2016 TdF, Stage 8: Pau → Bagnères-de-Luchon (184km)

[hrotha]

I can work with Froome winning again if he keeps making Movistar look this silly.

 

[Squirbos_19]

Re: Re:

Purito quietly riding very well so far.

He's hardly been mentioned at all and he's sitting 3rd now. Not sure if he can podium but a top 5 is definitely possible

He's riding well, but for now i'm going for a top-10. He's at the level of his Vuelta last year. Don't forget the Tour is the biggest race with the highest level.

Yeah I think a top 10 would be fantastic for him, I see Henao got the same time as the favourites and he impressed me today and could finish high as well. Possibly top 5 is out of reach, but it's great to see him mixing it up wth the best at the tour again.

 

[Cervelo77]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

Fully agree with this. "Let's get a drink, what whoa wait... huh?"

 

[Andro]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

It was a bit of both, he grabbed the bottle but when Froome went and he realised, he was looking for Valverde instantly.

And when you have a guy like Valverde who has promised to help you and is better than you downhill, it makes perfect sense to want Valverde to come to the front.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Froome would have been caught if the group worked. This was more a win of tactics and negative riding by others.

I would say disorganization more than negative. Movistar botched paying attention over the top for sure though.
Clearly Froome had scouted that descent though. You don't bomb it like he did without knowing every corner.

After the five wide hairpins at the top, there are only about three corners in the next 15km - it's nearly all dead straight. It was the perfect descent for a heavier rider like Froome to get away on. Credit to him for recognising that and executing it perfectly.

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

Great ride by Froome. Quintana to win Tour !

Pretty much this.

Froome said it was fun, but for me it is clear that Froome doesnt believe in his climbing

The wishful thinking already in overdrive

Crazy to think Quintana is out of this !. And TBH you don't need a high IQ to realise who the bookies favourite is and probably will be the next 5 years. Quintana can still win this !

 

[Hayabusa]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

It was a bit of both, he grabbed the bottle but when Froome went and he realised, he was looking for Valverde instantly.

And when you have a guy like Valverde who has promised to help you and is better than you downhill, it makes perfect sense to want Valverde to come to the front.

And sometimes you have to take responsibility yourself and Nairo in that regard is a bit of a coward. We disagree on that point but he does need to take more responsibility for himself imo.

 

[This Charming Man]

Froome, a worthy champion, way to go Chris!!!!

Incredibly intelligent riding by SKY, with such a strong team, great defensible riding, for tomarrow!!!

 

[sir fly]

Dan Martin doing great.

 

[Eclipse]

Re: Re:

Dan Martin looked surprisingly strong on the climb. Stayed consistently with Froome, Henao and Quintana when others were yo-yoing.

Exactly. Seems like his move to Andorra and training with longer climbs is really paying off.

Martin is like Porte to me. Can't believe in a 3 week performance until it actually happens

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

It was a bit of both, he grabbed the bottle but when Froome went and he realised, he was looking for Valverde instantly.

And when you have a guy like Valverde who has promised to help you and is better than you downhill, it makes perfect sense to want Valverde to come to the front.

And that's what he did but Nairo proved unable to follow and thus time was lost.

Remarkably well played by Froome. Most complete GT rider since Armstrong, although Armstrong, to be knowledge, never did anything like what Froome did today.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Froome coughing repeatedly again.

You keep mentioning that but it isn't surprising at all after a hard effort.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

I don't know anybody on this forum anymore.

Sure you do.

 

[Kokoso]

Anyone annoyed with crowds by the road there? Should one of the guys not at front decided to attack, ho had nowhere to do so. One or two times I saw rider even/almost hit by spectator.

 

[BigMac]

The Tour is not over. I swear there's nothing more infuriating than reading this after three years now. The Tour is never over after stage 8 or 9, if again Froome reaches Paris in yellow it means the other teams did nothing out of the ordinary to take the lead from him. It doesn't mean the race was decided before the second week even started because it was not. It never is unless a contender puts something like 10 minutes on his closest rival.

 

[vedrafjord]

Re: Re:

The other rides should be ashamed of themselves. Letting Froome ride away like that. He's not Bardet or Nibali or something. Simply no one wanted to put the effort into reeling him in

It wasn't laziness. It was foolishness. They all let Valverde pace the downhill, which would ordinarily be a sensible thing to do. But Valverde was limiting himself to a pace that Quintana was comfortable with.

They all have their DS screaming the time gaps in their ears - it was clear very quickly that Valverde wasn't pulling it back so they should have gunned it themselves.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

It was a bit of both, he grabbed the bottle but when Froome went and he realised, he was looking for Valverde instantly.

And when you have a guy like Valverde who has promised to help you and is better than you downhill, it makes perfect sense to want Valverde to come to the front.

And sometimes you have to take responsibility yourself and Nairo in that regard is a bit of a coward. We disagree on that point but he does need to take more responsibility for himself imo.

If Quintana had "taken responsibility" and led the chase himself, Froome would have taken another twenty seconds on him.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Quintana wasn't caught off guard, he just decided to not take any responsibility.

He grabbed a bottle, then Froome opened up a gab. It was the biggest textbook definition of "caught off guard" you're gonna get.

It was a bit of both, he grabbed the bottle but when Froome went and he realised, he was looking for Valverde instantly.

And when you have a guy like Valverde who has promised to help you and is better than you downhill, it makes perfect sense to want Valverde to come to the front.

And that's what he did but Nairo proved unable to follow and thus time was lost.

Remarkably well played by Froome. Most complete GT rider since Armstrong, although Armstrong, to be knowledge, never did anything like what Froome did today.

Nor did Armstrong ever win the KOTM jersey.

 

[AlexNYC]

Hats off to Froome. But the only reason this worked was due to BMC and others not helping in the chase. Still, a great move, 23 seconds is not insignificant at all when you realize he will probably take a lot of time in the ITT.

 

[Hayabusa]

Re: Re:

If Quintana had "taken responsibility" and led the chase himself, Froome would have taken another twenty seconds on him.

Disagree, if he had reacted quickly then he'd have stopped the flow of a few seconds and eventually Valverde would have caught up and been able to lead from the front.

BMC are equally just as bad as Quintana, their refusal to help was beyond stupid.

 

[Andro]

We should probably change cycling to be a 1 man team sport, since accoridng to many people in here, you're a coward if you ever want anybody from your team to work for you and close a gap for you. No point in even having helpers then.

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

Great ride by Froome. Quintana to win Tour !

Pretty much this.

Froome said it was fun, but for me it is clear that Froome doesnt believe in his climbing

you probably want nairito to take the tour really really badly.

I don't. May the best man win. Caught out or not !

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

All four jerseys are apparently held by British riders.

They still lost to Iceland and their pound is worth nothing.

That was England that lost, not GB...Clueless some folk

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I expected this to be a boring stage, glad I was so wrong.

It was pretty damn boring, besides the final descent.

 

[willbick]

Froome telling pork pies in interview that it wasnt planned