[Jayhawk]

My gosh, where is Nibali? Did he stop for lunch?

Enjoying Rein Taaramae's break out year.

This post has been edited by Jayhawk: 03 September 2011 - 03:33 PM

[Burkni]

Nibali: BIG, BIG disappointment.
I felt that on the Angliru he would really take the battle to Wiggo, but 2mins ain't coming back. So then I thought Kessiakoff, but he lost time too.

Grand stuff from Cobo, looking like a real GT rider for the first time since his 2nd place to Piepoli on Hautacam in the 2008 Tdf ... He didn't really seem to take the same flak (read: suspension) as Piepoli and Ricco, so does anyone know what happened to him in 2010, causing him to lose all his UCI points?

Wiggo looking more and more like a deserved winner through virtue of consistency, but he has to survive the horrors of Angliru first. Would actually not be surprised to see Froome take the jersey back tomorrow.

[Jayhawk]

Burkni, on 03 September 2011 - 04:35 PM, said:

Grand stuff from Cobo, looking like a real GT rider for the first time since his 2nd place to Piepoli on Hautacam in the 2008 Tdf ... He didn't really seem to take the same flak (read: suspension) as Piepoli and Ricco, so does anyone know what happened to him in 2010, causing him to lose all his UCI points?

Burkni, how do you remember this stuff? Excellent trivia. Saunier Duval sure had the climbers, didn't they?

Yes, Cobo's 2010 is a mystery. And David de la Fuente is also someone I expected good things from after being a factor in the 2006 Vuelta, but he fizzled too. Here's an excerpt from VeloNation from last year:

"Cobo enjoyed arguably the best season of his career with Fuji-Servetto in 2009. The Spaniard took 9th at the Giro di Lombardia, 10th overall at the Vuelta including a stage win, and 10th at the Vuelta Castilla y Leon plus a stage win along the way. 2010 was a completely different story though. Cobo signed on with Caisse d'Epargne for the 2010 season and has recorded not a single result. In fact, Cobo's season has, without question, been an abject failure. Injuries and sickness have not contributed to the overall picture either. Caisse d'Epargne were of course reluctant to return the rider once hailed as one of the most promising stage racing prospects from Spain, but for 2011, Gianetti will hope to just get a Cobo capable of finishing bike races - after that, perhaps there will be cause to dream for more.

The story of David De La Fuente's 2010 season hasn't been much better, but definitely enough to avoid the moniker of failure. The former contender for the Polka Dot jersey at the Tour de France moved to Astana for 2010 and performed ably as a domestique for Alberto Contador en route to his third overall title in the Grand Boucle.[I didn't think he contributed much -- J.] Other than the Tour, De La Fuente can only count top 20 finishes at both of the Canadian ProTour races to his credit this season. De La Fuente's job evaporated with the departure of Contador for Saxo Bank, where he wasn't one of the lucky small army of Spaniards to follow the Pistolero to Bjarne Riis's team, and when De La Fuente was not taken to Saxo Bank, Astana did not renew his contract either. Luckily for the able climber, Matxin has apparently stepped in."

Read more: http://www.velonatio...x#ixzz1Wv6zs419

This post has been edited by Jayhawk: 03 September 2011 - 07:47 PM

[Burkni]

So Cobo and De La Fuente join Matxin and Gianetti and all of a sudden they have their A-game back on.
Go figure ...

Previous incarnation, Saunier Duval, wasn't exactly your poster-boy of clean teams.