2016 TdF, Stage 15: Bourg-en-Bresse → Culoz (160km)

[This Charming Man]

Quality win by Pantano, humble, nice interview, unfortunate for Alaphilipe.

 

[movingtarget]

Poels is the new Kyrienka.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Would've liked to see Ala contest the sprint, but Pantano earned that one IMO. He brought big deficits back on both of the final 2 descents. Majka probably spent too many matches following Zakarin. He should've waited for the Lacets to make the difference uphill.

Even though TJ is only 20 sec behind Porte, he should sacrifice his GC and try to launch Porte on one of the mountain stages.

Porte will wait for Froome to attack.

 

[papisimo98]

I miss the Giro.
What a contrast from racing to win to racing not to lose.
7-8 man teams would at least spread the talent around to other teams. Yet I could envision the richest teams still having the best talent just unable to take them all to the Tour.
But it's a start. Reminds me of Postal days.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Would've liked to see Ala contest the sprint, but Pantano earned that one IMO. He brought big deficits back on both of the final 2 descents. Majka probably spent too many matches following Zakarin. He should've waited for the Lacets to make the difference uphill.

Even though TJ is only 20 sec behind Porte, he should sacrifice his GC and try to launch Porte on one of the mountain stages.

I don't think they'll do that. Porte has to finish a tour first and prove that he's not going to crack spectacularly on at least one day in the final week, before he will get riders like TJVG sacrificing their own top 10 position for him.

 

[Red Rick]

After today, the Vuelta parcours looks like an absolute treat.

 

[saganftw]

Re: Re:

for all idiots complaining about lack of GC action : if a domestique is doing 350+ watts at the front you cannot attack from that

just so you know why the tour is boring

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

THIS. THIS. THIS.

On the face of it, Movistar has a stronger climbing team than Sky. The problem is either tactical - they haven't found a way to unseat a train - or physical - Quintana's just too weak.

HAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[SeriousSam]

Poels was tested. He just rode a tempo up that climb that no one except Froome himself could significantly best, and that's the end of it

 

[pink_jersey]

Sprints are more entertaining than mountains this year. At least, in sprints we had chaos.In mountains, we had...NOTHING. NOTHING!!!
The only mountain who had fun was Ventoux, but that was due to an incident.

 

[Richeypen]

Re: Re:

for all idiots complaining about lack of GC action : if a domestique is doing 350+ watts at the front you cannot attack from that

just so you know why the tour is boring

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

They did try. They sent Valverde on an attack. Presumably they told him, rather than just going all in and burning himself out, to ride just above his threshold, at the kind of pace that Quintana could sustain for the remainder of the climb. Once they saw Poels easily reel it in and Froome looking comfortable, they realised that it was hopeless Quintana trying to attack and that he'd likely end up losing time.

Intent and aggression is irrelevant if one rider and his team are putting out significantly more watts than everyone else.

They didnt try to attack, Valverde followed Aru halfheartedly. Valverde didnt want to risk his top 10 by burying himself. A full on attack may have blown up Valverde but it could have taken Poels and possibly Neive with him.

 

[arvc40]

Hard day watching that complete stage. Incredibly boring GC race, I know all the reasons why, seen the last 30 editions. Getting hard to watch. Always hopeful. Good racing upfront today.

 

[aarononymous]

Re: Re:

for all idiots complaining about lack of GC action : if a domestique is doing 350+ watts at the front you cannot attack from that

just so you know why the tour is boring

The only counter attack to this is 5 or 6 man teams. Something which needs to happen ASAP!

Salary caps

 

[hulkhogansknees]

Re: Re:

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

Very true.
Valverde and Aru obviously weren't going all out, so while Sky looked strong I don't think no one really tried to test them seriously.

Bjarne Riis accuses Movistar of riding for the team classification based on the fact that they started pulling on the flat after TVG got dropped. I tend to agree with that...
Pathetic how a stage like this hardly creates any changes in the GC.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

After today, the Vuelta parcours looks like an absolute treat.

Also called guaranteed action, thats at least what you get from a MTF.

