2016 TdF, Stage 19: Albertville → Mont Blanc (146km)

[swissfr]

Pantano, a GC contender?

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Nibali hit the deck hard ...on his stomach and slid... a real dive it was. Waiting for a report of some sort.

He cool

was interviewed by RAI - said he's ok - sounded angry at Froome but nothing he could do to avoid the crash

 

[carton]

Re:

If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

Quintana simply doesn't have the legs.

Yep. If you don't have the legs, what's the point? Quintana's been off the whole Tour and suffering like crazy. That doesn't make him stronger, just more fatigued. Hypoxia isn't great for muscles.

The thing is, if Nairo has somehow recovered, they might do it. But it would mostly be in order to put the hurt on Bardet. Again, they're professionals with sponsor obligations, they don't have the hubris to indulge the pipe dream of getting four and a half minutes on Froome in one stage. They might test out his legs, but if he doesn't betray significant weakness they'll let sleeping dawgs lie.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Pantano, a GC contender?

with the proper team and the proper care- why not?

I rather see him becoming the next Valverde

 

[dfromdub]

Re: Re:

Nibali hit the deck hard ...on his stomach and slid... a real dive it was. Waiting for a report of some sort.

was interviewed by RAI - said he's ok - sounded angry at Froome but nothing he could do to avoid the crash

No he was not angry at froome! He said Froome fell and he could not avoid him and "this things happen".

 

[mr. tibbs]

Re:

It's a bit of a shame that Froome is copping so much hate for making this Tour predictable when he's pretty much one of the few GC riders trying to make the race exciting whatever his motives are. When Bardet took off on the descent, he could have and probably should have easily let him go and just caught up to him with his ridiculous team on the climb instead of going after him himself. He might probably be getting some words tonight from his manager about that...

If you look back through this thread, you'll notice that Froome isn't catching hate; Quintana and the other sitters-in are.

 

[aarononymous]

Re:

If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

With who though? The whole team looks pretty weak all tour, with the exception of Valverde of course. Quintana just doesn't have it, he's responding to attacks where he can out of desperation. Still might finish second too, must be a bit frustrating they can't drop him still.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

Someone should reconsider the * in the Nibbles Tour looking at who's who in this tour and the level displayed by Teams and riders

Someone should look at the calendar and how many days have passed since the Giro.

I was talkin about the Tour he won, which someone here consider a less win because of a weak field...

Well, it was a less win because of a weak field since had Quintana, Contador and, of course, Froome been racing the likelihood is he wouldn't have won. However, it's pretty clear noone would have stopped Froome this year (Contador was clearly not good enough even before he crashed and even had Nibali not raced the Giro he would no ways have challenged Froome)

Not necessarily disagreeing, but I'm curious how you could tell that Contador was weak before the crash since it was on flat stage 1? I have little doubt that an in form Nibali would've at least added more excitement if not been in contention as well.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

Quintana simply doesn't have the legs.

Yep. If you don't have the legs, what's the point? Quintana's been off the whole Tour and suffering like crazy. That doesn't make him stronger, just more fatigued. Hypoxia isn't great for muscles.

The thing is, if Nairo has somehow recovered, they might do it. But it would mostly be in order to put the hurt on Bardet. Again, they're professionals with sponsor obligations, they don't have the hubris to indulge the pipe dream of getting four and a half minutes on Froome in one stage. They might test out his legs, but if he doesn't betray significant weakness they'll let sleeping dawgs lie.

And a bit of help from Yates fading and Mollema crashing twice. He looked very tired when he hit the line.

 

[cadence]

Re: Re:

It's a bit of a shame that Froome is copping so much hate for making this Tour predictable when he's pretty much one of the few GC riders trying to make the race exciting whatever his motives are. When Bardet took off on the descent, he could have and probably should have easily let him go and just caught up to him with his ridiculous team on the climb instead of going after him himself. He might probably be getting some words tonight from his manager about that...

If you look back through this thread, you'll notice that Froome isn't catching hate; Quintana and the other sitters-in are.

Not the forum as such, booing and abuse from fans in general

 

[carton]

Re:

Pantano, a GC contender?

with the proper team and the proper care- why not?

I rather see him becoming the next Valverde

He's 27. He can be a GC guy at the Tour de Suisse, California and the like. But I think it sort-of defeats the purpose of the exercise.

It's a bit of a shame that Froome is copping so much hate for making this Tour predictable when he's pretty much one of the few GC riders trying to make the race exciting whatever his motives are. When Bardet took off on the descent, he could have and probably should have easily let him go and just caught up to him with his ridiculous team on the climb instead of going after him himself. He might probably be getting some words tonight from his manager about that...

Yep, agree. Froome has ridden this Tour like a bona fide bike racer.

 

[yespatterns]

Re:

So many crashes. Froome's outstanding descending sees him remain in control when most lesser riders around him falter.

::facepalm::

 

[whittashau]

Re: Re:

Wow. they just showed the defensive dive Nibs took to avoid running over Froome

Sagan would have managed to avoid him entirely. Pretty weak.

Updated GC Descender Power Ranking

Tier 1: Bardet, Pantano
Tier 2: Nibali, Valverde, Froome
Tier 3: Aru, Quintana, Porte
Tier 4: Zakarin, Contador

In what world has Froome done enough to be seen on the same level as Nibali in descending?

