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

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Thomas is great in bad weather and has beaten Contador on 2 summit finishes this season. What makes you assume that Contador would have beaten him on that finish (Thomas was already great on that same climb in 2014 Paris-Nice btw)?

It's almost as if Saturday's stage didn't happen. Thomas responded to two Contador attacks and then counter attacked and dropped him with 300m to go. And of course he comfortably beat him in the prologue too. I'd say he absolutely deserves his Paris-Nice win!

Thomas beat him on two summit finishes with an average gradient of under 6%. That's false flat for Contador and perfect for Thomas. Whenever the gradient got above 8%, Contador gapped him. Are you forgetting he got 28s on Malhão, and yesterday, 30s in 1km?

All that attacking and he gets nothing for it...That must hurt, grandstanding for his fans, that's what he is reduced to

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You call it grandstanding, anyone with a degree of sense would call it trying to win the race, which he came dangerously close to doing. If you can't appreciate the effort it took to do so and weren't in the slightest entertained by it then you have my sympathies.

 

[dacooley]

probably that's not unreasonable to forgive thomas for having some other interests but one's fanboy instincts.

 

[jaylew]

What would have happened if Contador hadn't been caught on the wrong end of the split in the sprint stage? He lost 4 seconds to Thomas which was his overall deficit. How would they have broken the tie?

 

[Jakub]

Re:

What would have happened if Contador hadn't been caught on the wrong end of the split in the sprint stage? He lost 4 seconds to Thomas which was his overall deficit. How would they have broken the tie?

spilt of seconds from ITT I think.

 

[Tank Engine]

I was away in the mountains for the weekend and have just caught up. After watching the penultimate stage, I knew there were going to be fireworks on the final day. Contador and Tinkov did all they could and the finish was incredibly tense (I managed to avoid hearing the result). Geraint owes Henao his weight in beer , but he also dug in deep after the final climb. Congratulations

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

spilt of seconds from ITT I think.

On the telly they said Thomas held the advantage in this respect.

 

[cantpedal]

Re: Re:

Gallopin can ride for whoever he wants. He doesn't have to ask anybody in this forum if its is OK, LOL. If the coach is fine with it so be it.

If Rugby is a good reason for him, then I don't care. If they share the same taste in colors, then I don't give a rat a$$ either. I saw why the coach let him do it just in case they needed to make sure that they won the stage. If it didn't work it would have come back to haunt them. But it did work for them.

Great job by Henao. So happy for him

Thanks for Contador for great racing. Probably the cancellation of that mountain stage worked in favor of great racing.

Obviously, but we're also free to whine about it. . Negative racing won again today. I don't like it when that happens

How do you definte negative racing? Thomas came out on top, but surely you didn't expect him to go on the offense yesterday, right?

I think the big winners yesterday were the spectators.

Buy big team, control everything, chase everything down because you have better teammates. No action, you know what I mean

no action??? so if Thomas had just sat up that would have made the race better?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

no action??? so if Thomas had just sat up that would have made the race better?

No one claimed that.
Some fans feel Sky have a very passive racing style and a negative approach, which makes them a bit unpopular.

 

[Taxus4a]

Sky should be worried. A dangerous animal, when wounded, becomes deadly.

Face it, son. Bertie just doesn't have it anymore.

He's as strong as in his best years. This season will be glorious

Of course he is as strong as his best moments, no reason to other thing, he is clever, he has a good team, and he has nothing to lose, so he will take risk, as well he is not very afected by weather condition, so far all right, but there is a fact, a Froome domestique has beated him at Paris Nice, so is Contador who must be worried, in a climb similar to Etna, he couldnt drop Zakarin, and he did a not very good prologue.

 

[Taxus4a]

By the way, is it possible to see a full on demand video of the last stage? I cant find it.

 

[Taxus4a]

Impressive descent by Thomas, and bad work from Henao on the climb... to be 2 meters ahead your leader s wheel is not a good job.
Impressive as well how Porte get Contador from behind.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

By the way, is it possible to see a full on demand video of the last stage? I cant find it.

