Showing posts with label Sky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sky. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
Monday, 10 September 2018
Innsbruck Preview
The circuit of the 2018 Cycling World Championships is one of the most interesting among the recent editions.
It seems to be a circuit for climbers and we could have a GC contender wearing the rainbow jersey since Cadel Evans.
Nevertheless, with the approach of the race, the reaction of the riders is hard to believe.
Italy, with its captain Nibali, was in the short list of the possible winners but after the Tour the France crash of its captain and the horrible year of its lieutenant Aru, It has been relegated to a secondary role.
Great Britain, presenting the winner of the two grand tours so far, was in the short list as well. Nevertheless, Team Sky announced that their two champions are too tired to race the World Championships. Are you kidding me?!
The team still have two great contenders with the Yates brothers but I found hard to believe that the two strongest riders won't compete for the rainbow Jersey.
Colombia seems to be the favorite, with so many great climbers they are definitely the strongest team in Austria.
The problem will be to ride as a team; the rivalry among the Colombian champions is really hard and La Vuelta 2018 is enhancing it.
France and Holland are just below Colombia, in my opinion, they are two solid teams with a lot of tradition and can count on strong climbers.
They have less strong climbers than Columbia but their teams seem to be more organized.
Talking about Belgium, I don't think this will be the year of Belgium or of the Classics kids because the circuit looks really strong but the fact that Italy will race without a captain will not make the race as hard as planned.
In conclusion, I really wonder if this will finally be the deserved World Championships of Valverde. Spain has always had the problem of never being a team but, without Rodriguez, this time, Don Aleandro could have the chance of his life.
The team of Cycling Impressions will be in Austria providing you a lot of great contents, stay tuned!!
Monday, 2 July 2018
The Worst Race in the World
It is hard to understand the decision of the organizers to exclude Froom from le Tour de France.
I know that Froome was born in Africa and French people don't want immigrants but this it too much.
I don't even want to believe that this is due to his Salbutamol case.
It is important to clarify that Froome did not use doping, He was just found an excess of a permitted medicine in his blood and everything has still to be proved.
Froome made history at the Giro d'Italia and he was never found doped during the race, what are we talking about?
Loads of French riders have taken part to the Tour the France with worse doping cases pending on them.
The truth is that French organizers are scared of Froome. Nevertheless, for the love of cycling I've found a solution that will satisfy everybody!
The Tour de France should become the new French National Championship.
In this way, there will be just French riders with 21 French stage winners and the final classification will be won by a French too. The end of the Tour de France will be the new French national day and everybody will be happy.
Who cares about the rest of the world? We are French after all!
Friday, 4 May 2018
The First Pink Jersey
It is something hard to describe.
Wearing the first Pink Jersey can save a career, can save a season, can save a Giro.
Today, in Jerusalem, Duomoulin was simply amazing.
He is stronger than last year and came to Giro 101 for a memorable double.
He introduced himself to his contenders with today's incredible back to back.
I am not a stats maniac but I don't think we can count so many riders that have won the Giro the previous year and have been the first pink jersey a year later.
"Hey guys, allow me to introduce myself: I am the Pink Jersey". This is what Dumoulin said today with his Time Trial.
After the press conference and the time trial,Tom Dumoulin seems to have scored the very first rounds, demolishing Froome with words and facts.
Nevertheless, the Giro is too long to say it's over.
What matters is that Dumoulin may not win the Giro 101, but he is the first pink jersey and that is enough to be remembered in a positive way in the Giro 101.
Friday, 26 January 2018
Start of the Season
The new season just started and nothing seems to be changed.
Sagan is bossing in and out the competitions, his meeting with the Pope has been fantastic and showed us a grown Champion.
Greipel said again he is still in the game and in pure sprints he is the one to beat.
Degenkolb after a troubled season has already won a race, but will he return to be the champion he was before the horrible accident? I really hope so.
Porte seems to have done this, he won again on Willunga Hill, 6 months after his dramatic crash at le Tour de France.
In conclusion, what can we say about Quick-Step Floors? They have started the season reaffirming their enormous superiority in the UCI World Tour, they have already won 3 races with 3 different riders.
Do we have to prepare ourselves for another spring of Sagan vs. Quick-Step Floors?
This are the first few 2018 impressions because I don't want to say a word about so many teams that, at first sight, appear significantly below expectations.
Thursday, 30 November 2017
Giro d'Italia 2018
The exotic start is a fantastic idea to expand the cycling culture outside Europe. Nevertheless Israel and its silly controversy about "west Jerusalem" prove that maybe the organizers have chosen the wrong country. They are not ready to be part of a melting pot event.
