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

[Irondan]

Re:

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/751803200404131840

Is there anything Froome can't do? He even throws better punches than Contador.

LOL!

 

[laurensde+]

Cav home in a large group 39-something down, possibly just outside Froome's time plus 14%, but there was too many of them to throw out of the race anyhow.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/751803200404131840

Is there anything Froome can't do? He even throws better punches than Contador.

Clearly the most complete rider in the peloton, master of every essential skill

 

[El_ojo_del_Tigre]

Re:

Cav home in a large group 39-something down, probably just outside Froome's time plus 14%, but there was too many of them to throw out of the race.

The time limit was 44-45 minutes (15% of 4hr 57min), everyone made the cut.
Apart from poor Morkov, obviously.

 

[laurensde+]

Re: Re:

Cav home in a large group 39-something down, probably just outside Froome's time plus 14%, but there was too many of them to throw out of the race.

The time limit was 44-45 minutes (15% of 4hr 57min), everyone made the cut.
Apart from poor Morkov, obviously.

Ah ok, Boardman seemed to think it was 14% time limit today, but they'll be fine either way.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Re: Re:

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.

Froome is more explosive, heavier and a better descender. The more Quintana "takes responsibility" the more time he loses. Letting Valverde lead was exactly the right thing to do. Your "taking responsibility" point is complete nonsense.

We can disagree, no need to get heated.

If Quintana loses this tour then he only has himself to blame (just like last year).

Given his probable time loss in flatter ITT, Quintana needs to properly crack Froome in the mountains anyway. Whether he is able to do that or not, decides who is winning the Tour. If he is able to crack Froome that 20 lost seconds today doesn't matter a thing. If he isn't he will lose it regardless of todays result.

 

[MacBAir]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

Why? See, I can't understand this BS. When was the last time that Alberto was superior to Roman at the Tour? At this point, Roman is the superior rider and has a better GC position, while also helping his team win stages.

Alberto is a friggin' burden. He either helps Roman and works for Peter on those difficult finishes, or gets the hell out of the tour.

 

[DFA123]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

Why? See, I can't understand this BS. When was the last time that Alberto was superior to Roman at the Tour? At this point, Roman is the superior rider and has a better GC position, while also helping his team win stages.

Alberto is a friggin' burden. He either helps Roman and works for Peter on those difficult finishes, or gets the hell out of the tour.

Unfortunately I have to agree with all of this. Contador is a liability at the moment. Tinkoff is actually having a decent tour: Sagan is on fire as usual, Majka leading the KOM and Kreuziger going well in the GC. This side showing surrounding Contador needs to stop.

Sure, he's the most talented GC rider on the team and the nominal leader. But he's clearly way below the performance level needed, for whatever reason. The team is 100% correct to change their priorities.

 

[El_ojo_del_Tigre]

Re: Re:

Cav home in a large group 39-something down, probably just outside Froome's time plus 14%, but there was too many of them to throw out of the race.

The time limit was 44-45 minutes (15% of 4hr 57min), everyone made the cut.
Apart from poor Morkov, obviously.

Ah ok, Boardman seemed to think it was 14% time limit today, but they'll be fine either way.

It would've been 14% if the average speed was below 37km/h, but iirc the graphic at the end of the race showed an average that was a little higher than that. Not that it matters, 14% of 4hr 57 is still more than 40 minutes ((4*60+57)*0.14=41.58).

Cav is safe for now, though it's not a great sign that he was the last man to make it to the finish today.

 

[honzzz]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

No doubt, he got dropped like a hot potato by Krueziger. They're all looking after their own interests on that team and have been since stage 2.

I see it differently. Kreuziger is a loyal guy and he proved it many times. But even great loyalty has it's limits. Contador does not look good this year and instead of being realistic about it, he wants to take everybody down with him. If Contador wanted to do what's best for the team, he should repay all those years of Kreuziger helping him and help him now... Kreuziger seems to be in better form and still has some chance to get on the podium.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re: Re:

Cav home in a large group 39-something down, probably just outside Froome's time plus 14%, but there was too many of them to throw out of the race.

The time limit was 44-45 minutes (15% of 4hr 57min), everyone made the cut.
Apart from poor Morkov, obviously.

Ah ok, Boardman seemed to think it was 14% time limit today, but they'll be fine either way.

It would've been 14% if the average speed was below 37km/h, but iirc the graphic at the end of the race showed an average that was a little higher than that. Not that it matters, 14% of 4hr 57 is still more than 40 minutes ((4*60+57)*0.14=41.58).

Cav is safe for now, though it's not a great sign that he was the last man to make it to the finish today.

He doesn't bother doing more than needed - on the rider tracker he was safely in the grupetto for the last 50km and there's no prizes for being at the front of it.

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

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.

Froome is more explosive, heavier and a better descender. The more Quintana "takes responsibility" the more time he loses. Letting Valverde lead was exactly the right thing to do. Your "taking responsibility" point is complete nonsense.

We can disagree, no need to get heated.

If Quintana loses this tour then he only has himself to blame (just like last year).

There's nothing "heated" in my comment. You have decided, somewhere in your head, that Quintana's problem is that he doesn't take responsibility and looks to others. You have then projected this idea onto his behaviour in a portion of a stage where taking responsibility himself would have been a very stupid idea, given that he had a teammate who is a much better descender with him. I'm not irate about that, just entertained.