Only last 40km or so.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

gallopin won the sprint which shows he made the right decision.

and how do you know that the group wouldn't catch contador's group anyway? so much hate... the team changed its name for this race, so there are even more reasons for him to try and get the best possible result.

Hindsight is 20/20. At that point, Wellens was in pole position to win the stage. He was ahead with Contador and Porte, both are notoriously bad sprinters. Gallopin must have known that by bringing back Thomas and Henao to the chase group, Wellens' chances of making it all the way to the finish would go down. Gallopin had a good chance to win the sprint, yes, but it was no sure thing whatsoever, there were other fast guys and Wellens' chance to win from that front group was surely much larger.

I think you're not fully appreciating the risk of that second group getting back to the front 3 without Gallopin in it (the gap was very small). Then not only would Lotto not have a second card to play for the stage win but Gallopin's top 10 would have been lost. Clearly the right decision was to ride in an effort to join the second group even if that would then very slightly increase the risk of the front 3 being brought back (which critically they could have been anyway even without Thomas and Henao making contact).

 

[JRanton]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

 

[jens_attacks]

Not his type of descent, no surprise

Remember galibier descent to alpe d'huez 2011.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

By the way, is it possible to see a full on demand video of the last stage? I cant find it.

Only last 40km or so.

I just watched last 20 Km...the only video with more is retristed to Belgium.

 

[Taxus4a]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

He did the descent he isable to do, and he did the ascent he is able to do. at the end pf the race, counting, ITT, flat, bonus, climbs, decents,...Thomas was the best,...and no for the team, becouse I think both saxo and Sky had strong riders and did a good job.

And at the end of the week IMO Porte was the stronger, he got the race not very strong

 

[carolina]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

on the first descent contador only started to lose time when roche started chasing. before that the gap was steady at 50 seconds.

 

[HelloDolly]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

on the first descent contador only started to lose time when roche started chasing. before that the gap was steady at 50 seconds.

Yes SKY made up 50 seconds on Tinkoff on that descent alone....?? Maybe Yrofimov & Kiserloski need ot go to descending school for a week

 

[carolina]

well, to be fair, when they were almost getting caught, kiserlovski was pulling so hard that contador was loosing trofimov's wheel..

 

[pastronef]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

on the first descent contador only started to lose time when roche started chasing. before that the gap was steady at 50 seconds.

Yes SKY made up 50 seconds on Tinkoff on that descent alone....?? Maybe Yrofimov & Kiserloski need ot go to descending school for a week

Tinkoff boys dont know the roads there. Sky boys (Roche Swift Boswell) ride there every other day. that´s not much downhill, it is not very steep and you never stop pedalling.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Bertie's always been a one-trick pony in the tactical department, hasn't he? Send a couple of teammates up the road, attack on the penultimate climb and then have your teammates pull you until the foot of final ascent.

Sure, it often works, but that's because Contador's legs are so damn strong, not because of its tactical brilliance.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Are we allowed to comment on the fact that Contador obviously didn't ride a very strong descent (he can't push the big gears) or do we have to continue to praise his glorious failure to win the race?

on the first descent contador only started to lose time when roche started chasing. before that the gap was steady at 50 seconds.

Yes SKY made up 50 seconds on Tinkoff on that descent alone....?? Maybe Yrofimov & Kiserloski need ot go to descending school for a week

It definitely helps on such a power descent to have a couple TV motors to draft behind.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

It definitely helps on such a power descent to have a couple TV motors to draft behind.

One word: Annecy.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Bertie's always been a one-trick pony in the tactical department, hasn't he? Send a couple of teammates up the road, attack on the penultimate climb and then have your teammates pull you until the foot of final ascent.

Sure, it often works, but that's because Contador's legs are so damn strong, not because of its tactical brilliance.

It's tactics 101. What tactic would you suggest?
Sky's entire team combined doesn't even have the tactical brilliance that Contador has in his pinky toe so not sure what your point is.