2014 Tirreno Adriatico, Stage 5: Amatrice - Guardiagrele: 192 km

[Jelantik]

Great attack from Contador, and zig zagging like San Luca, just a shame Porte was ill, would have been interesting to see if he could have responded

Quintana is a tad better form than porte and he couldn't do anything. Doubt, Porte can do that much either. Today is epic contador period.

 

[Arnout]

Someone might not be on the top of your friends list. But as soon as you start bashing them the way you just did, you become worst then them. You can disagree with someone in a more civil manner.(To be clear, I don't agree with Echoes at all.)

I would agree with you if it was just disagreement. It's the moral superiority standpoint of his (that's been going on for years on here) over something as unimportant as sport and not even that: only what aspect you like of a sport (Scheldeprijs vs Tour de France in his case) that makes me rate him less than a moron as a person.

 

[Der Effe]

Best two things of this stage:

1) Contador is back
2) Kwiatkowski is human after all

 

[Jspear]

I would agree with you if it was just disagreement. It's the moral superiority standpoint of his (that's been going on for years on here) over something as unimportant as sport and not even that: only what aspect you like of a sport (Scheldeprijs vs Tour de France in his case) that makes me rate him less than a moron as a person.

That's cool....I understand(and I wasn't defending him at all.)

 

[EnacheV]

Nice performance, hopefully he manages to start TdF, and in this shape.

I'm having a good laugh looking at all these praises for a good athletic performance from people that have a totally different approach when other riders do exactly the same thing.

 

[peloton]

Epic stage.

 

[Jelantik]

Froome wasn't here, we don't know what he would have done or not on the Lanciano. Although I'm pretty sure if he had done an attack like Contador did today we would have heard terms like "full ***" and "farce" instead of appreciating the greatness of the performance.

you absolutely right. So no point of wondering what happen if froome or porte is there. Because there's never going to be an answer to that, no matter what.

Let's live in the reality, and not in hypothetical realm, shall we?
FACT: contador attacked 40km and won. Froome? Not. period.

 

[The Hitch]

contador is such a coward

Another laughable comment from someone.

 

[del1962]

Quintana is a tad better form than porte and he couldn't do anything. Doubt, Porte can do that much either. Today is epic contador period.

Dont know, I think Porte might have done better than Quintana, it was Porte that dragged them to the line yesterday, but we will never know.

 

[skidmark]

Great attack from Contador, and zig zagging like San Luca, just a shame Porte was ill, would have been interesting to see if he could have responded

I think I've read somewhere in these forums that Porte's a good responder, so it's likely we would have seen something.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Contador is the only one who does that in this decade.

Quintana, Nibali

 

[will10]

Just caught up, mint stage.

 

[skidmark]

In terms of Peraud's chances at a podium:

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=22149

If Kreuz pulls out a performance like that again, it's possible for Peraud to make up the time. More likely, to me, is that Kreuz gets the 8 seconds he needs for 2nd and Peraud can't quite make up the time to both of them. But even though we didn't see it, the fact that J-C dumped everyone on the last climb today suggests to me that he's in shocking form, and he's a good TTer at the worst of times.

 

[happychappy]

I think I've read somewhere in these forums that Porte's a good responder, so it's likely we would have seen something.

Heh! Amusing.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage top 10 result:

1 CONTADOR Alberto [www.procyclingstats.com] Tinkoff-Saxo 6 50 4:54:42
2 GESCHKE Simon Team Giant-Shimano 4 30 0:06
3 KING Benjamin Garmin Sharp 2 18 0:45
4 HANSEN Adam Lotto Belisol 1 13 1:01
5 PERAUD Jean-Christophe [www.procyclingstats.com] AG2R La Mondiale 1 10 1:26
6 CARUSO Giampaolo Team Katusha 7 1:39
7 KREUZIGER Roman Tinkoff-Saxo 4 1:42
8 POZZOVIVO Domenico AG2R La Mondiale 3 ,,
9 ARREDONDO MORENO Julián David Trek Factory Racing 2 ,,
10 NOCENTINI Rinaldo [www.procyclingstats.com] AG2R La Mondiale 1 ,,

I see three ag2r riders here. If Mondory didn't crashed yesterday, he might have pushed somebody else out of the top 10. Add the show in P-N, well I'm going to call this Brown Power.

