Euskaltel fail in ENECO TTT
Euskaltel were at their usual worst team time trialling form in the ENECO Tour earlier on Tuesday.
The 18,9km TTT in Sittard was never going to be Euskaltel's happiest hunting ground, and the riders in orange didn't "disappoint" as they came in next to last, finishing 20th out of the 21 teams on the start line. The team came in 1:09 back on Orica - GreenEdge, and Ion Izagirre thus ceded vital time in the race for a top overall placing. Izagirre, Urtasun, Minguez, Cabedo, Azanza and A Pérez crossed the line together, while Adrián Sáez and Pierre Cazaux came in 1:36 and 1:41 further back.
Full results here.
Photo: www.fundacioneuskadi.com
11 comments:
will the team ever learn that team and individual TT seem to make up a very important part of tour racing lots of work required if we are ever to really challenge
You can't be angry at them. TT doesn't fit them, our orange guys are just very bad in this discipline. And believe me when I say you can not learn this at older age; these skills you have or you haven't. If someone who has a very bad TT becomes good in it there's only one explaination : doping!
Don't forget Euskaltel is one of the cleanest teams in the peleton, no single doping case in the last three years. Yes a team as Katoesja wins often, but what is it worth when they have 4/5 positive riders in three years time? Not to mention teams which simply buy their victories.
im not angry with the boys it wud just help them over all if only we could TT better it would help them gain race position and gather more uci points
As in almost every aspect in life: practice will make you better. To become a better TT-rider, you have to train specifically at it. No, the orange boys will never be among the very best in this discipline, but to say that there is no room for improvement is just plain out stupid! You can indeed learn an old dog new tricks ;) The only hindrance i can see is priorities (they obviously choose to focus on climbing skills) and culture. At the end of the day, it's really all about how much WATT you can produce in an hour + aerodynamics. In theory, every cyclist with talent should be able to become decent at this...
I agree with you Bolsen, it could be learned. There seemed to be a slight improvement right after Galdeano joined back in 2006, but it seems to have gone out the window the last few years. I find it strange that GC hopefuls like Antón and Nieve spend almost no time on their TT bikes, only Samu looks to have done that. Sicard was a very good TTist in the junior ranks, but that seems to be gone now. He could become good in the discipline if he focused on it. Gladly, I Izagirre and Bilbao seem to have good time trials in them, but they're pretty much the only ones.
we are never going to really compete on GC when the boys always loss masses of time in TT
I completely agree. And that's a shame as a little TT training would go a long way to rectify the "problem".
I'm afraid I can not really agree with that. Maybe you can try to learn, and Anton/Nieve will lose 3 or 4 minutes instead of 5 minutes. But then again, I think if they do, it won't have a positive effect on their climbing skills. Give me 5 riders which have many improved in TT after the age of 27 which was not caused by doping, or which hasn't had negative influences on their other skills (climbing/sprint)?
That's a tough one. I'm tempted to say Contador, but I guess that's not a valid suggestion as he's always been a gifted time triallist, super talented and doper.
Purito Rodríguez has surely improved, and his climbing looks the part still. Samu has gotten better with age, and so has his climbing on longer hills. Gesink has improved vastly, but his climbing is always up and down, so it's hard to say if it's hindered his climbing. Horner is a better TTist than he was before...
Well it's difficult as most riders don't really go full gass in a TT, at least not in the GTs. But I'll give it a shot:
- Chavanel (this must be the best example of all).
- Westra (but I don't really remember how good he was before).
- Kessiakoff
- Horner
- Purito
- Samu
- Sastre also steadily improved over the years in his later years.
You never now if doping is a factor for one or more of these riders...
But I simply don't see why riders should not be able to improve in TT when they can improve in other things. Of course, the learning curve will always be steeper at an young age, but that isn't to say that you cannot improve later in your career.
I'm convinced that the lack of improvement in TT for many riders is a direct result of old fashioned mentality when it comes to training philosophy in particularly Italy and Spain...
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