djpbaltimore said:
ray j willings said:
Nibs is doing exactly what he did last year. I and a few others knew that Nibs was going to ride like this , same plan as last year. He fine.
Valverde though did not look so good , not sure what's happening there.
Froome looks Ok to me. That was a fast tempo Sky set when they hit the front. I still think he can do something in this race if sky change tactics.
Teams know what Sky are going to do now so Froome does not have that advantage and also the competition is much better.
Froome's attacks look fast- slower depending on how is rivals are feeling and the gradient of the attack.
Last years dauphin attack for example when he tried to drop Bertie. He put himself right on the limit with that attack and IMO it finished his race there. He never looked the same. He did not think Bertie would stay with him and pride made him go way deeper than he wanted.
I think come the tour Froome will be fine, he does have a bad day or 2 and I think a podium for him would be a great result at the tour. But to expect him to win against real competition is asking a lot over 3 weeks.
TJ looked really good. He toyed with Froome. Very impressive and could be the signs of a step up in level if he can keep that up through the rest of the race.
Bardet was FANTASTIC
You do remember that Froome suffered a bad crash in that race, right? You never miss an opportunity to take a shot at Froome's mentality even when the facts don't support you.
Yeah his injury was so bad that at the stage up to - Finaut-Émosson The Sky train put the hurt on and with 1km to go Froome put in a sprint/dig to try and catch Bertie.
Do you really think Sky would have put the hurt on if Froome was injured ?
I call it as I see it. Like I said Froome is a great rider but you can't keep hanging on to 2013.
I also said that I think if Sky change there tactics then Froome may yet do something in this race.
Its no good putting the hurt down if they are hurting their number one rider.
They need a new tactic. Get Froome to the last 3K not so tired and he will be a danger to anyone.
cheers