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Roberto Velásquez: The Story of A Legend |
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| TimoCycling |
Posted on 10-10-2012 19:03
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Sprinter
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Wow! With no TT's left the GC is up for grabs! I knew it! Really great stuff! |
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 10-10-2012 19:22
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Domestique
Posts: 425
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This is getting better and better! Yay!   |
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| kqyt |
Posted on 10-10-2012 20:12
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 348
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wow, amazing job Robert, at first try too, if you hold in then
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 10-10-2012 20:58
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
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Damn... I hope he can keep it until Madrid!  |
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| Schleck96 |
Posted on 10-10-2012 22:50
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He was riding a motorbike don't lie to us Great Result! |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 10-10-2012 22:53
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Team Leader
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Fantastic race. Are you sure Roberto isn't taking drugs. Good luck for the rest of the giro.
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| lennybernstein |
Posted on 10-10-2012 23:00
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Domestique
Posts: 450
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Great riding from Velasquez!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 15:57
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-10-2012 23:03
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Come on Roberto, you can win this if you stay focused  |
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| Daggen |
Posted on 11-10-2012 07:45
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Sprinter
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I've been biting on my nails all day in school just because of this |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 08:37
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Thanks to everyone for following, you're all great!
francopell: I'm glad you think so
TimoCycling: Thanks
Wild Dog: Thanks for the banana!
kqyt: Thank you!
FreitasPCM: Would he be a legend if he didn't?...  kidding, I hope so, too! 
Schleck96: I'd have to look into that, but Cancellara was a good friend of him
Jakstar22: Well, we can't be sure, we only know he's never been busted the rest of the Giro? It's the Vuelta
lennybernstein: Thanks!
sutty68: Let's hope he makes it, inexperience can be a major disadvantage!
Daggen: Wow, I'm flattered Thanks! |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 08:39
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 14
Every man has a breaking point.
- Alberto Contador 01/09/2012 -
Another summit finish in the Vuelta.
Roberto had his team mates to support him all through the stage.
But at the start of the final climb, Rodriguez decided to up the pace.
Something was off, Roberto noticed Contador wasn't near.
That evening, Contador gave an interview:
Every man has a breaking point. I was out of the sport for a while, my form isn't very good. I think this Vuelta is lost. But be sure of it that I'll be at the Tour next year, that's a promise. No further comments, sorry.
A group of 4 were heading towards the finish: Roberto, Cobo, S. Sanchez and Valverde. Typical for Roberto to do, he was challenging the others to come out and play.
But the fish didn't take the bite, and it came to a sprint.
And Roberto Velásquez made it 3! I cannot point out enough that at the time, this was something special, you felt it. Even now it still sounds impressive. A young gun entering his first Vuelta and putting riders like Valverde, Contador and Wiggins in their place, people even took the name "Merckx" in the mouth to find a comparison. Although this was a bit quickly to say, their words had a ground of truth. This man would come to dominate many races over the years.
Roberto's coach after the race:
This is amazing! I knew he was talented, but I never expected this. However great is it, we should be careful. It's still a full week and Roberto hasn't got too much experience in this work, this is the first time he riders a stage race of more than two weeks. I hope he isn't blowing his legs! He's just bursting with energy, let's hope he doesn't run out of it. Even on the 20th stage he could still lose everything.
Roberto Velásquez:
I don't know what to say. This has been great so far. The people are amazing to me, I get a lot of respect in the peloton, I can't believe it. (...) What I think of Contador? I think he just needs a little more race rhythm. The man's only raced 2 days before the Vuelta this year. That's not enough, even not for such a talent.
Result
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 4h34'25 | IanButler | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 12 | | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 27 | | | 4 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 5 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 1'08 | | | 6 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | | 7 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | | 8 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 1'32 | | | 9 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | | 10 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-BigMat | + 2'16 | | | 11 | Fabio Duarte | Colombia Coldeportes | + 3'02 | IanButler | | (...) | | 37 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 8'33 |
GC
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 50h43'08 | IanButler | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'09 | | | 3 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 4'16 | | | 4 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 6'53 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 7'05 | | | 6 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 7'18 | | | 7 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 9'15 | | | 8 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 9'24 | | | 9 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | + 9'31 | | | 10 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 9'38 | |
Points
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 126 | IanButler | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | 89 | | | 3 | André Greipel | Lotto Belisol | 85 | | | 4 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 85 | | | 5 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | 74 | |
KoM
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 57 | IanButler | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 52 | | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | 50 | |
Around this time, the young talent Roberto Velásquez ended, and the legend Roberto Velásquez was born... |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-10-2012 08:45
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Another Great day in the life of Roberto Velasquez
What a rider he is
And Alberto blew up in amazing style |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 08:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Thanks, sutty
Well, the game should've let him compete in Eneco tour, then his form would've been better!
I see Velásquez as a mixture between Gilbert, Schleck, Valverde and Rodriguez: aggressive, fast, great uphill, but no TT |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-10-2012 08:49
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Schleck  !!
