Critérium du Dauphiné May 30-June 6 2021

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

A hairpin in the final km with a reduced group is an opportunity to attack. Everyone who got a copy of the road book knew that. Bahrain should have known that if they wanted a sprint for Colbrelli, they needed to control the race coming out of that hairpin. They didn't control it, so Colbrelli lost.

To be fair there was no one left to control it, everybody from Bahrain had been working pretty hard and especially Haig closing down the gap to Craddock (btw great racing by him considering he has GC ambitions!).

 

[Inquitus]

Great robbery by Ineos and G, clever to go there and Porte letting the gap go enough to give G a chance, Bahrain only the one man left with Colbrelli and he had been pulling for a while, wasn't able to respond to G's attack!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Wonder what Colbrelli can achieve in the TDF. Can he be at the front in any of the first two stages (3km at 6% and 2km at 7%) and can he stay close to Ewan/Bennett on the pure flat stages - to make a real green jersey attempt? Guess he was far away on Mur de Bretagne in 2018 so that will be out of the question.

The big question is how well he performs in the flat bunch sprints, against the big sprinters, and the big sprint trains.

If he can do 3rd/4th in those, he can pull a Sagan and hit a bunch of breaks for intermediate sprints, and will then be a strong candidate for the green jersey.

But if he is doing 6th, 7th, 8th in the bunch sprints, the gap to guys like Bennett, Ewan and Sagan will be too big.

 

[luckyboy]

The big question is how well he performs in the flat bunch sprints, against the big sprinters, and the big sprint trains.

If he can do 3rd/4th in those, he can pull a Sagan and hit a bunch of breaks for intermediate sprints, and will then be a strong candidate for the green jersey.

But if he is doing 6th, 7th, 8th in the bunch sprints, the gap to guys like Bennett, Ewan and Sagan will be too big.

Yeah just checked and the 8 sprint stages are pretty much all more suited for Bennett, Ewan and pure sprinters rather than something like the stage Colbrelli won here. And then in stages 1, 2 the finishes will be too hard.
Maybe if he can stay 2nd, 3rd every day and take intermediate sprints...

 

[johnymax]

FFS Kirby, Ineos is not riding for Kwiatkowski

Not as terrible as Jumbo Visma working for Timo Roosen on stage 3 according to Kirby smh

 

[Hayabusa]

Just caught up with the last 2km of the stage. That is real racing intuition by Ineos and the other teams really got caught napping there.

Well ridden by GT!

 

[Vasilis]

Not as terrible as Jumbo Visma working for Timo Roosen on stage 3 according to Kirby smh

Ah yes I recall that xD
At least this finish suits Kwiatkowski in theory, but he had been riding on the front with Hart and Porte in his wheel for most of the climb... Plus that's just not how Ineos work

 

[IndianCyclist]

Inspite of being favorite , BV managed to lose 3 times out of 4. Pacing, positioning, timing everything is wrong.
Sagan and Bora would have won 3 out of 4

 

[Inquitus]

Poor Colbrelli should have won every stage bar the ITT if his team hadn't been caught napping multiple times!

 

[JosefK]

Kirby in clouds of ecstasy. Was even able to cancel today's appointment with grief counseling from the TT stage trauma.

 

[bigcog]

Nibali was miles ahead of Froome!

They hardly coming into races from an equivalent recent history ...

 

[Leinster]

To be fair there was no one left to control it, everybody from Bahrain had been working pretty hard and especially Haig closing down the gap to Craddock (btw great racing by him considering he has GC ambitions!).

Not having a go at Bahrain themselves, just they happened to be the team with the sprinter. But any team who wanted to have a chance at the stage win needed to be in control at that corner, and they all should have known it. Ineos did, so they got the W. If Craddock could have made it to that hairpin, he would've had a chance himself, just on how much more a group would need to slow down than a solo rider.

Have BV just run out of numbers each time? Teuns and Haig have been the only ones near the front group in each finale, that's not a "sprint train" by any stretch of the definition. Edit; Padun and Buitrago both had their best stage placing so far in the TT!

