2015 Giro d'Italia Stage 15: Marostica–Madonna di Campiglio

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

I dont know, Legs? Tour?

Come on. It doesn't make a difference if he attacks in the last km or not, in terms of the Tour.

 

[lenric]

If Contador attacks early and Aru can't follow, I doubt Landa will say gfy to his leader. Tuesday at least.
Friday and Saturday will be another story, if Aru cracks in Tuesday's stage.

However... Contador doesn't need to attack.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Bad things might happen to Astana on tuesday if Astana keeps motoring like that.

Fixed that for you

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

Because Contador felt Landa was as strong as him.

***

Give me one reason he was stronger then.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

Because Contador felt Landa was as strong as him.

***

Give me one reason he was stronger then.

Tour

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Astana was simply embarrassing today.

Why? They achieved their goal. Nicely done.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

We still don't know whether Contador is the strongest climber in the Giro. This Mikel Landa guy is going super strong.

Astana worked him over just enough to take the bite out of him, plus Trofimov's surprise appearance necessitated more energy expelled by Contador to reel him in. Landa was quite impressive though. Bright future. I too was wondering who would step up among the young Spaniards to replace the outgoing generation.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

Because Contador felt Landa was as strong as him.

***

Give me one reason he was stronger then.

Uhm, I used my eyes and saw Alberto never put in a real dig. He let Landa go, for some reason. Didn't seem to care about the win at all.

 

[Sasquatch]

Astana need to grind the peloton down on stage 16 early on, get the peloton down to 30 riders half way through the stage, then attack Contador far out. So Landa needs to risk his GC to launch an attack on one of those middle climbs. That's the only way they will beat Contador but they won't because Contador is too strong. Do what they did today, but do it on the penultimate climb on Tuesday.

 

[SeriousSam]

Not being a competitive cyclist, I actually do not know. Is the impact in recovery weeks down the line (the Tour) really affected by going all out in the last 700m versus being 5 seconds back?

 

[IamIronMan]

Re:

If Contador attacks early and Aru can't follow, I doubt Landa will say gfy to his leader. Tuesday at least.
Friday and Saturday will be another story, if Aru cracks in Tuesday's stage.

However... Contador doesn't need to attack.

This could actually be brilliant tactics from Contador. Just shed Aru early in a stage, and force Astana's hand. Landa could follow I'm sure of it, but then it gets rid of this "strength in numbers" game they are playing. I would not be surprised at all to see Contador try to get rid of as many Astanas as he can, even if he blows away his (disappointing) teammates.

 

[casati]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

He did. Landa marked him easily.

I know what it looks like when he attacks, and I did not see it today.

Agreed, He was marking landa when he first attacked, landa did not keep going as it would have distanced aru. He only let landa go when he knew the time difference would not be sufficient. He is only worried about Aru

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

Astana was simply embarrassing today.

Why? They achieved their goal. Nicely done.

Sure, if "trying to win the Giro" is not among their goals.

And if it isn't, I find it rather embarrassing by itself.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

Because Contador felt Landa was as strong as him.

***

Give me one reason he was stronger then.

Tour

Contador is better overall. And he is in a very good position, so he doesn't have to do something. But today Landa could follow him, and he is more explosive, so he deserved to win. But on Mortirolo the chance is bigger Alberto will drop him.

 

[Red Rick]

Tactical *** up, wasted too much energy during the climb, he wanted to win, until Landa took off. Aru was the weakest of the three.

 

[seldon71]

When did Trofimov became such a climber? I still remember him as a breakaway specialist and one-day racer. Never thought he would be Top-5 GT rider....

 

[Sasquatch]

Re:

Not being a competitive cyclist, I actually do not know. Is the impact in recovery weeks down the line (the Tour) really affected by going all out in the last 700m versus being 5 seconds back?

Yes

 

[Ramira]

Do people really think Contador didn't put in a dig in the final 500m because of the Tour?

And this after praising him yesterday and earlier today for saying he wasn't focusing on the Tour yet?

I'm sorry but there's no way in hell he was saving his legs in the final 500m, that difference will be gone by tomorrow.

It's possible he let Landa win to gain more friends, he's been smart like that before. The only issue I see with that is that there's really no race where Astana will be working with him, he'll always be facing Landa/Nibali/Aru.

Still if he let Landa go it's infinitely more likely it was because he didn't feel he needed to win than that he was saving his legs for anything.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Landa on TV. Looks like he just finished walking his dog.

He does look fairly relaxed. I'm looking forward to seeing him grow as a professional.

 

[Jelantik]

porte's team mate.. didn't know what's next for porte... sound like they don't care?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

Astana was simply embarrassing today.

Why? They achieved their goal. Nicely done.

Sure, if "trying to win the Giro" is not among their goals.

And if it isn't, I find it rather embarrassing by itself.

It isn't. Martinelli himself said this a few days ago.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

What's the Giro's obsession with Hesjedal? Still because he won a number of years ago?

He is still a great rider with great aerobic capacity. He was just behind the front group riding on a good pace passing riders. I was impressed. And now don't understand why people keep criticizing him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Contador is better overall. And he is in a very good position, so he doesn't have to do something. But today Landa could follow him, and he is more explosive, so he deserved to win. But on Mortirolo the chance is bigger Alberto will drop him.

He could follow Alberto because Alberto was just cruising along

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

Because Contador felt Landa was as strong as him.

***

Give me one reason he was stronger then.

Uhm, I used my eyes and saw Alberto never put in a real dig. He let Landa go, for some reason. Didn't seem to care about the win at all.

Well i saw with my eyes that, at the moment Landa attacked for the second time, Contador was at his limit. But Landa stopped because he saw Aru was dropped.

Would Contador have been dropped if Aru continued his attack? No.
Would Contador have dropped Landa today? Definitely no

 

[red_flanders]

Re: Re:

Why the hell did Contador not attack?

He did. Landa marked him easily.

I know what it looks like when he attacks, and I did not see it today.

He had his team keep the break close all day. He's not won a stage. Just not steep enough for long enough at the end to make a difference and Landa easily marked him. Just didn't work out, but he did try an attack. He clearly wants a stage win.