Critérium du Dauphiné 2017 (04/06 > 11/06/2017)

[Breh]

Props to Kwiatkowski for disappearing right before the top of the Col de la Colombière. When the Froome gets to the valley, Kwiatkowski suddenly made it back on, pulled them to the last climb on which he was passed by about 100riders and lost about half an hour.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re: Re:

what Froome has shown countless times is that without a dominant team controlling the race he is very beatable he also had much more team support this week then Porte

and if Porte takes time on Froome he'll just wheel suck the Sky train and follow Froome's late attacks , it's not like Sky does anything else at the tour

Yes I agree, if Sky do that then Porte could be ok, but Sky have never had to have a different approach in the Tour as it's worked for Froome.

If Froome finds himself on the back foot and needs time I think we will see a much more aggressive Sky with Froome being more attacking like today.

Thing is that it won't just be SKY working over Richie; its crazy to think that MOVI haven't taken note and won't take their turn as may others from time to time .... and its not just going to be on Richie's favoured turf (uphill). It's going to be unrelenting and not always from the same players

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Wel it will be a brutal race if Astana are confident of their two live chances in the GC with Aru and Fuglsang - Astana will make the race much tougher than the Sky Train - BMC will be strengthened with Caruso, Dennis and Van Avermaat joining the team for the TDF.

I'm not convinced that this form by Astana will translate to the Tour but they have had a good week. If Aru and Fuglsang can perform like this in the Tour it will make an interesting race even more interesting.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Porte rode a naive race - Form showed that Froome was never his main danger - Porte needed to counter attacks by Fuglsang and Aru and forget about Porte.

Made the same mistake as Contador in the Dauphiné 3 years ago - focused too much on Froome

Strange when it was obvious Aru and Fuglsang were clearly stronger than Froome - I doubt Froome can even make the podium in the TDF.

Eh, if he doesn't crash my guess is he'll either be 1st or 2nd.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

what Froome has shown countless times is that without a dominant team controlling the race he is very beatable he also had much more team support this week then Porte

and if Porte takes time on Froome he'll just wheel suck the Sky train and follow Froome's late attacks , it's not like Sky does anything else at the tour

Yes I agree, if Sky do that then Porte could be ok, but Sky have never had to have a different approach in the Tour as it's worked for Froome.

If Froome finds himself on the back foot and needs time I think we will see a much more aggressive Sky with Froome being more attacking like today.

Thing is that it won't just be SKY working over Richie; its crazy to think that MOVI haven't taken note and won't take their turn as may others from time to time .... and its not just going to be on Richie's favoured turf (uphill). It's going to be unrelenting and not always from the same players

The worst thing that could happen to Porte in the Tour is take the yellow jersey early in the race. BMC will have a better team in the Tour and hopefully Caruso and Roche can climb well.

 

[bigcog]

From reading report of race I was expecting Froome to blow up massively in the last few kms. Didn't see that at all, just someone not in top form yet who attacked a lot and paid the price. Not much different yesterday's stage in terms of his form. Whether he can improve is the question I guess.

 

[el_angliru]

This talk of time bonifications is pretty silly. It's a part of the race as much as any Time Trial or stage gaps. Porte, Fuglsang, and Froome were all sprinting for the win on stage 6 and every one of them happily accepted whatever time bonus they earned.

Armstrong and Ullrich were even battling for intermediate time bonuses towards the end of the 2003 Tour. Lance had a lead of 1 min. or so to Ullrich but Ullrich had won the previous TT with a gap of 1:36 to Lance. So with another TT coming up, every second seemed important.

Here is the result of an intermediate (flat stage!) sprint at the 2003 Tour:

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 6 pts
2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi 4
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 2

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

I couldn't watch the last climb. Pretty close to a dead heat considering Porte was robbed of that stage win by Froome and Fulsang won because of it! What a finish.

 

[DFA123]

Is the Porte hype train back in the station yet, or have the brakes just been temporarily applied?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Is the Porte hype train back in the station yet, or have the brakes just been temporarily applied?

Well, he was still the strongest climber.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Is the Porte hype train back in the station yet, or have the brakes just been temporarily applied?

It picked up speed, better hop on whilst there's still time

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

By winning stages

Weird you seem to think winning doesn't matter - in a sport

Where did I say so I just explained gunara's post.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Is the Porte hype train back in the station yet, or have the brakes just been temporarily applied?

It picked up speed, better hop on whilst there's still time

let's hope it doesn't use up all it's fuel too early!

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I couldn't watch the last climb. Pretty close to a dead heat considering Porte was robbed of that stage win by Froome and Fulsang won because of it! What a finish.

After this race I don't see Richie doing any favours for Froome in the Tour. Richie won't be lacking motivation I don't think.