Despite Israeli officials, I think that the TT in Jersualem will be a fantastic scenario for the start of the Giro.
The route continues with interesting stages, that will amuse the spectators and the fans since the first week.
The diamond of the race is the terrible Zoncolan that is something unique in the World Tour.
That stage will worth a Classic and the winner will remain in the history of cycling.
The Colle delle Finestre will be another great climb but it has been positioned too far from the end of the stage.
I have just two critics to move to this great Giro:
1) the arrival in Rome. The capital is a wonderful city but it is not a cycling one.
Milano is the Italian capital of cycling and the final TT in the city should become like the Champs Elysées for the Tour de France. Last year it has been something memorable with the leader jersey changing in the last stage, after a battle lasted 21 days.
2) The Dolomites and the Tuscany have been a bit sacrificed.
Nevertheless I really look forward this Giro, enriched by the participation of the best riders in the world and by Froome too, attempting a historic triple.
Monday, 11 September 2017
Sunday, 10 September 2017
La Vuelta of the Champions
What a Vuelta!
I am speechless in front of these champions attacking every day in the most spectacular Grand Tour of the last ten years.
Contador attacked every day, looking for a big victory and never giving up. He took a really deserved victory on the hardest climb of Europe.
He has secured his place among the legends of cycling, that will be happy to welcome him in their exclusive club.
Froome has proven to be able to fight and win also in one of the strongest Grand Tour I've ever seen and not just on the boring flat Tour de France.
I really hope that the way Contador rode his last Vuelta will inspire other riders and make them more aggressive. You have to risk to gain the place in the Legends Club and Contador proved it 'til the last day of his brilliant career.
Will Froome be the next? He still needs a Giro! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
La Vuelta 2017 Pt. 2
Froome is struggling to keep his leader jersey as he never did before.
If he will bring the red jersey to Madrid I think this would be maybe his best victory of a Grand Tour.
He has been fighting since the first day, proving that he is able to ride also far away from the flat Tour de France stages.
In case of win, he would complete his first double and he would definitively enter the legends' club.
He would be remembered as one of the most successful Grand Tour riders.
La Vuelta made us discover also a new talented rider named Lopez that is literally bossing everyone when the road climbs.
Will he continue is incredible growth? Has Astana found a new captain? Will Aru leave Astana? What is the strategy of the team?
We can still discover a lot, a new unpredictable week of Vuelta is starting.
Stay tuned!
Saturday, 29 July 2017
Rider of the Tour de France 2017
Congratulations Froome, you made it!
The Impressionists have elected you as rider of the Tour de France 2017.
You can say what you want but how you can say he is not a champion? In the end he always win and this is what matters.
Poker of Tours and rider of the Tour 2017, what else do you need?
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Monday, 10 July 2017
How Many Riders Will Arrive In Paris?
This is the question murmured on the roads of le Tour de France.
One of the most boring Tour de France I can remember is being sadly animated just by bad crashes.
Nevertheless, they are part of cycling, as mechanical problems.
That's why I think that the weeping Froome should not have complained with Aru about his attack.
Following the policy of Froome I don't understand why the Tour is continuing on Tuesday with another stage. We should suspend the Tour and wait 30 days 'til Porte is fully recovered and ready to battle again. Ridiculous.
I don't even understand why the other contenders did not help Aru in the only true attack of the day at the yellow jersey. They preferred to wait for Froome and to be humiliated by him.
Condator is a former champion that is facing his natural decline and Quintana is still recovering from one of the hardest Giro of all time.
They had a chance, they missed it.
Monday, 3 July 2017
Tour de France 2017 Pt. 1
The same old Tour is on and nothing seems to have changed.
Froome is again the big favourite and the other teams are already complaining about Team Sky's tactics and materials.
This time under investigation are the skinsuits used by the team during the opening Time Trial that, with their "vortex generator", seem to have provided the riders a notable time gain.
The saddest event is the crash of Valverde in the first stage, the Tour looses one of the most spectacular riders of the peloton. I really hope this won't be the end of the career of one of the last legend of this sport.
One of the most interesting riders to watch out during the first part of this Tour is Phinney, the American seems finally healed and in a good shape. No doubt about his talent, now I'm curious to see what he can do.
Until the stage arrival at la Planche des Belles Filles we can just enjoy watching Sagan that tries to win every stage.
Welcome back to the same old Tour de France.
Monday, 29 May 2017
Giro 100 Big Finale
In the end Dumoulin won and I can't remember a Giro so uncertain and so deserved.
The level of the Giro 100 has been extremely high and Dumoulin won because he was the most complete rider of the Peloton.
