its always better when the defending champ is part of the mix. Plus, whoever wins would prefer to win with him in there.
Talansky not looking too bad in the GC battle. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 07/09/2014 11:49 AM |
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| Karma cast by Sir Bradley jmdirt. Not a fan of VN but I'm impressed. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 12:03 PM |
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Froome may be gone but Contador has his work cut out for him. Pretty much all his rivals are ahead of him, a good number by a significant amount. Nibali is firmly in the driver seat.
Awesome racing, this was a stage were you could not afford to even give a passing glance to your power meter. Not quite the way I predicted his exit, but I did say several weeks ago Froome would not make it past the cobbles once I saw the pics of his recon. He looked brutally out of place in those pics. |
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Oldfart
Posts:511
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| 07/09/2014 12:14 PM |
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| While I don't like seeing riders get hurt I do like it when the course and rider skills dictate who does well. Grand tours should be about riders that can do more than just climb or TT. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 07/09/2014 12:29 PM |
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Another "WOW!"
As for the big picture, there are 5 uphill finishes still to come. That ought to console Alberto. |
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 07/09/2014 12:37 PM |
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| Crazy stage, and the anticipation of danger probably led to more crashes than usual. Most of the crashes happened before the pave. Too bad about froome but it blows things open for the rest of the race. And Nibali was awesome -actually driving the pace the last 20k.
Been watching live Eurosport and they have Sean Kelly commentating. Unfortunately he has a very poor broadcast voice - too soft - and his accent makes it even more difficult to understand (at least to this non-Irish). I find myself tuning him out. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 07/09/2014 12:48 PM |
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| Interesting comments by Fabulous Fabian about the cobbles during post race interview in the studio. I may have to agree with him. Cobbles should be left for the one day classics. Maybe have one or two sections. Yes and there is room for argument that crashes happen more on road than cobbles but the gaps would be much more manageable. A day like today takes the wind out of all GC riders. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 01:01 PM |
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I don't buy Cance's argument about cobbles. It is only a hair removed from Andy complaining about downhill attacks in the rain.
The Stelvio stage was a circus, no one knew what was going on. As was Zoncolan, with riders getting knocked off their bikes. Today, while tough and risky racing (but no more risky than a misty descend) was comparatively much better managed. |
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Keith Richards
Posts:781
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| 07/09/2014 01:04 PM |
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| Terpstra said it best, "they don't take out high mountains for guys like me, why should they not have stages like this to 'save' the climbers?" |
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It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong. |
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Oldfart
Posts:511
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| 07/09/2014 01:13 PM |
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| Cancelera is becoming a whiner. Terpstra is right too. Hey Fabian? How about all those crashes before the cobbles? Maybe take out those fast descents too eh? And how about that Frank Schleck. 8:10. Time to trade those two Schlecks for some real riders or maybe a case of water bottles. Those two have become rather worthless if you ask me. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 07/09/2014 01:16 PM |
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| Teams need to protect their super star just as NFL has put in rules to protect the QB. Sure I love to see the race on the cobbles, but I am not the one forking millions in salary. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 01:20 PM |
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The salary argument is a good point but really Froome's troubles started yesterday, not today.
Cav crashed out on a spint stage.
Beloki's career was over on a descend.
Andy got blown off his TT bike.
