2015 Dauphiné, stage 5: Digne-les-Bains > Pra-Loup 161km

[DBotero]

I expect the usual Valverde vs J.Rod battle with Froome close-by.Valverde ftw! I hope Nibali will be decent enough to keep the race interesting.

 

[ILovecycling]

If they go deep at Allos then I can see bigger gaps.Froome to outbark them all!
good vid miburo

 

[HelloDolly]

After looking at that descent again....a good stage for Valverde & Astana

 

[Bushman]

Will be xciting to see if Alsphillippe will reach his limit here.

 

[jens_attacks]

the journey of rein taarame to the tour de france 2015 win starts here.
alaphilippe and froomey on the podium

god save us all on that allos descent. jeez lemond, could have been really ugly

 

[DBotero]

Re:

the journey of rein taarame to the tour de france 2015 win starts here.
alaphilippe and froomey on the podium

god save us all on that allos descent. jeez lemond, could have been really ugly

Nah,Xorret de Cati is still haunting him

 

[classicomano]

Alaphilipe to decisively cement his place as the heir to Contador's throne.

 

[Velolover2]

Alaphilipe hasn't really showed any weaknesses. Froome better watch out. I think he will be surprised by his abilities.

As I said before Dauphiné even started, I would not be surprised if Alaphilipe wins the whole thing. Froome shouldn't give him an inch if he tries to attack.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

How hard and technical is descent?

Lemond on Tour rode it and it looked very scary ....and one point Lemond nearly came off

Yeah, watched that too. Scary how Greg just laughed at it
Could be a nice descent, if somebody decides to attack

 

[Hakkapelit]

Re: Re:

How hard and technical is descent?

Lemond on Tour rode it and it looked very scary ....and one point Lemond nearly came off

Yeah, watched that too. Scary how Greg just laughed at it
Could be a nice descent, if somebody decides to attack

Was this Lemond stuff on ES?

 

[proffz]

Re: Re:

How hard and technical is descent?

Lemond on Tour rode it and it looked very scary ....and one point Lemond nearly came off

Yeah, watched that too. Scary how Greg just laughed at it
Could be a nice descent, if somebody decides to attack

i did it a couple of times, very scary , if you make a mistake you can die...
but it is pretty fast and in the final part you reach real high speed.
on this descent nibali can really hurt froome.

allos uphill: typical tour ascent, very long but not steep gradients.

 

[HelloDolly]

Le Mond on Tour is on Eurosport...look at schedule as pops up now and again at certain times

People joke but I thought it a very fast , narrow winding descent ....bet Nibali tries to put Froome under pressure on this descent and very LONG
Also riders like Valverde & Sanchez will motor down it ....

If Froome can be over the top of the climb first with a teammate or 2 to help down maybe ok

 

[Ataraxus]

Re:

This is going to be the next chapter in Rodriguez v Valverde. Probably both be too busy watching each other on the final climb and will let some non-specialist climber jump clear to take the win.

Can't see Froome doing anything here. He'd have to probably attack on the penultimate climb, which isn't really his style, because he'd just get caught on the descent. The last climb is too easy to drop Valverde and Rodriguez on, especially after a 20km descent where they can fully recover.

The descent is not an excuse for JRod and Piti recovery. All the multiple mountain stages have descents but almost everytime they've been dropped by the likes of Contador and Froome.
If Sky (or any other team) puts a high pace in Saint Michel and Allos, Jrod and Valverde will drop like stones when attacks will start on Pra Loup IMO

 

[Pricey_sky]

Looking at the final 4 stages I think this is Froomes best chance, the final climb isn't that steep but does have some longish 7-8% sections where Froome should attack, whether he manages to put time into Valverde and Nibali I'm not sure. Either way it should be interesting to watch.

 

[Big Doopie]

the descent...? does't anyone know what happened in 1975?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmuH5-eHT4Y

Gimondi's car went over the side. merckx was absolutely crazy and took huge risks on the descent to distance Thevenet by over a minute, only to bonk on the last small climb...

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Le Mond on Tour is on Eurosport...look at schedule as pops up now and again at certain times

People joke but I thought it a very fast , narrow winding descent ....bet Nibali tries to put Froome under pressure on this descent and very LONG
Also riders like Valverde & Sanchez will motor down it ....

If Froome can be over the top of the climb first with a teammate or 2 to help down maybe ok

Do you have a link? I'd love to see it.

 

[manafana]

Bardet was a thought for me on this one

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

This is going to be the next chapter in Rodriguez v Valverde. Probably both be too busy watching each other on the final climb and will let some non-specialist climber jump clear to take the win.

Can't see Froome doing anything here. He'd have to probably attack on the penultimate climb, which isn't really his style, because he'd just get caught on the descent. The last climb is too easy to drop Valverde and Rodriguez on, especially after a 20km descent where they can fully recover.

The descent is not an excuse for JRod and Piti recovery. All the multiple mountain stages have descents but almost everytime they've been dropped by the likes of Contador and Froome.
If Sky (or any other team) puts a high pace in Saint Michel and Allos, Jrod and Valverde will drop like stones when attacks will start on Pra Loup IMO

I think you're massively under-rating Rodriguez and Valverde there. They are not a couple of chancers that can hang on if there is an easy pace, they are two of the best climbers in the world, who can stay with the very best (Contador, Froome, Quintana, Nibali) on all but the toughest Grand Tour stages.

If either of them have any kind of form, I can't see them getting dropped on a 6km climb at an average of 6.5%. Sky can set a very high pace on Col d'Allos, but Sky domestiques aren't really good enough to seriously trouble Valverde and Rodriguez, so unless Froome really goes for it (which he won't, because he can't descend), the Spaniards should be strong favourites.

 

[mihhint]

Taaramäe to attack on top of Allos, take a minute on decent and another minute while he cruises to Pra Loup on his 480W.

 

[BigMac]

the descent...? does't anyone know what happened in 1975?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmuH5-eHT4Y

Gimondi's car went over the side. merckx was absolutely crazy and took huge risks on the descent to distance Thevenet by over a minute, only to bonk on the last small climb...

Yea, the Oracle of Lisbon (line shamelessly stolen from The Hitch) predicted something similar for tomorrow:

Kelderman to gain one minute on Allos, only to bonk halfway through Pra Loup. Bardet with a monster climb catches him with only two kilometers to go and ends up 1.56 minutes ahead of the second coming of Merckx. Three seconds down on the frenchman will be an Italian.

 

[Angliru]

I'm very curious to see what Nibali does. I really don't know what to expect.

 

[Electress]

Vvde in a typically opportunistic late move, God bless him.

 

[dicanio_michael]

Seems like an Alaphilippe stage to me, but perhaps he spent too much energy yesterday ? Valverde and Froome should be in the same group.

 

[TommyPlus]

Any chance for either of the Yates'?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Seems like an Alaphilippe stage to me, but perhaps he spent too much energy yesterday ? Valverde and Froome should be in the same group.

lol. those climbs are way too long for allaphilippe