2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Martin

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Fedrigo finished just below 12 minutes behind, if anyone asks.

I expected him to finish 10 minutes down, but thought the initial gap at the bottom of the climb would be bigger.

Around a minute per kilometer he's been losing since the moment he was caught.
There was a discussion how much the breakaway needs before the climb. Now we have some hints for the coming days.

We do? Fedrigo clearly did not go 100 per cent for the rest of the climb!

6 minutes would have easily been enough imo

There you go. Your estimation is 6 minutes for a rider of Fedrigo's calibre.
I'd say a bit more (8), but either way we have something to rely and base our further predictions on.

 

[jmdirt]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

You know, I don't like froome, I don't make a secret of it but at the moment I am only sad that again we probably wont see a big fight for gc this year. To watch this race was just frustrating and even if you are a froome fan you have to consider admit that today wasnt a good day for this tour.

Yes. First MTF and the battle for GC is dead. I had delusions of a grand battle to this very day, despite the signs pointing to Froome being dominant quite strongly.

Froome and Sky delivered a performance that has surpassed my wildest fears and hyperbolic predictions made in jest.

I'm done watching this year.

Acting like the only point of interest is who finished first in the final GC is really no better than the behavior of mythical July Sky fans who are so often discussed here like modern day reds under the bed.

as if sky fans are the only ones who come out in July. long before sky the interest in cycling peaked for the tour, more than all other races combined (though obviously not the hardcore). saying that sky fans are glory hunters just makes you sound foolish and bitter.

As someone who lives in Britain, I can say that nearly no importance is put on any other races besides the Tour. But when the Tour comes around BBC and others have live commentary and text, and more people can be seen cycling in the streets.

Is this because the British only care about the Tour or does this happen in other countries?

I would assume that 'cycling' countries, such as France, Italy and Spain have a bigger year round support of cycling, though a country like America, for example, would have been very similar during the Lance days, only caring about the Tour.

Whether that is glory or just natural support for a countryman, I don't know.
But I know I do the same for other sports

Here in Boise, ID USA we have a National, Wolrd, and Olympic Champion who gets lots of TV time! Other than coverage of Kristin, the TdF gets the most covderage, but the American races (ToCali, ToCo, and ToU (Larry Miller has dealerships in Boise so there is a connection), and GdI, VaE get some coverage. But if you ask the average citizen about cycling, the Boise Twilight Crit will likely be the first thing out of their mouth, followed by the TdF.

 

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

I thought results like this only happened in PCM. I guess I would have G jump Valverde in the end though.

No, G seems to be a classy guy and there was no need to outsprint him.

That pat on the back was completely unnecessary though.

Though a nice gesture I thought it was more a "sorry mate, but we out-played you today," then a "well- done" pat on the back for me.

Either way I wouldn't call it unecessary

That wasnt a nice gesture. It was a Lance on Pantani-pat on the shoulder which clearly made Pirata furious. As Valverde has a history with Sky i'm sure it was made with belittling purposes.

that was a nice gesture, and you can see Valverde reaching to shake hands on this link

http://www.steephill.tv/2015/tour-de-france/photos/stage-10/#170241_PIC547725902.jpg

 

[samhocking]

G's interview makes it clear that it was the gesture of respect, for Valverde had a magnificent ride today both for his leader and himself, much the same as G did.

 

[Poursuivant]

Valverde can podium this TDF

 

[Andro]

At least I don't have to worry about watching the Tour next week when I'm at the beach. lol sky, full genius achieved

 

[jaylew]

I can't believe some people thought G's pat was anything more than just a "nice ride" gesture. They both just finished a hot, tough stage together - it happens all the time, even in the local races I do.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

In the weeks leading up to the Tour, this whole forum was completely underrating Froome. Just go take a look at some of the threads. Everyone was saying he was done, that he'd never repeat 2013 Tour, that the intense training had depleted him, yada yada. A few of us predicted full genius Froome (something I did not want but was certain would happen) but most did not. Not until he dominated his rivals in a flat sprint, a flat day with a crosswind, a super steep mountain sprint, and the cobbles.

I didn't really see alot of that but as Flo said, I think it was mostly wishful thinking. I'm an AC fan and while I secretly hoped he'd pull off the double (or even triple!), from the time I heard he was doing the Giro I figured Froome (or maybe Nairo) would probably win the Tour. If I was betting on my life, I certainly would have bet on Froome and those feelings only increased when AC struggled a bit at the end of the Giro and intensified during the Tour's 1st week.

