Zabel second

Smokey wrote:
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

Who'd'a thunk?

Too bad. Would have been great to have won the WC and then retire. He
certainly deserves it (not saying he deserves to win the WC, as it's not ice
dancing, but if he had won it, it certainly would have been a desirable
point in time to leave the sport).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


Agreed. I always thought Zabel was one of the good guys of the sport.
Next year the championships are in Germany. I know it's a long shot,
but wouldn't it be something if he [Zabel] won there?

Smokey

That would make him the oldest champ since Cipollini, yeah?

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
Who'd'a thunk?

Too bad. Would have been great to have won the WC and then retire. He
certainly deserves it (not saying he deserves to win the WC, as it's not ice
dancing, but if he had won it, it certainly would have been a desirable
point in time to leave the sport).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

I agree. Damn you, Bettini!!!

~bob

Keith wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:10:37 -0400, RonSonic
wrote:


On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:33:07 GMT, Keith wrote:


On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:27:13 -0700, "Robert Chung"
wrote:


Who'd'a thunk?

yeah, poor guy, the excellent Swiss commentator Bertrand Dubout (I
skip France2/3 and Eurosport to watch cycling on TSR now, these guys
crack me up) was howling, "Zabel, le Malheureux" in his microphone !

Kinda makes you wonder how Zabel could spoil a chance like that
though, Bettini certainly deserved to win after breaking loose twice,
but Zabel should be able to beat him in a sprint, same goes for
Valverde of course.

Everybody underestimates Bettini as a sprinter. The guy has a tremendous
acceleration. The only way you're going to beat him is by being a great sprinter
yourself and timing it out perfectly so that he can't come around on you.


True, wonder where that "punch"comes from though, the guy is so small
1.65m ! I'm not implying he's doping, I'm just wondering where he
finds that boost !

It takes less power to move a lighter vehicle. Of course, his technique
has to be correspondingly finer than others', just as McEwen's does
since he's smaller than Boonen or Hushovd. A small, powerful rider can
just easily be an inefficient thrasher - for example, Thomas Voeckler or
Iker Flores.

In article ,
RonSonic wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:33:07 GMT, Keith wrote:

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:27:13 -0700, "Robert Chung"
wrote:

Who'd'a thunk?

yeah, poor guy, the excellent Swiss commentator Bertrand Dubout (I
skip France2/3 and Eurosport to watch cycling on TSR now, these guys
crack me up) was howling, "Zabel, le Malheureux" in his microphone !

Kinda makes you wonder how Zabel could spoil a chance like that
though, Bettini certainly deserved to win after breaking loose twice,
but Zabel should be able to beat him in a sprint, same goes for
Valverde of course.

Everybody underestimates Bettini as a sprinter. The guy has a tremendous
acceleration. The only way you're going to beat him is by being a great
sprinter yourself and timing it out perfectly so that he can't come around
on you.

That's true, but I'd add that he's a very strong sprinter at the end of a very
long day. Being strong at the end of a moderately long race in the middle of a GT is
one thing, but having punch at the end of 265 or more km is another thing altogether.

--
tanx,
Howard

Never take a tenant with a monkey.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 01:48:07 GMT, Keith wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:10:37 -0400, RonSonic
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:33:07 GMT, Keith wrote:

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:27:13 -0700, "Robert Chung"
wrote:

Who'd'a thunk?

yeah, poor guy, the excellent Swiss commentator Bertrand Dubout (I
skip France2/3 and Eurosport to watch cycling on TSR now, these guys
crack me up) was howling, "Zabel, le Malheureux" in his microphone !

Kinda makes you wonder how Zabel could spoil a chance like that
though, Bettini certainly deserved to win after breaking loose twice,
but Zabel should be able to beat him in a sprint, same goes for
Valverde of course.

Everybody underestimates Bettini as a sprinter. The guy has a tremendous
acceleration. The only way you're going to beat him is by being a great sprinter
yourself and timing it out perfectly so that he can't come around on you.

True, wonder where that "punch"comes from though, the guy is so small
1.65m ! I'm not implying he's doping, I'm just wondering where he
finds that boost !

He's "the Cricket." See the size of the thighs on that li'l ****er! He is also
amazingly tough and as Howard pointed out is very strong at the end of a hard
day. Bettini's got so many ways to win it's scary. Few guys who can sprint like
him are threats on a small or solo break. Like imagine McEwen taking off with
two laps to go, yeah right.

Great rider and a fine champion.

Ron


The final 500 meters were stellar, with the thee champs going clear
with the help of the Spanish racer (Sanchez), the cream of the cream !

