2016 Vuelta a España, stage 19: Xàbia > Calp 37km ITT

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

It was a sprint finish and Froome has a edge on these. I have no doubt that Froome is 2nd strongest in this Vuelta as we can also see in the results.

It was a sprint because he managed not to get dropped by Quintana, and beat Nairo in his only chance (so far) for a stage win. Wouldnt call that insignificant, and it makes your comment incorrect. Just wanted to straighten that out.
Plus he is 2nd strongest in the mountains, not necessarily entire race. We never got to have a chance to see because of stage 15 where he got caught out, and because of misfortune for Landa, Kwiatkowski, Roche and Benat (which would actually negate stage 15, but once front group was gone, missing stronger half of them team made it pretty much impossible to bring back)

Well today he showed that he is fast on flat as well. Maybe not tactically 2nd strongest then but in form he is.

 

[yaco]

Froome's performance today reinforces how good Cancellara was in the Olympic Games RR.

 

[Amnes2015]

no surprises today, regarding the winner and the time gaps, except maybe Contador a little under expectations

97% of the procyclingstats game players picked Froome for the win

to notice the abysmal low quality TT field this Vuelta, exactly like the sprinter field.

 

[yaco]

Expect tomorrow to be an attacking stage - 2nd can attack 1st, 4th can attack 3rd and 2nd can attack 1st.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

In contrast to last year's TT, Dumoulin must have been off pace for Froome to gap an in form Quintana by this much. Or did the wind play a much more role today?

Dumoulin was shattered.

Quintana was also stronger. I still can't believe he lost that much time today. Compare this to any other ITT performance from him this year.

Froome took 40 seconds to the second so it is not like it was an awful feast. Besides we knew that there was going to be windy. It is physically impossible for a rider his size to perform at his best in a flat TT with wind. He is fighting against physics natural laws.

 

[Inquitus]

Re:

Expect tomorrow to be an attacking stage - 2nd can attack 1st, 4th can attack 3rd and 2nd can attack 1st.

Any cross winds forecast?

 

[aarononymous]

Froome needed this TT last Saturday, I hope Quintana goes all in for the stage tomorrow now

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Too short if it were 80km , Dawgboy would be in red

IF......

If there only would be a 50km long climb. I'm sure that Quintana would be in red (if he wasn't already).

froome winning the vuelta would be so terrible?

Not that but to me it seems that Quintana is definitely stronger than Froome in this Vuelta. We all knew that he was going to lose TT anyways but other than that Froome hasn't beaten Quintana.

Well if not for the Sky Fail the other day Froome would have won the race, therefore you'd have to conclude he is the strongest all around rider in the race no?

So Froome would have arrived with Quintana at Formigal?
Okey!

 

[happytramp]

Re: Re:

Too short if it were 80km , Dawgboy would be in red

IF......

If there only would be a 50km long climb. I'm sure that Quintana would be in red (if he wasn't already).

froome winning the vuelta would be so terrible?

Not that but to me it seems that Quintana is definitely stronger than Froome in this Vuelta. We all knew that he was going to lose TT anyways but other than that Froome hasn't beaten Quintana.

Well if not for the Sky Fail the other day Froome would have won the race, therefore you'd have to conclude he is the strongest all around rider in the race no?

Absolutely not... Froome cracked big time and it had nothing to do with lack of team mates. He didn't have his nose in the wind all day.... not one single pull, and he was still dropped by several of the riders (including chaves) in the group with him.

 

[pink_jersey]

Re: Re:

IF......

If there only would be a 50km long climb. I'm sure that Quintana would be in red (if he wasn't already).

froome winning the vuelta would be so terrible? [/quote]

Not that but to me it seems that Quintana is definitely stronger than Froome in this Vuelta. We all knew that he was going to lose TT anyways but other than that Froome hasn't beaten Quintana.[/quote]

Well if not for the Sky Fail the other day Froome would have won the race, therefore you'd have to conclude he is the strongest all around rider in the race no?[/quote]
So Froome would have arrived with Quintana at Formigal?
Okey![/quote]

Pretty much yes...You can't make big differences on Formigal. The climb it's too easy. If he/his team was/were more attentive he would've won this Vuelta.

