2016 Critérium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

[jens_attacks]

landa to go ballistic and unleash his watts

 

[Arredondo]

Froome to do his best impression of Wiggo. Landa to own the field. Contador to finish 2nd after being the best climber in the last stage.

Purito to win 2 stages after losing 15 minutes in the first stages.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Froome to do his best impression of Wiggo. Landa to own the field. Contador to finish 2nd after being the best climber in the last stage.

Purito to win 2 stages after losing 15 minutes in the first stages.

You don't think purito will win the prologue?

 

[Climeon]

Re: 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

Based on track records, Froome normally arrives at this races closer to peak form than any other major contender. Think he'll take this race comfortably. In the actual tour though, it'll be another matter

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Froome to do his best impression of Wiggo. Landa to own the field. Contador to finish 2nd after being the best climber in the last stage.

Purito to win 2 stages after losing 15 minutes in the first stages.

You don't think purito will win the prologue?

First he needs to throw al those unnecessary kilo's overboard

 

[portugal11]

I think contador will surpass one or two guys in this prologue

 

[Miburo]

Re:

I think contador will surpass one or two guys in this prologue

It's a good point you bring up. What are the times between riders? Always one minute? I assume so, can't wait to see that starting list

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

They'll gift Froome this one despite Landa outclimbing him in every instance, then Landa will take over TDF duties from next year with Froome trying the Giro and being god awful. Froome will then go on and put weight on and finish in the top 10 of the Paris Roubaix and go on a long journey towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on track.

Don't forget the Hour Record

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

I think contador will surpass one or two guys in this prologue

It's a good point you bring up. What are the times between riders? Always one minute? I assume so, can't wait to see that starting list

I'm waiting for one minute difference between riders. 3 minutes would be a massive disappoitment. Froome will be the last man.

 

[Publicus]

Re:

Surprised everyone's gone with Contador Froome or vica versa 1-2.

If Froome turns up in similar condition to last year, I can see Pinot Porte and AC all finishing ahead of him, and given he's targetting Rio and the Vuelta later, and that his prep worked perfectly well last year, I see no reason to change.

1) Pinot
2) Contador
3) Porte

Contador to let Pinot go and only realise that Froome isn't his main rival in the Dauphine once it's too late

Contador is targeting the Olympics as well. So is Quintana.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Contador is targeting the Olympics as well. So is Quintana.

Zika virus is too much for them to resist, I guess.

 

[railxmig]

Re: 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

The opening MTT is crazy. The finish is almost in the middle of nowhere. Judging from the satelite images first part is on a narrow road on rather bad asphalt while second part is on sterrato? This looks like one of the most progressive stages ASO made in a good while.

Stage 2 is interesting, ends in a forgotten ski station in the middle of nowhere. It should be an Ulissi type of stage. Côte de Sécheras in stage 3 is another interesting, narrow and steep sideroad and this stage ends with a quite technical descent. Vino would love it. Belley in stage 4 is an interesting location. I didn't know it would handle a Dauphine stage - remember it for eventual future race designs. While this stage is a flat one the location of Belley gives a possibility for a nice hilly/medium-mountain stage in the southern Jura.

It's rather interesting that stage 5 starts in La Ravoire and not in Chambery. This stage goes via the traditional south Grenoble road. I thought if ever Dauphine/Tour would end in Oisans it ould be Oz-en-Oisans, not Vajuany. It's a pity that Col du Sabot is out of reach but it's interesting that Vajuany is capable of hosting an ASO race. It should give a better future for Glandon/Croix-de-Fer.

Glad that Col de Champ-Laurent is back to cycling. Is Montée des Frasses the same as Côte de Montagny in the last stage of Dauphine 2014? Libertine is propably pissed right now as there's still no finish on Mottaret. Last stage ends in Superdévoluy which in combination with Col du Noyer is allways nice to see. And there's Col de Moissière! Sadly there's no Col du Caillolet (descent quite narrow but very straight and easy) and the stage goes the wrong way. It should be a combination of Moissière - Caillolet - Noyer and Superdévoluy in this order to be a proper mountain stage.