Shit can happen pretty much anywhere. Riders having control over their destiny to me is the treshold between good/tough racing and a circus. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 07/09/2014 01:26 PM |
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| Point taken OC but when you start customizing the road bike from top to bottom so you can stay upright on the cobbles then you might as well throw a mtn bike stage in there too. |
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Yo Mike
Posts:338
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| 07/09/2014 01:33 PM |
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Wiggins acquitted himself more than adequately on the cobbles this Spring. Sky must be doing the 'coulda shoulda woulda' about now.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/09/2014 02:25 PM |
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| And look at that; only one DNF today. There have been "regular" stages seeing much greater carnage. |
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stronz
Posts:447
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| 07/09/2014 03:00 PM |
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| The argument that these cobble stages are unsafe for the GC guys might have merit if it werent for the fact that a skinny little GC guy just took the stage by the throat and killed it! This was a great display of tactics and skilled bike riding. Dont know if you guys saw it but Nibali looked comfortable on the cobbles and he was flying! His team worked the stage perfectly -- sent Terpstra up in the break and burnt his matches slowly so he had Fulgsang with him when they finally joined up with Terpstra. It was perfect. And Sagan and Fabes couldnt catch him in the end. Nibali kicked everyone's ass today and based on this performance desrves to win imo. Plus now we can watch Berto claw his way back. Expect some attacks from far out -- this is shaping up to be a great and unpredictable tour. And Brailsford should be canned for keeping Bradley off the squad. There is no legitimate plan B for SKY but there could easily have been one. |
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thinline
Posts:323
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| 07/09/2014 03:02 PM |
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A few weks back on a thread about Wiggins' status for the tour I remarked about the possibility of Froome abandoning and Sky regretting not bringing Wiggo.
Also, I beleive Cancellara in the Cycling News article someone posted yesterday made a comment quite like Terpstra's re: they make us climb mountains. Unless I read it wrong and was Terpstra being quoted. If it was FC, the reporter should have called him on it. |
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thinline
Posts:323
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| 07/09/2014 03:03 PM |
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Cancellara from yesterday:
"I've already been asked if I'll ask for the stage to be neutralised if it rains but this is different. I know that it’s not a nice stage for Froome, Contador, Nibali and even our GC riders. But my reply is: so why not take out the climbs to make it easier for us? That never happens, so it's only right we race on the cobbles. It’s a risk for everyone, including me, but we've got to live with it and calculate the risks involved." |
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jrt1045
Posts:363
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| 07/09/2014 03:49 PM |
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| Bert (and others) will make Nibbles suffer in the mountains, but he certainly made his own luck today. I don't think that Astana will be able to keep Bert at bay in the mountains without dropping/blowing-up Nibbles. They'll have to try for a happy medium, I get the feeling that the only rider Bert feared on a mountain splattered himself on the cobbles today. Should make for some great rassin' |
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Inferno7
Posts:344
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| 07/09/2014 04:16 PM |
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Wow Nibali second today +2 on everyone......this tour just got real interesting.
Lars BOOM, I bet my neighbor is psyched he's a cross racer went to worlds this year for USA. He'll be stoked to see a cross racer win. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/09/2014 04:39 PM |
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Great, great stage. I don't buy the "not fair to the GC guys" argument. Teejay was whining about Froome being out (you guys got your drama), but Froome was out before the cobbles even began. Hell, Teejay himself went down in a roundabout, not on the cobbles. So what....maybe we should just cancel stages when it rains?
The killer today was the rain, not the cobbles.
Nibali just killed it today, as did Astana. Props to them......BUT, I do find the timing of their resurgence (after Vino blasted them) to be.....uh, convenient.
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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zootracer
Posts:833
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| 07/09/2014 05:55 PM |
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| Lady Luck strikes again.... |
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Ride On
Posts:537
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| 07/09/2014 06:08 PM |
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| I'm ok with the stage. In modern times we have come to be condition to thinking that the tour winner should come from a winner of the mountains. Why can't the tour winner come from a classic stage like today. Nabili today showed he was the best on a very hard stage, why can't he take that and be crowned a great winner. I was very impressed with him today and won't take anything away from him, he earned every second he gained today. |
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CERV
Posts:151
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| 07/09/2014 06:44 PM |
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Posted By ed custer on 07/09/2014 05:55 PM
Lady Luck strikes again....
Froomes DNF was 30% bad luck, 70% bad skills.
Nibali also didn't almost win that stage on luck.
