Re: Re:
RownhamHill said:
So, I was watching the video last night, but it was late and I was tired. What I wondered, was when the camera cut to froome bridging with two movis on his wheel, was that definitely the first group he was bridging to? I assumed it was, but then watching the rest of the playback, he never actually appears to be in the front group at any point, and it struck me he might have actually been bridging to group 2?
As I say I was tired and only watched it once, so thought I'd ask here as some of you have watched back a few times!
Yes, he bridges to the 1st group, but that group was exactly 40 riders strong at that point. (I calculated them from camera angle between 30:39-30:48 of the video). Froome bridges with 4 other riders and obviously there are more jumpers immediately after as that group apparently had swollen upto minimum of 61 riders after the split (71 riders who made the cut + Dave Lopez + Bewley + Puccio + Tosh vd Sande - 14 riders in the 1st group).
Obviously no one managed to bridge from G3 after Lopez&Puccio started the futile chase and I'm doubtful there were joiners from in-between land either. G3 was driven by Sky-quartet until they gave up some 25 km later.
Froome reached the end of G1 at 31:59 (and had to go to the limit for 28 seconds to make that jump. It was a serious effort), Contador makes his 1st interjection of pace 19 seconds later (see the effort Moser makes to catch Conta's wheel), G1 (minimum of 45 riders at that point) forms a single-line (with Froome definitely still close to the bottom end of it) and Contador's 2nd acceleration (exactly a minute after the 1st) breaks the elastic.
Froome had ABSOLUTELY no chance to get close enough to make the split in the front.
31:31-31:59 he makes the jump
31:59-32:18 he recovers from the jump
32:18-32:58 Contador's 1st acceleration (see how riders fight to stay in each other's wheels, there is small gap from Brambilla to Castroviejo aka between the 3rd and 4th at 32:54)
32:58-33:23 Contador maneuveurs two tight corners
33:23-33:43 Contador's 2nd accelaration - takes only 20 seconds to create the gap.
Froome had 19 seconds to pass some 25 riders WHILE at least slightly on the red from his jump in order to be in position to react. No one can be expected to do that - especially as you don't feel threatened at that point. You had just neutralised a dangerous move, after all...
After Contador 1st accelerates it takes 1 minute 25 seconds before split is actual. During those 1 min 25 seconds there is basically no moment where you can move up in the pack - either the speed of the pack is too hard or corners are too tight.
As a conclusion # 1 - while Tosh van der Sande may well have fallen in front of Froome, that had no influence in creating a split nor in Contador's attacks. Even if Tosh went down in the 1st of those two tight corners he hardly would have entered it (think how long the line was) by the time Contador accelerated out of next. There was NO use of crash - not intentional nor unintentional. To be exact - Rider # 15 is 6 seconds behind Contador in that corner. Based on what we see of earlier positioning, Lotto-Soudals were close to the end of the group which means that Tosh is likely 12 to 15 seconds behind in that corner. Guess what - Contador's 2nd acceleration comes 13 seconds after he comes out of the 1st corner. If you really think that the info of someone crashing solo at the end of 40-50 man group out of camera sight would reach Contador's ear in ONE second and be a cause of action taken... Then you are an hopeless idiot. Especially as more likely the 2nd acceleration has even happened a second or two BEFORE Tosh crashed (not that those things had any cause-effect either way) - the rider at the latter half of the G1 could not possibly yet see or see a reaction to that 2nd acceleration. Completely independent racing incidents which only happened about simultaneously.
As a conclusion # 2 - during the time frame of the attack described above there was NOTHING Froome could have done to prevent the 14 to slip away. He was in helpless position. The race is actually decided at around 26:04-26:45 of the video. Camera brilliantly happens to pick up 1st Froome (who appears to be adjusting his power meter and is completely unaware of his surroundings while located deep in a pack) and then Quintana (who is making a push up in the pack in case something is brewing up). Sure enough 20 seconds later several splits appear and after that Froome is always behind the play, no matter what he tries...
image hosting free
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram