2016 Paris - Nice, March 6th - 13th, WT

[JRanton]

Sanchez did exactly the same thing to Thomas in Algarve. Oh well. I honestly think Thomas was the strongest rider today he just doesn't quite have the punch to win on a finish like that. As for him being dropped earlier on the climb, it's clear that he would have got back to Contador comfortably even without Henao. Thomas is a diesel climber like Wiggins.

I still expect Contador to be very dangerous tomorrow. As we know, he recovers much better than Thomas.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Did Porte forget he no longer works for Sky?

It's not a surprise seeing him not fully wound up here considering he is targeting the Tour and not the Giro this year

But so is Thomas...

 

[cineteq]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful

Henao was gold for Thomas today.

He was easily the strongest man in the race today.

 

[dacooley]

excuses, excuses, excuses... let's put it straight, bertie wasnot strong enough to distance the others on quite suitable 8-9% gradients. zakarin took a beatiful victory, though henao would've been a more obvious winner, had he ridden for himself.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Did Porte forget he no longer works for Sky?

It's not a surprise seeing him not fully wound up here considering he is targeting the Tour and not the Giro this year

But so is Thomas...

As a domestique for Froome so it's not a surprise to see him targeting this race

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

 

[TommyGun]

Nicolas Portal said something about rumours of Contador having problems with his large front bracket just before the arrival. Someone can confirm this story?

 

[BigMac]

Mighty glad there's not a TT in sight else Zakarin might have won this.

Anyway, well done. Following wheels was all he could and should have done, it wasn't like the others didn't as well. Henao set the pace almost entirely. Plus he beat G after being boxed by him on the right, which kinda left a smile on my face.

 

[bajbar]

Re:

excuses, excuses, excuses... let's put it straight, bertie wasnot strong enough to distance the others on quite suitable 8-9% gradients. zakarin took a beatiful victory, though henao would've been a more obvious winner, had he ridden for himself.

But he did distance everybody on the only "steep" section (everyone besides Henao, who dropped back to help Thomas). If the climb was as steep till the end, he would have won. By a margin. But it wasn't so, climb was much easier thereafter, which allowed Thomas, Henao and than later Zakarin and Porte get back up to him...

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful ]

And there was me thinking Thomas is now race leader

But yeah Henao was great today, great to see him climb well again.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

C'mon ray, why should he retire when he's still one of the top climbers in the world and able to beat 99% of the peloton on most uphill efforts?

James Dean effect?

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful

Henao was gold for Thomas today.

He was easily the strongest man in the race today.

Well there is the fact that Thomas was much better placed overall, so it made sense to ride for him. Thomas only had to stick with Contador, while Henao would have to drop Contador himself if he was to take the GC.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Volta_Ciclista_a_Catalunya_2014

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful ]

And there was me thinking Thomas is now race leader

But yeah Henao was great today, great to see him climb well again.

Henao is also very inconsistent and today he was great, but usually Thomas is simply better.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful ]

And there was me thinking Thomas is now race leader

But yeah Henao was great today, great to see him climb well again.

Henao is also very inconsistent and today he was great, but usually Thomas is simply better.

This is true, he also lost a fair amount of time in the prologue and I doubt he'd have just rode away from everyone on 4% gradients.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful ]

And there was me thinking Thomas is now race leader

But yeah Henao was great today, great to see him climb well again.

Henao is also very inconsistent and today he was great, but usually Thomas is simply better.

THis is true ...Heano could be terrible tomorrow
And Zakarin could be terrible next month

POrte, Contador & Thomas are the GT riders this year

All I can say id Porte & Contdor need to do more

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful

Henao was gold for Thomas today.

He was easily the strongest man in the race today.

that's truly amazing how one's demoniac dislike to somebody can distrort reality.

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Volta_Ciclista_a_Catalunya_2014

Against purito on a climb that was prefect for him not Thomas, come on . That his competition that he would blow away on a climb like "that back in the day"

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Nicolas Portal said something about rumours of Contador having problems with his large front bracket just before the arrival. Someone can confirm this story?

I saw him looking down at his bike several times while Sky was still pulling. When Majka was moving up with him along the side. Wonder if others saw that too.
I don't know if it was an issue just before the finish and I wonder why Portal would speak of "rumors" unless you added it of course

Edit: INRNG to the rescue
the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Contador says he had a problem with his front mech, stuck in the big ring all the way up the final climb

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

He was the best Sky rider, yet his team continues to neglects him, in favor of the Brit #Shameful ]

And there was me thinking Thomas is now race leader

But yeah Henao was great today, great to see him climb well again.

Henao is also very inconsistent and today he was great, but usually Thomas is simply better.

THis is true ...Heano could be terrible tomorrow
And Zakarin could be terrible next month

POrte, Contador & Thomas are the GT riders this year

All I can say id Porte & Contdor need to do more

Nope, they are not GT riders at all.

 

[Tonton]

Until the end I thought my prediction would be realized, but ultimately it wasn't hard enough of a climb (particularly in the final 2k) for Bertie to drop the rest. Hats off to Henao.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Volta_Ciclista_a_Catalunya_2014

Against purito on a climb that was prefect for him not Thomas, come on . That his competition that he would blow away on a climb like "that back in the day"

This climb is perfect for track specialist though, he looked fine, no need to overreact imo.

 

[TommyGun]

Re: Re:

Nicolas Portal said something about rumours of Contador having problems with his large front bracket just before the arrival. Someone can confirm this story?

I saw him looking down at his bike several times while Sky was still pulling. When Majka was moving up with him along the side. Wonder if others saw that too.
I don't know if it was an issue just before the finish and I wonder why Portal would speak of "rumors" unless you added it of course

Edit: INRNG to the rescue
the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Contador says he had a problem with his front mech, stuck in the big ring all the way up the final climb

He said that he heard about Contador habing some issues with his bikes but he did not know if it was true. He was interviewed French TV.

OK, thanks for the edit!

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

hhhhmmm...how can contador beat Froome. He even got beaten by his sky second chair.

Just ride like he did in 2014 and he will easily beat him again
I am a big Bertie fan but IMO I think he's should have retired at the end of 2014.
He just lacks that edge of old. 2014 season form and he would have won a stage like this easy
Its not a good sign for the tour and its no good saying its early days because in 2014 Bertie war destroying everyone in the early season

C'mon ray, why should he retire when he's still one of the top climbers in the world and able to beat 99% of the peloton on most uphill efforts?

James Dean effect?

You know Big Mac I just have not seen that Bertie destruction of riders for a few years. 2014 he looked to be getting there but last year he went backwards as far as I am concerned. His Giro win had its moments but it was no Bertie of old. I only hope he can prove me wrong and get me excited about the up and coming season, so far its just been flat

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Edit: INRNG to the rescue
the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Contador says he had a problem with his front mech, stuck in the big ring all the way up the final climb

Correction
the Inner Ring ‏@inrng 6 min.6 minuten geleden
Listened again to Contador in English on Eurosport: "in all the climb I haven't the big ring, cannot change", stuck in small chainring