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

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Here are some estimated descending times from Col de la Colombière (km 34.5) to Marnaz (km 19.3). This is calculated from the tv-pictures so there's some guessing going on becuse the coverage didn't show us everything. Marnaz is chosen only because this was where we got the most coverage of riders passing by. Selected riders only!

Kwiatkowski                                  13:47*
Clarke                                       14:02
Froome                                       14:13
Valverde, Aru                                14:16
Contador, Yates, Buchmann, Meintjes, Valls   14:28**
Porte, Oomen, Benoot                         14:32
Martin, Fuglsang, Bardet                     14:48***

* Assuming Kwiatkowski passed the col 15 secs behind Porte.
** Assuming the Contador group passed the col 20 secs behind Fuglsang
*** The Martin/Fuglsang/Bardet-trio waited for the Froome Contador-group at some point but their descent still wasn't very fast. Possibly on par with Porte's at best.

Mythical descending from Froome

 

[yaco]

Re:

Well that certainly made a mess of everyone's assumption that this Tour is all but in the bag for Froome.

Not too many people would have been shocked to see that Porte was the strongest climber in a week long race. But if you'd said that the next three strongest climbers in the Dauphine would be Fuglsang, Martin and Aru, while Froome, Contador and Valverde would get dropped hard, people might reasonably have wondered if you were off your meds.

Nailed it with your post - Though it may turn out this way in the TDF - I'm excited Astana has two live options for GC because they will make it a hard race on mountain days,

 

[dusty red roads]

Glad about that with Astana too!

In other news, according to @inring on Twitter:

"Antonio Nibali disqualified from the Dauphiné for holding onto Bahrain-Merida team car"



Can't blame Astana or Vincenzo this time!!!! (same DS maybe??)

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Glad about that with Astana too!

In other news, according to @inring on Twitter:

"Antonio Nibali disqualified from the Dauphiné for holding onto Bahrain-Merida team car"



Can't blame Astana or Vincenzo this time!!!! (same DS maybe??)

I feel sorry for him, he'll be ridiculed (I already see posts on twitter saying "it's in the family") but he's just not very good :sad:

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Glad about that with Astana too!

In other news, according to @inring on Twitter:

"Antonio Nibali disqualified from the Dauphiné for holding onto Bahrain-Merida team car"



Can't blame Astana or Vincenzo this time!!!! (same DS maybe??)

Nope, back then the DS was Shefer, whos still with Astana.
It's kinda funny, but the guy worked really hard durning the 2 years at Nippo. I have to admit that the only really good result that I can remember was the 2016 Tour of Japan.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Glad about that with Astana too!

In other news, according to @inring on Twitter:

"Antonio Nibali disqualified from the Dauphiné for holding onto Bahrain-Merida team car"



Can't blame Astana or Vincenzo this time!!!! (same DS maybe??)

I feel sorry for him, he'll be ridiculed (I already see posts on twitter saying "it's in the family") but he's just not very good :sad:

And possible under a lot of pressure simply because his surname happens to be Nibali. Wouldn't be the first time this has happened; high expectations towards a rider, simply because he happens to be related to a more famous one.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

What an epic stage!

I love Birdsong but nothing screams "contract year" as loud as his performance in this Dauphine.
Porte was superb in his defense. Today he convinced me he can win the Tour, he's much stronger than before mentally.
Froome is just amazing, hopefully Sky won't be super strong in July. That could make for some great racing.

Overall the situation reminds me a bit of 2003 TdF, with no dominant rider and a lot of contenders. Sadly the route will not help attackers

I know, right. This is the year we needed a good route. Arghh

The riders make the race, in fairness. There's GC potential in all 3 weeks, it just depends on what happens on the road.

Besides which some of the best racing we've seen in recent Tours has been on flat stages where the crosswinds split the bunch. Sawtooth profiles with multiple HC climbs and summit finishes can just lead to last-man-standing, highest W/kg contests. There's a happy medium of not too hard and not too easy that means the best riders have to actually go out and race (it helps when there isn't one team that can burn all the others off before the racing starts, though).

 

[Thepirateisgood]

Re:

Just a sweet thing I realised last night.
As Fuglsang crossed the line he pointed towards the sky; without doubt a greeting to Scarponi, and made that weird gesture at his stomach; a greeting to his unborn daughter.
He dedicated his win to the life that was lost, and the life that is coming.

I just had to login and comment this post and nominate it for post of the year.
So happy for fuglen made me almost cry, 2 first wt wins + gc dauphine ayfkm? look at porte and froome getting fans for riding a bike as well.. Good stuff, what a season, so far!

 

[el_angliru]

There wasn't really any tv coverage of Kwiatkoski and Simon Clarke descending but I just rewatched the stage and noticed a short glimpse of Kwia and Clarke 5 seconds or so ahead of the Porte trio (Porte, Benoot, Oomen):

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

What an epic stage!

