2017 Abu Dhabi Tour, 23 to 26 Feb

[Cance > TheRest]

It will flatten towards the end, right?

 

[Rollthedice]

Great bauke on za muv.

 

[TomLPC]

Lol nairo on the radio, shades of froomes downhill attack

 

[DFA123]

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

 

[TomLPC]

Kirby quite clearly had a bet on alaphilipe, scalding him

 

[Red Rick]

Contador be like 'why ride for the win when you can give your teammate a shot at getting 4th'

 

[DFA123]

Will someone do a Poels on the sprint finish?

 

[TomLPC]

Go on Tommy, great chase

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

No he should just have followed Dumoulin

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

No he should just have followed Dumoulin

And finished 4th anyway?

Not sure why Contador didn't pull to close the gap before Mollema went. A bit selfish.

 

[MatParker117]

Costa

 

[TomLPC]

What was zakarin doing there, he was pulling the entire time

 

[sir fly]

Congrats to Rui Costa.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

No he should just have followed Dumoulin

And finished 4th anyway?

Not sure why Contador didn't pull to close the gap before Mollema went. A bit selfish.

It was his only chance to close the gap.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

No he should just have followed Dumoulin

And finished 4th anyway?

Not sure why Contador didn't pull to close the gap before Mollema went. A bit selfish.

Lol. Contador does that, Quintana takes off and wins by about 30 seconds. Entire strategy depends on Contador being able to hang with Quintana

 

[DBotero]

Too easy for Rui Costa.No chance for Zakarin.

 

[trevim]

Even in a crap race like Abu Dhabi with the big guns riding akward, it's pretty cool to see Rui Costa winning a race ahead of Contador, Quintana and all the stars. I hope this is his year of a monument!

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Mollema looks pretty strong here. Perhaps could have won the stage if his team mates had done more to control the gap.

No he should just have followed Dumoulin

And finished 4th anyway?

Not sure why Contador didn't pull to close the gap before Mollema went. A bit selfish.

Lol. Contador does that, Quintana takes off and wins by about 30 seconds. Entire strategy depends on Contador being able to hang with Quintana

And Mollema could try to follow Quintana - eat into the gap even more. More of a chance winning that way than just going solo when you're already 40 seconds behind three riders who are similar level climbers. They were way too focused on Quintana, rather than actually trying to win the stage.

 

[sir fly]

Quintana should get used to the role of a marked man.
He'll have to do everything by himself from now on.

 

[classicomano]

Nice MTT from my Tom. And congrats to Rui Costa for finishing it off at last.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

What was zakarin doing there, he was pulling the entire time

He was afraid of Dumoulin I think.

If Zakarin hesitated, I'm pretty sure Dumoulin would have won. Costa is always a bigger strategist and had the biggest balls not pulling too much.

Not sure what was up with Contador, he only marked Quintana. Maybe his attempt to try and have Mollema win, but that didn't work.
I was surprised by Alaphilippe and Bennett today

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Quintana should get used to the role of a marked man.
He'll have to do everything by himself from now on.

Nah, it's not that bad. This is about the worst mountain stage for him, his team didn't do a great job setting the pace, etc etc.

Everyone was super fresh. If that happens, it's harder to fly away from lesser riders, and that's why in a field like this everyone was over the road.

It was a fun climb to watch though.

Anyone know where Nibali finished?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Quintana should get used to the role of a marked man.
He'll have to do everything by himself from now on.

Nah, it's not that bad. This is about the worst mountain stage for him, his team didn't do a great job setting the pace, etc etc.

Everyone was super fresh. If that happens, it's harder to fly away from lesser riders, and that's why in a field like this everyone was over the road.

It was a fun climb to watch though.

Anyone know where Nibali finished?

Nibali was in the big group with Contador/Quintana/Gesink etc

 

[Alexandre B.]

Merhawi Kudus, master in climbing explosions.

 

[silvergrenade]

This was a pretty bad stage. Could have been so much better.