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

Wow. they just showed the defensive dive Nibs took to avoid running over Froome

Sagan would have managed to avoid him entirely. Pretty weak.

Updated GC Descender Power Ranking

Tier 1: Bardet, Pantano
Tier 2: Nibali, Valverde, Froome
Tier 3: Aru, Quintana, Porte
Tier 4: Zakarin, Contador

In what world has Froome done enough to be seen on the same level as Nibali in descending?

He certainly proved that he was better than Aru, Quintana, Porte and Valverde on the stage that he won, downhill.

Froome is the best, most spectacular GC rider of this tour. Without Sagan, he would be the best rider- Period.
Today he feel because he doesn't ride for second place. And attacks, chases, etc instead of sitting in, like lesser riders.

 

[jalep]

Re: Re:

Nibali hit the deck hard ...on his stomach and slid... a real dive it was. Waiting for a report of some sort.

He cool

was interviewed by RAI - said he's ok - sounded angry at Froome but nothing he could do to avoid the crash

Thanks, hfer07! I was worrying. Want him good to go for Rio.

 

[doperhopper]

Re: Re:

If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

Quintana simply doesn't have the legs.

Yep. If you don't have the legs, what's the point? Quintana's been off the whole Tour and suffering like crazy. That doesn't make him stronger, just more fatigued. Hypoxia isn't great for muscles.

The thing is, if Nairo has somehow recovered, they might do it. But it would mostly be in order to put the hurt on Bardet. Again, they're professionals with sponsor obligations, they don't have the hubris to indulge the pipe dream of getting four and a half minutes on Froome in one stage. They might test out his legs, but if he doesn't betray significant weakness they'll let sleeping dawgs lie.

Nairito suffering from altitude lag - spent too long too high in Colombia (and very little high altitude riding this year, few jumps over 2000 in Pyrenees and grand total ZERO in Alps)

 

[Alexandre B.]

Kudos to Chérel too.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

Quintana simply doesn't have the legs.

Yep. If you don't have the legs, what's the point? Quintana's been off the whole Tour and suffering like crazy. That doesn't make him stronger, just more fatigued. Hypoxia isn't great for muscles.

The thing is, if Nairo has somehow recovered, they might do it. But it would mostly be in order to put the hurt on Bardet. Again, they're professionals with sponsor obligations, they don't have the hubris to indulge the pipe dream of getting four and a half minutes on Froome in one stage. They might test out his legs, but if he doesn't betray significant weakness they'll let sleeping dawgs lie.

Nairito suffering from altitude lag - spent too long too high in Colombia (and very little high altitude riding this year, few jumps over 2000 in Pyrenees and grand total ZERO in Alps)

Altitude lag sounds like a very decent excuse, he might have to pick that up himself.

 

[vedrafjord]

Dan Martin attacked in the last km several time in the Dauphiné and gained time. In the Tour he's attacked with 3-4km to go several times and lost time. Why did he change a formula that worked? If he'd been just a little more conservative he could be several places up now.

 

[whittashau]

Re: Re:

Wow. they just showed the defensive dive Nibs took to avoid running over Froome

Sagan would have managed to avoid him entirely. Pretty weak.

Updated GC Descender Power Ranking

Tier 1: Bardet, Pantano
Tier 2: Nibali, Valverde, Froome
Tier 3: Aru, Quintana, Porte
Tier 4: Zakarin, Contador

In what world has Froome done enough to be seen on the same level as Nibali in descending?

He certainly proved that he was better than Aru, Quintana, Porte and Valverde on the stage that he won, downhill.
.

How did he prove he is a better descender than Valverde? Do you really think Valverde was allowed to chase after him, or that he was forced to wait for Quintana? I think that descent (which wasn't technical) was simply a case of no one wanting to do the work to chase him down. And Valverde wasn't supposed to because Quintana couldn't keep up.

 

[yaco]

Posted a few days ago that teams need to pressure Sky on the flat and rolling terrains. Sky was in trouble after Astana attacked on the flat.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Thanks Astana for making GC battle possible.
Aru is almost on the podium so everything is going right and should some GC riders be too tired tomorrow I can clearly see Aru rising to the podium. Too bad that Nibali was caught in the Froome crash and couldn't help aru in the final hill to set even higher pace for longer but he should have more in the reserve for tomorrow I guess for saving his energy on the last climb today.

Hopefully Astana will be on the front tomorrow again otherwise I am afraid we might see another easy breakaway win. But I think that there might be teams like Movistar who might fancy a go to test Froome on some climb.

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

Nairito suffering from altitude lag - spent too long too high in Colombia (and very little high altitude riding this year, few jumps over 2000 in Pyrenees and grand total ZERO in Alps)

Maybe, but then again his prep was very similar to 2015. The weird thing is that if anything height tends to take away your explosiveness, but he's been following attacks better than ever ( :lol: ) The lack of altitude in this Tour would normally be an interesting factor but I don't think it explains his overall form this year. He's just been off everywhere.

Kudos to Chérel too.

Yep, this.

 

[doperhopper]

wahahaha, french TV paparazzi chasing Vroom descending to the hotel in the car, beacuse he walked away in the mixed zone, clearly not in the mood to do an interview

 

[jalep]

Wondering....How is Warren Barguil doing this TdF? He had a scary accident back in January. I haven't been keeping up.
He was fun to watch descending last year ... sort of a Kamikaze downhiller, if I remember...