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

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Mar 30, 2016
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Re: Re:

Ramira said:
PatrickLeeds said:
Ramira said:
CheckMyPecs said:
70kmph said:
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.

Actually, when Contador has done similar in past races, there were people making the same remarks, mainly that he was afraid of what Froome would do to him in the mountains so stealing seconds wherever he could. It's not necessarily fair and there is a bit of playing favorites, but it extends to those riders as well.
 
Re:

PremierAndrew said:
Froome would be so much more popular if he wasn't the biggest rival to the super popular Contador

There used to be a lot of love for Froome in this forum even from the Contador fans, especially during Vuelta 2012.
Things started changing in 2013 though.
 
Aug 4, 2010
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Valv.Piti said:
ILovecycling said:
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.
its very hard to put vanmarcke,nibali,contador,froome in order for me....Sagan is clear no.1 of course

I would be a Froome fan if he was not racing for that boring Sky, thats for sure
 
Jun 13, 2016
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So, when Cav had a puncture he screamed like he was getting burned alive. Did anyone tell him that he definitely lost the green jersey today? When Cav is in heaven and he needs to be brought back down to earth, things usually get tough. Why didn't Boasson Hagen gave him his bike/stopped?
 
blaming quintana for not being positioned well or being able to respond on this kind of stage is stupis as f***,the guy is 57 kilograms with bicycle...in the end he was in the bunch,which is about as good as i would expect from him

you just have to compliment froome for attacking in two disciplines that are potentially quintanas weaknes,downhill and windy flat

anyway the difference is 35 seconds,if he is better than froome he will gain that time in the alps...if he is not stronger 12 seconds today wont matter
 
Sep 26, 2014
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I started this tour cheering for Quintana, not anymore though. Oh no, not anymore... Froome is the big boss and if he keeps racing like this, the deserved winner! Huge respect!!
 
Aug 31, 2012
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Re: Re:

Ramira said:
PatrickLeeds said:
Ramira said:
CheckMyPecs said:
70kmph said:
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.

If Contador or Nibali had done what Froome did today, there'd be a week long succession of hundreds of posts of gushing praise.
 
Re: Re:

ILovecycling said:
Valv.Piti said:
ILovecycling said:
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.
its very hard to put vanmarcke,nibali,contador,froome in order for me....Sagan is clear no.1 of course

I would be a Froome fan if he was not racing for that boring Sky, thats for sure
Not sure if serious? I like the guy, but what's he doing listed in that kind of company? He's won about two races in 10 years.
 
So many Froome detractors have become Froome fans all of a sudden. There is no denying he is a super talented rider but what gets me is the SKY team are too strong so they make him look even stronger....Do you think he would have tried today if riding for Movistar or Astana or FDJ or Ag2R..>A strong team make you look invincible

and SKY make the race result so much more predictable ...its sad but true
 
Re:

MacBAir said:
So, when Cav had a puncture he screamed like he was getting burned alive. Did anyone tell him that he definitely lost the green jersey today? When Cav is in heaven and he needs to be brought back down to earth, things usually get tough. Why didn't Boasson Hagen gave him his bike/stopped?

With or without puncture. The race was over for him when those 4 decided to give it chance. :)
 
Jun 13, 2016
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Re:

saganftw said:
blaming quintana for not being positioned well or being able to respond on this kind of stage is stupis as f***,the guy is 57 kilograms with bicycle...in the end he was in the bunch,which is about as good as i would expect from him

you just have to compliment froome for attacking in two disciplines that are potentially quintanas weaknes,downhill and windy flat

anyway the difference is 35 seconds,if he is better than froome he will gain that time in the alps...if he is not stronger 12 seconds today wont matter
People aren't blaming Quintana for this stage alone. People are blaming him for being conservative, stupid and ignorant all year, every year.

He was stupid when he only followed Froome and sky on every terrain without attacking once. He was stupid when he wasn't ready today and never gave it a go. He was stupid countless times, and stupid riders that never attack shouldn't win this tour.
 
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saganftw said:
blaming quintana for not being positioned well or being able to respond on this kind of stage is stupis as f***,the guy is 57 kilograms with bicycle...in the end he was in the bunch,which is about as good as i would expect from him
Completely correct. His mistake is not taking potential time loss on stages like this into account.
 
