JRanton said:
deValtos said:
JRanton said:
If he'd had his Tour team then he might have made it back to Quintana riding like that on that climb because there are some flat parts on it and even the climb itself isn't that steep.
That's a good point actually. Kennaugh and Lopez helped him a lot but they're not exactly the Poels/Henao/Nieve/Landa/Thomas steam engine we saw in the TDF.
Yeah, I'm not for a second saying that Quintana isn't the strongest rider in this race, he clearly is, but Froome could actually still be very close (a matter of seconds) to Quintana on GC at this point if he hadn't made that attack on stage 8 and if he'd had his best team today. Still, I think the multi mountain stages on stage 14 and 15 are going to suit Quintana even better and he will probably take a couple of minutes out of Froome on those stages. Even the time trial on stage 19, if Quintana is stronger than Froome at that point then don't expect him to lose very much time at all, if anything.
Agree with this, although I read somewhere someone saying Lopez claiming Froome is getting stronger each day, which was his plan. Personally I think he will have his third second place in the Vuelta, and to a third separate rider.
On the ITT: in 2014 Vuelta, Froome put in a very poor tt, which he said he went out too hard on, but it's the very end of the last week of back to back GT's when it comes, and Quintana has definitely improved his TT, I don't think Froome will take back more than a minute, and I imagine Quintana will have a very nice buffer by then the way he has been climbing, unless Froome can come up with a shock on one of the climbs. It should be a good Vuelta, don't rule out Valverde, Chaves or Contador yet either.