2013 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 5: Grésy-sur-Aix Valmorel (139 km)

[Kwibus]

The biggest question for me is Kwiatkowski. Will he ride in the mountains like in Tirreno ?

Michał is turning to be one of the most complete riders in the peleton. Cobbles, mountains, hills, tt, little bunch sprint, downhill, helping his sprinter. He showed it all this season , competing with the best riders.

I'm afraid more GC riders are capable to ride well on the cobbles, but can't be arsed to try. Unfortunately.

 

[Ferminal]

Yeh, Ronde =/= Cobbles, most good GC/Ardennes guys could finish in the sprint group there (or any of the other Flemish classics) without too much trouble

 

[boringboy]

I see two scenarios:

1) Sky train will drive forever and as said elsewhere, maybe Froome attacks with 4-500 meters to go and only Porte can keep with him

2) All the guys who failed yesterday attacks to see how Sky reacts and they also need the training. Would be fun if Purito, Valverde, AC, Fuglsang, Sanchez, JVD, Rolland plus others, all started attacking early on.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

For Alberto today:

Rise up fallen fighters;
Rise and take your stance again.
'Tis he who fight and run away
Live to fight another day.
Bob Marley

AC has never been a quitter.
He has been denied entry to more stage-races/GTs than he has quit.
He is in a different league motivation wise to the likes of Wiggins/Ryder.
That's why kinda Alberto rhymes with Hero.

 

[airstream]

2) All the guys who failed yesterday attacks to see how Sky reacts and they also need the training. Would be fun if Purito, Valverde, AC, Fuglsang, Sanchez, JVD, Rolland plus others, all started attacking early on.[/QUOTE]

Оh yeah. Yesterdays defeat сondolidates them so strongly that even Valverde and Fuglsang will start attacking. Good luck with that.

 

[manafana]

kwia, has climbed well before and the pace set by sky should suit him.

 

[blaxland]

Im thinking Contador will return to his normal level and only froome and porte will be there for company.When the road starts to go up-alberto spreads his wings to fly"

 

[LaFlorecita]

I was just looking at the GC standing. Funny... Is this a joke or what? It appears as if sky is the only one who are keen to win this race. All GC contenders (contador, purito, valverde, JVB seem to make a pack to take andy's mantra to soft pedal? They are all way down to 2:00+ after ITT. Either none of them is seriously aiming for win and for them this a training race or they are actually still under form with 3 weeks to go. From top 15, looks like only Rogers, Moreno, Navarro, Grivko that are most likely will survive in the mountain (maybe) to come and keep their high placing

If it's true, time to rooting for other rider then. It'll be snooze fest with Froome - Porte show. Unless someone wants to test their form against the sky express. It's their race now to loose. if they can't win it, that's a disaster for them.

that's why I said the tt was too long. It was made for the skyborg

 

[boringboy]

2) All the guys who failed yesterday attacks to see how Sky reacts and they also need the training. Would be fun if Purito, Valverde, AC, Fuglsang, Sanchez, JVD, Rolland plus others, all started attacking early on.

Оh yeah. Yesterdays defeat сondolidates them so strongly that even Valverde and Fuglsang will start attacking. Good luck with that.[/QUOTE]
I can see Fuglsang attack, will last about 50 meters before he is caught and dropped, but why not try at least.

Have a feeling it will be a dead boring stage

 

[airstream]

Have a feeling it will be a dead boring stage

I don't think so. Valverde, Rodriguez and Contador need a revenge and simply try to model the situation of how they plan to gain time on Froome in the Tour. Froome wants to crush them all to show who is the boss

 

[webvan]

Too bad there aren't two decent climbs in the last 50k to thin out the teams and let the leaders hammer it out. It's going to look like PDBF I think, unless powerful guys like Rolland or Sanchez try something towards the bottom, unlikely though.

 

[boringboy]

I don't think so. Valverde, Rodriguez and Contador need a revenge and simply try to model the situation of how they plan to gain time on Froome in the Tour. Froome wants to crush them all to show who is the boss

hopefully the spanish will gang up on sky...

 

[Miburo]

No one will do sh!t, sky will have their skytrain for sure. Just hanging on for dear life, that's what everyone will do.

One thing Froome hasn't done yet this year is dropping Contador in a mountain finish when Contador hasn't previously attacked.

Will probably happen today though, but Ax 3 is still a long way off

 

[Dazed and Confused]

that's why I said the tt was too long. It was made for the skyborg

nah, perfect TT for this route.

Problem is noone did anything on the first three stages. I mean it was up to the likes of Flecha to make the race on the hills in the finales. Pathetic.

If we continue to see the waiting game played out, we can firmly point the fingers at the riders and their DSs for not even trying on this route.

I

 

[boringboy]

might as well make all the stages into team time trials, pretty much how it is now anyway.

 

[airstream]

hopefully the spanish will gang up on sky...

They must do something. They have nothing but honor after yesterday.

One thing Froome hasn't done yet this year is dropping Contador in a mountain finish when Contador hasn't previously attacked.

Probably Contador needs to try a different tactics, doing nothing and watching what happens?

 

[Cimber]

Maybe Daniel Moreno can do something. He did a good TT

 

[SafeBet]

Maybe Daniel Moreno can do something. He did a good TT

Drafting a Skyborg all along. Yeah should pan out in similar fashion indeed.

 

[Cimber]

Drafting a Skyborg all along. Yeah should pan out in similar fashion indeed.

Thought it was only Navarro who drafted

 

[McLovin]

2) All the guys who failed yesterday attacks to see how Sky reacts and they also need the training. Would be fun if Purito, Valverde, AC, Fuglsang, Sanchez, JVD, Rolland plus others, all started attacking early on.

You have to have the power in order to attack. If Sky goes in PdBF style..I don't know then. You think Niballi or Evans didn't want to attack then? I guess they were on red just staying with the group.

 

[Kender]

Thought it was only Navarro who drafted

There were a couple of people that drafted. Navarro was just the most painfully obvious

 

[SafeBet]

Thought it was only Navarro who drafted

Sorry mixed them up, you're right

 

[manafana]

a good stage for konig to go prove himself hoping he can hang with the sky train for a while.

 

[boringboy]

You have to have the power in order to attack. If Sky goes in PdBF style..I don't know then. You think Niballi or Evans didn't want to attack then? I guess they were on red just staying with the group.

Maybe just let them ride of and have two races? still could be fun i think

 

[Dazed and Confused]

You have to have the power in order to attack. If Sky goes in PdBF style..I don't know then. You think Niballi or Evans didn't want to attack then? I guess they were on red just staying with the group.

Sky will operate as usual. Train at high constant pace up the mountain. This can't be a surprise anymore to the teams.

So will everybody wait until the last climb and attack a 440W (or whatever) machine or will advanced tactics come into play today? We shall soon see.