 

[IndianCyclist]

From the power to weight data, it looks like the other favs were underperforming considering that Gallopin beat some of them

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

I'm sure you're right. I haven't quite understood the forum's "he's better so I hope he loses" ideology yet.

Contador is popular and was popular even when no one could beat him. Same for Nibali. You'll have to find an explanation for the amount of dislike elsewhere....

yes, but this popularity often has a spleenful reverse side on here. the thing is history always remembers great champs like froome (in this case) and there's no space for haters in history. the stage 10 of the 2015 tour de france was all about what a great rider chris froome is

 

[movingtarget]

Destruction by Sky. Happy to see Gesink put in a very good ride.

 

[malakassis]

i see lots of parallels between froome and LA. LA destroyed the field in almost every first MTF, if he was in yellow or not.
1999 - sestriere
2000- hautacam
2001- alpe d huez (faking weakness like froome a bit yesterday)
2002- mongie (with beloki close)
2003- not,his weakest first massif
2004- mongie (with basso)
2005- courchevel (with valverde)

i wonder if froome is friends with LA or he was somehow coached by him. Is sky the richest team by budget? was USPS the richest team?

 

[Deadbody]

I've only followed cycling for a couple of years and I´m by no means a hardcore fan. Since I started watching I have seen a lot of the old races but I never experienced them "live" so I don't know what they "felt" like when you watched them live.

Yesterday made me very sad and I honestly don't know if i will turn on the TV today. The only feeling I have now is indifferent to it all. If you are a hardcore fan you will watch it, if you a Froome fan you will watch it. But what about the rest of us? We who love a good fight between our "hero" and the "villain". What in it for us? The sad thing is that I don't think I'm the only casual fan who feels this way.

 

[pastronef]

Re:

I've only followed cycling for a couple of years and I´m by no means a hardcore fan. Since I started watching I have seen a lot of the old races but I never experienced them "live" so I don't know what they "felt" like when you watched them live.

Yesterday made me very sad and I honestly don't know if i will turn on the TV today. The only feeling I have now is indifferent to it all. If you are a hardcore fan you will watch it, if you a Froome fan you will watch it. But what about the rest of us? We who love a good fight between our "hero" and the "villain". What in it for us? The sad thing is that I don't think I'm the only casual fan who feels this way.

nah, please, we had enough of this.

when your fav rider will win distancing the othesr you'll be happy and glad to watch.

hero and villain what you watching, a movie?

it's always like this, sometimes your fav rider wins, sometimes he loses.

imagine if Cannondale-garmin fans had tgo stop watching when their fav riders do not perform well, eh?

turn the tv off, but don't complain oh here

sorry to be harsh to you, but I had enough of people moaning and wanting to stop watching the race

there are 10 stages to go. respect the riders fatigue, respect at least the riders you like and their race to Paris

 

[cellardoor]

Re:

I've only followed cycling for a couple of years and I´m by no means a hardcore fan. Since I started watching I have seen a lot of the old races but I never experienced them "live" so I don't know what they "felt" like when you watched them live.

Yesterday made me very sad and I honestly don't know if i will turn on the TV today. The only feeling I have now is indifferent to it all. If you are a hardcore fan you will watch it, if you a Froome fan you will watch it. But what about the rest of us? We who love a good fight between our "hero" and the "villain". What in it for us? The sad thing is that I don't think I'm the only casual fan who feels this way.

I would say that more than 50% of TDFs are like this though. It may not feel that way because sometimes it's "our guy" that's doing the dominating and then it's ok to be over quickly.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I've only followed cycling for a couple of years and I´m by no means a hardcore fan. Since I started watching I have seen a lot of the old races but I never experienced them "live" so I don't know what they "felt" like when you watched them live.

Yesterday made me very sad and I honestly don't know if i will turn on the TV today. The only feeling I have now is indifferent to it all. If you are a hardcore fan you will watch it, if you a Froome fan you will watch it. But what about the rest of us? We who love a good fight between our "hero" and the "villain". What in it for us? The sad thing is that I don't think I'm the only casual fan who feels this way.