Edit : I quoted the wrong post..

 

[Inquitus]

Re: Re:

Not that but to me it seems that Quintana is definitely stronger than Froome in this Vuelta. We all knew that he was going to lose TT anyways but other than that Froome hasn't beaten Quintana.

Well if not for the Sky Fail the other day Froome would have won the race, therefore you'd have to conclude he is the strongest all around rider in the race no?

Absolutely not... Froome cracked big time and it had nothing to do with lack of team mates. He didn't have his nose in the wind all day.... not one single pull, and he was still dropped by several of the riders (including chaves) in the group with him.

He lost around 30 secs between the bottom of Formigal and the top to Quintana, so based on that he'd be around a minute up on GC going into tomorrow.

 

[toolittle]

Re: Re:

Torromow final has 9% of gradient only. Not something above 14%.
Today result told us Froome recovered well.

These are important points.

 

[happytramp]

Re: Re:

Not that but to me it seems that Quintana is definitely stronger than Froome in this Vuelta. We all knew that he was going to lose TT anyways but other than that Froome hasn't beaten Quintana.

Well if not for the Sky Fail the other day Froome would have won the race, therefore you'd have to conclude he is the strongest all around rider in the race no?

Absolutely not... Froome cracked big time and it had nothing to do with lack of team mates. He didn't have his nose in the wind all day.... not one single pull, and he was still dropped by several of the riders (including chaves) in the group with him.

He lost around 30 secs between the bottom of Formigal and the top to Quintana, so based on that he'd be around a minute up on GC going into tomorrow.

It's all hyperbole.... how do we know that Quintana couldn't have pushed on more in the TT if he was worried etc, etc... Bottom line is that Quintana is most likely going win the Vuelta tomorrow and if he doesn't put time into Froome tomorrow then we'll never know if it's because he couldn't or he didn't need too.

 

[bigcog]

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

Sean Yates said Contador even thought it was possible to beat Froome.
Clearly none of Froome's rivals expected this.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

If he hadn't been caught out of Contador's ambush, he could have won the Vuelta this year no doubt. So how is it not doable?

So basically he would've won both GT due to TT's

Can you imagine if this was in the 80s or 90s with more than 100km of TT? Froome would have been 5-6 minutes ahead of everyone.

Indeed. If you were to create the perfect grand tour rider it would be something pretty close to Christopher Froome. He's one of the best we've ever seen.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

Sean Yates said Contador even thought it was possible to beat Froome.
Clearly none of Froome's rivals expected this.

I think people overreacted a bit from the Formigal stage and particularly stage 17. I mean if you're beginning to fade and suffering then you don't catch back up to the best riders the way Froome did in the last few hundred metres on stage 17.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

Sean Yates said Contador even thought it was possible to beat Froome.
Clearly none of Froome's rivals expected this.

I don't think anyone did, besides crazy fanboys/girls who had it right for once.

Well done Froome. I really didn't expect such a good TT at the end of the Vuelta, after the tdf and olympics.

Tomorrow just became interesting again.

 

[Cookster15]

Did Quintana hold back a little today for tomorrow? He still did a good TT for him and that course but am wondering if since he knew he had such a big time advantage he should leave something extra for Alto de Aitana where the terrain tips back in his favor? I hope so. Anyhow, Froome's only hope to pull back the remaining gap is an ambush of Formigal proportions. Not going to happen.

 

[gospina]

Re: Re:

If he hadn't been caught out of Contador's ambush, he could have won the Vuelta this year no doubt. So how is it not doable?

So basically he would've won both GT due to TT's

Can you imagine if this was in the 80s or 90s with more than 100km of TT? Froome would have been 5-6 minutes ahead of everyone.

Indeed. If you were to create the perfect grand tour rider it would be something pretty close to Christopher Froome. He's one of the best we've ever seen.

