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

[Oliwright]

Re:

And Froome is planning to peak later than usual?

You can't argue that a smaller amount of races won't hurt that. Contador did GC at Paris Nice, Catalunya, Tour of the Basque Country and Volta ao Algarve.

Froome only did GC at Herald Sun tour, rather than the usual of Tirenno, Catalunya , Algarve and Romandie.

Can only help

 

[Oliwright]

Re:

Certainly looks like Yates is the strongest he has ever been.

Yep i reckon he and Simon will stay at orica at then end of the season. Why wouldn't you?
Sky don't need them. They'd get less opportunities.

 

[Oliwright]

Great show from Froome&Porte If Porte will stay at high level for 3 weeks July will be fun.

Gd for Froome if he does imo, he's as close to a team mate as you can get with him being on a different team.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Certainly looks like Yates is the strongest he has ever been.

Yep i reckon he and Simon will stay at orica at then end of the season. Why wouldn't you?
Sky don't need them. They'd get less opportunities.

I hope they both stay too, both doing very well with Orica.

Let's see how Yates does this next 2 stages, would be great to see him get a stage win and maybe push for a top 5 on GC.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Certainly looks like Yates is the strongest he has ever been.

Yep i reckon he and Simon will stay at orica at then end of the season. Why wouldn't you?
Sky don't need them. They'd get less opportunities.

It would be best for both all parties if they sign one year contract extensions - Next year will be their 4th year as Pro's and let them ride for GC at Giro and Vuelta.

Only hiccup is S.Yates AAF has still unresolved, so he has been pulled from the Tour of Slovenia so will miss the TDF.

 

[manolo57]

Re:

Landa today, is that the longest anyone has been within 100m of the peleton without getting reeled back in the history of cycling?

Pinot in stage 5 of tour de Romandie 2015

 

[Andy262]

Crazy from Porte. Had he forgotten he's riding for BMC now?

 

[dacooley]

Re:

Don't really know why Porte was working with Froome. His chance of wheelsucking Froome to stage victory today.

Hypothetical alliances against froome People like to speculate about so much in the tour is good for sure so a mini alliance against contador never hurts as well.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

People on here never learn ...one swallow doe snot a summer make..still along way to go before the Tour

That climb today suited Froome & Porte becasue it was not very long...they could do it at speed...Contador & Quintana are better on longer climbs
Dan Martin did all the pulling for that Yates twin to pip him at the end was not on...

As for SKY Landa is a great foil...definitley needs to go to the Tour ...Henao also looking very good

Not sure about Poels...his form looks dodgy to me
And of course Kwait not great he is ill

Exactly, it was a rather short effort, Dan Martin was one of the strongest riders, that should tell you more than enough about the sort of climb that it was.
Froome is always flying at the Dauphine, but the Tour will be decided in the 3rd week.
I'm a bit surprised by Purito's form, even if it was just a short climb, but Rolland doing well on that kind of climb is a big surprise.
Aru is still trying to find his racing legs, but at least he was better than Pinot.

 

[Vasilis]

Re:

People on here never learn ...one swallow doe snot a summer make..still along way to go before the Tour

That climb today suited Froome & Porte becasue it was not very long...they could do it at speed...Contador & Quintana are better on longer climbs
Dan Martin did all the pulling for that Yates twin to pip him at the end was not on...

As for SKY Landa is a great foil...definitley needs to go to the Tour ...Henao also looking very good

Not sure about Poels...his form looks dodgy to me
And of course Kwait not great he is ill

Well, Poels was in the early breaks today, so I guess that can explain his relatively weak performance at the end there.

 

[cantpedal]

Re:

This is one stage of a three-day combo.

In the TDF, Froome's biggest jaw-dropper on the race has always been made on the first mountain test. He hits the other mountains hard, but doesn't dominate to quite the same degree, and critics would even say he shows weakness.

Froome's best is better than Contador's best, but that doesn't mean Contador (or anyone else) is already beaten in the Tour

2013 Ax3 --- Vontoux

 

[cantpedal]

Re: Re:

Certainly looks like Yates is the strongest he has ever been.

Yep i reckon he and Simon will stay at orica at then end of the season. Why wouldn't you?
Sky don't need them. They'd get less opportunities.

I hope they both stay too, both doing very well with Orica.

Let's see how Yates does this next 2 stages, would be great to see him get a stage win and maybe push for a top 5 on GC.

because Orica won't be a sposor in 2 years and the team future isn't clear.

 

[Ataraxus]

Today's gap doesn't reflect Contador's true form IMO. He blew himself trying to follow Froome's attacks. Had he followed at his own pace the gap would have been 10 seconds max.
And this bodes well for tomorrow. Tinkoff will send Kreuziger with plus one other domestique in the break and Contador will try to bridge to them by attacking in the Maddeleine (descent me thinks given the rain presence predicted).
Bring on tomorrow!
What extent of the stage will be TVed?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Today's gap doesn't reflect Contador's true form IMO. He blew himself trying to follow Froome's attacks. Had he followed at his own pace the gap would have been 10 seconds max.
And this bodes well for tomorrow. Tinkoff will send Kreuziger with plus one other domestique in the break and Contador will try to bridge to them by attacking in the Maddeleine (descent me thinks given the rain presence predicted).
Bring on tomorrow!
What extent of the stage will be TVed?

He's blown up like this so many times yet he hasn't changed his strategy one bit. He tries to hang on and if he fails, he's cooked. It won't be any different at the Tour. Which is why this result is particularly worrying.

Can't see him getting away on Madeleine tomorrow - he'll be reeled in by the Sky train and then he'll be spat out the back by Froome. And anyway Meribel is too long and not steep enough to make a move on Madeleine stick.
The last hour will be live.

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Today's gap doesn't reflect Contador's true form IMO. He blew himself trying to follow Froome's attacks. Had he followed at his own pace the gap would have been 10 seconds max.
And this bodes well for tomorrow. Tinkoff will send Kreuziger with plus one other domestique in the break and Contador will try to bridge to them by attacking in the Maddeleine (descent me thinks given the rain presence predicted).
Bring on tomorrow!
What extent of the stage will be TVed?

Eurosport begins at 16:30
RAI at 16:00

Col de la Madeleine not live I think

 

[cycladianpirate]

All I'm hearing is "Tour, Tour , Tour". This is shaping up to be a great contest in its own right. Tomorrow is going to see some great racing. I am sick of people on this forum looking down their noses at "July posters" and then banging on about who is "peaking for Le Tour".

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re:

All I'm hearing is "Tour, Tour , Tour". This is shaping up to be a great contest in its own right. Tomorrow is going to see some great racing. I am sick of people on this forum looking down their noses at "July posters" and then banging on about who is "peaking for Le Tour".

I see your point, but don't you think the riders themselves are thinking that way?

 

[boasson]

Re: Re:

Today's gap doesn't reflect Contador's true form IMO. He blew himself trying to follow Froome's attacks. Had he followed at his own pace the gap would have been 10 seconds max.
And this bodes well for tomorrow. Tinkoff will send Kreuziger with plus one other domestique in the break and Contador will try to bridge to them by attacking in the Maddeleine (descent me thinks given the rain presence predicted).
Bring on tomorrow!
What extent of the stage will be TVed?

A.C will attack at madeleine and go fullgas and take risks on a long, wet, slippery and tricky descent, 3 weeks before the Tour starts? With only Kreuziger for the last 50-60k's against the whole Sky and BMC teams??

Very unlikely

 

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

Today's gap doesn't reflect Contador's true form IMO. He blew himself trying to follow Froome's attacks. Had he followed at his own pace the gap would have been 10 seconds max.
And this bodes well for tomorrow. Tinkoff will send Kreuziger with plus one other domestique in the break and Contador will try to bridge to them by attacking in the Maddeleine (descent me thinks given the rain presence predicted).
Bring on tomorrow!
What extent of the stage will be TVed?

He's blown up like this so many times yet he hasn't changed his strategy one bit. He tries to hang on and if he fails, he's cooked. It won't be any different at the Tour. Which is why this result is particularly worrying.

Can't see him getting away on Madeleine tomorrow - he'll be reeled in by the Sky train and then he'll be spat out the back by Froome. And anyway Meribel is too long and not steep enough to make a move on Madeleine stick.
The last hour will be live.

The fact that he doesn't change this strategy is one of the things I like about him. In fact Froome attacks look even more remarkable when Contador is present in the race.
The battles with Tejay in the dauphine and Quintana in PSM and Ventoux do not fully transmit the vibe and the rivalry that is transmitted when Contador is in the race(to my mind at least).
He is the Lamborghini of cycling with all these Teslas around.
Anyway, if tomorrow is going to be rainy, Sky might play it very safely in the descents.
If fireworks start on the maddeleime Froome will at most have only Henao Landa and Poels with him so Kreuz plus one other team mate in the break might bring him with a gap at the foot of Meribel. We'll see tomorrow.

 

[Carols]

Re:

No surprise to see Porte with Froome - Porte on his day can climb as well as Porte - First time this season A.Yates has been given the opportunity to climb up a mountain - Has also learnt to be patient and ride t his own tempo.

I hope so

 

[Tonton]

So far in the face to face, mental warfare, Bertie won round 1, Dawg won round 2. Call it a draw. The next two days are important. VERY important. Bertie can't afford to show up at the Tour with an inferior team and an inferiority complex.

 

[Carols]

So far in the face to face, mental warfare, Bertie won round 1, Dawg won round 2. Call it a draw. The next two days are important. VERY important. Bertie can't afford to show up at the Tour with an inferior team and an inferiority complex.

Well he'll definitely have an inferior team that is a given. What he needs is better legs!

 

[LaFlorecita]

So far in the face to face, mental warfare, Bertie won round 1, Dawg won round 2. Call it a draw. The next two days are important. VERY important. Bertie can't afford to show up at the Tour with an inferior team and an inferiority complex.

If Contador was mentally that weak he'd have developed an inferiority complex years ago. Two more blows this weekend won't help his confidence but I doubt it'll influence him as much as you imply

 

[LaFlorecita]

So far in the face to face, mental warfare, Bertie won round 1, Dawg won round 2. Call it a draw. The next two days are important. VERY important. Bertie can't afford to show up at the Tour with an inferior team and an inferiority complex.

Well he'll definitely have an inferior team that is a given. What he needs is better legs!

He needs strong legs and courage and anything is possible. Right now the legs are the issue

 

[Forever The Best]

So far in the face to face, mental warfare, Bertie won round 1, Dawg won round 2. Call it a draw. The next two days are important. VERY important. Bertie can't afford to show up at the Tour with an inferior team and an inferiority complex.

If Contador was mentally that weak he'd have developed an inferiority complex years ago. Two more blows this weekend won't help his confidence but I doubt it'll influence him as much as you imply

I remember his face on L'Alpe 2013.Then his 2014.His face on Lanciano.So calm.So concentrated.
He will either collapse very hard or will come guns blazing(like 2014) when it matters.(2016 Tour or 2017 season)