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

Page 36 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re: Re:

carton said:
doperhopper said:
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.
Alexandre B. said:
Kudos to Chérel too.
Yep, this.

What ? Surely this was considered ? they knew the course
Want to know why SKY so strong ....this would never happen if he rode for SKY
 
Re: Re:

Alexandre B. said:
RattaKuningas said:
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.
I didn't see that. He tried with all he had today and couldn't make a difference.

He finished ahead of Porte and Yates and if he beats one of them tomorrow and has around 30 seconds then he is on top 5. I think he will beat both of them tomorrow.
Just depends how Bardet or Quintana feel tomorrow and this will determine if he has chance on podium or not.
 
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doperhopper said:
ladies and gentlemen, new motorgate coming... NIbs wheel after fall spinning insanely on a sliding bike, much worse than the previous cases

Hardly.

If you had a motor in your bike that would be the worlds dumbest time to put it on.

During a slippery wet descent.

Just no.
 
Re: Re:

RattaKuningas said:
Alexandre B. said:
RattaKuningas said:
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.
I didn't see that. He tried with all he had today and couldn't make a difference.

He finished ahead of Porte and Yates and if he beats one of them tomorrow and has around 30 seconds then he is on top 5. I think he will beat both of them tomorrow.
Just depends how Bardet or Quintana feel tomorrow and this will determine if he has chance on podium or not.
I agree that top-5 is very likely, because he's increasing and others are fading. But I don't think he has increased enough to make the podium.

We'll see, the stage is pretty hard.
 
Re: Re:

Alexandre B. said:
RattaKuningas said:
Alexandre B. said:
RattaKuningas said:
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.
I didn't see that. He tried with all he had today and couldn't make a difference.

He finished ahead of Porte and Yates and if he beats one of them tomorrow and has around 30 seconds then he is on top 5. I think he will beat both of them tomorrow.
Just depends how Bardet or Quintana feel tomorrow and this will determine if he has chance on podium or not.
I agree that top-5 is very likely, because he's increasing and others are fading. But I don't think he has increased enough to make the podium.

We'll see, the stage is pretty hard.

I noticed my mistake now. I wanted to say in original post that he is almost in top 5 and if everything goes right then podium is possible. But I belive that he can go for podium tomorrow. And as you said stage is hard so it depends who will feel effects of today and past 3 weeks more than others.
 
Re: Re:

HelloDolly said:
What ? Surely this was considered ? they knew the course
Want to know why SKY so strong ....this would never happen if he rode for SKY
Just in case that wasn't clear enough, I don't think the lack of altitude was a particular factor as to Nairo's lack of form. Maybe if the Tour was about to be decided by seconds it would've played a more decisive role. Excessive altitude in training could have been the main issue, but WTFK. Not me.

Also, for all of Sky's supposed sport's science nous, some of their key riders like Landa and Thomas don't seem to have come to the Tour at their best form. I think there are lot of aspects of human physiology which nobody (not even the "visionary" Kerrison) has quite figured out.
 
What a horrible stage. None of the riders I dislike had any issues today, unlike the riders I like, who almost all had issues and all lost time in GC compared to riders I dislike.

It's insane. It's like God playing with you to bring you down as much as he can. It's beyond probability to have outcome this bad to my liking.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Aight. A short summary of the Tour

Stage 1 - Flat, windy, nervous. Contador continues his love affair with French roads in an attempt to make the most spectecular crash of the Tour. Somehow the stage is largely neutralised for the rest of the Tour, giving a clear sign of things to come. Cavendish finds a good moment to beat Kittel in a sprint for the first time, taking yellow in the process

Stage 2 - Slightly less flat, slightly less windy, slightly less nervous. Still Contador manages to crash in a strange love triangle involving French roads and a Tony Martin who is not paying attention. Stuyven looks on his way to a stage win. Meanwhile, Porte has bad luck losing almost 2 minutes, and Kreuziger rides on while Contador gets dropped, both being more signs of things to come in the Tour. Sagan dominates the uphill sprint, to take his first yellow jersey.

