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

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Congratulations to GvA on a great ride. He really deserves the yellow jersey.

Bertie did well to nearly hang on until the end, but the pace Movistar set on the first Cat. 2 was so insane that they burned themselves out. Nairo looked impressive though.
 
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DFA123 said:
I guess it is Contador himself who has given them the go-ahead to ride their own race though. He's honest and decent enough to recognise his form and to give them free reign - at least until he feels as though he can compete again. I don't see him as the type of rider who would demand teammates to always be by his side as he chases 5th or whatever in the GC - a result like that doesn't mean enough to him.
I highly doubt it, honestly
 
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HelloDolly said:
DFA123 said:
HelloDolly said:
I am not a Contador fanboy and don't care who win but my money is on Quitana
but I will say Tinkoff are not supporting Contador like they should ...he is a champion and deserves to be supported until he is not there anymore

Majka is not in all his wild dreams is in any way near Contador even when Contador is injured

It is possible Contador rides on and gets a podium ...much better than Majka who may not even get KOM but even if he does its poor proze for not supportign one of the great riders who is having a bad time and may come through

Where is the loyalty ...

It could be Oleg is dictating tactics but looks bad from a team point of view
You think Contador is interested in riding for an outside shot at third? He never has been in his career so far. If he even has the slightest hint that he has the form to shoot up the GC and aim for third, he'll go on hail mary attacks to win the whole thing. That's what makes him such a great and exciting rider.

But he clearly doesn't think he will have that form, and has let Kreuziger and Majka do their own thing - at least for now.

I don't know where you are getting your views from on Contadors thought on his from but this is Contadors interview and he is not talking like a man who is giving up on the contrary (no matter that you have written him off)
https://twitter.com/bambula/status/750713796369448964

well at least.. we hear from the horse's mouth. He is not giving up. As I said, I expected him to loose time. But it wasn't as much as it was expected. Glass half full as far as his concern.
 
Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

it's funny how on a different page Eurosport are. Everyone there acting like Nibali losing time is the big shock today. I don't think a single poster here is that surprised by it to be honest.
 
This was the quote from Spanish TV:
"La pierna izquierda no me funciona. Estoy satisfecho porque he perdido menos tiempo del que imaginaba",

El Tour se me puso más complicado. Soy optimista, pero mi cuerpo necesita más recuperación y tendré que plantear otra carrera"

My left leg doesn't work. I'm happy because I lost less time than I thought.

The Tour has been difficult for me. I am optimistic, but my body needs more recovery and I'll have to plan a different race.

Maybe stage hunting or going for the mountains?
 
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carton said:
HelloDolly said:
TMP402 said:
If Thomas is plan B, he lost 16 seconds today and Nieve lost 14. Henao finished with Froome though.

Well Dave is sayign it is Thomas & Landa but for me it has ot be Henao ...he looks the strongest climber with Nieve next...of course there is the question if he can last 3 weeks
Yep, agree. He was the one who closed the gap on Movi, too, while Thomas did no work. Nieve also looked strong but he can't possibly last three weeks after the Giro he had.

In so far as there is a "Plan B", and I don't think that's very far at all because Sky are all about Froome this year, it can't be Nieve or Landa. They are already nearly 3 and nearly 9 minutes behind the GC pack respectively.

It could only be Henao or Thomas. Who between them have once managed a GT top 10, a Giro 9th for Henao four years ago. I doubt if either will get much in the way of protection, although both will probably be told not to drop unnecessary time for the moment, just in case.
 
Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

happytramp said:
it's funny how on a different page Eurosport are. Everyone there acting like Nibali losing time is the big shock today. I don't think a single poster here is that surprised by it to be honest.
Nibali got his prime shape too late during the Giro to be this bad again now already. He might be just cherry picking and had zero intention waste energy today.
 
Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

happytramp said:
it's funny how on a different page Eurosport are. Everyone there acting like Nibali losing time is the big shock today. I don't think a single poster here is that surprised by it to be honest.

There were a few posters here who seemed convinced he was going to mess with Aru's head and then emerge as Astana's leader.
 
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DFA123 said:
This was the quote from Spanish TV:
"La pierna izquierda no me funciona. Estoy satisfecho porque he perdido menos tiempo del que imaginaba",

El Tour se me puso más complicado. Soy optimista, pero mi cuerpo necesita más recuperación y tendré que plantear otra carrera"

My left leg doesn't work. I'm happy because I lost less time than I thought.

The Tour has been difficult for me. I am optimistic, but my body needs more recovery and I'll have to plan a different race.

