Showing posts with label Etixx - Quick-Step. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Etixx - Quick-Step. Show all posts
Friday, 7 December 2018
Sunday, 18 March 2018
A Poet In Sanremo
Giovanni Pascoli (1855 - 1912), an Italian poet, talked about the Poetica del fanciullino (Poetics of the child) which he described as the unceasing capability to get stunned by the world, typical of childhood.
Pascoli opposed both the renunciation of self-analysis and the abandonment of the self-centered point of view, in favor of a semi-irrational comfort which the poet gives himself through poetry.
What Nibali did yesterday on the Poggio was exactly the same, he applied the Poetics of the child to cycling.
In these days, dominated by Watts, computers, data analysis and science, Nibali abandoned both a strict data analysis and a self-centered point of view, attacking with an irrational comfort, just based on his own sensation powered by the magic climb on which he was, the Poggio.
The moment Nibali crossed the finish line, every single witness of this incredible feat started crying, the child inside us had been woken up by this incredible champion that showed the world that, sometimes, a poet can still beat science.
Chapeau Nibali and thank you for waking up our inner fanciullino.
Thursday, 1 March 2018
Netherlands on the Cobbles
The season on the cobbles has just started but this year, Belgium seems a Dutch colony.
On Sunday, Groenewegen won the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and on Tuesday, Terpstra won Le Samyn.
This means that Dutch riders have won two-thirds of the races on the cobbles so far, dethronizing the Belgian kings.
I know that Terpstra represents a Belgian team, but is that enough? We all know that the answer is no.
Will the Dutch dominion continue?
It is hard to say, nevertheless Netherlands has already made its move, now it is time for Belgium to react.
Will the Belgian riders repeat the fabulous 2017 cobbles season?
Stay tuned and enjoy the cobbles, the best is yet to come...
Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Tuesday, 10 October 2017
Il Lombardia
What a race! Nibali won again Il Lombardia and brought Bahrain Merida its first Monument.
The race was incredibly hard and nothing more that the words of Pinot can summarize how it went: "I think Nibali is the most complete rider of the Peloton".
Despite all the critics received during the season, the Squalo came out with an incredible victory.
In the interview after the race he has already set his new objective: Innsbruck world championships.
Seeing how these last Italian classics or para-classics went, with the victory of Uran Uran, Nibali, Visconti, Geniez and with first class riders as Pinot, Quintana and Alaphilippe fighting in the up front, next year's World Champs are going to be memorable.
Nevertheless we have a season to watch and comment in which we will still enjoy Sagan wearing its natural outfit.
Stay tuned.
Monday, 8 May 2017
Giro 100 Pt. 1
Bora Hansgrohe and Quickstep Floors attacked and deserved they victories, honoring such an important edition of this wonderful race.
Bora Hansgrohe, maybe due to the fact that Sagan wasn't in the race, started attacking with all his riders and were rewarded.
Quickstep Floors choose the windy day to teach cycling to the peloton, doing the one that, so far, could be called the best feat of the Giro 100.
I can understand that the teams with the GC contenders prefer to ride safely in the bunch, but in such a hard race I ask myself when weaker teams think they will have a good occasion to win a stage.
In conclusion, after these three stages is confirmed something that I always love to repeat: in cycling if you attack you may loose, but if you don't attack you can't win.
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Impressions After a Week On the Cobbles
A week on the cobbles has just finished and Van Avermaet comes out confirming his class in one day races.
Nevertheless, I think he wasn't the strongest rider in the peloton, he was just the smartest.
Gilbert lost two races in which he was clearly the strongest, trying to ride in the Sagan's way, a spectacular way to ride but that is not paying back in 2017.
We have also to consider that in order to ride like Sagan you have to be extremely stronger than the other riders and not just in a very good shape.
Allow me now to focus on what happened today in Gent-Wevelgem: while Sagan and Terpstra were arguing, Van Avermaet and Keukeleire, remaining focused on the race, silently rode away.
Van Avermaet took an incredible win that embellishes his palmarés proving that you have to be smart to win without caring too much about pulling as the others or showing that you are the best in the peloton.
I think that Sagan learned a lot from Gent-Wevelgem 2017 and we will enjoy an incredible Ronde Van Vlaanderen.
In conclusion, I want to celebrate the only rider that this week (at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya) won conjugating show, class and cleverness: El Imbatido, Alejandro Valverde.