Stage 3 - Flat stage, usualy breakaway, kept on a leash by the peloton, yada yada yada. This time, no significant crashes. Greipel starts sprinting too early, Cavendish goes around him and pips on the finish line.

Stage 4 - Another flat stage, with a slightly uphill finish. Etixx manages to not screw up the leadout. Kittel narrowly beats the upcoming Coquard by the smallest of margins to win his first stage in 2 years.

Stage 5 - The first stage in the medium mountains. Everyone agrees this is a good stage where you could potentially try something, and everyone agrees that they won't. Large breakaway gets the blessing of the peloton, and is allowed to win the stage. Breakaway is split up before the climbing even starts, and where everyone expects De Gendt to drag GVA to yellow, it's the latter one who takes off and wins the stage for himself. Contador looks to not lose time unless Bardet attacks on the penultimate climb. Kreuziger continues doing what he was doing by not waiting, as does Majka a few more seconds up the road.

Stage 6 - Another worthless flat stage. Breakaway is reeled in and we get another sprint, with Cav beating Kittel once more. Meanwhile, people start to notice the whole peloton is still complete

Stage 7 - First mountain stage of the Tour de France, with a long wind up before tackling the Aspin. There's a large breakaway containing the yellow jersey, the Giro winner, and Steve Cummings. They are allowed to fight for stage honours by the peloton. Cummings does what Cummings does best, attacking before the Aspin, while Nibali is fails to make an impression behind him. GVA extends his lead, Yates attacks from the peloton on the descent to try and take white, only to get attacked himself by the red kite. Tour de France organisers agree it's time to start neutralizing stuff, giving Yates a few seconds, and the white jersey. Pinot fails horribly, and loses minutes.

Stage 8 - Big mountain stage in the Pyrenees. No attacks of significance to the GC, whilst Pinot and Majka fight it out on the first climbs of the day for the KoM jersey. Meanwhile, the first abandon comes after Morkov crests the Tourmalet some 23 minutes behind and decides to call it a day. SkyTrain makes its appearance, controlling all the way until 2km under the top of the Peyresourde, where Henao and Froome take off. A group of about 12 riders crest the top together, most notably not containing Contador, who keeps bleeding time. Froome surprises everyone on the descent, and causes some hilarity on the forum for his pedalling style. Everyone agrees it's ok to just let Froome win the Tour de France, with only Valverde pulling in the back. This once again, is a clear sign of things to come.

Stage 9 - First mountain top finish, finishing on the great Arcalis. However, this time it is preceded by some hard climbing. After a break has formed on the first climb of the day Contador takes off after it, only to be dropped by it soon after. Valverde is in the same breakaway, and lets himself drop on the flat, because Sky is giving chase. Contador has broken up with French roads and gives his best shot at the medical car and his own team car. Eventually, he decides to get into his team car. Sky lets the breakaway go, and everyone agrees to do what Sky want. In the breakaway, Dumoulin does his best Cummings impression, and goes on to win the stage while the weather takes a slight turn for the worse. Behind that, there's plenty of attacking on the Arcalis but small gaps. Froome tries a few times, but doesn't get away. To the surprise of many Mollema attacks, only to get dropped. Dan Martin attacks a few times as well, as does Richie Porte. One who doesn't attack, is Nairo Quintana, though finishes in the same time as Froome.

Stage 10 - Porte d'Envalira, the highest climb of the Tour, is followed by endless flat and some rolling terrain, and only a cat 3 at a few km's from the line saves the Souvenir Henri Desgrange stage from being won by Kittel or Cavendish. Over the climb, a large breakaway gets away with all the star power of anybody who is not a pure sprinter or in GC contention. Sagan wrecks the group on a false flat, isolating himself against Matthews who's got 2 teammates with him. A few attacks happen by Impey, closed down by Sagan, and the rest of the group agrees that Matthews should win the stage. That happens, while Sagan has to contend himself with the intermediate points and his valuable points for 2nd place for the green jersey.