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HelloDolly said:
So many Froome detractors have become Froome fans all of a sudden. There is no denying he is a super talented rider but what gets me is the SKY team are too strong so they make him look even stronger....Do you think he would have tried today if riding for Movistar or Astana or FDJ or Ag2R..>A strong team make you look invincible

and SKY make the race result so much more predictable ...its sad but true

His teammates didn't get him across that gap to Sagan.
 
Re: Re:

MacBAir said:
saganftw said:
blaming quintana for not being positioned well or being able to respond on this kind of stage is stupis as f***,the guy is 57 kilograms with bicycle...in the end he was in the bunch,which is about as good as i would expect from him

you just have to compliment froome for attacking in two disciplines that are potentially quintanas weaknes,downhill and windy flat

anyway the difference is 35 seconds,if he is better than froome he will gain that time in the alps...if he is not stronger 12 seconds today wont matter
People aren't blaming Quintana for this stage alone. People are blaming him for being conservative, stupid and ignorant all year, every year.

He was stupid when he only followed Froome and sky on every terrain without attacking once. He was stupid when he wasn't ready today and never gave it a go. He was stupid countless times, and stupid riders that never attack shouldn't win this tour.
Dude, he's 30 seconds behind, with the parts of the race most suited to him still to come. He'd have bitten your arm off to be in this position,if you offered it to him at the start of the race.

Do you think if he hadn't been stupid, he'd be about 5 minutes ahead by now or something?
 
Aug 31, 2012
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Re: Re:

hrotha said:
saganftw said:
blaming quintana for not being positioned well or being able to respond on this kind of stage is stupis as f***,the guy is 57 kilograms with bicycle...in the end he was in the bunch,which is about as good as i would expect from him
Completely correct. His mistake is not taking potential time loss on stages like this into account.

That Froome can gain time like he did today doesn't materially affect what Quintana's best strategy is.
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
So many Froome detractors have become Froome fans all of a sudden. There is no denying he is a super talented rider but what gets me is the SKY team are too strong so they make him look even stronger....Do you think he would have tried today if riding for Movistar or Astana or FDJ or Ag2R..>A strong team make you look invincible

and SKY make the race result so much more predictable ...its sad but true

Like anything in life- Respect must be "earned" - Froome in this tour is showing skills "unseen before" and must of all - he's breaking the boring "SKY train smashing approach" from past years, with daring attacks on his own - in all terrains- again- thing we have not seem from him in the past ever attempting to do- so I actually salute & embrace his new approach of racing. :)
 
Re: Re:

Ramira said:
perico said:
Rollthedice said:
SeriousSam said:
Is there anything Froome can't do

His power is immense

I doubt that his climbing is at the same level as in 2013.
This. He hasn't looked anywhere near 2013 levels in the mtns so far, so he has taken it to the race in other ways. It's impressive stuff.

So he's been stronger than he's ever been in the Tour in every way, and in the mountains he's not even been close to cracking, and the only real mountain stage there's been was such horrendous weather that he wasn't able to show what he could do.

What is it about that which makes people think he's not as good as he was in the past?

I'm not saying I'm sure he's better, or as good, because we haven't seen him tested yet, that will happen tomorrow. But there's zero indication he's not on the best form of his life.

2013 Chris Froome would've dropped everyone bar Quintana, top form Nibali, or healthy Contador with his acceleration on Arcalis. Now Dan Martin's attacking him. That's not to disrespect Martin, but I don't buy that Nairo was on the limit. He's also needed someone to pull back the initial accelerations on 5 and 7.
 
Re: Re:

kenk09 said:
HelloDolly said:
So many Froome detractors have become Froome fans all of a sudden. There is no denying he is a super talented rider but what gets me is the SKY team are too strong so they make him look even stronger....Do you think he would have tried today if riding for Movistar or Astana or FDJ or Ag2R..>A strong team make you look invincible

and SKY make the race result so much more predictable ...its sad but true

His teammates didn't get him across that gap to Sagan.

No, but they did help make sure that he was in position to make that move. He had to be strong and alert to take advantage and he deserves big credit for being both, but his team did help make it possible. Broadly speaking my sentiments are with Hello Dolly at least in the narrow sense that I don't like the strongest riders being surrounded by superteams.

In this particular instance it should be said that Movistar made a deliberate decision to only take one big lump for the flat with them when the had others available. They are not a team who simply didn't have the resources. If anything they were lucky that Quintana only lost 12 seconds.