I feel the same way. I will still watch for the breakaway, for the green jersey competition and the flatter sprint stages will still be fun. No use watching the last 50km of the mountain stages. Everyone knows the script. Sky at the front, Thomas drops everyone bar Quintana, Porte sprints and then Froome sprints away from Quintana. We've seen it so many times already, and no, it is no shame to admit you've had enough of it and won't continue to watch.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

I haven't got my hands on hard data yet, besides some early 6.2kg/W estimations.

6.2kg/W is ofcourse incredible, but it was a very easy ride up to the final climb so not completely ridiculous. I'm afraid we have to conclude that most rivals just completely s*ck... So the much anticipated battle is in shatters.

Contador and Nibali who are able to ride those numbers as well as shown before don't come even close to their best form. Quintana did well and I expect him to get better as well.

Pinot, Bardet and Peraud are not even close to last year and earlier performances this year. Gesink did a great ride, but normally there should've been atleast 5-8 riders faster then him.

I think the conclusion is Froome is were he should be and his rivals ain't. Bummer!

 

[Kwibus]

Still I wonder how it's possible that so many riders completely fail. Normally a few contenders will fail when they hit the first mountain, but this year 80% completely failed.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Still I wonder how it's possible that so many riders completely fail. Normally a few contenders will fail when they hit the first mountain, but this year 80% completely failed.

So maybe the 20% are overperforming instead? I find it hard to believe that all of Nibali, TJ, Contador and Quintana are in poor shape. They all lost at least 1 minute on Froome. Let's just accept Froome is in insane form. I saw jens mention that Contador in Giro shape would have matched this Froome. I can't see it. 2009 Contador maybe, but he was in his prime, in insane form and had a perfect preparation.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Still I wonder how it's possible that so many riders completely fail. Normally a few contenders will fail when they hit the first mountain, but this year 80% completely failed.

i'm almost positive there is some way it is skys fault. not the riders from other teams that sucked, definitely not!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Still I wonder how it's possible that so many riders completely fail. Normally a few contenders will fail when they hit the first mountain, but this year 80% completely failed.

i'm almost positive there is some way it is skys fault. not the riders from other teams that sucked, definitely not!

What is more likely: 20 riders among which several GT champions sucked, or 5 riders were insanely good?

 

[cellardoor]

Re: Re:

Still I wonder how it's possible that so many riders completely fail. Normally a few contenders will fail when they hit the first mountain, but this year 80% completely failed.

i'm almost positive there is some way it is skys fault. not the riders from other teams that sucked, definitely not!

What is more likely: 20 riders among which several GT champions sucked, or 5 riders were insanely good?

A combination of factors in play:

- Froome good, although it sounds like the numbers are not out of this world.
- Nairo - Roughly the same level as 2013 and probably peaking for the 3rd week.
- Contador/Uran - Tired from Giro
- Nibali - The super-peak is risky as difficult to measure your form against others during the season. This time he got it wrong. Aside from that, we've never seen him perform at the same level as Froome et al, even if the numbers suggest it's feasible.
- TJ - Kind of expected really, he may have also peaked for the Dauphine.
- Valverde - One of the few that did better than expected.
- First mountain stage - someone is always caught napping.
- Day after a rest day - always catches people out as well.
- Heat, could have affected some.
- There are always one or two climbing surprises in a race. Perhaps someone like Galopin will turn out to be a surprise this time around.

 

[Matteo.]

I'm sure the fatigue of Giro is just a secondary(tertiary) cause . How many times was he impressive in Giro in the mountains? We were blind perhaps , we were thinking he wasn't in top shape but probably he wasn't simple good enough.

 

[MKL]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

Bit like last years tour after the crashes for you then

Like last year..!? No way man
Froome really distanced the competition yesterday, but last year Nibali had no competition after stage 12.

http://tinyurl.com/TDF1510

I count 12 Cat.1/HC mountains before Paris and I really hope the top of the GC Isn’t fixed by now!!

 

[rick james]

Re:

i see lots of parallels between froome and LA. LA destroyed the field in almost every first MTF, if he was in yellow or not.
1999 - sestriere
2000- hautacam
2001- alpe d huez (faking weakness like froome a bit yesterday)
2002- mongie (with beloki close)
2003- not,his weakest first massif
2004- mongie (with basso)
2005- courchevel (with valverde)

i wonder if froome is friends with LA or he was somehow coached by him. Is sky the richest team by budget? was USPS the richest team?

Amazing work Sherlock...