Professional Cycling - Rasmusen on going for the GC ( Dutch TV)

When asked about competing for the GC now that he's ahead, Rasmussen said, without missing a beat: "it would stupid not to."


I got to say, the TdF sans Armstrong just makes for a more fun and open race.

It should be interesting to see how much he attacks in future mountain stages.

I don't think his lead is good enough over the current GC threats if it came down to a TT.

It should be interesting to see how much he attacks in future mountain stages.

I don't think his lead is good enough over the current GC threats if it came down to a TT.


Depends on how the others do.... But the big unknown is his team status.... Rob-a-bank do have an official contender...

Depends on how the others do.... But the big unknown is his team status.... Rob-a-bank do have an official contender...

Rasmussen AKA "Chicken" is free to race however he will, and Rabobank would be stupid not to let him do so; The Polka dotted jersey, and one, perhaps two, spectacular mountain wins, and some days in yellow are fine palmares for any team. Rabobank doesn't expect him to carry waterbottles or tow Menchov, but he isn't a "protected" rider, since Rabobank would attack his lead if they thought that was the best thing to do for Menchov as was seen today.

It is of course highly unlikely that Chicken would get close to the final podium, but only highly unlikely, so the GC contenters will have to watch him now and try to limit his lead if he successfully makes a long mountain breakaway again like today, and that can only be an advantage to Rabobank and Menchov.

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Regards

He blows away the field like that on a couple more mountain stages and he won't need much of a TT performance. This would be very interesting!

Rasmussen AKA "Chicken" is free to race however he will, and Rabobank would be stupid not to let him do so; The Polka dotted jersey, and one, perhaps two, spectacular mountain wins, and some days in yellow are fine palmares for any team. Rabobank doesn't expect him to carry waterbottles or tow Menchov, but he isn't a "protected" rider, since Rabobank would attack his lead if they thought that was the best thing to do for Menchov as was seen today.

It is of course highly unlikely that Chicken would get close to the final podium, but only highly unlikely, so the GC contenters will have to watch him now and try to limit his lead if he successfully makes a long mountain breakaway again like today, and that can only be an advantage to Rabobank and Menchov.

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Regards


I don't think it "highly unlikely" that Rasmussen will get close to the podium. On the contrary.
A couple more climbs like this and he's up there for a good long time. And then a not-disastrous TT performance would alter the calculations that lead people to believe that he's not a serious GC threat.

It should be interesting to see how much he attacks in future mountain stages.

I don't think his lead is good enough over the current GC threats if it came down to a TT.

But if he continues to take BIG chunks of time on future mountain stages, he can walk his bike in the TT and still win the GC. :eek:

... Brad

imo Chicken is in a whole 'nother league when it comes to climbing... i think he could win the tour with his great climbing.

He won't keep taking chunks of time on the mountains -- without losing chunks of time on a subsequent ride.


(Edit to add missing helping verb & negator. D'oh!)

If he gets 15 minutes from the TT guys on the mountains, he should win. 12 minutes would make it close. Its not impossible.

I just believe it was a silly question...of course he will...like duh ! But to be bombarded with all those silly questions at that point he was even smarter to state: I have nothing to say now!!! :)
Another interesting race l today. Its very refreshing to have new names coming and picking up wins like yesterdays, Linus Gerdemann from T Mobile, at 24 he still has a long way to go and if he does not become Ulrichisticize we shall see more of him as years go by. If Rasmussen keeps it up, although a sort of long shot, he could podium. Anyhow, Valverde is closing in..... if Alejandro races smart I wud put my money on him.... still long way to go though!!!!
And I could kiss the feet of the dutch network exec. that decided to stream the tour so that people living in places where cycling is almost unkown can follow it !!! (eventhough Dutch is impossible to understand!!)

If he gets 15 minutes from the TT guys on the mountains, he should win. 12 minutes would make it close. Its not impossible.


12 minutes should be ample if Rasmussen can avoiding falling off his bike.... What was it? Three times?

I don't think it "highly unlikely" that Rasmussen will get close to the podium. On the contrary.
A couple more climbs like this and he's up there for a good long time. And then a not-disastrous TT performance would alter the calculations that lead people to believe that he's not a serious GC threat.

He may gain a few more minutes in the mountains, at least he will try, but the GC teams will limit his time gains there, His TT abilities are very bad, and he hasn't done anything about that to my knowledge, so he will lose a lot of time on +100km TT, probably more than 10 minutes, much more time than he could gain in the mountains.
Still, he will fight on even if the chance is small, and that will probably result in some interesting stages (Especially stage 14 +16).


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Regards

...AKA "Chicken"... that Chicken...




...imo Chicken is in...


Please, people. It's "The Chicken" to you.

Or, more precisely: The Chicken from Tølløse.

Everyone expects Chicken to have a disaterous TT like he did in 2005, and I doubt if it will be that bad. He will lose time in the TT's, but the Yellow Jersy inspires. The best I can remember one of the time trials is not flat, so that will give him even a little more confidence. The GC leaders are playing a dangerous game with him.