Splendid.

Can't remember the last time I saw that, WC 1981 maybe ? Just as
splendid as a good climb in the Alps.

Ron


Famous Dubout quotes :

"Bertrand Dubout, chroniqueur cycliste déjanté, pour:
«Ils ont perdu du temps sur ceux qui ont déjà franchi la ligne.»
«Il a pris un virage très douloureux dans le mauvais sens du terme.»
«Les coureurs passent devant le château de Chillon toujours aussi
imperturbable.»
«Ah! Il est fort, Laurent Jalabert, c'est certain. Il est capable de
tout faire, de gagner comme de perdre.»"

in message , Keith
') wrote:

Everybody underestimates Bettini as a sprinter. The guy has a tremendous
acceleration. The only way you're going to beat him is by being a great
sprinter yourself and timing it out perfectly so that he can't come
around on you.

True, wonder where that "punch"comes from though, the guy is so small
1.65m ! I'm not implying he's doping, I'm just wondering where he
finds that boost !

Power to weight ratio. He weighs bugger all, so he needs very little power
to accelerate. What impressed me (I am /not/ a Bettini fan) was the way he
attacked off the front bout 3Km out, really committed, got pulled back,
and still had the strength to go again. Not my preferred choice for World
Champion by any means, but he rode a great race.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

in message , Sonarrat ')
wrote:

It takes less power to move a lighter vehicle. Of course, his technique
has to be correspondingly finer than others', just as McEwen's does
since he's smaller than Boonen or Hushovd. A small, powerful rider can
just easily be an inefficient thrasher - for example, Thomas Voeckler or
Iker Flores.

The 'inefficient thrasher' was doing far more than his fair share of work
in Sunday's breakaway, and still had it in him to be there or thereabouts
until the breakaway group was finally caught. He won't win a bunch sprint,
and he's canny enough to know that. The breakaway is his only real hope,
and he goes for it. Breakaways usually are doomed, but without the
breakaway specialists road racing away from the mountains would be a very
dull sport.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

to err is human, to lisp divine
;; attributed to Kim Philby, oddly enough.

He's "the Cricket." See the size of the thighs on that li'l ****er! He is also
amazingly tough and as Howard pointed out is very strong at the end of a hard
day. Bettini's got so many ways to win it's scary. Few guys who can sprint like
him are threats on a small or solo break. Like imagine McEwen taking off with
two laps to go, yeah right.

Well maybe he should try that one day, a guy who can outsprint the
whole peloton can likely breakaway too !

Great rider and a fine champion.

Ron


The final 500 meters were stellar, with the thee champs going clear

"Simon Brooke" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
in message , Sonarrat
')
wrote:

It takes less power to move a lighter vehicle. Of course, his technique
has to be correspondingly finer than others', just as McEwen's does
since he's smaller than Boonen or Hushovd. A small, powerful rider can
just easily be an inefficient thrasher - for example, Thomas Voeckler or
Iker Flores.

The 'inefficient thrasher' was doing far more than his fair share of work
in Sunday's breakaway, and still had it in him to be there or thereabouts
until the breakaway group was finally caught. He won't win a bunch sprint,
and he's canny enough to know that. The breakaway is his only real hope,
and he goes for it. Breakaways usually are doomed, but without the
breakaway specialists road racing away from the mountains would be a very
dull sport.

Actually, Voelkler wasn't doing more than his fair share of work. His
greatest talent is to make it appear like he does more work he does. He's a
very clever rider ("malin" in French). I am constantly reminded of the way
he won the French nationals a few years back. It looks like he's giving it
all he's got , but he's really holding back. Did you see how he was often
last in the climb, struggling, but always managed to make it back? And then
on on lap where he was behind Cano and Cano got dropped, he bridged the gap
with ease.

On French Eurosport there was in fact a discussion of this prompted by a
viewer's question. And Jacky Durand and the other expert (Bernadeau?)
basically said that he works less than the others, but makes it look like he
works more, including in the World's.

Carl Sundquist wrote:
"Robert Chung" wrote in message
...
Who'd'a thunk?

Apparently Zabel and Sean Kelly don't suffer from the same ideology.

I think you're referring to Zabels's statement that he was happy with
second. You can experience something like this at different levels. On
one level it will be the one that got away for the rest of his life. On
another level, you can be happy with second. The world isn't just black
and white with one perspective. Even more interesting is Zabel's
statement that he would have retired if he had won. Who else would have
passed up the prestige of riding in the rainbow jersey? On the other
hand, it would have pre-empted the curse.

Bret