What do i think about this route? I do admit it's very progressive (like Tour this year) but stages are lacking in punch. There are no places where you could make a good selection or a proper attack outside Col du Noyer so the time diffs in GC should be rather small. MTFs are rather bland and unconvincing, stages to Vajuany and Superdévoluy are destroyed by bad ideas. Summing up i like new places and climbs but i don't like the designs of each stage.

 

[Publicus]

Re: Re:

Contador is targeting the Olympics as well. So is Quintana.

Zika virus is too much for them to resist, I guess.

It tastes great on crackers

 

[pastronef]

Re:

They'll gift Froome this one despite Landa outclimbing him in every instance, then Landa will take over TDF duties from next year with Froome trying the Giro and being god awful. Froome will then go on and put weight on and finish in the top 10 of the Paris Roubaix and go on a long journey towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on track.

wow yeah big laughs

 

[Jspear]

Does anyone know what sort of form Aru has right now?

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Does anyone know what sort of form Aru has right now?

No, but my guess is not close to the best. His best performances in races under 3 weeks was Catalunya last year and a Trentino or two when he was younger. Expect nothing.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

Glad that Col de Champ-Laurent is back to cycling. Is Montée des Frasses the same as Côte de Montagny in the last stage of Dauphine 2014? Libertine is propably pissed right now as there's still no finish on Mottaret. Last stage ends in Superdévoluy which in combination with Col du Noyer is allways nice to see. And there's Col de Moissière! Sadly there's no Col du Caillolet (descent quite narrow but very straight and easy) and the stage goes the wrong way. It should be a combination of Moissière - Caillolet - Noyer and Superdévoluy in this order to be a proper mountain stage.

.

Dauphine had this great combo back in 2013, when Sammy Sanchez did his best to pull Voeckler-expressions while wheelsucking Fuglsang to the line in Superdevoluy. The descent from Col du Noyer is also pretty spectacular with small roads, hairpins and constant turns. Looking forward to watching this stage!

https://youtu.be/VCb_Thsvqtg?t=1240

 

[roundabout]

Re: 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

Paris-Nice finished in Vaujany about 20 years ago. I think the ladies version of the Tour also finished there at least once

wiki has at least 13 Grand boucle feminine finishes at Vaujany and a Dauphine stage in 1995

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Does anyone know what sort of form Aru has right now?

No, but my guess is not close to the best. His best performances in races under 3 weeks was Catalunya last year and a Trentino or two when he was younger. Expect nothing.

He has been training hard with his inner circle(Trialongo, Rosa and Cataldo) in Sestriere for over 2 weeks, should be decent at Dauphine, but not yet in peak shape.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Pinot chose CDD over TDS because of the national championships right? Ofcourse if Thibaut can win, he won't mind to take it, but I doubt this race is that important for him. Just imagine the French press if he actually wins Dauphiné.

Very good point; he may be going for a stage (6?). Winning the whole thing would spark a "circus" as he calls it. Winning the French RR and/or ITT jersey would do the same tho. L'Equipe, the idiots on L'Equipe's forum, setting crazy expectations and blasting him the second he loses ten seconds. No win situation, so Tibopino might as well win it all. He's stronger in his head since last year. The "don't surrender" attitude and win at AdH was a defining moment.

You really think beating Bardet/Coppel would cause the same stir as beating Contador/Froome?

Yes. I agree with Kroko. The circus will go full motion anyways. Check YouTube for French TV shows and talking heads discussing "can Pinot win the TdF?". After '12 and after '14. See what happened next.

Also, there's always something about wearing the bleu-blanc-rouge jersey at the TdF: for the media, it's like a target on your back. Big hype and big expectations. Even bigger if you are a contender. You can't disappoint.

