[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:41 AM

[Gamblor]

I have decided to do an interview series with a lot of the young guns from Gamblor and mine talent squads. This is to present them even more to the public who maybe don’t follow the U-23 scene on a daily day basis and throw a little spotlight on the youngsters, whom I think deserves it as well.

I have stolen the old questionnaire from Cycling4fans, and interviewed the riders through facebook, so this is far from any big case of journalism, but I think it gets the job done and it’s about as much time I am ready to invest on it, but as I said above, I think it would be a nice addition to our riders profiles on our talent-squads. The first interview is with one of my own rider’s surprise-surprise, Higinio Fernandez.
Interview with Higinio Fernandez (Caja Rural)
1. What is your favorite cycling race? And why? (Too ride of cause, and dream for the future evt ). My favorite race is the Tour de France it’s the race every cyclist dream about, to race and to finish. So I have to say my big dream is to someday contest this race myself, besides I am a rider well cut out for the stage-races.

2. Who are your best friends (training partners? ect!!), in the peloton?. My best friends in the peloton are primary guys I have spend my amateur years with like Arturo Mora and Jose Carlos. My training partners are also from my amature and junior days, Oscar Abad, Carlos Bruquetas and the professional Gonzalo Rabuñal.

3. What is the worst, craziest and most interesting thing or situation which you have ever experienced so far in your career (As a cyclist!!). ? The worst has to be two years ago when I got a severe knee injury and was sidelined for several months. It’s horrible to see all your friends racing and just sitting at home biting your nails.

4. What are your best and worst characteristics (On the bike, rider characteristic). ? My best quality is my climbing abilities, although I don’t go to bad in the time trail either; I still have to improve my position on the bike however. The worst has to be my sprint, its none existing.

5. What are your best and worst characteristics (Off the bike).? My best qualities are patience, perseverance, both on and off the bike, because in this sport its practiced 24 hours a day, not just while you're on the bike.

6. Who are your role models.? My idol as a child was Marco Pantani. Now I have to say its Alberto Contador. Although I have to mention two other riders as well, Carlos Barredo and Chechu Rubiera are two riders whom I admire very much; they are good friends of mine and besides being amazing bike-riders, they are also really wonderful persons.

7. What do you like to do in your free time, when you are not on the bike.? What I most like is to be with friends, but mostly with my girlfriend, but I am also currently studying (only until February) a university degree, and that keeps me pretty busy in the evenings.

8. How did you first get in touch with cycling and found out that this was to be your sport.? When I was 14 years old I went to see a race with my father and I was immediately hooked. I told him that I would love to do this sport as well, and a few months later I was on my first race-bike and ready to go.

9. What is the most difficult climb (Mountain) you have ever done I your life. ? One of the toughest is the Escudo, in Circuit Montanes. I'll have the chance to ride it again in a few days.

10. What are your statistics, height, weight, power at anaerobic threshold, and VO2max (If you ever done such tests that is). ? Height: 175cm Weight 63.5kg, I have never done any o2max tests.

Very interesting, I look forward to more of these interview..

Could you maybe add something about their goals in the coming years?

Btw. time for the Baby Giro now, it shall be interesting to follow. I look forward to seing your climber ace Stefano Locatelli shine, and personaly I must hope for a good showing by Palini, Battaglin or perhaps young climber Bongiorno or perhaps Molsalve . I almost chose him last time but felt he was maybe a bit to obvious, but I suppose also Carlos Betancur will be a big favourite for the race. No matter what it shall be very interesting to follow. Also I look forward to seing my favorite spintertalent (perhaps my next pick if you dont choose him before me) Giacomo Nizzolo take some sprintstages. Also your young climber Bilbao will be interesting along with the basque team. I suppose also a rider like Ocampos could do quite well.

This post has been edited by Gamblor: 11 June 2010 - 12:20 PM

[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:41 AM

[Gamblor]

I will try add something about their goals for the coming years in some of the future interviews.

You already have Y. Monsalve among your click btw, so you don’t need to think about adding him one more time ahaha.

Yes its Baby Giro time again and I am already looking forward to the queen stage on stage 5 finishing on Monte Grappa. Stefano Locatelli is my big favorite, but there really is a quality field this year so; there are plenty of guys to give him a run for his money. Peio Bilbao is an excellent climber and has been on some great form this season, but after today’s 1-stage he is already out of the GC. Too bad Igor Merino is not riding, he could really have been a threat for the overall GC.

