Critérium du Dauphiné 2014: Stage 7 - Ville-la-Grand / Finhaut-Emosson 160KM

[LaFlorecita]

I missed all the fun!!!! Really really happy! Bertie!!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Today AC showed us that he is a poor mans Aru

 

[Mellow Velo]

Great performance by Westra today, clawing himself back to the Katusha duo for the stage win. Sheer determination. Chapeau.

GC wise is was all rather dull with Contador sprinting with 2km to go.

Anyway its all to play for tomorrow.

Gradient kills ambition, once again.

 

[Miburo]

Never seen such a good Contador in the dauphine.

Or he peaked too early or Riis wasn't lying when he said this is the best Contador he witnessed.

 

[JRanton]

Again, we get a big debate about tactics when it simply came down to who was the strongest. Contador was the strongest. The end.

 

[PirazziAttacksVino]

This day proved to me again that Froome can't handle a race in which he isn't by far the strongest. Going all out on stage 2 and cracking in the last km today only to get passed by Talansky really shows this guy has no brain at all. He's just a good "doer" and that's all.

 

[benzwire]

Tomorrow will be exciting. I hope Contador can hold on to the lead. July will be good this year. Hopefully everyone shows up healthy and no accidents in the race so there are not the constant "what if"s

 

[Publicus]

I dont think froome can put any time into contador when he's not 100% fit

Well it's a good thing neither have peaked yet. We'll find out in a couple of weeks

 

[cauberg1999]

The acceleration didnt seem big because Contador was using a huge gear...no one could have followed that acceleration..he opened up a 20 sec gap really fast and gauged his effort perfectly to the line while froome cracked in the last km

its clear. but you wont a gap on big gear in 11%ramp on 1600 meter height.its impossible. alberto attacked using quite light gear for this piece of road

 

[SafeBet]

And even Nibali almost managed to catch Froome by the end

Not at all. He lost 18 seconds and never once looked capable of closing the gap.

 

[indianfanboy]

Never seen such a good Contador in the dauphine.

Or he peaked too early or Riis wasn't lying when he said this is the best Contador he witnessed.

Contador still yet to peek as he will be riding the Vuelta also while Froome said he was happy with his condition and that he doesnot need to go to Teide

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Gradient kills ambition, once again.

I think it was ok, just Sky was pretty strong. Can't attack a train.
Perhaps better as a MTT here, but then we couldn't enjoy the Westra battle then.

 

[retzko]

what a us postal like dominance from sky.... like 5 G Thomas, Nieve < Porte , Lopez and froome....When other teams have max 2( then i got some clinic feeling).

But the riders looked realy tired ( Westra was completely empty).Did this climb ever feauture in the TDF?

Froome sufferend from the crash yesterday but in the end he really cracked.

 

[PirazziAttacksVino]

Never seen such a good Contador in the dauphine.

Or he peaked too early or Riis wasn't lying when he said this is the best Contador he witnessed.

He has already messed his Tour prep in 2011 and 2013, so I don't think he could have made the same mistake again...

 

[Netserk]

what a us postal like dominance from sky.... like 5 G Thomas, Nieve < Porte , Lopez and froome....When other teams have max 2( then i got some clinic feeling).

But the riders looked realy tired ( Westra was completely empty).Did this climb ever feautured in the TDF?

Froome sufferend from the crash yesterday but in the end he really cracked.

The first of the two, yes. The second, no.

 

[Miburo]

He has already messed his Tour prep in 2011 and 2013, so I don't think he could have made the same mistake again...

He didn't mess up anything in 2011. In 2013, well yea, the entire year was terrible

 

[MBotero]

This day proved to me again that Froome can't handle a race in which he isn't by far the strongest. Going all out on stage 2 and cracking in the last km today only to get passed by Talansky really shows this guy has no brain at all. He's just a good "doer" and that's all.

Froome was going all out in Vuelta 2012 even when he wasn't good enough to do anything,that's he's style.This tactical nonsense crap,the guy always go crazy no matter his form.

 

[dduff442]

This day proved to me again that Froome can't handle a race in which he isn't by far the strongest. Going all out on stage 2 and cracking in the last km today only to get passed by Talansky really shows this guy has no brain at all. He's just a good "doer" and that's all.

On stage 2, he wanted to set down a marker. Porte was given the day off and Froome wanted to show he'd win no matter what. Turns out that's a big mistake when the grades aren't that steep and the man behind has a big advantage.

 

[retzko]

Contador was pushing a big gear. He also seems to be more musculed then before his suspension.

This ain t the best AC but maybe the best we can aspect without clinic issues.

 

[hiero2]

Unfortunately I didn't watch the race due to Eurosport prioritizing Le Mans over cycling, but looking forward to do so after what I've seen from the result list - was it exciting?

Yes. Most of it was not that great. The break up the road added some real interest today. But the last 20-30 minutes were fantastic. 10 minutes of boredom, with a little interest in the break, then everything got turned upside down. In the last couple of kilometers, the Yellow Jersey was lost, and found, and the two guys we thought were going to win got caught and passed by a rider who had disappeared from the media coverage 30 minutes earlier.

But it was nice watching most of the stage to set the stage for the finish! Because when it happened, I, for one, went YES!

 

[RiccoDinko]

Awesome ride by AC. Win or lose tomorrow, the Sky train looks beatable. Froomey might be thinking twice about needing Wiggo now. AC didn't bring much of a team to this race.

Props to Ryder showing up, just when Talansky needed him.

 

[spalco]

In before "it was only cos of the crash"

I thought the only reason Froome was ahead in the first place was premature peakulation?

 

[Cimber]

I think it favored Contador that the double climb made it like one really long climb and was steeper that on the 2nd stage. Also on stage 2 Contador was just back from a long race break.

Ofcourse Froome's crash meant something, but I dont think its the Whole story. Tomorrows stage might favor Froome more though (isnt its shorter and less steep?)

 

[T-Nielsen]

This day proved to me again that Froome can't handle a race in which he isn't by far the strongest. Going all out on stage 2 and cracking in the last km today only to get passed by Talansky really shows this guy has no brain at all. He's just a good "doer" and that's all.

When you are as thin as Froome you have to priorities. He can't fit everything in there.

 

[phanatic]

i'm baffled at how strong talansky appears to be tbh

He's definitely top ten material for le tour, but i don't think he'll be as close when everyone is at peak with their full team support. Or maybe he is America's baby Horner