Does that mean he will pull out of races when he is getting beat |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 09:17
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Yes, but he'll never be beaten
no, a mixture of those so only the good sides of each rider
The climbing of Schleck, but also inability to TT.
He doesn't have the motivation of Schleck (what motivation?) |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 11-10-2012 09:22
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Team Leader
Posts: 7294
Joined: 11-04-2012
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Great race at the vuelta. See I named it right this time. Roberto has definitely got it now.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 09:38
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Let's hope so |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 09:38
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 15
Don't expect me to just stand by and watch this 22-year old win this Vuelta. I will attack him until he cracks.
- Joaquim RodrÃguez 02/09/2012 -
Another summit finish. It was the final week and everyone was getting tired.
A big breakaway would battle for the stage win.
Team Colombia tried to keep the pace high. But would that be enough against world class riders as Rodriguez, Valverde, Contador?
Meanwhile, Lloyd was soloing to a prestigious win.
Obviously, Team Colombia wasn't up against the big guns, and when Rodriguez attacked, the entire plan went out the window.
Some riders followed a bit later, Roberto was not one of them.
Behind the attacks, a small group followed. It seems as though Roberto's plan was to keep close to his biggest threat: the 2nd in ranking: Cobo.
Lloyd won the stage brilliantly.
And it couldn't be more obvious, Roberto finished with Cobo, he had been a pitbull all through the race, never letting him out of his sights.
But he should've been more careful, as Sanchez and Rodriguez took back some minutes. The Vuelta finished in Madrid, and not a day earlier!
Result
| 1 | Matthew Lloyd | Lampre-ISD | 5h03'48 | | | 2 | Rémi Pauriol | FDJ-BigMat | + 41 | | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | | 5 | Jérôme Pineau | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | | 6 | Johnny Hoogerland | Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | | 7 | Blel Kadri | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | | 8 | Christophe Le Mével | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 9 | Kristijan Koren | Liquigas-Cannondale | s.t. | | | 10 | Ion Izagirre | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | (...) | | 19 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 3'55 | IanButler | | 20 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 21 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | + 4'07 | | | 22 | David Arroyo | Movistar Team | + 4'20 | | | 23 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | |
GC
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 55h50'51 | IanButler | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'09 | | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 3'31 | | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 4'04 | | | 5 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 4'41 | | | 6 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 6'47 | | | 7 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 7'23 | | | 8 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 8'22 | | | 9 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 9'20 | | | 10 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | + 9'43 | |
Roberto Velásquez:
I don't know what everyone's talking about. If I could've gone with Rodriguez, I would've. I just didn't have the legs today to follow. I think I did well to minimize my losses and I'm not planning on giving away this great jersey. This belongs to me! |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-10-2012 10:55
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 16
What the hell?
- Samuel Sanchez 04/09/2012 -
A finish with percentages over 20%. This Vuelta was a deadly race.
We directly take you to the end if this stage, where a small group remains climbing at a high pace.
Dupont attacked, no one reacted.
Apparently, Roberto's legs were back to normal, as he left everyone in his dust!
He joined Dupont and together with Samuel Sanchez they went straight for the finish with the three of them.
And then Roberto seemed to crack. He disappeared from the front and placed himself in Sanchez' wheel. Sanchez started the sprint for the victory and Roberto seemed to drag himself up the hill with the greatest of difficulty.
Sanchez looked behind him and raised his arms, it was a win!
- But wait, Roberto threw all acting talent aside and took a spectacular jump, going under Sanchez' arm, taking his fourth victory!
Samuel Sanchez:
What the hell? What was that? I look behind me for one second, he was more than 5 meters behind, I look in front of me and one second later he's next to me, the other he's crossed the finish line!
Result
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 5h35'35 | IanButler | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | 3 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 22 | | | 4 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'14 | | | 5 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | | 6 | Darwin Atapuma | Colombia Coldeportes | + 2'13 | IanButler | | 7 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 8 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | | 9 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 2'28 | | | 10 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 3'08 | |
General Classification
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 61h26'06 | IanButler | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 2'43 | | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 3'39 | | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 5'38 | | | 5 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 7'57 | | | 6 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 8'09 | | | 7 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 10'15 | | | 8 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | + 12'16 | | | 9 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-BigMat | + 12'27 | | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 13'57 | | | 11 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 14'17 | |
Roberto Velásquez:
Now it's just a matter of finishing. There are two stages left where I could lose a lot of time, so I'll try my everything to keep that from happening. (...) If I'm the best climber here? No, definitely not, not yet anyway. But many of these man have already raced in the Tour or the Giro. I, on the other hand, only had 41 race days before coming here, and I have the advantage of youth. (...) Why I fooled Sanchez like that? I didn't really fool him. I had a hard time, it was really steep, so that's why I saved my reserve energy for one final jump. This Vuelta is starting to take its toll, you know. I really want it to be over so I can finally rest. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 11-10-2012 11:18
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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A great ride on stage 15, keeping Cobo close all day
But an even better performance the following day by putting over a minute into Cobo, surely you can't slip up now |
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