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

[saganftw]

quintana is only 26,he will win his fair share of Tours...he just needs them marginal gains

 

[l.Harm]

I already don't like Sky having the command all the time, but I hate it when he's talking to Aru when Astana's riding. Mind your own business.

 

[Galic Ho]

Re: Re:

Teej attacking? lol, when's the last time anyone has seen an attack by Teej in any race on the calendar?

I don't think that's really an option...

This is the Grand Tour for firsts!

First time I've seen the green jersey and yellow drop everyone in the wind.

First time I've seen the yellow jersey running up a mountain.

First time I've seen his major rival being towed by a motor bike.

First time I've seen Richie Porte not crack or suspiciously lose time in a GT.

No, I believe it can happen. Being super optimistic though!

You're right, Tejay ain't likely to attack. He should. It would do his reputation a lot of good. Solo dieseling off the back is not a great look...but if it's what he wants to do, so be it. He's looking like blowing minutes on the mountain time trial though, that's if he actually doesn't have a rest day issue again...so why not have a crack on the last two days?

His Alpe d'Huez effort in 2013 (I think it was that year he was in the break away) was an attempt. Granted he lost the stage and I got the winner I wanted...but he can do something in a breakaway.

 

[roundabout]

Tejay had bad days both in 2012 and 2014 and still finished 5th

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

quintana is only 26,he will win his fair share of Tours...he just needs them marginal gains

I remember the same thing was said about Andy Schleck.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

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

You can't blame them, for them having Mollema on the podium would already be a huge success.
Movistar on the other hand, if Quintana wasn't feeling very well than I can understand them, otherwise...
At least Astana tried something, but the Skytrain looked almost as strong as the one that we saw in 2012.
Poels should crack on a few stages ( in a gt he's usually only really strong on 2-3 stages with steep climbs) and Nieve should fade a bit in the 3rd week, but I Landa will probably be stronger in the Alpes and I don't expect Henao to have many bad days.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Porte looked pretty tired on the last climb as well. Even Froome did not look that great but it's hard to tell by looks. Quintana never looks tired but obviously he is.

True, looks are often indicative of not much. And yeah, looking closely at it maybe Ritchie was cooked. Rewinding, I thought the feint by Froome might have been telling. It seemed to me only Quintana, Bardet and Mollema were alert to it, and Mollema immediately relaxed as soon as he made out it wasn't for real. Bardet, as we found out, had more heart than legs today. But Quintana kept himself primed for a few extra beats before relaxing. I think he had a little left, just not more than Froome. If Quintana wanted to settle for another second he could've put in a half-hearted attack and then worked with Froome to gap the rest. Maybe that would entertain some folks here? It would effectively end the MJ contest but at least you would get to see GC attacks that stuck?

And by the way, congrats to Pantano. That's the way you win. He wasn't the strongest rider today, but he exploited his advantages (downhills, sprint), didn't wheelsuck, got a great win. Chapeau.

Pantano should teach Zakarin how to descend.

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

I already don't like Sky having the command all the time, but I hate it when he's talking to Aru when Astana's riding. Mind your own business.

Maybe they were discussing the weather, Nice attacks, Turkey, macroeconomic situation in Europe, Brexit, US elections, who knows??? Are the riders just supposed to shut up for 6 hours and just talk in a small group?

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

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

You can't blame them, for them having Mollema on the podium would already be a huge success.
Movistar on the other hand, if Quintana wasn't feeling very well than I can understand them, otherwise...
At least Astana tried something, but the Skytrain looked almost as strong as the one that we saw in 2012.
Poels should crack on a few stages ( in a gt he's usually only really strong on 2-3 stages with steep climbs) and Nieve should fade a bit in the 3rd week, but I Landa will probably be stronger in the Alpes and I don't expect Henao to have many bad days.

It is what it is. I will always watch anyway.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

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.

In the Giro we had a GC leader who had no team.

He was clearly the strongest in the race that's why.

 

[bigcog]

Sky's budget is less than BMC's and Tinkoff's if I remember correctly.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Sky's budget is less than BMC's and Tinkoff's if I remember correctly.

That can't be right. Sky has a massive budget which is why they can afford so many quality domestiques and a multiple Tour winner.

 

[Kokoso]

Hard to fight Sky for GC contenders, especially on day like this. Even if they might be stronger than Poels and Nieve, with descent and flat before finish there would be big chance those who would attack would be caught; almost certainity. But, on the other hand, if they've tried maybe they would blow up the race actually...but more likely not At the and they should attack. Some looked in difficulties today even with Poels pace.

 

[rhubroma]

This race is sorely missing an in form Contador. What ennui.

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

I already don't like Sky having the command all the time, but I hate it when he's talking to Aru when Astana's riding. Mind your own business.

Maybe they were discussing the weather, Nice attacks, Turkey, macroeconomic situation in Europe, Brexit, US elections, who knows??? Are the riders just supposed to shut up for 6 hours and just talk in a small group?