Stage 11 - Chaotic echelon stage. The peloton is split far from the finish line, but because nobody important is dropped, it gets back. The peloton stays nervous, until Sagan attacks together with Bodnar some 12k from the finish line. Froome causes some outrage on the forums by closing the gap on his own with Thomas doing his best not to get dropped. As the chase is disorganised, once again partially by everyone agreeing Froome can win the Tour, they ride together to the finish, with Froome preventing Bodnar from getting a stage win by contesting the sprint. Sagan easily beats Froome and all but locks up the green jersey competition.

Stage 12 - A bunch of flat, rolling roads, with a lot of wind, followed by the Mont Ventoux. Scrap that, Mont Ventoux had too much Ventoux, instead they finish at Chalet Reynard. The bunch gets split once again, but the only one who gets dropped is Barguil, who makes his team chace to protect his 19th or so place in GC. Stannard and Rowe crash, and Froome makes the peloton stop. The peloton does so, because everyone has agreed to do what makes Froome win the Tour, including waiting for flat road domestiques, whilst simultaneously waiting for the climbing domestiques that will drop them up the climb to Chalet Reynard. This also causes the breakaway to contest the stage win, with De Gendt beating Pauwels and Navarro in the sprint uphill. Nobody cares soon after this however, because 21km of people cram up on 15km of road, and chaos ensues. A few people attack, get reeled in by what look like 12 of Froome domestiques, until the Yellow Jersey takes of himself. Quintana gives his reasons for not attacking by giving a textbook example of how to get dropped. Porte is able to follow however, and hilarity ensues when it turns out that Bauke Mollema is putting back the G in TGBM by crossing the gap. Together they ride to the finish, at least that's the plan, until Porte crashes into a moto, who crashed into a spectator, causing pile up. Mollema lands on top and is the first to be on his way. Porte patiently waits for his bike, whilst Froome tries to break the internet by running up the mountain, losing almost 2 minutes in the end, and it looks like Yates may have taken the yellow jersey. However, the Tour de France has also agreed that Froome should win the Tour de France, as time gaps get neutralized and Froome gets to keep yellow.

Stage 13 - Hilly ITT. Froome already has the lead by some time and people start to wish for Contador to be there. Meanhwile, Tom Dumoulin crushes everyone in the TT. Froome puts in a great TT performance, finishing more than a minute in front of all his GC competitors, bar Mollema, and it starts looking like a pretty damn good GT for the Dutch.

Stage 14 -The last opportunity for the sprinters, before the last dash to the line in Paris. Kittel goes from way to far out, only to cry at Cav, when the latter passes him on his way to his 30th Tour stage.

Stage 15 - Prior to the Tour, the most anticipated stage. Up and down all day. But everyone has agreed Froome should win the Tour, so nothing GC related happens, as the breakaway gets to go and fight for the stage win, without a fight from the peloton. Nibali and Dumoulin blow up spectacularly on the Grand Colombier, whilst behind Astana starts making pace. Then on the last climb of the day, to Lacets du Grand Colombier, Aru, Valverde and Bardet all try a little bit to get away, only to be reeled in by Poels, who meanwhile manages to enjoy the landscape. Van Garderen collapses on the final climb, to the surprise of nobody, mostly because he really shouldn't be leading the Tour for one of the richest teams in cycling. Pantano wins, by descending better than Majka and by sprinting better than Majka, who is back in the KoM jersey.

Stage 16 - We go to Suisse, for a flat stage, with a classic type final. All for Cancellara no doubt, who doesn't come close to winning. The breakaway consists of Alaphillipe and Martin, and I have still no idea why they did that. They get reeled in no problem, and in the sprint of a slightly depleted peloton, Sagan narrowly beats Kristoff by a better bike throw.