I love Birdsong but nothing screams "contract year" as loud as his performance in this Dauphine.
Porte was superb in his defense. Today he convinced me he can win the Tour, he's much stronger than before mentally.
Froome is just amazing, hopefully Sky won't be super strong in July. That could make for some great racing.

Overall the situation reminds me a bit of 2003 TdF, with no dominant rider and a lot of contenders. Sadly the route will not help attackers

I know, right. This is the year we needed a good route. Arghh

The riders make the race, in fairness. There's GC potential in all 3 weeks, it just depends on what happens on the road.

Besides which some of the best racing we've seen in recent Tours has been on flat stages where the crosswinds split the bunch. Sawtooth profiles with multiple HC climbs and summit finishes can just lead to last-man-standing, highest W/kg contests. There's a happy medium of not too hard and not too easy that means the best riders have to actually go out and race (it helps when there isn't one team that can burn all the others off before the racing starts, though).

Not this again. The riders make the race, but they need the right terrain to make the race. Almost all stages are badly designed this year.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

Not this again. The riders make the race, but they need the right terrain to make the race. Almost all stages are badly designed this year.

I dunno about that. Flicking through the profiles I see a lot of stages back-loaded with categorized climbs, I see uphill and downhill finishes, I see the climbing stages interspersed among the less-lumpy ones. I see 3 sprint stages in the last week, so there's an outside chance that a) the green jersey won't be decided before the 2nd (or even first) rest day and b) the sprinters who don't win in the first week might actually stick around through the mountains until Paris in the hopes they might win something. And here and there you see a couple of stages that might suit the puncheurs and medium mountain classics riders.

It probably won't end up being a "Tour for the Ages," but I think the apparent openness of the field will have a much bigger effect on the amount of attacking than vertical footage or number of HC climbs or summit finishes.

Obviously if Sky park the bus on the front of the peloton for 3 weeks, it'll be a boring race. I think it was the Plateau de Beille stage 2 years ago where Ian Bloody Stannard led the peloton over the first 3 summits of the day on what was meant to be the queen stage. If the other teams are going to let the 80kg Het Nieuwsblad winner set pace through the Pyrenees, then Sky would be remiss to do anything else.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Here are some estimated descending times from Col de la Colombière (km 34.5) to Marnaz (km 19.3). This is calculated from the tv-pictures so there's some guessing going on becuse the coverage didn't show us everything. Marnaz is chosen only because this was where we got the most coverage of riders passing by. Selected riders only!

Kwiatkowski                                  13:47*
Clarke                                       14:02
Froome                                       14:13
Valverde, Aru                                14:16
Contador, Yates, Buchmann, Meintjes, Valls   14:28**
Porte, Oomen, Benoot                         14:32
Martin, Fuglsang, Bardet                     14:48***

* Assuming Kwiatkowski passed the col 15 secs behind Porte.
** Assuming the Contador group passed the col 20 secs behind Fuglsang
*** The Martin/Fuglsang/Bardet-trio waited for the Froome Contador-group at some point but their descent still wasn't very fast. Possibly on par with Porte's at best.

Mythical descending from Froome

Strava descent tines

Kwiat 6:44
Buchmann 6:50
Cimolai 6:53
Benoot 6:58 (Did he catch Porte on descent?)
Bardet 7:04
Jack Haig 7:04

 

[RedheadDane]

Not this again. The riders make the race, but they need the right terrain to make the race. Almost all stages are badly designed this year.

Well, some riders are more creative than others when it comes to what terrain can be used.

Obviously if Sky park the bus on the front of the peloton for 3 weeks, it'll be a boring race. I think it was the Plateau de Beille stage 2 years ago where Ian Bloody Stannard led the peloton over the first 3 summits of the day on what was meant to be the queen stage. If the other teams are going to let the 80kg Het Nieuwsblad winner set pace through the Pyrenees, then Sky would be remiss to do anything else.

They're not allowed to do that. Buses must stay away from the race. Having a bus parked anywhere on the route is gonna create a mess.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Not this again. The riders make the race, but they need the right terrain to make the race. Almost all stages are badly designed this year.

Well, some riders are more creative than others when it comes to what terrain can be used.

Obviously if Sky park the bus on the front of the peloton for 3 weeks, it'll be a boring race. I think it was the Plateau de Beille stage 2 years ago where Ian Bloody Stannard led the peloton over the first 3 summits of the day on what was meant to be the queen stage. If the other teams are going to let the 80kg Het Nieuwsblad winner set pace through the Pyrenees, then Sky would be remiss to do anything else.

They're not allowed to do that. Buses must stay away from the race. Having a bus parked anywhere on the route is gonna create a mess.

Someone should tell Orica about that rule...