Froome is an amazing rider. We are seeing a golden era in cycling right now. Contador/Froome/Quintana all riding near their best time. Alberto is wrapping up his career, Froome is in the middle of it, Quintana still has plenty of time left. I give all these riders respect but feel Froome is one of the best ever. Add other riders in this era Tony Martin, Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Sagan, Nibali, Aru, etc. and you have a golden era. The EPO era was basically Indurain/Armstrong. The 80's was Hinault/Fignon/Lemond/Kelly/Herrera. This is my favorite group since the 80s. Don't remember the 70's, felt the 90s was not that memorable.

 

[DanielSong39]

My goodness, Froome must have found an extra 50 watts today.

Marginal gains for the win!

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

It's all hyperbole.... how do we know that Quintana couldn't have pushed on more in the TT if he was worried etc, etc... Bottom line is that Quintana is most likely going win the Vuelta tomorrow and if he doesn't put time into Froome tomorrow then we'll never know if it's because he couldn't or he didn't need too.

Exactly. You can't just take out the results from one stage and assume the rest of the race would have panned out the same. Quintana had to do two things today: make sure he didn't absolutely blow up, and make sure he didn't crash. He didn't have to go and do his best ever time trial. Instead, he put in a comfortable ride and still has a huge lead going into the last stage.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

If he hadn't been caught out of Contador's ambush, he could have won the Vuelta this year no doubt. So how is it not doable?

So basically he would've won both GT due to TT's

Can you imagine if this was in the 80s or 90s with more than 100km of TT? Froome would have been 5-6 minutes ahead of everyone.

Indeed. If you were to create the perfect grand tour rider it would be something pretty close to Christopher Froome. He's one of the best we've ever seen.

Froome is an amazing rider. We are seeing a golden era in cycling right now. Contador/Froome/Quintana all riding near their best time. Alberto is wrapping up his career, Froome is in the middle of it, Quintana still has plenty of time left. I give all these riders respect but feel Froome is one of the best ever. Add other riders in this era Tony Martin, Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Sagan, Nibali, Aru, etc. and you have a golden era. The EPO era was basically Indurain/Armstrong. The 80's was Hinault/Fignon/Lemond/Kelly/Herrera. This is my favorite group since the 80s. Don't remember the 70's, felt the 90s was not that memorable.

And Pantani, Ullrich, Casagrande, Museeuw, Bartoli, Bettini, Cipollini, Rominger, Heras, Jalabert, Virenque, Abdoujaparov, Bugno, Zulle, Olano and Vinokourov.

There were a lot of great, exciting riders and real showmen in the EPO era.

 

[huangho]

Some people are still arging about who is better? Nairo is better today because he has 1'20 seconds over Froome, a lot of "what if" are not important, there is no moral winner, or somebody can say today that Vincenzo Nibali was not the true champ of TDF14, because Froome and Contador feel of their respectives bikes? Co'on!!

Nairo has done a statement here, he is good, he is top and he is a guy to keep in mind when there is a break... I remember (It was maybe San Luis this year), where he was in a break and he appointed that he has done it just to test his feelings and remember "good old times", so he tried this kind of stage before, so kudos to him.

If tomorrow he finishes in red, he will be the best of Vuelta without question marks, he did it fair and square, period!

 

[Cookster15]

@DFA123:- Indurain and Rominger weren't showmen. They got the job done. Big Mig better than most with his dominant TTs and almost as impregnable climbing for a big guy - 94 TdF Hautacam was a demonstration of Indurain's devastating power riding away from all the climbers except Luc Leblanc. Rominger was good because he provided some home hope of competition against the human metronome who ground all the little climbers into the dust. 93 Tdf was good fun to follow, too bad Rominger lost time in the first TT and TTT, because he was definitely the strongest in the 3rd week that Tour. Then the 95 Giro when Rominger destroyed Berzin. Pantani's mystique grew because everyone had been beaten silly by years of big time trial specialists making the Grand Tours boring. Finally with Pantani there was a little guy we could cheer. A David to put up a fight against the Time Trialling Goliaths of first Indurain and then Ullrich. 1998 Tdf Les Deux Alpes, best individual ride I have ever witnessed. Ah, those were the days