 

[skidmark]

Obviously a big, tantalizing question that comes from today is - what does Contador's form mean for a showdown with Froome in France? Definitely Contador did a great ride today, but to me it's more reminiscent of Fuente De than it is of him torching everyone on Verbier in 2009. He used every part of the course after his attack to gain time (although he lost a bit at the end, naturally) - got the gap on the mountain, enough to stick until the downhill, and then gained quite a bit of time on the downhill. If it were a MTF at the top of Lanciano, he would have gained 40 seconds on Nairo Quintana, a bit more on the group behind. That's impressive, but it's not quite Froome at Ax-3 last year.

In one sense, it's a bit facile to say "Contador > Quintana and by the end of the Tour last year (and maybe for the whole Tour had he not been Valverde-help-bait) Quintana > Froome" and dream about how with Contador's killer instinct/willingness to attack, he can find the right times to put time into Froome and overcome him in the Tour. Obviously it's more complicated than that. But Contador last year wouldn't have been able to drop everyone so convincingly, even with the time gaps at the end of the climb, I'm convinced. So transposing that onto an Ax-3 redux, I feel like his gap wouldn't be the gaping 1:40 or whatever it was. He might be able to hang. But it doesn't seem like enough. That said, there are lots of stages, cobbles, etc, so who knows. But if I had to guess straight up, I think Froomey will still drop him.

 

[jaylew]

But Contador last year wouldn't have been able to drop everyone so convincingly, even with the time gaps at the end of the climb, I'm convinced. So transposing that onto an Ax-3 redux, I feel like his gap wouldn't be the gaping 1:40 or whatever it was. He might be able to hang. But it doesn't seem like enough. That said, there are lots of stages, cobbles, etc, so who knows. But if I had to guess straight up, I think Froomey will still drop him.

Kind of where I am right now, but I hope we'll be proven wrong in July!

 

[fantomas]

While this may on paper have looked like Fuente De, Contador looked much more at ease today than he has since his comeback. He wasn't grimacing like in 2012 and 2013, he didn't look uncomformatable on the bike. Even on Fuente De he looked like **** much of the way, he didn't today at any time. He looked ilke Contador pre 2012.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

TT Tuesday.
If Contador gets very close to winning it, he might be able to match Froome in the Tour.

 

[Rollthedice]

Just checked the stage results and saw Sagan coming in 20th.

 

[Kokoso]

In terms of Peraud's chances at a podium:

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=22149

If Kreuz pulls out a performance like that again, it's possible for Peraud to make up the time. More likely, to me, is that Kreuz gets the 8 seconds he needs for 2nd and Peraud can't quite make up the time to both of them. But even though we didn't see it, the fact that J-C dumped everyone on the last climb today suggests to me that he's in shocking form, and he's a good TTer at the worst of times.

I don't know if he dumped everyone. We don't know what was the situation, Peraud could have advantage even before start of the climb... On Lanciano Kreuziger was marking Kwiatkovski for at least some time so it's possible he had to chase down then. And Kreuzi was flying the climb, you can see him there shortly after Contador is passing last km mark him with Horner, Nieve and Scarponi and in the finale with exception of Arredondo he distanced them and even chased down Quintana...

Even if Kreuziger pulled bad performance like that Peraud would have to do TT on NIbali/Pinotti/Sagan level to make it up. And I think Kreuziger is in much better form than two years before.

 

[the sceptic]

TT Tuesday.
If Contador gets very close to winning it, he might be able to match Froome in the Tour.

Contador has always been good at short ITTs and I bet he wins or comes close, but he will still lose 1-2 minutes to Dawg in the tour ITT.

 

[the asian]

I've done it again baby! I've missed an epic stage !

I should do this more often, at least you guys would be entertained.

Hoping to catch some highlights.


And it looks likes BERTIE'S BACK !

Now, hope he does a decent TT, like in his heyday.

And Kudos to Oleg Tinkov too, for investing the money and believing in him.

Can't wait for Catalunya!.


BTW what has happened to Rigo? way off form.

 

[manafana]

excellent stage, ag2r maybe could have tried to get somone with contador given their 3 options, wonderful see peraud back in full swing.

 

[Echoes]

Quintana, Nibali

Cancellara, Boonen, Gilbert, Cunego, Chavanel, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Rodriguez, Evans, etc


"Regularly"? Contador?