 

[Escarabajo]

Quintana can't stay away from Movistar:

Rank	Previous		Rider	Team		Time
23	24	▲1	VALVERDE Alejandro	Movistar Team		1:14
24	25	▲1	QUINTANA Nairo	Team Arkéa Samsic		1:15
25	26	▲1	MAS Enric	Movistar Team		1:16

 

[postmanhat]

Yeah just checked and the 8 sprint stages are pretty much all more suited for Bennett, Ewan and pure sprinters rather than something like the stage Colbrelli won here. And then in stages 1, 2 the finishes will be too hard.
Maybe if he can stay 2nd, 3rd every day and take intermediate sprints...

There are EIGHT sprint stages at the TDF ?

 

[Blanco]

When you have had Kwiatek, the smartest dom in pelotons, for many years.

And what a waste of talent that is!

 

[yaco]

Why is it a fatal flaw? And you can't know in advance how many riders will be left anyway, apparently they expected more from that last climb. Either way, I don't see why a hairpin would be an indisputable flaw.

Because with a hairpin riders virtually come to a stop which is not suitable in the last km of a mixed stage.

 

[yaco]

Why is it a flaw exactly?

Races have key points close to the finish all the time, it may be the last corner before the straight, it may be a little hill 1 k from the finish, it may be a roundabout which is important, or a pavé, or whatever.

The good teams position their leaders for those kind of things.

But a hairpin virtually leads the peleton to a stand-still - Your chosen examples do not lead the peleton to a stand still.

 

[Leinster]

Looking at it again, the gap was just about 20m coming out of the corner, but growing. Colbrelli needed to take it on then, because Haig was never going to close that gap. If you put a Sagan/Bennett/Gaviria/Ewan in that situation, no way does Thomas get away.

 

[Leinster]

But a hairpin virtually leads the peleton to a stand-still - Your chosen examples do not lead the peleton to a stand still.

And the first rider accelerating out of that standstill has an advantage on all the rest.

What's your point?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

But a hairpin virtually leads the peleton to a stand-still - Your chosen examples do not lead the peleton to a stand still.

And?

Why is that relevant?

Why is a "virtual standstill" a problem?

 

[Monte Serra]

There are EIGHT sprint stages at the TDF ?

,
Don't think so. Only stage 4, 6, 19 & 21 are pure flat sprint stages. The other flattish stages all have some difficulty in the finale.

 

[red_flanders]

Scouting is irrelevant when the final has a fatal flaw design - You can't have a hairpin with 1km to go when there are 40 or 50 riders left in the peleton.

Fatal flaw? Seems to me it created more interest in the race than any of the hills or any other part of the course. Turned a snooze-fest into an exciting finish with a surprise winner. More hairpins!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Only 43 riders didn't lose time today - some "sprinters stage"

As for tomorrow, some seem to think it will be a GC day.

I don't think so, I think despite it looking massive on the profile, there is only actually 15 k of climbing on the day, and most gradients are in the 5-7 % range.

I think we will see a group of 30-35 riders go to the end, unless a smaller break is still out front, then the peloton will be slower and bigger.

 

[Vasilis]

And?

Why is that relevant?

Why is a "virtual standstill" a problem?

Yeah same question from me... I don't get it, what fatal problem does it create that riders have to slow down not so long before the finish? It's not unfair, it doesn't make people crash, it's not unknown or unexpected, so what's the problem?

 

[Vasilis]

Only 43 riders didn't lose time today - some "sprinters stage"

As for tomorrow, some seem to think it will be a GC day.

I don't think so, I think despite it looking massive on the profile, there is only actually 15 k of climbing on the day, and most gradients are in the 5-7 % range.

I think we will see a group of 30-35 riders go to the end, unless a smaller break is still out front, then the peloton will be slower and bigger.

Yeah looking at the details of the climbs tomorrow I wasn't too impressed, if something is to happen it would probably have to be on the penultimate climb, the cat 2, but with the next two days in mind, that may not be the case (maybe someone a bit further down on GC)