He proved also to be the smartest in several situation, winning his first Giro with strong legs but with a stronger mind.
His opponents never really tried to do something risky in the final week, they were all scared, despite their statements, to lose their position in the General Classification.
We discovered yesterday that Quintana has been sick during the last two weeks but I still think that some riders can have more than a regret.
What Team Katusha Alpecin made in the last stage would have shaken the GC many times if done by stronger teams in previous stages.
The sad truth we have learned is that it doesn't matter just to win.
In modern cycling you prefer not to loose a third or a sixth position than trying to win a Giro, considering that in the worst case you can loose badly.
Talking about the teams without a proper GC contender, I just want to underline a key point: why if such a great team as Quick-Step Floors is always attacking, even in the last stage, the teams invited, with the exception of Team Gazprom-Rusvelo, never really battled hard in order to try to win a stage?
Here you can find my grades to the teams, from 1 (very bad) to 10 (very good), you, dear Impressionists, will choose the rider of the Giro in the upcoming survey.
Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team - 6
AG2R La Mondiale - 5
Astana Pro Team - Impossible to rate
Bardiani - CSF - 4.5
BMC Racing Team - 7.5
Bora - Hansgrohe - 8
Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team - 7
CCC Sprandi Polkowice - 4.5
FDJ - 7
Gazprom-RusVelo - 6.5
Lotto Soudal - 5.5
Movistar Team - 7.5
ORICA-Scott - 6
Quick-Step Floors - 9.5
Dimension Data - 7
Team Katusha - Alpecin - 6
Team LottoNL-Jumbo - 5
Team Sky - 8
Team Sunweb - 8
Trek - Segafredo - 5
UAE Team Emirates - 5.5
Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia - 3.5
Sunday, 16 April 2017
Amstel Gold Race 2017 - School Of Cycling, School Of Life
The final kilometre of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 has been something amazing, something more than just cycling.
The two characters of this amazing show have been Kwiatkowski and Gilbert, the riders that showed the best shape in 2017 classics campaign.
They arrived in the Ardennes with prestigious and spectacular victories conquered this year in the previous classics. Today, they found themselves in this emotional final kilometre where just one of them, in the end, would have won.
The final has been absolutely unpredictable: Kwiatkowski, apparently stronger than Gilbert in a sprint, showed Gilbert respect, refusing to take the lead in the final kilometre.
This has been a mistake, the last kilometre became a psychological and tactical battle, but more that a matter of strategy, the final duel turned out to be a mental toughness question.
Kwiatkowski used the same strategy that in March had given him his great Milano - Sanremo victory but, this time, he wasn't fighting with Sagan and Alaphilippe, two young and bumptious riders.
His opponent, today, was a clever "old" champion, Philippe Gilbert, one of the most experienced riders in the Peloton.
Kwiatkowski has been beaten by an opponent better than him at his own game.
The attack of Kwiatkowski was provoked by the patient and the courage of Gilbert, waiting 'til the end, confident that his young antagonist would not have resisted longer without attacking.
The last kilometre of the Amstel Gold Race 2017 should be projected in any kind of school, because it is a life lesson.
Has Kwiatkowski learned the lesson? We will discover it soon.
Sunday, 19 March 2017
The Legend of Peter Sagan - Milano-Sanremo 2017
I've alwaye heared old people saying: "yes, nowadays there are good riders, but when there was Coppi..." or "but when there was Merckx...".
Nobody can say this anymore watching Sagan riding his bike.
Sagan is able to do romantic feat in a cycling dominated by technology and mathematics.
What he did on the Poggio during the 2017 Milano-Sanremo has been something that will remain in the history of this sport.
Milano-Sanremo in recent years has become a sprinter Classic and organizers where thinking about modify the route. This is not necessary anymore, you need champions, not route modifications in order to have great races again.
Yesterday the plot of all the romantic masterpieces was respected once again, the main hero didn't win, beaten by a clever and strong rider, the former World Champion before the Sagan's era.
I don't think this is the start of a new dualism, Sagan is simply The Hero and will have to face many different riders trying to defeat him.
Kwiatkowski deserved his Victory, he won in the only way he could against The Hero and will be remembered in the Milano-Sanremo winners list, but Sagan will be always remembered as The Legend and his presence in the Winners list of the various races will be just in the back burner.
Sagan doesn't know the cycling history, they say, It doesn't matter, It is more important making it.
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.Thursday, 8 September 2016
Rider of the Month: August
I would have never expected to see Viviani in this special classification, but what he did this summer at the Olympics games it has been something that will be hard to forget.
I think that the day of his Gold Medal, half of the cycling fans around the world were crying with him.
Thank you Viviani.
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