Can Latour win Le Tour thread

[classicomano]

The French Mollema, or the French Firsanov? Great fighting spirit indeed.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He's doing really good. Is he expected to be a GT leader in any of the GT's this year?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

He's doing really good. Is he expected to be a GT leader in any of the GT's this year?

He may try the Vuelta after domestique duties in the Tour.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Meh.. logical to work for Bardet, but hoped he'd have his own chance in the Giro or Vuelta fresh.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

Will he ride Pais Vasco?
I am wondering what kind of climber he is, from his climbing style you'd think he is a diesel, but perhaps he can be punchy as well? He finished top-20 in FW last 2 years

His targets in the first part of the season have been Catalunya (3rd) and Romandie, so it's pretty unlikely he will race Pais Vasco.

His next races will be Pais Vasco (alongside Bardet), Flèche Wallonne and Romandie.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Unlucky he ran into a super strong Martin today because his attack was great. Surely that display should make him AG2R leader for Flèche next year and an obvious choice for them in all races with a Mur finish?

 

[thehog]

I like this guy, can climb, good on flats, ITT needs some improvement but not bad. Probably France’s best hope of a Tour winner in the next 5 years. Best your rider, has a bright future when Froome and Thomas retire.

Discuss.

 

[Alexandre B.]

He has a thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31006

And my answer would be a big no.

 

[Gigs_98]

If he was British and riding for sky, possibly. But generally the fact that he won white means he got way more attention than a rider with his talent usually does. He has been the lowest placed white jersey winner in over a decade (actually not sure when was the last time that the winner of the competition had a lower final gc placement) and at the same time isn't a 21 or 22 year old youngster anymore who can be expected to still improve that much. He'll probably top ten gt's in the future but a tdf win seems impossible to me

 

[Nirvana]

The next French hope will be Alaphilippe, a Tour with a lot of classics style stages, not a lot of big mountain, the return of a good TT amount to favour him could be good.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

The next French hope will be Alaphilippe, a Tour with a lot of classics style stages, not a lot of big mountain, the return of a good TT amount to favour him could be good.

Yeah, cause with a lot of TT's Alaphilippe will smash the mountain goats Dumoulin, Thomas and Froome.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

The next French hope will be Alaphilippe, a Tour with a lot of classics style stages, not a lot of big mountain, the return of a good TT amount to favour him could be good.

Yeah, cause with a lot of TT's Alaphilippe will smash the mountain goats Dumoulin, Thomas and Froome.

Alaphilippe is handy enough in a TT, and he should have a strong TTT squad for the foreseeable future. If he ever decides to go for gc, he won’t give up the sort of time against the clock that a Landa or Bardet normally would.

His problem with a gc effort seems to be recovery. He’s consistently faded even in weeklong stage races. Being able to take a day off in the pack, or soft pedal the last 40km, has been a big factor in his success in this Tour. With a hilly enough parcours, he could win green a la Jalabert in 1992.

 

[oldcrank]

Maybe if the French charged all the buffoons on the Alpe
a couple of Euros and used the money to hire Fran Millar
to set up a brand new equipe there would be a possibility.
Does Latour have very much experience team-pursuiting?

 

[Oliwright]

I don't think any current French riders can win the Tour. It's sad, but I can't see it happening with Latour, Bardet, Pinot, Gaudu or any others.

 

[Alexandre B.]

If riders of the pedigree of Geraint Thomas can win the Tour - and comfortably - I'm sure someone from the current bunch can.

The future, however, is not bright.

 

[lartiste]

Re: Re:

The next French hope will be Alaphilippe, a Tour with a lot of classics style stages, not a lot of big mountain, the return of a good TT amount to favour him could be good.

Yeah, cause with a lot of TT's Alaphilippe will smash the mountain goats Dumoulin, Thomas and Froome.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[DNP-Old]

It's not Latour's fault his two biggest rivals either didn't give a damn about the white jersey (Egan) or were riding with two broken ribs for two weeks (G. Martin). That said, he still is the most underwhelming winner of the white jersey in quite a while. Turning 25 in October too, not really a name worthy of the list. What disappointed me most is his ITT. 2nd year in a row he didn't bring what he brought to the French nationals. Is it a recovery - or lack thereof - thing?

 

[hayneplane]

I like Latour but despite winning the White Jersey for best young rider I think even the French would concede that Bernal was clearly the best young rider in the race and he is fully 4 years younger.

Something that I think will continue to limit him to 7th at best in a TDF is his relatively poor recuperation through a 3 week race and his grand tour ITT being significantly worse than one off efforts against the clock.

 

[movingtarget]

Latour is a fighter but managing his performance over three weeks as a GC rider wouldn't be easy. They way he rides probably increases his chances of having a bad day but he could also end up doing better than some of the older French riders simply because he keeps fighting. Pinot seems to be up and down with his health. I still think Bardet can improve more. Not convinced yet that Ala can be a good GC rider.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Latour is a fighter but managing his performance over three weeks as a GC rider wouldn't be easy. They way he rides probably increases his chances of having a bad day but he could also end up doing better than some of the older French riders simply because he keeps fighting. Pinot seems to be up and down with his health. I still think Bardet can improve more. Not convinced yet that Ala can be a good GC rider.

I think, for exactly the reasons you stay there, that we've seen the best Bardet can offer (podium and a stage win in a Tour light on TT kms), and we've never seen Pinot get a full-strength, full-support, full-fitness, 3-week run at a TdF. I think it would still take a rare convergence of events, external to him, for Pinot to actually win a Tour (or any Grand Tour), but I think Peak-Pinot has a marginally better shot than Peak-Bardet.

Of course, Bardet is better at achieving his peak, so he'll probably finish his career with the better Tour record.

 

[SafeBet]

At least 3 of the last 4 Tour winners were far worse GT riders than Latour at same age, so he sure got a chance.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

At least 3 of the last 4 Tour winners were far worse GT riders than Latour at same age, so he sure got a chance.

Well that's just it. The guys who are going to be winning Grand Tours when Latour is in his late 20s/early 30s will be guys we, at this point, haven't even heard of. And we've heard of Latour. So we know it won't be him.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

At least 3 of the last 4 Tour winners were far worse GT riders than Latour at same age, so he sure got a chance.

I don't see him joining Sky so... :Neutral:

 

[dastott]

A fighter but has one of the worst styles on a bike in the current peloton, along with D. Martin, Mollema and Zakarin. Makes Froome look like stylist by comparison...

 

[toolittle]

Re:

A fighter but has one of the worst styles on a bike in the current peloton, along with D. Martin, Mollema and Zakarin. Makes Froome look like stylist by comparison...

He changed to listen classic music from rock. See, his head rolled less compared with past during this tour.