@ CheckMyPecs, for the 10 seconds point, I was referring to the ones I called "the idiots on l'Equipe's forum". We may have a few knuckeheads on our forum, but thank goodness, nothing like in l'Equipe . Uneducated, vindictive...

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

Very good point; he may be going for a stage (6?). Winning the whole thing would spark a "circus" as he calls it. Winning the French RR and/or ITT jersey would do the same tho. L'Equipe, the idiots on L'Equipe's forum, setting crazy expectations and blasting him the second he loses ten seconds. No win situation, so Tibopino might as well win it all. He's stronger in his head since last year. The "don't surrender" attitude and win at AdH was a defining moment.

You really think beating Bardet/Coppel would cause the same stir as beating Contador/Froome?

Yes. I agree with Kroko. The circus will go full motion anyways. Check YouTube for French TV shows and talking heads discussing "can Pinot win the TdF?". After '12 and after '14. See what happened next.

Also, there's always something about wearing the bleu-blanc-rouge jersey at the TdF: for the media, it's like a target on your back. Big hype and big expectations. Even bigger if you are a contender. You can't disappoint.

@ CheckMyPecs, for the 10 seconds point, I was referring to the ones I called "the idiots on l'Equipe's forum". We may have a few knuckeheads on our forum, but thank goodness, nothing like in l'Equipe . Uneducated, vindictive...

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Re: Re:

Very good point; he may be going for a stage (6?). Winning the whole thing would spark a "circus" as he calls it. Winning the French RR and/or ITT jersey would do the same tho. L'Equipe, the idiots on L'Equipe's forum, setting crazy expectations and blasting him the second he loses ten seconds. No win situation, so Tibopino might as well win it all. He's stronger in his head since last year. The "don't surrender" attitude and win at AdH was a defining moment.

You really think beating Bardet/Coppel would cause the same stir as beating Contador/Froome?

Yes. I agree with Kroko. The circus will go full motion anyways. Check YouTube for French TV shows and talking heads discussing "can Pinot win the TdF?". After '12 and after '14. See what happened next.

Also, there's always something about wearing the bleu-blanc-rouge jersey at the TdF: for the media, it's like a target on your back. Big hype and big expectations. Even bigger if you are a contender. You can't disappoint.

@ CheckMyPecs, for the 10 seconds point, I was referring to the ones I called "the idiots on l'Equipe's forum". We may have a few knuckeheads on our forum, but thank goodness, nothing like in l'Equipe . Uneducated, vindictive...

Jeez, cut them some slack. For French sports fans it must feel amazing to finally have countrymen with an outside chance of winning major races. When Rolland dropped Sanchez and Contador to win at Alpe d'Huez, I remember rubbing my face and thinking, "Huh? Is that even legal?"

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Jeez, cut them some slack. For French sports fans it must feel amazing to finally have countrymen with an outside chance of winning major races. When Rolland dropped Sanchez and Contador to win at Alpe d'Huez, I remember rubbing my face and thinking, "Huh? Is that even legal?"

@Alexandre:

Now for the posters in l'Equipe, no way that I can give them a slack. Most of them are atrocious. Trolls of the worst kind. Even the Pinot doubters on CN don't insult him. Not so much in l'Equipe. A disgrace...

And I'm a Frenchman. I want a TdF. I'm starving for one. And I'm a staunch (understatement) supporter of Tibopino. Whatever his result may be, as long as he gives 100%, that's fine with me.

Thibaut needs a good CDD to build his confidence, but also a great National Championship in his backyard (it was even reported that he and/or his brother designed the course - how about that?). After that...let the circus begin...

 

[Tonton]

Re: 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné, 2.UWT, June 5-12

Here's my video of Tibopino BTW: 2010- to TdR 2016.

https://youtu.be/GoGGZk2y3Eg

I hope this CDD and the next couple of months will give me enough material for another one . Enjoy!

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Contador is targeting the Olympics as well. So is Quintana.

Zika virus is too much for them to resist, I guess.

Would give cyclists an excuse for even more tues