 

[dacooley]

Re:

Why am I watching this?

perhaps for supporting any rider able to dismantle sky

 

[hfer07]

Pantano!!!!!!

awesome win- he had it in the bag once he caught Majka whose chances to outsprint Pantano were close to zero.

congrats & that truly secures him a contract with a big team for the next year

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

for all idiots complaining about lack of GC action : if a domestique is doing 350+ watts at the front you cannot attack from that

just so you know why the tour is boring

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

They did try. They sent Valverde on an attack. Presumably they told him, rather than just going all in and burning himself out, to ride just above his threshold, at the kind of pace that Quintana could sustain for the remainder of the climb. Once they saw Poels easily reel it in and Froome looking comfortable, they realised that it was hopeless Quintana trying to attack and that he'd likely end up losing time.

Intent and aggression is irrelevant if one rider and his team are putting out significantly more watts than everyone else.

They didnt try to attack, Valverde followed Aru halfheartedly. Valverde didnt want to risk his top 10 by burying himself. A full on attack may have blown up Valverde but it could have taken Poels and possibly Neive with him.

Possibly Quintana too. Certainly not Froome.

 

[arvc40]

I have no worldly idea what that *** was that Froome pulled on the climb. It was such a rapid action I doubt the other riders saw it.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I have no worldly idea what that **** was that Froome pulled on the climb. It was such a rapid action I doubt the other riders saw it.

Lucky it did not cause a crash.

 

[trucido]

Re:

Why am I watching this?

You're a closet masochist.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

for all idiots complaining about lack of GC action : if a domestique is doing 350+ watts at the front you cannot attack from that

just so you know why the tour is boring

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

They did try. They sent Valverde on an attack. Presumably they told him, rather than just going all in and burning himself out, to ride just above his threshold, at the kind of pace that Quintana could sustain for the remainder of the climb. Once they saw Poels easily reel it in and Froome looking comfortable, they realised that it was hopeless Quintana trying to attack and that he'd likely end up losing time.

Intent and aggression is irrelevant if one rider and his team are putting out significantly more watts than everyone else.

They didnt try to attack, Valverde followed Aru halfheartedly. Valverde didnt want to risk his top 10 by burying himself. A full on attack may have blown up Valverde but it could have taken Poels and possibly Neive with him.

What would have been the purpose of Valverde attacking full on and blowing up? All it would have achieved would be to isolate Quintana. Sky were riding to power - they would know that Valverde couldn't sustain a 450w+ burst and would just gradually reel him in and spit him out the back.

The attack that Valverde did would have tested them by riding just above his threshold; the kind of power that Quintana could sustain long-term in an attack. That's a much better way of assessing the strength of Sky on the day than a ridiculous all-in effort which is doomed to fail.

Sky closed it down easily so Movistar abandoned plans for Quintana to attack. It's obviously not what the fans want to see, but it would have been a suicidal move by Quintana to have attacked in those circumstances, with Poels and Froome looking so strong.

 

[arvc40]

Trek manager just addmited they are happy where they are in GC.

 

[spalco]

Re:

Sprints are more entertaining than mountains this year. At least, in sprints we had chaos.In mountains, we had...NOTHING. NOTHING!!!
The only mountain who had fun was Ventoux, but that was due to an incident.

Ventoux would have been interesting without the incident too, especially if they had been able to ride all the way up.

And regarding the Giro: anyone really think Sky wouldn't be able to do the same thing there if Froome wanted to?
The route doesn't matter in that regard.

 

[carton]

Mollema looked cooked. Everyone else was worse. Had Quintana attacked, Froome would've gained another minute plus on everyone bar perhaps LRP. That's not the Tour cycling wants but maybe it's the Tour it deserves. It may yet get it in the Alps if Froome is really yet to peak.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

Movistar had 2 people in the early break and Valverde and Quintana. Yet they tried nothing. Sky Doms might have been bossing it but thats no excuse for not at least trying. They allowed Poels to ride tempo without even testing him.

Very true.
Valverde and Aru obviously weren't going all out, so while Sky looked strong I don't think no one really tried to test them seriously.

Bjarne Riis accuses Movistar of riding for the team classification based on the fact that they started pulling on the flat after TVG got dropped. I tend to agree with that...
Pathetic how a stage like this hardly creates any changes in the GC.

Aru didn't even do his faces so he might have left something in the reserve. I'd say the stage design was just as bad as it can get.