In Colombia, there is a major buzz about Edward Beltran (From 1990) who has been the revelations of the past two U-23 Vuelta Colombia; he is a tiny little climber and their GC Captain this year, and in general much more talented than Carlos Betancur who took some headlines at last year’s World Championships. You have Enrico Battaglin riding as well who will have great climbing support in highly underrated Diego Zanco.

Fabio Aru will also be worth following, he is a cross/MTB rider who proved he could climb with the best last season. And as you also pointed out F. Bongiorno will be interesting too see through the race.

The sprint stages are going to be a battle between Andrea Guardini and Giacomo Nizzolo and I think A. Guardini will come out victorious, he is on some stellar form with 9 victories - so far this year - and I think will he will add 1 or 2 victories to that account during the Giro.

Stefano Locatelli to win the overall IMO.

Meant Betancur, not Monsalve (I know I have him), but I guess my sentance was a bit reversed

Interesting though if Beltran is seen as an even bigger talent than Betancur.

Anyways I agree with Locatelli. He should win this if he can do a decent time trial. And yes it will be some good duels with Guardini and Nizzolo in the sprints. I think Nizzolo will give Guardini a tough battle

Great start for my team btw with Omar Lombardi taking a nice stagewin. He was 1 of the riders with risk of being cut from my team, but I guess he will stay now.


EDIT:

Great start for Lombardi but bad continuation with his team also including my guy Alafaci being thrown out of the race due to possible doping. Perhaps I will have to cut him anyway...


Edit 2:

1-0 to Guardini clearly beating Nizzolo in the first masssprint in stage 3, a bit uphill though..

This post has been edited by Gamblor: 13 June 2010 - 06:54 PM

[Mantus]

All your South American boys doing really well on Italian soil - they really handed it to the Italians on today's hard stage.

1. [COL] BETANCOURT GOMEZ Carlos Alberto - 3h47'13" 4
2. [COL] BELTRAN SUAREZ Eduard Alexander EPM 2
3. [VEN] MONSALVE PERTSINIDIS Yonathan - 1
4. [COL] ANACONA Winner - 02" 0
5. [ITA] SANTORO Antonio - 20" 0
6. [ITA] BOARO Manuele - 49" 0
7. [ITA] LOCATELLI Stefano - 49" 0

Beltran for sure is a name to look out for, and Monsalve is still impressive (though he perhaps hasn't been as impressive in the UCI races this year). Thankfully there are some hard stages left where Locatelli can redeem himself, especially tomorrow on Monte Grappa (the stage is also 184 kilometres, no less).

Fabio Duarte destroyed the field in Spain's Circuito Montañes - I still feel it was weird nobody bet on him back in 2008 when he became world champion, but that might have been his own choice. He really is having a great season. He will probably win overall now. If a big team doesn't pick him up now, will they ever?

Also Cross champ N. Albert won today's stage in Circuito Montañes. I truly wish Niels Albert rode more road racing. He does so well almost every time - he is just a winner. While I enjoy Cross as much as the next guy, I hope he and Ztybar take a chance on the road at some point - they can always go back to the mud and the fries eventually.

[Mantus]

On Gamblor's list I am really digging John Degenkolb whose big races are coming up, especially Thüringer Rundfahrt.

John Degenkolb just won Thüringen Rundfahrt by doing just about everything perfect - he won ahead of the Australian Tim Roe, racing for team Livestrong. Roe is one of the talents which I think is most missing from Jakob and Gamblor's list, but I may be placing to high value on him. But I think he is a super talaneted climber with a good finish as well.

Degenkolb got to showcase his well-roundedness: decent time-trailer, superb on the hills and incredibly fast in a sprint. Only problem is I cant figure out which kind of rider he will turn out to be - hardly a traditional GC rider. I'm thinking Classics. Degenkolb is my big favourite for the Worlds, btw.


Edit: of course Roe races for Team Livestrong, the feeder team of Team RadioShack, rather than team RadioShack proper.

This post has been edited by Mantus: 20 June 2010 - 10:01 PM

[Gamblor]

John Degenkolb just won Thüringen Rundfahrt by doing just about everything perfect - he won ahead of the Australian Tim Roe, racing for team RadioShack. Roe is one of the talents which I think is most missing from Jakob and Gamblor's list, but I may be placing to high value on him. But I think he is a super talaneted climber with a good finish as well.

Degenkolb got to showcase his well-roundedness: decent time-trailer, superb on the hills and incredibly fast in a sprint. Only problem is I cant figure out which kind of rider he will turn out to be - hardly a traditional GC rider. I'm thinking Classics. Degenkolb is my big favourite for the Worlds, btw.