GC Guys Left:

Valverde can put big time into the chicken
Sasre Can put some time into the chicken, but he is not a very good time trialist either
Vino is hurting, and may show poorly in the first TT at least
Levi screwed the pooch last year in the TT, and may do it again
Evans can gain time
Moreau can gain time

The GC guys are going to have to crack chicken on a climb one of these days. I would not want to go into the final time trial down 3 minutes to him no matter how bad he is.

Richard

Considering that the main field only gained about a minute over the last climb-while riding together no less, I'd say Rasmussen will be able to climb with or away from the best of them. It certainly wasn't a Virenque style grab for the polka-dots. He was defiantly riding for time, and the other gc men might not be able to stop him from grabbing even more in the mountains.

Rasmussen and to a lesser extent Mayo are the only guys to ride impressively today. Vino is clearly hurting, Kloden is too dumb to ride for himself, and Lipheimer had the same big talk but small results he always brings to the tour. While the guys in the break with Moreau may have had the strength, they played the strategy horribly by not working together to knock the other guys out of the GC picture and save time against Rasmussen.

12 minutes should be ample if Rasmussen can avoiding falling off his bike.... What was it? Three times?

At least three times. It was painful to watch, as we all remember. Painful and fun.

After that tour, Armstrong was on Charlie Rose and told a little story that his son was watching the race on a monitor. When he saw Rasmussen fall one of the times; he asked Sheryl Crow "do you think daddy is going to stop and help that guy?"

Menchov is a TT guy AFAIK, and positioned decently.

Correct, but I was tired of typing:)

Richard


"big time?" doubt it.



about the same as valverde.



we'll see.



correct.



some.



correct.

btw, you forgot to mention Kashechkin, Contador, Schleck, and maybe even Mayo.

If Rasmussen makes podium, it'd be great, but I think just topping his 2005 7th place finish is more likely. He'll keep gaining a little time in the mountains whether the peloton allows him to or not. I'd love to see Mayo pocket a bunch of time in the mountains too, but his TT skills aren't great either, if memory serves.

It seems one reason why Rasmussen got such a lead was that a bunch of the GC candidates didn't wind up working together.

My guess is they will try to shut Rasmussen down if he takes off like that again. Considering his climbing skills (and less than stellar TTing), it would be a minor tactical error to let him get into any more breakaways.

It's going to be a lot harder from here on out for Rassmussen to get chuncks of time.

Also, he's failed to prove so far that 1) he can ride consistently day to day over 3 weeks without losing chunks of time, and 2) that he can TT.

That said, this could set up a very interesting dynamic with the issue of whether the Chicken can TT well enough to hold a lead could be very close.

Also Rabobank now has 2 cards to play with Menchov, and Rassmussen.

Tthe irony is that the psot Armstrong TDF's are way more intriguing, and few Americans will notice.

Seems to me that Rasmussen was allowed to gain such a lead because the GC contenders don't view him as a serious threat. Now they will be forced to pay attention to his moves and limit his gains in the mountains. This is a ploy by Rabobank to help Menchov.

It would be nice to see a tour win from an old skool climbing machine rather than a time-trialler ok climber guy.
What always surprises me is that a lot of pure climbers like Mercado or Zubeldia get dropped by the leaders on these stages.

In Levi's defense, he did have mechanical problems today and he claimed he was marking, more or less Kloden and Vino, but if he was a real contender, he should have been putting time into those two like others and not be satisfied to ride their wheel all day. I keep waiting for a break out day from him and me thinks it's not coming. :(

It seems one reason why Rasmussen got such a lead was that a bunch of the GC candidates didn't wind up working together.

My guess is they will try to shut Rasmussen down if he takes off like that again. Considering his climbing skills (and less than stellar TTing), it would be a minor tactical error to let him get into any more breakaways.

Keep in mind that this guy is 20lbs lighter than humans.... so its pretty much like the field was trying to ride a walmart MTB up these hills compared to him.

He's not going to get any help on stages, but that doesn't mean anyone can stop him. The field can't draft off him up 8% grades anymore than he can keep up in a TT. So there's no tactical choice involved. I'm sure all the contenders rode as hard as they could today.

Seems to me that Rasmussen was allowed to gain such a lead because the GC contenders don't view him as a serious threat. Now they will be forced to pay attention to his moves and limit his gains in the mountains. This is a ploy by Rabobank to help Menchov.

The GC can't be dismissing him outright because he's so consistently strong in the mountains. After his solo breakaway in '05, he stayed with Armstrong through just about every other mountain stage when others were dropping away, and if not for his time trial undoing, he'd have been much closer to the podium. But, the other GC contenders also can't afford to focus too much of their strategy around him because the all-arounders still pose bigger threats.

^^ he would have been ON the podium, in third most likely.

