2017 Tirreno-Adriatico, March 8-14, WT

[Gloin22]

*** so G would have won Tirreno if not the TTT. Same way Froome would have won Vuelta if not that TTT.

TTT are often Sky's downfall which is hilarious cause one would think they are the only discipline where marginal gains should be clear the most :lol:

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Seems like Quintana can destroy the field whichever way he wants on climbs these days. Go from the bottom like on Covadonga or Mas de la Costa, or just drop everyone in the final stages. Difficult to see how the Giro won't be an absolute walk over - with the amount of climbs he could easily win it by well over 5 minutes.

Calm down a bit....lets see him face a fully fit Dawg in July then you can say he " can destroy the field whichever way he wants on climbs"

Froome in the TdF is the one exception - except possibly in the third week from what we've seen in 2015. Quintana's on a different level to everyone else though - and unlike Froome seems to be able to sustain it year round.

2015 froome was ill in the 3rd week, he had a cold...him fading in the 3rd week is a myth

It's not a myth. Everyone fades in the 3rd week of the Tour. He certainly doesn't absolutely fall of a cliff like we've seen riders like Porte do, but I think he certainly tends fades more than Quintana towards the end of a GT.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't think Dumoulin was thinking about winning. I think he was trying to get the action going.

 

[spalco]

Re: Re:

He did what he had to do which is bagging the overall in an economical way, but where did you notice "such a headwind"?

Giro's two months away. Obviously I know literally nothing about Quintana's preparation for his season, but does he really need to be "economical" in a race like this?

He went all out imo, and he was the best on the day, which is something I guess, but hard to draw any conclusions from that for the rest of the year.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

Whats up with Thomas???

Froome 2

He will be a tough cookie for the Giro

Way too much climbing for him to threaten an in form Quintana. I personally think it's a shame he apparently wants to be a GT rider. Could have been a solid guy for the classics and short stage races. But noooo, he has to lose weight to perhaps one day win a Tour...

Classics are good, but Grand Tours are >>> classics and Thomas realizes that.

Eh, that depends. Better to win a bunch of classics than one Tour.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

Whats up with Thomas???

Froome 2

He will be a tough cookie for the Giro

Way too much climbing for him to threaten an in form Quintana. I personally think it's a shame he apparently wants to be a GT rider. Could have been a solid guy for the classics and short stage races. But noooo, he has to lose weight to perhaps one day win a Tour...

Classics are good, but Grand Tours are >>> classics and Thomas realizes that.

Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Quintana, Geraint Thomas

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I don't think Dumoulin was thinking about winning. I think he was trying to get the action going.

I think it could be a tactic he's looking at for the Giro. If he climbs in the peloton sub threshold and waits until Quintana or whichever other proper climber to attack, he's going to get destroyed by the changes of tempo and lose loads of time.

If he largely ignores everyone else and just rides at his own threshold, he's going to limit his losses. Kind of like Froome used to do with his yo-yoing in the Vuelta; until he realised that if he doesn't stick like glue to Quintana's wheel he won't see him again.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I don't think Dumoulin was thinking about winning. I think he was trying to get the action going.

Regardless, FDJ was gonna burn Reichenbach up at that point and the racing was gonna split up at right about that point as per the other times we've seen Terminillo. He could easily have done a better result today. Question is how much he cares about that, but one thing which is certain is how strong psychically he is.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

Whats up with Thomas???

Froome 2

He will be a tough cookie for the Giro

Way too much climbing for him to threaten an in form Quintana. I personally think it's a shame he apparently wants to be a GT rider. Could have been a solid guy for the classics and short stage races. But noooo, he has to lose weight to perhaps one day win a Tour...

Classics are good, but Grand Tours are >>> classics and Thomas realizes that.

Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Quintana, Geraint Thomas

Froome >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hayman

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

People are so uneducated in here at times. You don't attack a long way out in such a headwind against this field. Seems like many of you either don't ride bikes or simply wan't to use every opportunity to bash Quintana. Rather, you play it the smart way and win, both the stage and the overall.

He did what he had to do which is bagging the overall in an economical way, but where did you notice "such a headwind"?

Read it in a preview and heard it from the commentators, but most importantly, judged by how they rode the climb, it was pretty obvious it was a headwind IMO.

Could sure have been a headwind, but a very soft one then I'd say. The peloton was just conservative regardless, see the big gap Spilak, Kwiat, Castro got and they attacked almost from the base.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Perfect race by Quintana today. Waiting until your opponents get tired and then pulling the knife.

 

[Red Rick]

It's also pretty typical of how a one climb stage is ridden if it's such a long climb of a gradient like this, especially if there's no dominant team to destroy the field

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Seems like Quintana can destroy the field whichever way he wants on climbs these days. Go from the bottom like on Covadonga or Mas de la Costa, or just drop everyone in the final stages. Difficult to see how the Giro won't be an absolute walk over - with the amount of climbs he could easily win it by well over 5 minutes.

I still think Froome will have the upperhand in the Tour, with or without Giro in the legs.

Absolutely. At their respective peak (i.e. the Tour), Froome is probably on a par with him in terms of climbing, and obviously much better at TT. I think when neither rider is at their peak, Quintana has the edge though - a better base level year round.

It's a bit of a shame really, because Quintana doing the Giro is probably going to make both the Giro and the Tour a bit of a non event as far as the GC is concerned. I guess the turmoil behind the scenes with Sky could impact Froome's level could drop enough to give others a chance, but I doubt it.