Roe is definetly also very interesting, but there is just so many great talents that its hard to get picked.

Btw. hats of to Jakobs latest pick Bob Jungels just winning the biggest junior race in spain Vuelta A Besaya, that should help a bit on Locatelli dissapointingly being crushed by the columbians in the Baby Giro. Still looking forward to the next pick Jakob, so I can get to my next one

Regarding Degenkolb he is definetly one of my better picks, and yes he should be a serious candidate for the world championship. I agree that he will most propable do well in the classics in the future, even though he can do well in stageraces too with his good time trial and solid climbing.

If I should come with a joker tip now for those worlds I will go with on of this years big revelations in the spanish amateur races argentinian Daniel Ricardo Diaz, a great climber with a very fast finish, he has pretty much been in top 5 in all stages and races he has participated in this season also taking plenty of wins and he could very well add the the worlds to that list. Also of course classics specialist Sonny Colbrelli from my team could be a very likely world champion this season.

This post has been edited by Gamblor: 20 June 2010 - 09:31 PM

[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:40 AM

[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:40 AM

[Gamblor]

Roberto Méndez won the first annual mountain TT up Cottobello (10km at 8,37% average gradient) last week in convincing fashion ahead of the likes of Miguel Angel Benito and Israel Nuño.

Cottobello - (Cima Chechu Rubiera).

1. Roberto Méndez 00:34:36-61
2. Miguel Ángel Benito 30sec
3. Israel Nuño 33sec

Tomorrow interview with one of Gamblor’s hottest properties, winner of Subida a Gorla and newly crowned Spanish U-23 TT Champion: Jesús Herrada.

Looking forward to that. Herrada is definetly one of my better picks.

My next cut is Eugenio Alafaci. Too ordinary a talent, and his team involved in some doping perhaps.

I had made my research and wanted to pick gennady tatarinov just to realise Jakob had already picked him, but instead ll try my luck with the talented young climber Kirill Sveshnikov (1992)

[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:40 AM

[Mantus]

Jakob!

Is it me or is Juan Pablo Suarez racing above his limit in the Tour of Columbia? How he is able to follow guys like Rujano and Sergio Luis Henao Montoya is strange, considering his results, at least as far as I can tell. Is this semi-young guy (1985) bigger than I thought in Columbia or is he really just a surprise?

To bring this to the U23s... it really is a shame Henao wont try his luck in Europe. He is absolutely fabulous. And the times he has raced outside South America he has been awesome. Shame, shame. Also good results for Fabio Duarte. Carlos Betancourt has disappointed, I guess.

[Jakob]

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This post has been edited by Jakob: 02 June 2012 - 12:39 AM

[Mantus]

In all honesty I don’t think they are many countries that can keep up with the talent-pool we have here in Colombia at the moment, the 1988 to 1991 is truly a golden generation.

Oh we are certainly talking about a golden generation, and that is discounting Duarte (1986) who I have great hopes for.

Carlos Betancourt, Beltran etc. completely ruled the Baby Giro and the races following it so it is more than natural that they are 'disappointing' me right now.. guess I just expect great things form these guys all the time. Silly me.

I expect the Columbian boys to rule the next legs of the Nations Cup and the WC... its not a perfect course but Duarte managed with less than ideal circumstances so why discount them already? Anyways... the next golden generation of Columbians have already proved themselves and the European teams who do not dare jump on the wagon will be sorry. Amazing potential in these guys!

This post has been edited by Mantus: 15 August 2010 - 04:01 AM

[VdB]

Erik Zabel's 17-yr old son Rick Zabel has just signed a contract with the Rabobank Continental Team.

Looking forward to Zabel #2's performance!

[shag]

Joe Dombrowski wins the Baby Giro. Now THAT is something. Pure climber ... Tommy D better hope Joe doesn't make designs on any of his hill climb records!

(sorry, couldn't help myself with the TD joke ... in all fairness TD looked very good in the TdS.)

[Burkni]

A 16-yr old Icelandic kid living in Denmark, Emil Tumi Víglundsson, is doing quite well in the racing scene there and recently won a competitive outing to Belgium:

http://objectiefkesp...n-wint.html?m=1

Is this a race you know VdB? One has a feeling that any kind of result in Belgium is a good result.

[Strategy]

Rasmus Quaade just won the U-23 European Championship, distancing Jungels by 23 seconds. Not bad.