Mmmm it's all a bit to nice though. If I was playing Tennis against Sharapova I would tell that *** to shut up ! Lol.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Most irritating part of Sky's performance today for me was how they interferred with the fight for lower places on the podium and top five. By bringing back Aru and then Bardet, they did all the work Trek, Orica and BMC should have done, just because they could. And that is also the main reason structural changes (salary caps, smaller teams etc) are needed here and now. Such excessive amount of strenght in one team not only kills entertainment, but more importantly, has undue influence over the parts of the race of which that team has no direct interest in.

No team should be able to control an entire stage, regardless of its nature, let alone an entire GT.

Agreed, it's such joyless racing. Then every now and again Froome will pull out a circus trick which looks great in a Vine or a GIF- allowing the July fans to eulogise about him. And ASO will be happy because they get the dramatic bits put into a five minutes highlights package which are shown on newspaper sites and global news all around the world.

But the real cycling fans who watch hours of each stage, looking forward to all the details of the race, all the mini-battles, are just left absolutely cold by the lack of competition and suffocating control over the race.

so much hurt in 2 posts

 

[arvc40]

Re:

This race is sorely missing an in form Contador. What ennui.

Yep, just having him there adds to the race. Certainly makes race more prestigious for whomever wins GC

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

This race is sorely missing an in form Contador. What ennui.

Yep, just having him there adds to the race. Certainly makes race more prestigious for whomever wins GC

Well that depends on his form. At any rate, in form he would have given a spectacle.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

I already don't like Sky having the command all the time, but I hate it when he's talking to Aru when Astana's riding. Mind your own business.

Maybe they were discussing the weather, Nice attacks, Turkey, macroeconomic situation in Europe, Brexit, US elections, who knows??? Are the riders just supposed to shut up for 6 hours and just talk in a small group?

Mmmm it's all a bit to nice though. If I was playing Tennis against Sharapova I would tell that *** to shut up ! Lol.

Imagine being an umpire !

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

This race is sorely missing an in form Contador. What ennui.

Yep, just having him there adds to the race. Certainly makes race more prestigious for whomever wins GC

Well that depends on his form. At any rate, in form he would have given a spectacle.

Contador would've done what Aru did today. Only difference being afterwards he would either gotten dropped or crashed on the descent, like he's done the last six tours.

 

[bigcog]

Re: Re:

Sky's budget is less than BMC's and Tinkoff's if I remember correctly.

That can't be right. Sky has a massive budget which is why they can afford so many quality domestiques and a multiple Tour winner.

There was a big forum discussion about it, either on here (clinic maybe) or bike radar. Figures quoted definitely showed BMC and Tinkoff was bigger I think.

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

This race is sorely missing an in form Contador. What ennui.

Yep, just having him there adds to the race. Certainly makes race more prestigious for whomever wins GC

Well that depends on his form. At any rate, in form he would have given a spectacle.

Contador would've done what Aru did today. Only difference being afterwards he would either gotten dropped or crashed on the descent, like he's done the last six tours.

Would have improved today's entertainment

 

[pink_jersey]

Re: Re:

Sky's budget is less than BMC's and Tinkoff's if I remember correctly.

That can't be right. Sky has a massive budget which is why they can afford so many quality domestiques and a multiple Tour winner.

There was a big forum discussion about it, either on here (clinic maybe) or bike radar. Figures quoted definitely showed BMC and Tinkoff was bigger I think.

No, it's not. Sky has 35 millions and Tinkoff 31...I don't know about BMC.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Sky's budget is less than BMC's and Tinkoff's if I remember correctly.

That can't be right. Sky has a massive budget which is why they can afford so many quality domestiques and a multiple Tour winner.

There was a big forum discussion about it, either on here (clinic maybe) or bike radar. Figures quoted definitely showed BMC and Tinkoff was bigger I think.

That surprises me but I suppose that BMC are forking out a lot of money for Porte, TJVG and Gilbert and GVA would not be cheap either. Contador would be getting huge money of course and Sagan.

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

Most irritating part of Sky's performance today for me was how they interferred with the fight for lower places on the podium and top five. By bringing back Aru and then Bardet, they did all the work Trek, Orica and BMC should have done, just because they could. And that is also the main reason structural changes (salary caps, smaller teams etc) are needed here and now. Such excessive amount of strenght in one team not only kills entertainment, but more importantly, has undue influence over the parts of the race of which that team has no direct interest in.

No team should be able to control an entire stage, regardless of its nature, let alone an entire GT.

Agreed, it's such joyless racing. Then every now and again Froome will pull out a circus trick which looks great in a Vine or a GIF- allowing the July fans to eulogise about him. And ASO will be happy because they get the dramatic bits put into a five minutes highlights package which are shown on newspaper sites and global news all around the world.

But the real cycling fans who watch hours of each stage, looking forward to all the details of the race, all the mini-battles, are just left absolutely cold by the lack of competition and suffocating control over the race.

so much hurt in 2 posts

Hilarious thing is in fact Quintana is being wholeheartedly supported by quite a small number of posters as overwhelming majority handle him just like weapon able to prevent Froome from winning the Tour. 'Anyone , only not Froome, please'. That's pretty much about it.