Looks like Vuelta will probably be the most exciting GC battle again.

Couldn't agree more. Especially with Quintana doing the Giro, he will feel the effects of it in the final week of Le Tour.

Curious to see which riders will really prepare for La Vuelta. We know Valverde will be a contender. Yates brothers too. And maybe Landa, Pinot, Aru and Nibali?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Nairo said he wasn't feeling too well this week and had a flu.

What kind of flu was that?

I don't believe what these riders say anymore.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Seems like Quintana can destroy the field whichever way he wants on climbs these days. Go from the bottom like on Covadonga or Mas de la Costa, or just drop everyone in the final stages. Difficult to see how the Giro won't be an absolute walk over - with the amount of climbs he could easily win it by well over 5 minutes.

I still think Froome will have the upperhand in the Tour, with or without Giro in the legs.

Absolutely. At their respective peak (i.e. the Tour), Froome is probably on a par with him in terms of climbing, and obviously much better at TT. I think when neither rider is at their peak, Quintana has the edge though - a better base level year round.

It's a bit of a shame really, because Quintana doing the Giro is probably going to make both the Giro and the Tour a bit of a non event as far as the GC is concerned. I guess the turmoil behind the scenes with Sky could impact Froome's level could drop enough to give others a chance, but I doubt it.

Looks like Vuelta will probably be the most exciting GC battle again.

Couldn't agree more. Especially with Quintana doing the Giro, he will feel the effects of it in the final week of Le Tour.

Curious to see which riders will really prepare for La Vuelta. We know Valverde will be a contender. Yates brothers too. And maybe Landa, Pinot, Aru and Nibali?

Froome.

 

[rhubroma]

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

 

[del1962]

Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

False statement but NVM, when the hate is strong the truth doesnt matter

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Whats up with Thomas???

Froome 2

He will be a tough cookie for the Giro

Way too much climbing for him to threaten an in form Quintana. I personally think it's a shame he apparently wants to be a GT rider. Could have been a solid guy for the classics and short stage races. But noooo, he has to lose weight to perhaps one day win a Tour...

Classics are good, but Grand Tours are >>> classics and Thomas realizes that.

Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Quintana, Geraint Thomas

You are both missing the point ...it not whether one race is better than the other
It which Thomas has a better probability of wining

I can see that he will never win a GT ....at best he could podium...he cant climb like Froome , Quintana, etc over 3 weeks

However he could have several PRs in his palmares...pity

 

[HelloDolly]

I am kinda bored with Quintana and Froome with their judged 2km attacks ...very controlled ...yawn

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

False statement but NVM, when the hate is strong the truth doesnt matter

No he held onto a motorcycle.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

False statement but NVM, when the hate is strong the truth doesnt matter

No he held onto a motorcycle.

Your statement is still incorrect, nvm, you hate Froome I understand, not all of us are as dumb though

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

False statement but NVM, when the hate is strong the truth doesnt matter

No he held onto a motorcycle.

Your statement is still incorrect, nvm, you hate Froome I understand, not all of us are as dumb though

I forgot he was already on Sky.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

False statement but NVM, when the hate is strong the truth doesnt matter

No he held onto a motorcycle.

Your statement is still incorrect, nvm, you hate Froome I understand, not all of us are as dumb though

I forgot he was already on Sky.

Nor was it his first Giro

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Seems like Quintana can destroy the field whichever way he wants on climbs these days. Go from the bottom like on Covadonga or Mas de la Costa, or just drop everyone in the final stages. Difficult to see how the Giro won't be an absolute walk over - with the amount of climbs he could easily win it by well over 5 minutes.

I still think Froome will have the upperhand in the Tour, with or without Giro in the legs.

Absolutely. At their respective peak (i.e. the Tour), Froome is probably on a par with him in terms of climbing, and obviously much better at TT. I think when neither rider is at their peak, Quintana has the edge though - a better base level year round.

It's a bit of a shame really, because Quintana doing the Giro is probably going to make both the Giro and the Tour a bit of a non event as far as the GC is concerned. I guess the turmoil behind the scenes with Sky could impact Froome's level could drop enough to give others a chance, but I doubt it.

Looks like Vuelta will probably be the most exciting GC battle again.

Couldn't agree more. Especially with Quintana doing the Giro, he will feel the effects of it in the final week of Le Tour.

Curious to see which riders will really prepare for La Vuelta. We know Valverde will be a contender. Yates brothers too. And maybe Landa, Pinot, Aru and Nibali?

Froome.

Yeah, I'd put Froome as favourite probably. Especially with all those pretty tough mountain stages in Andalucia - could easily be touching 40°C - I think the winner will be who rides best in the heat. Which is probably Froome.

Valverde should go pretty well, and I'd back Contador in the heat if he rides it, but I think the others are a total guess. Aru did well after the last time he did the Giro - but looks a shadow of himself nowdays. Nibali and Landa's form is all over the place and Pinot will struggle with the heat I imagine. Maybe someone relatively under the radar will emerge - or a big name who crashes out of the Tour.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Quintana again demonstrates he is a pure climbing phenom, who can as he matures sustain his form throughout the year. I still didn't like his feigning ignorance on the Stelvio descent, which won him the Giro, but his talent is unquestionable, which he showed from the beginning of his career, unlike Froome, who held onto a motorcycle when over 2 hours down in his first Giro. Then he found Sky.

oh my, you must have missed Quintana getting a pull up Ventoux