|   Whats up with Tom Steels??? | phatired
Jul 8, 2002 6:19 PM | | I thought Steels was supposed to be in great shape? He not only isn't going for the sprint wins; he's coming in at the back of the pack?
Anyone know whats up? |
| Stuey O'Grady too. | Sintesi
Jul 9, 2002 10:02 AM | | Man these guys are killing me in the office pool. I know O'Grady had surgery earlier this year but the way he was talking I thought he'd be contending this year. Tom? Tom won the Belgian National championship, where the hell is he? Arrghh! |
| SPOLIER here | SLB
Jul 9, 2002 10:18 AM | | O'Grady had a problem today with an irregular heatrate, so had had to drop off the back to be examined by the doctor. He never really got back in a good position after that. But Tom Steels is a victim of the Mapei machine: too many captains. Do they set up Friere or Steels or Hunter? Today Steels got a great position with less than 1k to go, but he didn't have a wheel and no teammates and I saw him just give up with about 300m to go and just coast in.
The more you see the hot and cold results of the other sprinters, the more you really appreciate the incredible consistency of Zabel. But I really miss the old Saeco train for Cipo. The way they set up the sprint a thing of beauty. |
| Excellent insight. | Sintesi
Jul 9, 2002 10:48 AM | | I hadn't thought about Steels' situation. Of course, there are two other stud sprinters in that team and god knows mapei's riders have been known to cut each others throats for a victory.
Sorry to hear about Stuey tho. |
| Stuey O'Grady was so overhyped on last years TV coverage... | sprockets2
Jul 9, 2002 10:08 PM | | that we all probably expect too much of him. Phil and Paul seemed to love having an English speaking sprinter up against Zabel. He clearly could not match Zabel or several other sprinters in mass sprints, and only just clung to life in the green jersey competition. I could not understand their attempts to hype the green jersey "competition". |
| Well he did lose the Green jersey on the very last stage. | Sintesi
Jul 10, 2002 6:29 AM | | That is pretty close no matter how you slice it. O'Grady also wore the yellow jersey for a significant amount of time. He had a great tour, no denying it.
That said, I think you are absolutely correct, they do play up english speaking riders at the expense of true favorites a little too much. |
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