2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km)

[King Boonen]

I hope Sagan is pulling wheelies and taking ages to spend as long in yellow as possible!

 

[Arked]

Lol, how would Majka and Kreuziger help Contador in this particular situation? Give him a push? He was just too weak. No teammate help would make any significant difference.

 

[kingjr]

So much hate for Majka, yet there was nothing he could have done to help Contador in that particular situation.

 

[staubsauger]

Majka lost his pole position to secure the polka dot jersey after his Pyrenees stage win last year, because he was forced to help Contador not even ending up on the podium! It's a bit unfair to blame him now, when obviously he got the green light to ride for himself and Contador ain't even in contention for the top 5 with his current shape! As ugly as his racing style has been at the Giro, way too easy to blame him here. I prefer Majka going for his yearly mountain stage win on Saturday instead of him shipping around a bad shape Contador to be honest. If Rafal ain't got the legs to take his honor on Saturday as well, then it's fair to openly criticize him imho.

 

[hfer07]

Damn - I missed the final

great ride & win by GVA


So....... Looks like is down between Nairito & Froome then....

I suspect Alberto should have a much more serious injury from what's been speculated but he & the team preferred to hide it ............ that's not going to work anymore..

 

[hrotha]

You guys are aware that domestiques pacing a leader who's super weak at that particular time is actually very helpful, right? It's OK to think Majka shouldn't have stopped regardless, but to claim there was nothing he could do to help Contador is disingenuous.

 

[Winkin' boy]

Re: Re:

Sorry but why the **** does he think finishing 3rd or 4th or 5th is more important than helping his leader?

Just to make some haters hate him more...

AC is done for this Tour, deal with it guys.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

**** Majka , you piece of ****

Lol, how would Majka help Contador in the last km? 3 seconds saved? 5 maybe? Alberto may lose minutes during the weekend.

Why was he in the break?

 

[HelloDolly]

Majka should have dropped back when it was obvious GVA was not going ot be caught....for any number of reasons eg. in case Contador needed a wheel

Bearing in mind Kreuz is plan B

Majka could have taken his radio piece out

Contador upbeat now on Eurosport on limiting his losses

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Majka lost his pole position to secure the polka dot jersey after his Pyrenees stage win last year, because he was forced to help Contador not even ending up on the podium! It's a bit unfair to blame him now, when obviously he got the green light to ride for himself and Contador ain't even in contention for the top 5 with his current shape! As ugly as his racing style has been at the Giro, way too easy to blame him here. I prefer Majka going for his yearly mountain stage win on Saturday instead of him shipping around a bad shape Contador to be honest. If Rafal ain't got the legs to take his honor on Saturday as well, then it's fair to openly criticize him imho.

Agreed, although I'd go further and say he doesn't deserve any criticism really whatever happens. He came in on the back of a brutal Giro as a domestique for Contador. Now Contador's proven to be so far off the pace, he basically has a free role - he's off the leash.

It's a rare chance for a pro cyclist to have some fun, go for the odd stage and perhaps the polka dots and enjoy himself. He's not my favourite rider, but good luck to him - hope he enjoys himself and entertains us a bit over the next couple of weeks.

 

[thehog]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Contador lost time but on another note, froome also didnt look very strong

I would agree, when Bardet attacked froome just didn't have it... however, lets see.

 

[trucido]

Contador would have been pacing Majka to the line judging from the way Majka finished the race. What did you expect he could do?

 

[TMP402]

Froome coughing.

 

[Lance Armstrong]

Re: Re:

**** Majka , you piece of ****

Lol, how would Majka help Contador in the last km? 3 seconds saved? 5 maybe? Alberto may lose minutes during the weekend.

Why was he in the break?

I don't know. Maybe he was told to, so that rest of the team doesn't have to pull.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

You guys are aware that domestiques pacing a leader who's super weak at that particular time is actually very helpful, right? It's OK to think Majka shouldn't have stopped regardless, but to claim there was nothing he could do to help Contador is disingenuous.

He's clearly not a domestique any more. Roles have changed since the start of the race.

Anyway, Majka was cooked. He was going slower than Contador in the last 2km. He could have pulled for about 5 seconds max.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Majka lost his pole position to secure the polka dot jersey after his Pyrenees stage win last year, because he was forced to help Contador not even ending up on the podium! It's a bit unfair to blame him now, when obviously he got the green light to ride for himself and Contador ain't even in contention for the top 5 with his current shape! As ugly as his racing style has been at the Giro, way too easy to blame him here. I prefer Majka going for his yearly mountain stage win on Saturday instead of him shipping around a bad shape Contador to be honest. If Rafal ain't got the legs to take his honor on Saturday as well, then it's fair to openly criticize him imho.

Agreed, although I'd go further and say he doesn't deserve any criticism really whatever happens. He came in on the back of a brutal Giro as a domestique for Contador. Now Contador's proven to be so far off the pace, he basically has a free role - he's off the leash.

It's a rare chance for a pro cyclist to have some fun, go for the odd stage and perhaps the polka dots and enjoy himself. He's not my favourite rider, but good luck to him - hope he enjoys himself and entertains us a bit over the next couple of weeks.

Disagree with this...Contador is not out of it yet (and certainly was not till end today) and even at his worst Contador can win more than Majka

It looks like Tinkoff is every man for himself

 

[northernsong]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Contador lost time but on another note, froome also didnt look very strong

Agreed. Everyone so busy staring at Majka and Alberto that they missed the fact that Froome was under a little pressure there and this after his team more or less deadened the pace for a long stretch. Maybe nothing, but Quintana looked stronger today.

 

[thehog]

Re:

Froome coughing.

I think he I sick, he doesn't look well.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Majka doing what he does best: nothing

He got what he wanted from today - a load of mountain classification points. That's his goal now for the Tour.

He picked up a total of two points today.

2 more than if he would have waited for Contador. And you could see how much he was struggling by the end anyway - the peloton were eating up ground on him. How exactly could he have helped Contador?

His team have clearly made the right call. Contador is done for the GC. He should stage hunt and save energy for the Vuelta from here on in.

I'm scratching my head. Why are people immediately just dismiss Contador as done? The tour is a long and this is the hard tour with tough mountain. He fell. Twice. Only alien can still perform well with that conditions. He is human. So he is suffering. To say that his team is abandoned him? That's rubbish. He is a multiple GT winner. If he doesn't win this tour, at least he is alive. He doesn't have any luck so far. But the same thing can be said to other contenders. They might fall off out of contention in any days. Today he lost time. So be it. At least he didn't get drop in some 20km.

 

[Lance Armstrong]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Contador lost time but on another note, froome also didnt look very strong

I would agree, when Bardet attacked froome just didn't have it... however, lets see.

He checked his stem and just didn't want to go into red, to gain nothing.

 

[HelloDolly]

Purito " Coral is the new yellow T-shirt" :lol:

 

[thehog]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Contador lost time but on another note, froome also didnt look very strong

I would agree, when Bardet attacked froome just didn't have it... however, lets see.

He checked his stem and just didn't want to go into red, to gain nothing.

Thanks Lance.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Froome coughing.

I think he I sick, he doesn't look well.

if you heard his interview before the program.. he voice was harsh.

 

[TMP402]

Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

Contador lost time but on another note, froome also didnt look very strong

I would agree, when Bardet attacked froome just didn't have it... however, lets see.

He checked his stem and just didn't want to go into red, to gain nothing.

Yet he's already coughing in interviews.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Froome coughing.

The Return of Badzhilla.
Quintana looked really strong.