I read somewhere that "The Chicken" was incorrect, as the nickname "Chicken" came from a fictional character called simply Chicken. I seem to remember it was a children's cartoon, comic, or bedtime book? But, if you're from Denmark I guess you'd know. :o

Holy crap! I stand corrected! According to wikipedia, which is never wrong, it's either one. However, every article I have seen about him always writes "kyllingen" which means "the chicken", but wikipedia says "or merely Chicken".

My apologies.

The name comes from the children's show "Bamse og Kylling" about a bear and a chicken. One of his former teammates was nick-named 'Bear', so he was dubbed 'Chicken'. Bjarne Riis was known as "ørnen fra Herning" -- "the eagle from Herning" -- which is why the long form includes his birthplace.

Also, he's failed to prove so far that 1) he can ride consistently day to day over 3 weeks without losing chunks of time,

He kept time just fine in 2005, losing a little to Armstrong and Basso, but otherwise OK. Yes?

Last year he lost chunks of time in the transition stages so that the GC'ers would let him go for the polka-dots. Yes?

I wonder if he can stay upright in the time trials...

12 minutes should be ample if Rasmussen can avoiding falling off his bike.... What was it? Three times?

No, you must have turned your head away from the screen.

Four.

The rest days splitting the four toughest climbs introduces a new dynamic we haven't seen with Rasmussen before-the potential to run off unchallenged on four killer climbs in one tour.

I don't believe the field can stay with him if he takes off-they can only limit his damage by trying to not let him pile up too many minutes. The rejuvinated Mayo may be the excepion if he can stay in the Chicken's slipstream.

Conventional wisdom says the Tour will be won in the Pyrenees. Other GC contenders are no doubt delighted that it's Rasmusen's team that will have to pull, chase and defend for a week.

TCS

He kept time just fine in 2005, losing a little to Armstrong and Basso, but otherwise OK. Yes?

Last year he lost chunks of time in the transition stages so that the GC'ers would let him go for the polka-dots. Yes?

I wonder if he can stay upright in the time trials...

Rasmmussen didn't exactly ride a consistent TDF in 2005. He was down more than 5 minutes on GC before they hit the Mountains. Then gained 6 minutes on Armstrong and other GC contenders in the win on Stage 9, then lost over 7 minutes on the final TT (which is more time than even his crashes explain).

Admittedly last year, losing time on some transition stages was likely planned for KOM purposes. But I still don't think he's shown the ability to ride consistently through a 3 week tour.

And doing it with the Yellow Jersey on your back, as a legitimate GC contender is another level of challenge, than riding as a guy that people only think of for the KOM, with no obligation to control the race

You are right about him not showing he can pull it off for 3 weeks, but that goes for a lot of riders in the year's tour. Oscar hadn't shown he could either, but ended up second, and may be declared the winner.

Richard


Rasmmussen didn't exactly ride a consistent TDF in 2005. He was down more than 5 minutes on GC before they hit the Mountains. Then gained 6 minutes on Armstrong and other GC contenders in the win on Stage 9, then lost over 7 minutes on the final TT (which is more time than even his crashes explain).

Admittedly last year, losing time on some transition stages was likely planned for KOM purposes. But I still don't think he's shown the ability to ride consistently through a 3 week tour.

And doing it with the Yellow Jersey on your back, as a legitimate GC contender is another level of challenge, than riding as a guy that people only think of for the KOM, with no obligation to control the race

Rasmmussen didn't exactly ride a consistent TDF in 2005. He was down more than 5 minutes on GC before they hit the Mountains. Then gained 6 minutes on Armstrong and other GC contenders in the win on Stage 9, then lost over 7 minutes on the final TT (which is more time than even his crashes explain).

Admittedly last year, losing time on some transition stages was likely planned for KOM purposes. But I still don't think he's shown the ability to ride consistently through a 3 week tour.

And doing it with the Yellow Jersey on your back, as a legitimate GC contender is another level of challenge, than riding as a guy that people only think of for the KOM, with no obligation to control the race

Last year's losses were more related to the work he did for Dennis.

I would love to see The Chicken win it all but he's going to need a serious time cushion and help from his team.

Speaking of climbers, Contador is looking very strong.

Conventional wisdom says the Tour will be won in the Pyrenees. Other GC contenders are no doubt delighted that it's Rasmusen's team that will have to pull, chase and defend for a week.
Conventional wisdom does not apply to the 2007 Tour.

The GC can't be dismissing him outright because he's so consistently strong in the mountains. After his solo breakaway in '05, he stayed with Armstrong through just about every other mountain stage when others were dropping away, and if not for his time trial undoing, he'd have been much closer to the podium. But, the other GC contenders also can't afford to focus too much of their strategy around him because the all-arounders still pose bigger threats.

That the all-arounders are a bigger threat opens the door. If he were the biggest threat we could expect a blistering pace on the flats leading in to the mountians on a couple of stages. But we most likely won't see that unless he has another important time gain in the mountians.

Also if he has a lead coming out of the last of the mountians I'd expect some pretty nasty flat stages, esp if there are winds. There are ways to make mountian goats pay on the flats. It has just been a while since they have been used, but I'll bet the various D.S.s know many more ways to gain back time than any of us do.