 

[jmdirt]

-This CdD provided several "I didn't expect that" for me. Number one, I didn't expect JF to win.
-I'm not going to extrapolate CdD results to the TdF other than to hope that we have 6+ guys battling in July.
-I don't like time bonuses, but everyone knows about them at the start so make them part of the team strategy.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

I couldn't watch the last climb. Pretty close to a dead heat considering Porte was robbed of that stage win by Froome and Fulsang won because of it! What a finish.

After this race I don't see Richie doing any favours for Froome in the Tour. Richie won't be lacking motivation I don't think.

It only took almost two years for Porte to figure out that Froome is a killer on the road, friend or not he's going to go for the win every time.

It's good that Porte learned this lesson, maybe this will add the dynamic to the Tour that was missing last year, and driving us fans banana's...

 

[DanielSong39]

Seems like Porte picked his spots, took a good look at the stem, and figured he'd be able to make up 30 seconds on the final climb. He was wrong...

Well, I guess Fuglsang owes his wife a nice gift? Not sure whether a stage win at the Dauphine qualifies as a big win but the GC definitely does.

If Fuglsang can keep up this form for 3 weeks and Aru remains strong, Astana will definitely be a factor in the Tour.

As for BMC, it seems like their team was split in two (with several of their best riders riding in Tour de Suisse) so Porte will have better support in the Tour.

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

I couldn't watch the last climb. Pretty close to a dead heat considering Porte was robbed of that stage win by Froome and Fulsang won because of it! What a finish.

After this race I don't see Richie doing any favours for Froome in the Tour. Richie won't be lacking motivation I don't think.

It only took almost two years for Porte to figure out that Froome is a killer on the road, friend or not he's going to go for the win every time.

It's good that Porte learned this lesson, maybe this will add the dynamic to the Tour that was missing last year, and driving us fans banana's...

I'm wondering why it took Porte so long. Nibali learned that lesson in no time flat...

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Seems like Porte picked his spots, took a good look at the stem, and figured he'd be able to make up 30 seconds on the final climb. He was wrong...

Well, I guess Fuglsang owes his wife a nice gift? Not sure whether a stage win at the Dauphine qualifies as a big win but the GC definitely does.

If Fuglsang can keep up this form for 3 weeks and Aru remains strong, Astana will definitely be a factor in the Tour.

As for BMC, it seems like their team was split in two (with several of their best riders riding in Tour de Suisse) so Porte will have better support in the Tour.

A stage win at the Dauphine is huge!

Just below the Grand Tour stage win level of the Tour and Giro, but bigger than a Vuelta stage win in my opinion, mainly because the competition is so much better in the Dauphine then the Vuelta most of the time.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

I couldn't watch the last climb. Pretty close to a dead heat considering Porte was robbed of that stage win by Froome and Fulsang won because of it! What a finish.

After this race I don't see Richie doing any favours for Froome in the Tour. Richie won't be lacking motivation I don't think.

It only took almost two years for Porte to figure out that Froome is a killer on the road, friend or not he's going to go for the win every time.

It's good that Porte learned this lesson, maybe this will add the dynamic to the Tour that was missing last year, and driving us fans banana's...

I'm wondering why it took Porte so long. Nibali learned that lesson in no time flat...

Probably because outside of the Italians, Nibali doesn't have many friends.

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

Porte rode a naive race - Form showed that Froome was never his main danger - Porte needed to counter attacks by Fuglsang and Aru and forget about Porte.

I think I know what you meant to type, but what you actually typed might be true as well.

 

[DanielSong39]

Count me as naive. I thought all he had to do was to pace himself, manage his gap to Froome, and figure he could make up 30+ seconds on the rest in the last 5 km.

I was very, very wrong.

I think it comes down to a completely unexpected and spectacular performance from Fuglsang to steal the race from Porte. He was by far the best today and he definitely earned it.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re: Re:

Porte rode a naive race - Form showed that Froome was never his main danger - Porte needed to counter attacks by Fuglsang and Aru and forget about Porte.

Made the same mistake as Contador in the Dauphiné 3 years ago - focused too much on Froome

Strange when it was obvious Aru and Fuglsang were clearly stronger than Froome - I doubt Froome can even make the podium in the TDF.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re: Re:

Is the Porte hype train back in the station yet, or have the brakes just been temporarily applied?

It picked up speed, better hop on whilst there's still time

let's hope it doesn't use up all it's fuel too early!

You hopped on the wrong train, the Aru train takes the fastest route to Paris

 

[DanielSong39]

As for Fuglsang's ability to hold his form for 3 weeks, I think his past GC results have to be taken with a grain of salt. He was clearly a (super) domestique in the last 3 Tours and last year's Giro. Actually had one of the more impressive rides in recent years by a domestique in the (in)famous Stage 5 of the 2014 Tour when he dragged Nibali to the line over the cobblestones.

We'll see how he responds as the (co)leader but even a podium finish wouldn't be too surprising.