Timmy-loves-Rabo said:That isn't the point.
Like my post indicated, Gesink was in bad form at TA and still limited his losses. He didn't even want to continue racing but his team willed him on.
When in top form he has no problem. The tour ones aren't as explosive either, at TA they were very steep very sudden. Here the stages have hilly finishes around 4 to 8%
I am certain he will be in better form at tour, the Dauphine he was below peak but still looked better then he has in quite some time.
Every GC guy was below peak at the Dauphine. Gesink still looked horrible on the second stage.
Mur de Bretagne has ramps up to 15%. And 8-10% is more than enough to do some serious damage. See Rodriguez's second win at the Dauphine. He gained 7 seconds in a heartbeat, and could have gained much more if he wanted to. Cuddles was already cooked because of all the climbing, but will still be fresh at le Tour.
Super Besse should not be underrated. Saint Flour... very steep in the final 300 meters if the profile at letour.fr is correct.
I dunno... maybe you're right, but I don't think one minute is a whole lot when there are like 5 hill top finishes in the first 11 days.