Of course with the 40 seconds lost it would be better not to lose anything but it's reasonable to expect a time loss. A time loss wouldn't immediately mean he's in bad form. Porte and Froome are probably just better than him on such a finish.Jspear said:He can't lose anytime. He's already lost 40 some seconds. He's happy with his form and it's July so he shouldn't lose any.
Maybe he will attack!LaFlorecita said:with regards to Wednesday - I find it hard to say how much time he'll lose
If Porte and Froome wait till the final km, he shouldn't lose more than 10s. If they go earlier, it could be at least double that. I hope if they attack early he rides his own tempo and doesn't blow up.
I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.Climber123 said:Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?
When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?LaFlorecita said:I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.Climber123 said:Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?
If Wednesday goes relatively well, they should try on Mont du Chat for sure. Of course he won't be solo-ing to the finish, but it would be nice if he could take time on some lesser GC contenders. But of course, let's wait and see how he goes on Wednesday.Climber123 said:When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?LaFlorecita said:I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.Climber123 said:Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?
Sky will go on the offensive on Wednesday no doubt..
Contador should try something. Be the instigator.Red Rick said:Sky will pace with everyone but Thomas and Froome. Then they'll probably go for the 1/2 in the final 1.5km.
To me stage 9 has AC written all over it. It's the stage where he can create carnage if the form is where it should be, and I would personally like to see him go earlier than Mont du Chat. If he want's to win this race he has to fool the others, or otherwise I don't believe he is good enough to win from single mountain efforts like he has in the past. Stages like 9 and 13 is where I believe he should play his cards if he is feeling good.LaFlorecita said:If Wednesday goes relatively well, they should try on Mont du Chat for sure. Of course he won't be solo-ing to the finish, but it would be nice if he could take time on some lesser GC contenders. But of course, let's wait and see how he goes on Wednesday.Climber123 said:When do you think they should adopt the Pantano launch? Stage 9 maybe?LaFlorecita said:I guess he could, but not sure he should. Maybe a more conservative approach is in order.Climber123 said:Can Pantano do magic for Bertie on Wednesday?
Sky will go on the offensive on Wednesday no doubt..
Maybe the question is more accurately how loyal Contador to them? Meaning would he stays and help his teammate if he lost too much time in GC (remember last year TDF? the entire team was mad at him when he finally left TDF. Granted so he could prepare for Vuelta. But he wasn't spectacular either there).Valv.Piti said:Contador seems to have 100% suppport from the team as he said that De Kort and Degenkolb guided him through the flats, even Mollema took part (who is nowhere in the GC) So I guess these questions marks are gone now how loyal these riders would be for Alberto.
So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
There's a long valley between Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat. Attacking early would be suicide, in fact even attacking early on Mont du Chat is extremely risky IMO. Of course, they could try to break open the race on the earlier climbs but who's going to ride in the valley? Big chance domestiques will come back because the GC contenders are just looking at each other.rune1107 said:To me stage 9 has AC written all over it. It's the stage where he can create carnage if the form is where it should be, and I would personally like to see him go earlier than Mont du Chat. If he want's to win this race he has to fool the others, or otherwise I don't believe he is good enough to win from single mountain efforts like he has in the past. Stages like 9 and 13 is where I believe he should play his cards if he is feeling good.
I think that is a Kristof Ramon photo. He's a master.rei_da_montanha said:![]()
Amazing picture.
sounds about right. He could have dug a little deeper, but when you see how he fell back in the final 500m it probably would have cost him.Jspear said:So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
Also that was when the climb started to flatten out.Jspear said:So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
LaFlorecita said:sounds about right. He could have dug a little deeper, but when you see how he fell back in the final 500m it probably would have cost him.Jspear said:So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
Hmm. Porte jumps at the front, AC falls back to not blow in the end? Porte still finished ahead of him, thus he could attack off the front and yet not get gapped at the finish.Jspear said:So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
Once Sagan found Porte's wheel there was no point for Contador to keep pushing even Porte admitted that.rhubroma said:Hmm. Porte jumps at the front, AC falls back to not blow in the end? Porte still finished ahead of him, thus he could attack off the front and yet not get gapped at the finish.Jspear said:So he faded a tad, but it was purposeful."When Richie attacked, of course, we were going very fast and also I came from the middle of the pack to the front in less than half a kilometre. He attacked hard and I think I could follow him, but if I had gone with him then I'm not sure that I could follow the others if we are caught. That's why I waited."
I'd say if Contador wasn't comfortable on Porte's wheel, then he shouldn't have been on it and rode the climb in progression as Aru, Quintana, Froome and Thomas did.
He exposed a limit, of which his rivals can now take advantage. That's why I think he'll loose more time on stage 5.
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