Hats off to the week’s best riders.
Un coup de chapeau a Fabian Cancellara. Spartacus looked dominant in the race to Siena. He was able to attack on the white gravel and time trialed his way to victory. Fabulous Fabian looks like he is primed for the pave classics. Fear Motorcus in 2012.
Un coup de chapeau a Bradley Wiggins. Wiggo was a beast during this year’s Paris-Nice. He had the best form in the time trials as well as showed that he has the ability and the team to mark attacks in the mountains. Twiggo has to be a favorite at le Tour.
Un coup de chapeau a Vincenzo Nibali. The "shark of the strait" beat the field and attacks from his own teammate to win the race of the two seas. The Shark was present at all the important parts of the race. He was able to deliver a surprise TT time to win it all. It will be fun to watch him at Milan–Sanremo, the Ardennes, and Giro del Trentino. I wonder if he will ride in the Giro di Italia or if he will stick to his original plan of riding the Tour.
Un coup de chapeau a Peter Sagan. Sagan looked great in the race of the two seas. The Terminator seems to have benefited from riding a grand tour and has the legs to win with the best. His stage win in Chieti showed his ability to survive the climbs and to sprint in a very select group. However, he beat his own teammate and bridged the gap for his teammate’s closest rivals. He redeemed himself by leading Nibali through the rest of the tour. I think Sagan will win La Primavera this weekend.
Un coup de chapeau a Alejandro Valverde. Well boys what do we say here. The Commish straight duped us. By leaving Valverde off of all the pre-draft info he was able to steal the “Green Bullet”. Well Chapeau to Luke I guess. Valverde has been nothing short of amazing so far this year and is the early favorite to be the UCI point’s leader. I am really excited to see what he can do in the Ardennes Classics and grand tours.
Un coup de chapeau a Christopher Horner. Horner crashed out of the tour where he lost consciousness, and was allowed to ride 32km to the end of the stage, where he was diagnosed with concussion, a fractured rib, broken nose and injuries to his leg and ankle that were later revealed to be a torn tendon. In August he was diagnosed with a blood clot on his lung, another result of the Tour crash, and his season came to an abrupt end. But the “Smiler”, weak nickname, has come back in 2012 and has looked phenomenal. I was really hoping he could win Tirreno-Adriatico but he couldn’t hold off the Shark on the last day. If I was team Geriatrek-Nissan- Leotards, I would be riding for Horner in July and leave Frandy Schlecks at home. Chapeau!
Three things:
ReplyDelete1. Possible new nickname for Spartacus: Fabian Catch-ya-later.
2. Valverde: The commish can't do everything for you guys, Valverde was an obvious pick. Also, currently he is not the "favorite" to be the UCI points leader, he IS the UCI points leader! Boom.
3. I wish Horner was on another team. I suppose he will have support at the american races but it just seems like he is not a team priority. Lame.