Stage 17 - A whole bunch of benign climbing before a tough finale. Naturally nothing happens, and the break gets to fight for stage honors. Zakarin wins from the break, whilst Poels reels in any attack without a single problem. Of the other contenders, Porte is the strongest, and ends up finishing with Froome in his wheel. All the others are dropped, but none lose a whole lot of time. Except for Van Garderen, to the suprise of none. Loses somewhere between minutes and hours and is out of GC contention. Mollema is still in 2nd and it still looks like a great Tour for the Dutch.

Stage 18 - Uphill TT. To the surprise of nobody, Tom Dumoulin sets the early mark with a decent time. He himself isn't satisfied, but as GC contenders fail to ride faster than Dumoulin hope sets in. As hope often does, it gets shattered as Froome paces himself better, and probably is better, and wins the uphill tt with a reasonable gap. Except for Froome, gaps are small, with few changes to the overall.

Stage 19 - climbing from the start, and the usualy suspects contend the breakaway. Meanwhile, Astana goes on the offensive with about 6 riders on the first climb of the day, but that is all brought back. Astana controlls the rest of the day, and it looks like they may have a grand plan. Over time, in turns out that they done. The really tough Bisanne doesn't do anything, except for shattering the Olympic dream of Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who breaks his wrist in a crash. Then we approach the descent as it starts to rain. Riders crash all over the place, including Mollema, Froome and Rolland. Froome gets back to the peloton in time, whilst Mollema doesn't. Meanwhile, Bardet has attacked with a teammate and starts the final climb a minute before the peloton, going on to win the stage and get up to 2nd overall. Attacks galore in the last 5km, but nobody really gets away until Purito pulls a last Purito in the Tour, creating a few small gaps whilst Froome gets dropped in the sprint to the line, losing a massive 15 seconds. Mollema blows up on the final climb, whilst the amount of alcohol related accidents in the Netherlands suddenly rise.
 
Anderis said:
What a horrible stage. None of the riders I dislike had any issues today, unlike the riders I like, who almost all had issues and all lost time in GC compared to riders I dislike.

It's insane. It's like God playing with you to bring you down as much as he can. It's beyond probability to have outcome this bad to my liking.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

You must feel very important...
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
Kerrison works on the laws of probability re Doms...only needs 2 to be super

Mind you Froome is always spot on
Froome doesn't seem as sharp in the climbs as in other years. Hasn't really taken time uphill. Last year he faded a bit at the end, and came close to losing the Tour, not the peak they must've been hoping for. He's been better than everyone else this year, but that's held true since 2012. He also keeps riding the O-rings his team has since dismissed as ineffective. His breakthrough didn't happen because he was specifically catered for by Sky, he was on his way out when he started delivering results. Is his preparation really all that better than the other guys, or is he just a better rider?

My point is that there's a lot of things that we don't know, less still know how to manage. Yeah, Sky are good at sports science, but so is Fred Grappe at FDJ, and yet he can't figure out how to get Pinot to ride consistently in all conditions. At the end of the day in 2016 at this level I think their success has been much more about Froome's superiority and the sheer firepower that they have at their disposal than any miraculous insight into physiology or training, whatever story they wish to craft about themselves. Again, they won their first monument this year, from a breakaway followed by a guy who was originally slated to be a support rider for Kwiato. Who's just the latest in a series of guys they've fruitlessly paid a lot of money to win one day races.
 
BigMac said:
Anderis said:
What a horrible stage. None of the riders I dislike had any issues today, unlike the riders I like, who almost all had issues and all lost time in GC compared to riders I dislike.

It's insane. It's like God playing with you to bring you down as much as he can. It's beyond probability to have outcome this bad to my liking.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

You must feel very important...

How is that so?
 
Re:

vedrafjord said:
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.
Because this Forum does not approves that kind of late attacking and he reads this forum. :D
 
Mar 13, 2015
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Alexandre B. said:
If I was Movistar, team of a two-time second overall, I would rip the sh*t out of the peloton tomorrow.

If I was Movistar, I would go to a stage win with Valverde tomorrow, and Quintana to secure 3rd. He doesn't deserve it though...
 

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