2016 TdF, Stage 11: Carcassonne → Montpellier (163km)

[gooner]

Clever racing by Froome. You take the opportunities wherever they arise

Two stages now and he rivals haven't been switched on to his moves. I would be more critical of them.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Can't imagine anything else apart from Froome being worried about the mountains.

Another interpretation is that Froome is super strong.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Quintana used a fair bit of energy too let's not forget - I saw him on his own on the wrong side of the wind quite a few times in the run in.

Exactly, most in that chasing group has to go full gas to avoid being dropped.

 

[burning]

Re:

Quintana used a fair bit of energy too let's not forget - I saw him on his own on the wrong side of the wind quite a few times in the run in.

Exactly, people here (especially clueless Quintana fans) have pretty much no idea about racing in crosswinds.

 

[Jancouver]

Wow, what a stage!
Awesome racing by Sagan and Froome. Kudos to both of them.
Too bad Bodnar did not get the win. That would be just epic for all the work he is doing for Sagan.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Huge waste of energy

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, eh?

Very much so. If he rides conservative he's a robot and he's killing cycling. Now that he's actually attacking he's an idiot who has on clue what he's doing and wasting energy.

Just imagine for a second Contador or Nibali would have done it. Pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly the same backlash.

Yes, both the descent attack and today's move would have led to paroxysms of hero worship for either of those two.

 

[ILovecycling]

Sagan is officialy God and Froome is a TOP 5 racer in the pro peloton...We witnessed something special...

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, who was expecting that?

 

[Ramira]

Re:

Can't imagine anything else apart from Froome being worried about the mountains. Lots of effort for 10-12 seconds. Good racing though

If he was afraid of the mountains would he really be using energy today?

Unless you believe it cost him no significant energy, but then why wouldn't he do it anyway?

This new style isn't exactly hurting his popularity. And if his allez les bleus tweet is anything to go by, he's quite concerned with that right now.

 

[doperhopper]

Olga Stinkoff already preparing money for next year... one more stage!

 

[luckyboy]

Re: Re:

Can't imagine anything else apart from Froome being worried about the mountains.

Another interpretation is that Froome is super strong.

Every other year too but we never saw this before. Eh, we'll see

 

[PatrickLeeds]

Re: Re:

Huge waste of energy

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, eh?

Very much so. If he rides conservative he's a robot and he's killing cycling. Now that he's actually attacking he's an idiot who has on clue what he's doing and wasting energy.

Just imagine for a second Contador or Nibali would have done it. Pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly the same backlash.

To be fair there hasn't been MUCH 'backlash' - mostly just people saying 'Don't like him normally, but chapeau'

which Is where I would stand if I had watched .... Must stop reading these threads while I am at work and before I watch the race.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

Great entertainment, but Froome's going to pay for those 10 seconds.

I don't buy this. Sagan pays for his everyday effort by getting stronger and stronger.

Sagan doesn't need to perform tomorrow...

Neither does Froome.

 

[SKSemtex]

I have never thought I would tell this: I bacome a Froome fan.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Quintana used a fair bit of energy too let's not forget - I saw him on his own on the wrong side of the wind quite a few times in the run in.

Exactly, people here (especially clueless Quintana fans) have pretty much no idea about racing in crosswinds.

Have you ever ridden in a peloton in crosswinds? There is still a massive benefit to being in the middle of a peloton - compared with taking several long pulls as part of a four man break. Even more so when you're tiny and are surrounded by sprinters and classics specialists.

 

[Roude Leiw]

you guys should get your act together... literally dozens of pages around the tour being boring. now something happend and you say ghey should save energy ....!!!???

 

[trucido]

Re: Re:

Huge waste of energy

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, eh?

Very much so. If he rides conservative he's a robot and he's killing cycling. Now that he's actually attacking he's an idiot who has on clue what he's doing and wasting energy.

Just imagine for a second Contador or Nibali would have done it. Pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly the same backlash.

Pretty much this.

If that was Nibali descending back on Stage 8 and Contador today, it would have been funny how different the tune would be here.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Sagan is officialy God and Froome is a TOP 5 racer in the pro peloton...We witnessed something special...

Some would argue Froome is top-2, me included, but Sagan is at least one above the rest. What a racer.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Great entertainment, but Froome's going to pay for those 10 seconds.

I don't buy this. Sagan pays for his everyday effort by getting stronger and stronger.

Sagan doesn't need to perform tomorrow...

Neither does Froome.

At the very least it looks like the stage tomorrow will finish on a 12km climb averaging about 8%, with the last 6km at nearly 10%. He has to perform alright.

 

[hfer07]

Froome is truly surprising us in every stage with new abilities He seemed to have picked up some skills from the cycling arsenal & taken them to a whole new level

gotta say this: Quintana better show some Pantani legs and drop the life out of Froome in the mountains with panache if he wants to outdo what the Kenyan has done so far - and yes - I'm cheering for Nairito- but Froome is doing the right things to earn the title ....

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

Quintana used a fair bit of energy too let's not forget - I saw him on his own on the wrong side of the wind quite a few times in the run in.

Exactly, people here (especially clueless Quintana fans) have pretty much no idea about racing in crosswinds.

Have you ever ridden in a peloton in crosswinds? There is still a massive benefit to being in the middle of a peloton - compared with taking several long pulls as part of a four man break. Even more so when you're tiny and are surrounded by sprinters and classics specialists.

If you watch closely, he was eating wind and fighting for position all the time as he does not know how to ride his bike.

 

[Cycling1984]

Re: Re:

Huge waste of energy

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, eh?

Very much so. If he rides conservative he's a robot and he's killing cycling. Now that he's actually attacking he's an idiot who has on clue what he's doing and wasting energy.

Just imagine for a second Contador or Nibali would have done it. Pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly the same backlash.

Froome deserves more a lot more respect than this forum gives him...He is by far the best all round GC rider in the peloton and Sagan is clearly a GOD!!!

 

[pink_jersey]

Love Froome!!! Such a special rider.
Sagan is really, really strong.

 

[Ramira]

Re: Re:

Huge waste of energy

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, eh?

Very much so. If he rides conservative he's a robot and he's killing cycling. Now that he's actually attacking he's an idiot who has on clue what he's doing and wasting energy.

Just imagine for a second Contador or Nibali would have done it. Pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly the same backlash.

To be fair there hasn't been MUCH 'backlash' - mostly just people saying 'Don't like him normally, but chapeau'

which Is where I would stand if I had watched .... Must stop reading these threads while I am at work and before I watch the race.

You're right there's none of the vitriol that had been there in the past, which I think is good. Froome is far from a perfect cyclist, but he's also not the next Armstrong.

Yet there's so many posts saying it's either a dumb thing to do, cause he's wasting energy, or saying he must be afraid of Quintana. That doesn't really happen with Contador or Nibali.

 

[Lance Armstrong]

Re: Re:

Great entertainment, but Froome's going to pay for those 10 seconds.

I don't buy this. Sagan pays for his everyday effort by getting stronger and stronger.

Sagan doesn't need to perform tomorrow...

He did yesterday and wasn't particularly weak today. It took 15 minutes. Of which Froome pulled 3.

Pulling for three minutes can't have any effect tomorrow.