Saturday, 4 March 2017
Strade Bianche 2017
WHAT-A-RACE
This edition of Strade Bianche has been amazing! The rain made the race harder and just the true men survived 'till the end!
Kwiatkowski and Team Sky will remember for a long long time this victory, one of the best of his great career.
Nevertheless, two important facts emerge from this hard race characterized by this hard weather conditions:
1) It is important to underline that fighting for the victory there were just great World Tour Teams, none of the new teams were fighting for the victory in the end.
2) We can say the same about the riders, in this case it is partially different because a lot of good riders, among them the World Champion, weren't fighting in the final but there wasn't any Carneade.
The riders fighting for the final victory were all good riders representing solid World Tour Teams.
In a race like the one we assisted today there was no space for naive teams or riders, so congratulations to Team Sky and Kwiatowski, confirming themselves even in the hardest racing condition.Tuesday, 21 February 2017
The Smell of the Cobbles
Saturday Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will open the season of the Cobbles 2017.
Most people identify the essence of cycling with climbs and Grand Tours.
I understand this but we can't forget the magic of the Classics and in particular the Cobbles Classics.
It is how ask a baby if he prefers mom or dad, It is just a stupid question without answer.
Cobbles Classics are races that allow us to feel part of history and closer to our ancestor.
The cobbles roads are always the same, the Ancient Romans built and trod them with their bigas.
Riders tread them with their bikes, Boonen, Coppi and Merckx have won on the same stones, those trod by the Ancient Romans too and by so many historical figures. Winning or riding a Cobbles Classic means being part of history.
This is the reason why Cobbles Classics are so magical, because history is linked by a sector of Cobblestones.
Monday, 30 January 2017
Welcome to the 2017 Pro Cycling Season
The season has just started and we have already seen that Quick-Step Floors boys are ready to be leading actors in the 2017 Pro Cycling season too.
What they did, or better, what Davide Bramati did in Argentina was something amazing. They won five stages out of seven, with three different riders helping each other.
This is the dream of any directeur sportif and Davide Bramati made it come true.
Less than two weeks of cycling and we are just wondering who will be the rider of the month, the battle is more than open and, as always, it is your choice...
Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Monday, 1 August 2016
Monday, 25 July 2016
Tour de France Ratings
I'm using the rating scale from 0 (very bad) to 10 (excellent).
Froome, Sagan: 10
Cavendish: 9,5
Dumoulin, Bardet, Yates: 8
Van Avermaet, Pantano: 7,5
Zakarin, Valverde, Majka: 7
Matthews, De Gendt, Izagirre, Rodriguez: 6,5
Kittel, Greipel, Porte, Cummings: 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quintana, Barguil, Kristoff, Alaphilippe: 5
Aru, Nibali, Rolland, Cancellara: 4,5
Coquard, Voeckler: 4
Prudhomme, Security, Motorbikes: 0
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Tour de France Prediction...
The same old boring first week of Tour de France is slowly rolling by but it has already given us an interesting prediction.
The first 3 stages were won by World Champions, a former World Champion, Mark Cavendish and the actual World Champion, Peter Sagan.
Today Kittel won the 4th stage, could this mean he will be the next World Champion?
This year the UCI Road World Championships will take place in Doha and the route seems to favor the sprinters. Will the prediction come true???
Friday, 3 June 2016
Rider Of The Giro
Congratulations to Steven Kruijswijk who has been elected rider of the Giro d'Italia 2016!!!
A special mention goes to the team Etixx - Quick Step Pro Cycling Team that gave aeverybody a lesson of tactics and showed how to work as a team.
Friday, 27 May 2016
Team Vs. Individual Sport
There in as everlasting diatribe: Cyling is an individual or a team sport?
This Giro is proving that you can play it and maybe (we have to wait until sunday) win in both ways.
Etixx - Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team is the most representative example that cycling is a team sport. They came to the Giro without a real champion and with their perfect team tactics were able to: win stages, keep the Maglia Rosa (Pink Jersey) and the red jersey for a few days and maybe (we have to wait until sunday), win the white jersey.
Steven Kruijswijk is proving that you can win a Grand Tour alone, trying to affirm that cycling is an individual sport.
Once again the diatribe can't be settled, it depends on Kruijswijk. If he will win the Giro, this would be a seatback for the supporters of the team sport side.
Nevertheless, if Kruijswijk will loose the Giro, this would be a knockout blow for the theory affirming that cycling is an individual sport.
The last 3 stages of the Giro d'Italia are not just a battle for the final podium, they are a battle between two different conceptions of cycling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)