Maybe stage hunting or going for the mountains?
I'm afraid that's what he'll go for, yes.
He doesn't want to retire unless he has no other choice and while I admire him for that, I think it's stupid. There's nothing left for him in this race. He's unlikely to recover enough to be able to grab a stage by being the strongest and Sky and Movistar won't allow him to go up the road. They'll chase him down the minute he attacks.
It would be much smarter to rest and recover at home and prepare for the Vuelta, but as I wrote I doubt he will do that.
 
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RedheadDane said:
Sorry for my random Dane-focus.
Must be rather depressing to finish dead-last three days in a row... but of course smacking into the barrier with 60 KpH might have had something to do with it.

I hadn't seen you posting this when I mentioned Morkov and Bennett at the back again. Today Bennett actually managed to hold on to the last smallish group, while Morkov was another four minutes behind. This could be one of the most miserable and painful Lanterne Rouge competitions for years.
 
Great win for Greg (and he deserves the yellow jersey), but as someone with sympathy for Lotto I'm obviously pretty disappointed. It's the 9th second place for Lotto in exactly one month (only 2 wins). So these second places are getting annoying.
 
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roundabout said:
vedrafjord said:
Tinkoff DS Sean Yates: "We had a few balls to juggle today, and we dropped them all".

Surely he said more than that, or has soundbite journalism become the norm now?

I presume he said more, but I only saw the quote in isolation on Twitter, not the full interview.

On another note, does anyone think this year's Tour feels a bit... off? Feels like I'm watching a weeklong training camp at times where nobody wants to be in the break or attack or wear yellow, and the only action is negative action as people crack or crash. This time last year we'd already had the ITT start, good crosswinds action, the Mur de Huy, and a cobbles stage. The year before we'd already had the fantastic Yorkshire stage and the epic cobbles in the wet. I know there are big stages coming up, but the spirit doesn't seem to be there. I can see the volume of climbing this year producing very defensive stages. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
 
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Re: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 5: Limoges → Le Lioran (216km

DFA123 said:
StuyvenFan said:
DFA123 said:
StuyvenFan said:
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 am in complete agreement with you with regards to Contador; Majka should be given free-reign in his attempt to take the polka-dot jersey. My problem is that after six opportunities to take mountain points today he only managed to grab the bare-minimum. Furthermore he allowed De Gendt to take the majority of the points; De Gendt is by no means equal to Majka in the high mountains, but he is certainly a talented enough rouluer to make things difficult for Majka if he too decides to go for the jersey.

I'll concede two things in his favor: First he hasn't been riding that well so far in this tour so we can give him the benefit of the doubt and say this was just a bad day and that he'll improve over the next two weeks. Second this terrain does not really suit Majka as well as a mountainous stage would where there would be more points up for grabs anyway.

Honestly I would have no problem watching him tear-up mountain stages in pursuit of the jersey if he ever gets himself together.
 
Valverde locked like he helped Quintana wright away when Bardet went for it.. I understand that to have Valverde high on gc could be good for Quintana but EVERY year neither go on the attack. I mean, serious attack on high mountains. Even though Quintana locked like he could they seemed happy not risk the 2-3 podium. Maybe will not be the case this year after Valverde Giro..
I like Quintana a lot but he has to attack sky other than in the last 2 or 3 days..!?..
 
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Re:

DFA123 said:
This was the quote from Spanish TV:
"La pierna izquierda no me funciona. Estoy satisfecho porque he perdido menos tiempo del que imaginaba",

El Tour se me puso más complicado. Soy optimista, pero mi cuerpo necesita más recuperación y tendré que plantear otra carrera"

My left leg doesn't work. I'm happy because I lost less time than I thought.

The Tour has been difficult for me. I am optimistic, but my body needs more recovery and I'll have to plan a different race.

Maybe stage hunting or going for the mountains?

no. who knows what he means. It could mean: instead of saving his powder, now he is gong to full on attack on every mountain... Personally, I would welcome that. At least for other contenders he will the headache that can't be get ride off.
 
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Jungle Cycle said:
Valverde locked like he helped Quintana wright away when Bardet went for it.. I understand that to have Valverde high on gc could be good for Quintana but EVERY year neither go on the attack. I mean, serious attack on high mountains. Even though Quintana locked like he could they seemed happy not risk the 2-3 podium. Maybe will not be the case this year after Valverde Giro..
I like Quintana a lot but he has to attack sky other than in the last 2 or 3 days..!?..

I think that they are prepearing for the attack. They probably wanted to weaken Sky train legs today I guess.
 

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