Critérium du Dauphiné 2014: Stage 4, Montélimar - Gap 167.5 km

[theyoungest]

And Nibali crashed on a Giro descent and in Lombardia. Does that mean he is a bad descender/worse than Froome?

Nibali has bigger balls than most. He's technically not a great descender. Contador also dares to take a few risks.

Froome looks like cr.p on a bike, but he's not that bad of a bike handler.

 

[Netserk]

Nibali has bigger balls than most. He's technically not a great descender. Contador also dares to take a few risks.

Froome looks like cr.p on a bike, but he's not that bad of a bike handler.

I didn't say he was worse than Andy or anything similar, just objected to "Froome's quite a good descender, probably as good as Contador." which I think is quite clearly wrong.

 

[christopherrowe]

I have no idea how to predict this stage in terms of a top ten (unlike the stages so far, where I've been so very confident ), so I'm instead going to just pick a stage winner in Thomas Voeckler and have a go at the order in which the current top ten GC riders will cross the finish line.

Nibali Vincenzo | Astana Pro Team
Kelderman Wilco | Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
Yates Adam | Orica GreenEdge
Contador Alberto | Tinkoff-Saxo
Froome Christopher | Team Sky
Talansky Andrew | Garmin Sharp
Fuglsang Jakob | Astana Pro Team
Van den Broeck Jurgen | Lotto Belisol
Zubeldia Haimar | Trek Factory Racing
Kangert Tanel | Astana Pro Team

I'll also predict these changes to the GC. Nibali to overtake Van den Broek and Talansky to move up to fourth and Kangert to fall out of the top ten, his place to be taken by Sebastien Reichenbach.

 

[Red Rick]

Nibali has bigger balls than most. He's technically not a great descender.

Where does that come from? You can see he descends in another way than other GC riders, imo

 

[MBotero]

So poor Froome now needs to attack on descent to show he's a good descender,than if he does that,everybody will expect to challenge Cav at flat sprint.Hard to be a Froome these days.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

That he crashed? Obviously not. The ITT? I think it's the best indication we have (and the fact that Contador previously has gapped others on a descent, Froome not so much).

So we have one incidence of Contador going faster downhill in an ITT than Froome and another incidence of Contador failing to put any time into Froome on a descend, making them both crash in the proces.

Which is exactly my point: We have no imperical evidence to support a claim that Contador is a better descender than Froome. Hence the "I think"/I]" in my original statement.

 

[Netserk]

Where does that come from? You can see he descends in another way than other GC riders, imo

Imo it's a mix of both, though he isn't in the league of Sagan/Falco on the technical side.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I didn't say he was worse than Andy or anything similar, just objected to "Froome's quite a good descender, probably as good as Contador." which I think is quite clearly wrong.

When it comes to taking risks I think Contador is willing to go very far and Froome not so much. I still remember the 2011 TDF Sammy-Alberto duo attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DtIG87eSpY#t=9239

And on the descent of Passo Lanciano at Tirreno Contador dropped Hansen be it temporarily

Also Froome was struggling to follow his teammates downhill today

 

[indianfanboy]

Is the final climb hard enough for Contador and Nibali to attack Froome and isolate him for the descent???

 

[whittashau]

Nibali has bigger balls than most. He's technically not a great descender. Contador also dares to take a few risks.

Froome looks like cr.p on a bike, but he's not that bad of a bike handler.

Magnus Backstedt disagrees. And I'd imagine a former domestique of Nibbles would know a thing or two.

 

[Netserk]

So we have one incidence of Contador going faster downhill in an ITT than Froome and another incidence of Contador failing to put any time into Froome on a descend, making them both crash in the proces.

Which is exactly my point: We have no imperical evidence to support a claim that Contador is a better descender than Froome. Hence the "I think"/I]" in my original statement.

Do you also think Nibali isn't a better descender than Froome?

 

[jens_attacks]

i think contador will attack big time tomorrow. he always attacked on manse, both 2011 and last year. froome will survive but it should be a festival. nibali also on the descent...

last year they did the climb at 30 kmph by the way

 

[veji11]

the interesting point here is that the climb is very fast on a good road. It means that draft is key and to control it efficiently, the Sky boys need to be up par. This is Geraint Thomas territory in terms of pace, rather than Nieve. It will be interesting to watch Porte.

I could see some opportunistic top 10 guys making up some time in the descent, but nothing dramatic.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

When it comes to taking risks I think Contador is willing to go very far and Froome not so much. I still remember the 2011 TDF Sammy-Alberto duo attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DtIG87eSpY#t=9239

And on the descent of Passo Lanciano at Tirreno Contador dropped Hansen be it temporarily

Great, all the more reason to click into gear tomorrow and try something out.

But what about the team here? Is it strong enough to set a decent pace up the climb?

 

[theyoungest]

Where does that come from? You can see he descends in another way than other GC riders, imo

Yes, he does. He takes more risks. But I bet there's about a hundred sprinters who can descend faster than Nibali. As can Cancellara.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Do you also think Nibali isn't a better descender than Froome?

No. But I also don't think that Froome is as good on cobblestones as Cancellara

 

[Netserk]

Yes, he does. He takes more risks. But I bet there's about a hundred sprinters who can descend faster than Nibali. As can Cancellara.

To be fair the weight difference doesn't exactly help Nibali, which is why I think it's better to compare him to other riders with a similar size.

 

[Netserk]

No. But I also don't think that Froome is as good on cobblestones as Cancellara

Well according to your previous logic there isn't any empirical evidence to support the claim that Nibali is a better descender than Froome.

 

[Afrank]

So poor Froome now needs to attack on descent to show he's a good descender,than if he does that,everybody will expect to challenge Cav at flat sprint.Hard to be a Froome these days.

Froomes a average descender, he really hasn't done much to prove he is a great descender. But hasn't done anything to prove an awful descender either. If he did attack on the descent he would show himself to be better then average.

A large part of descending is how much of a chance a rider is willing to take. That's one area where I think we would more often see Nibali and Contador above froome in.

 

[Jack_89]

Froome: Tomorrow we will have another big fight

http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/froome_tomorrow_we_will_have_another_big_fight/

Are you read for this?!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Froome: Tomorrow we will have another big fight

http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/froome_tomorrow_we_will_have_another_big_fight/

Are you read for this?!

Maybe Froome will attack, ?

 

[Escarabajo]

Is the final climb hard enough for Contador and Nibali to attack Froome and isolate him for the descent???

So what if they isolate him? If Froome is a good descender then that is enough to defend himself.

 

[Escarabajo]

I just don't see contenders taking big risks on the descents of the Dauphine. If it was the Tour then it would be a different story. IMHO.

 

[Jack_89]

Maybe Froome will attack, ?

I hope not, at least once: D

jokes aside, I think he expects attacks from berto e nibali because descent seems rather technical and narrow road.
But we'll have to see if they will want to risk for a stage in Dauphinè

 

[whittashau]

Yes, he does. He takes more risks. But I bet there's about a hundred sprinters who can descend faster than Nibali. As can Cancellara.

Magnus Backstedt was saying on Eurosport that he would be near the limit on a descent and Nibali would often tell him to go faster. And Magnus said he considered himself to be a very good descender.