There were riders in that group who actually did fail to take responsibility that they should have taken, most notably the BMC two, Bardet and, in particular, Yates. Yates has the excuse of inexperience though. Those riders are ones who actually could have contributed to pulling Froome back if they hadn't let Valverde lead the chase at a pace designed for Quintana. In so far as Quintana made a tactical error it was in not attacking on the climb. Once they were on the descent, having Valverde hold his hand was the obvious and sensible thing to do.

Had BMC worked on descent from start on then they would've reached Froome but they didn't. As you pointed out correctly other GC conteders failed to take responsibility not Quintana. It seemed like no riders besides Movistar had any GC hopes.

Already racing for places.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Any word from Tinkov? One has to hope Contador does the honourable thing and fully commits to working for Roman going forward.

Tinkoff DS said that after not feeling very well at some point during the stage Contador told Kreuziger to go for his own GC chances.

This was verified in an interview with Yates.

 

[arvc40]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

Why? See, I can't understand this BS. When was the last time that Alberto was superior to Roman at the Tour? At this point, Roman is the superior rider and has a better GC position, while also helping his team win stages.

Alberto is a friggin' burden. He either helps Roman and works for Peter on those difficult finishes, or gets the hell out of the tour.

RK has not had to do that much this tour. If he's so good he can prove it in next 2 weeks. He will probably fall to pieces though.

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/751803200404131840

Is there anything Froome can't do? He even throws better punches than Contador.

Clearly the most complete rider in the peloton, master of every essential skill

He should be careful though. The spectator was waving a Columbian flag while cheering for Quintana. Could get him in trouble with the Colombian fans.

 

[movingtarget]

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.

By the time that Froome was 12 or 15 seconds ahead, yes. In particular BMC should have hit the front as hard as possible as should Yates.

They all should have hit the front but that's not how chasing groups work. Someone always wants to look for an easier ride. Movistar especially will be annoyed by handing Froome cheap seconds on a descent.

 

[Guybrush]

Re: Re:

Kudos to Meintjes. Also Buchmann, this could be a breakthrough performance at gc level

Why kudos to Buchmann? Seriously, I like the kid, but nobody should get kudos for burying himself to move from 30th to 25th on GC. That's just total insanity. Has someone told him that there's an opening in the sport for a new Francis De Greef?

These are not GC positions anyone should be fighting for, ever.

well, he's a young lad and he is testing himself, nothing wrong with that. Sure he's in the 20's GC group but it's part of a normal learning curve

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Kreuziger seems to be in better form and still has some chance to get on the podium.

Kreuziger is in better form than Contador, but his only chance of a podium will be if half a dozen other GC riders all get crushed under giant inflatable arches.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

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

It was pretty damn boring, besides the final descent.

Tomorrow won't be so dull I am sure. There will be plenty of GC victims tomorrow.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/751803200404131840

Is there anything Froome can't do? He even throws better punches than Contador.

Clearly the most complete rider in the peloton, master of every essential skill

He should be careful though. The spectator was waving a Columbian flag while cheering for Quintana. Could get him in trouble with the Colombian fans.

Quintana's big enough sportsman to tell them to stay inside fairplay.

 

[Tonton]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

Why? See, I can't understand this BS. When was the last time that Alberto was superior to Roman at the Tour? At this point, Roman is the superior rider and has a better GC position, while also helping his team win stages.

Alberto is a friggin' burden. He either helps Roman and works for Peter on those difficult finishes, or gets the hell out of the tour.

This.

Bertie is hurt, I think that Tinkov should ask him to abandon, heal, go to the Vuelta. But not let him hanging, with Majka doing his thing, and Roman doing his thing. Don't give the guy hope that he can recover, turn things around, if you're not willing to gather around him. That's BS, as you call it.

 

[movingtarget]

Kreuziger seems to be in better form and still has some chance to get on the podium.

Kreuziger is in better form than Contador, but his only chance of a podium will be if half a dozen other GC riders all get crushed under giant inflatable arches.

He rode well but I don't see him being that strong in the third week and his TT is not as good as it was when he was younger.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Great racing by Froome today, but I believe tomorrow will be more telling about what may lie ahead this Tour. Quintana made a stupid mistake at the beginning of the descent, but looked absolutely supreme when they were climbing, responding with ease to every attack there was. He must make a serious attempt to crack Froome tomorrow. With rest day and two easier stages to come, there's no reason to wait and hold back.

 

[movingtarget]

Masterful: chapeau Froome.

If I were Contador, I would never wear the Tinkov kit ever again...

Why? See, I can't understand this BS. When was the last time that Alberto was superior to Roman at the Tour? At this point, Roman is the superior rider and has a better GC position, while also helping his team win stages.

Alberto is a friggin' burden. He either helps Roman and works for Peter on those difficult finishes, or gets the hell out of the tour.

This.

Bertie is hurt, I think that Tinkov should ask him to abandon, heal, go to the Vuelta. But not let him hanging, with Majka doing his thing, and Roman doing his thing. Don't give the guy hope that he can recover, turn things around, if you're not willing to gather around him. That's BS, as you call it.

It would be wiser to abandon and stay fresh for the Vuelta but I am sure it won't happen. Maybe he wants a stage win but even that looks unlikely at the moment.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

Great racing by Froome today, but I believe tomorrow will be more telling about what may lie ahead this Tour. Quintana made a stupid mistake at the beginning of the descent, but looked absolutely supreme when they were climbing, responding with ease to every attack there was. He must make a serious attempt to crack Froome tomorrow. With rest day and two easier stages to come, there's no reason to wait and hold back.

Exactly. And as Froome said he might have spent too much energy on the descent today.
I think that if Quintana don't get the yellow jersey before the first time trial then it is more likely that Froome will win this year's Tour also.