Criterium du Dauphine (2.UWT), 3-10 June

[SlickMongoose]

Bilbao rode an incredibly tough Giro, has been in the break all day, and was gaining time on the favourites at the end. What an incredible ride.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Thomas easily could have won this stage if he wanted, kinda stupid to throw a victory away like that if you ask me

 

[Alexandre B.]

Geraint Thomas with his distinctive devastating kick after hard mountain stages.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

Re:

Bilbao rode an incredibly tough Giro, has been in the break all day, and was gaining time on the favourites at the end. What an incredible ride.

Not to do disservice to his ride, but riders coming out of Giro tend to keep good shape for 1-2 weeks more. It is not the first time this happens at Dauphine

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

The teams 3 best climbers aren't there.

It's not the A team.

Its not the B-team either. I also think that G is as good as Poels and Bernal this Tour uphill, maybe Froome as well. And Tao wont be there

A dude who's 32 and has like 2 top 10s in MTFs in GTs? That would be quite something

He has climbed on another level from 2017, but bad luck has hampered him, mostly. Wouldn't be that surprising really

Thomas has had performances of this kind of climbing since as early as 2015

Was going to say, in the 2015 Tour he was 4th or 5th going into the final 3 stages before getting wiped out on the descent.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

Re:

Whats your point? He hasn't climbed this consistent back then. He has ever since 2017.

Let's wait and see what he does at the Tour (assuming he doesn't crash out of course). Thomas being good in 1 week tours isn't exactly new.

 

[armchairclimber]

How cool is Bilbao? I like him.

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau Bilbao! Giro in the legs too. G doing a good Froome impression there at the end.

 

[Bolder]

Re:

Thomas easily could have won this stage if he wanted, kinda stupid to throw a victory away like that if you ask me

I agree, but no big deal. One thing about Yates/Bardet is that they will be team leaders at the tour so wouldn't read too much into this Dauphine. Althought Romain looked pretty spent.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Thomas was done in the Tour that year, and I dare to say it had nothing to do with the crash. The 9 first days suited him well, so did the first MTF, he was strong on the headwind Beille-climb, but then ran out of gas. Because he didn't prepare 100%.

He is winning mountain stages now, or at least being the strongest guy. He didn't do that 3 years ago.

 

[tobydawq]

I honestly think Thomas might win the Tour.

He has a big advantage in the TTT, should comfortably be by far the best GC rider on the cobbles and with these climbing legs it will probably only be Porte who can be better than him in the mountains unless the three amigos pull their act together (that is to say Quintana and Landa - we know that Valverde will be where he wants to be).

Then he even has the ITT in the end.

Three questions:

Will he be allowed to? It will be interesting. I'm definitely intrigued to see how Sky will play their cards but it will probably not be very entertaining racing-wise.

Will he be able to keep up his level? Probably: he was very good deep into the race in 2015 until Barguil wiped him out on a descent and he lost his glasses. This year he has been aiming for it specifically and seems stronger.

Can he avoid accidents? Impossible to say.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re: Re:

Thomas easily could have won this stage if he wanted, kinda stupid to throw a victory away like that if you ask me

I agree, but no big deal. One thing about Yates/Bardet is that they will be team leaders at the tour so wouldn't read too much into this Dauphine. Althought Romain looked pretty spent.

I hate this defensive/controlled way of racing. He was clearly the best, had no problems whatsoever following the attacks yet he still waited until the last km to do something. Lame.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Very nice win for Bilbao. Ridiculous gear he was pushing there towards the end. What was that, 53-14 or something`?

 

[yaco]

Wow - The breakaway had 33 seconds at the beginning of the 17.5km climb and Bilbao still won by 21 seconds.

 

[Squire]

Re:

Wow - The breakaway had 33 seconds at the beginning of the 17.5km climb and Bilbao still won by 21 seconds.

Geoghegan Hart is obviously not the new Poels.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Thomas easily could have won this stage if he wanted, kinda stupid to throw a victory away like that if you ask me

I agree, but no big deal. One thing about Yates/Bardet is that they will be team leaders at the tour so wouldn't read too much into this Dauphine. Althought Romain looked pretty spent.

I hate this defensive/controlled way of racing. He was clearly the best, had no problems whatsoever following the attacks yet he still waited until the last km to do something. Lame.

Agree, he could easily have won 3 stages so far including the opening ITT and excluding the TTT. He has 0. Gotta strike when you can.

 

[Red Rick]

Thomas didn't get that big of a gap with his attack in the end on riders who did more work than him.

If he can, Sky will obviously win with him, or get the good ol' 1-2. Why win with Froome when his victory might be lost in the court room when you can be sure with Thomas.

 

[DNP-Old]

He put a whopping two seconds into Martin and Bardet. I'm not convinced at all.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

Whats your point? He hasn't climbed this consistent back then. He has ever since 2017.

Let's wait and see what he does at the Tour (assuming he doesn't crash out of course). Thomas being good in 1 week tours isn't exactly new.

I agree with this, he will win the Dauphiné but competing for TDF is something else entirely.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Re:

He put a whopping two seconds into Martin and Bardet. I'm not convinced at all.

Bardet is podium material for the Tour so outclimbing him whilst being far superior at TT seems pretty promising to me

 

[Flamin]

All in all a semi-decent stage (nothing more than that). Ag2r blowing up the race on Col du Pré was great, but from there on it was a bit of snoozer.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

He put a whopping two seconds into Martin and Bardet. I'm not convinced at all.

It was practically flat, he was never going to gain much time there...

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

The teams 3 best climbers aren't there.

It's not the A team.

Its not the B-team either. I also think that G is as good as Poels and Bernal this Tour uphill, maybe Froome as well. And Tao wont be there

A dude who's 32 and has like 2 top 10s in MTFs in GTs? That would be quite something

He has climbed on another level from 2017, but bad luck has hampered him, mostly. Wouldn't be that surprising really

Crazy how a rider 30+ can improve so much, especially at climbing

We've seen this before: Tony Rominger

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

I honestly think Thomas might win the Tour.

Three questions:

Will he be allowed to? It will be interesting. I'm definitely intrigued to see how Sky will play their cards but it will probably not be very entertaining racing-wise.

Will he be able to keep up his level? Probably: he was very good deep into the race in 2015 until Barguil wiped him out on a descent and he lost his glasses. This year he has been aiming for it specifically and seems stronger.

Can he avoid accidents? Impossible to say.

But is that really the deciding factor if everyone around him will, as expected, progress for the Tour?

Also, i don't buy the idea that the crash on Col de Manse had anything to do with Thomas' downfall in the 2015 Tour. I just don't think he's a GT rider.

 

[rlntlssly]

Re: Re:

Also, i don't buy the idea that the crash on Col de Manse had anything to do with Thomas' downfall in the 2015 Tour. I just don't think he's a GT rider.

Strong reasoning.