I'm in complete agreement with those who say this is all part of bike racing. I've wished for years that they'd have MORE stages like this, Stages of attrition that result in 2 minute + gains change the overall just like mountain stages do. It would be great if the 'general' classification tried to even out the specialties a bit. The winner of the GC would be the best overall bike racer, not just the elite climber with the best TT. |
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Yo Mike
Posts:338
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| 07/09/2014 06:47 PM |
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| Vino is a very 'motivational' speaker. Just ask Rigoberto Uran......... |
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jmdirt
Posts:775
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| 07/09/2014 07:08 PM |
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| The word luck is getting tossed out quite a bit and luck is certainly part of any sport; some luck just happens (or doesn't happen), and sometimes you create your "luck" (mostly through prep and planning). I hate to bring up LA, but part of his string was the fact that aside from the musette bag kid, he had no crashes, very few flats, no mechanical issues, and never got caught out. We know he was running top fuel, but that wouldn't have helped if he was on the ground (three times in two days), having mechanicals, getting flats... I was always amazed at his lack of issues. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/09/2014 07:17 PM |
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I think so much of that is your mental approach to it, jm. LA was always just convinced he was gonna win the race....and it came through in everything he did. He "made" his own luck, in that sense.
it is not by coincidence that the mussette bag happened in the one Tour where his confidence was rattled adn in the biggest fight of his TdF career, IMO. And look at 2010...... |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/09/2014 07:19 PM |
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Ooops...meant to add on more.
Froome was riding today like he was scared and not committed. His posture on the bike was rigid and not relaxed. Nibali, OTOH, was smooth and powerful and rolled with the punches. Even when he got tangled up a few times, he just got on about his business.
Each time Froome went down, you could see it wear on him....which led to the next piece of bad luck, etc. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Oldfart
Posts:511
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| 07/09/2014 07:28 PM |
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| Part of the "skill" in avoiding crashes is being at the front most of the time. Planning by having a strong team to surround the leader and help him stay at the front and out of trouble. Plus you have to be a skilled bike handler. And not look at your freaking stem every 12 seconds or less. I did not see any of Froome's crashes so maybe he was simply unlucky and could not avoid the crashes. But he ain't good on a bike. Fast and fit yesiree bob. Skilled? meh. Plus the modern stage racer looks more akin to Gandhi. Too thin and fragile. I do feel really badly fro Froome. Truly sad to work that long, focus on that one race and loose so fast like that. Maybe Sky with all their every little detail planing should implement some cyclo cross training for those boys. Can't hurt. |
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zootracer
Posts:833
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| 07/09/2014 07:46 PM |
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| Weather had a lot to do about luck...dry roads would have made the cobbles a lot different.. |
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zootracer
Posts:833
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| 07/09/2014 09:42 PM |
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| Rethinking the whole thing, no one crashed on the cobbles that I am aware of....with the cobbles I think you just have to get to the front .....like OF said... great idea to drop Wiggins from the tour... |
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Inferno7
Posts:344
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| 07/09/2014 09:52 PM |
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I'd buy the Cance argument if a GC guy wouldn't have beat him.
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jookey
Posts:197
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| 07/09/2014 10:37 PM |
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This was epic. I DVRd it and really only skipped the commercials. One stage like this a year really forces you to be an all around rider. Why give glory to climbers? This is the ultimate bike race. Why not throw the queen of the classics at them?
This was one of the few bike races made for TV.
The Shark smelled blood and attacked. Too bad the pit bull had one little issue. We shall see how Porte responds as well.
The overall is jumbled which makes it more interesting.
Would you have rather had a TT today?
Yawn. |
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JS
Posts:61
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| 07/09/2014 11:38 PM |
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| Regardless of what Van Whiner has to say this is far from over. Contador will bury himself to win this thing. Although Im not a huge fan I think Porte will surprise, dare I say on the podium. The funny thing would be if Richie somehow wins this thing, WTF would SKY do then? |
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 07/09/2014 11:39 PM |
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| Sagan was funny in the post race interview. He was just incredulous that he got dropped by Nibali and company. |
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Gonzo Cyclist
Posts:568
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| 07/10/2014 04:11 AM |
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Great stage today, Nibali's got skills, Astana played it out perfectly with the right folks, and what about Boom, whoa, he was flying. too funny about Sagan, the boy still has a lot to learn, also Cancellara, he seemed kind of humbled in that interview........
Did Sky forget about the P-R race not long ago where Wiggins was hammering it in the front of the race? |
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