Froome vs Quintana vs Contador

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

omg Nairo,grow some balls

QFT.
I would be nice to see him race aggressively but his words don't give me much hope...

 

[Mr.White]

That would work only if Quintana is stronger than Froome, but if so, he might as well attack Froome once he's attacked and gain more time than he would following your advice. If Quintana can stay with Froome, he should probably do what Contador did at the Vuelta in 2014, hang on for dear life and then gain 10-15 seconds in a last km sprint.

Unless of course Quintana is a lot stronger. Than he could try attacking from further out and put serious time into Froome.

Contador never "hang on for dear life" in that Vuelta. He was the stronger rider, and rode tactically superb. At equal strength he could never gain anything on Froome in last km, in fact he could even loose. Quintana would certainly loose in that scenario, cause he's the least explosive of the three

 

[Cookster15]

Contador is now 33 and won his first GT at 24. Quintana is still only 26. After his promising TT today I think I'd bet on Nairo beating Alberto next month. Sure it was only 13km and the Route du Sud but when 58kg climbers beat 70kg specialists on that type of course it says the little guy is in some form.

For Froome when winning his TDFs he has decimated his rivals on the first serious MTF but faded slightly towards the 3rd week but not enough to lose. This year he says he has delayed his prep to be in better shape for the 3rd week but that may mean he will need to make up time.

I think the Tour is between Quintana and Froome but I'd put Nairo as the slight favourite. Of course AC will attack as always but I'm not sure that will be enough with the MTT to favour Quintana based upon how he is looking today.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Contador is now 33 and won his first GT at 24. Quintana is still only 26. After his promising TT today I think I'd bet on Nairo beating Alberto next month. Sure it was only 13km and the Route du Sud but when 58kg climbers beat 70kg specialists on that type of course it says the little guy is in some form.

For Froome when winning his TDFs he has decimated his rivals on the first serious MTF but faded slightly towards the 3rd week but not enough to lose. This year he says he has delayed his prep to be in better shape for the 3rd week but that may mean he will need to make up time.

I think the Tour is between Quintana and Froome but I'd put Nairo as the slight favourite. Of course AC will attack as always but I'm not sure that will be enough with the MTT to favour Quintana based upon how he is looking today.

What? Specialists? I think he is better than last year but this tt doens't tell us a sh#t

 

[Brullnux]

Chavanel isn't exactly what he was a few years back. Erviti also isn't the first name to pop into your head when you think of TT specialists. To give an insight, Hugh Carthy finished about 1 minute down.

 

[Escarabajo]

Who cares what Quintana says. In fact who cares what Contador's says. Furthermore, who cares what Froome says. It depends on your legs and race situation. Contador's always lies anyway. With Quintana you never know, or could be playing games. Froome is the most predictable. So stop believing anything these riders say.

 

[Taxus4a]

This is how I foresee the battle between the big three in this year's Tour:

IF Contador reaches Froome's level and appear equal ala 2014

Froome appear stronger than Contador, no way to say that.

 

[cantpedal]

Re: Re:

“My main rivals will be Contador and Froome. We must find a strategy and wait to see how they go in the mountains,” Quintana said. “We have seen Froome attack and drop Contador in the Critérium du Dauphiné. I think that they have very similar strengths and I’ll try to take advantage of their rivalry to defend myself.

“Froome’s attacks were very powerful and no one could follow. This year, he has said he has delayed his preparation a little to be at my level in the last week. Hopefully, we can put up with the attacks. I have prepared well, have made some preparations to make those changes in pace.”

Unlike his main rivals, Quintana opted not to race the Critérium du Dauphiné or the Tour de Suisse. Like in last years, he preferred to stay at home as long as possible at 2800 metres altitude before returning to Europe to take on the five stage Route du Sud.

It sounds so utterly defensive... &#128528

He should be defensive and as he says wait and see how his opponents form is in the mountains before he finalizes his strategy . There's nothing to be gained by going into the tour with a set strategy because you believe your main opponents will be in top form .

Sky/Froome doesn't look as strong as last year where Q with a little luck may have won so if i'm him i'd wheel suck until i see a good time to attack and then go full out .

I don't particularly disagree with him having to assess Froome's (and Contador's) strength, but I just long for him stating an actual intention to attack and wanting to take on the obstacles with an offensive attitude, rather than just persisting with the defensive mind set - especially as he himself does seem to have the strength and ability to do so. - Or - as Ilovecycling so neatly put it!

It would be entertaining if he had a more outgoing personality but i believe he will attack and attack on multiple stages whether he says it or not . He attacked multiple times last year so i don't see why that would change this year regardless of what he says leading up to the tour .

Froome seems to need to have a set plan and doesn't react well when things don't go according to script , so i believe the time to attack him is before he attacks . Let his train do there thing and when the majority of them have peeled off attack , there's no use going too early when he has numbers since they'll just pace him back up .

Bagnères-de-Bigorre 2013

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to. I personally think Quintana is the man to beat this year, but I think it'll play out like last year, Froome takes time early, then Quintana chips away.

 

[Jelantik]

Quintana @Route de Sud is like playing in a kiddy pool. He has to win it period. We can't really see how his form. Could be the same, could be better. I didn't see it since no marker to compare to anyone who's going to be a real contender comes TDF.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Quintana @Route de Sud is like playing in a kiddy pool. He has to win it period. We can't really see how his form. Could be the same, could be better. I didn't see it since no marker to compare to anyone who's going to be a real contender comes TDF.

Agreed. I wonder if his slower build up is the reason he's strong at the end of the TDF.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to. I personally think Quintana is the man to beat this year, but I think it'll play out like last year, Froome takes time early, then Quintana chips away.

Don't think Contador is the kind of rider that will be underestimated, even when he was crap, his attacks were taken seriously.
Of course, it could be that he isn't so much underestimated but that Movistar and Sky/Quintana and Froome start looking at eachother, but that seems a bit unlikely considering Sky's willingness to do all the work.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to. I personally think Quintana is the man to beat this year, but I think it'll play out like last year, Froome takes time early, then Quintana chips away.

Don't think Contador is the kind of rider that will be underestimated, even when he was crap, his attacks were taken seriously.
Of course, it could be that he isn't so much underestimated but that Movistar and Sky/Quintana and Froome start looking at eachother, but that seems a bit unlikely considering Sky's willingness to do all the work.

I agree, in 2011 and 2013 (hell!) he was a marked man, its impossible that they will give him a 5metres deliberately.Even more with Sky doing always the hard work

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

Quintana @Route de Sud is like playing in a kiddy pool. He has to win it period. We can't really see how his form. Could be the same, could be better. I didn't see it since no marker to compare to anyone who's going to be a real contender comes TDF.

What was impressive was a 58Kg Columbian climber doing the technical stage 3 TT with an average speed of 52kph - not who the competition was or wasn't. As for the competition 2nd place getter in the TT Chavanel is usually strong in these events and Imanol Erviti Ollo is 82Kg according to Wiki.

The Route du Sud TT, while not flat, didn't look like a course to suit a rider of Quintana's characteristics. Unless there was a strong tailwind I think that result might be a very strong marker for what might occur next month?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to. I personally think Quintana is the man to beat this year, but I think it'll play out like last year, Froome takes time early, then Quintana chips away.

Don't think Contador is the kind of rider that will be underestimated, even when he was crap, his attacks were taken seriously.
Of course, it could be that he isn't so much underestimated but that Movistar and Sky/Quintana and Froome start looking at eachother, but that seems a bit unlikely considering Sky's willingness to do all the work.

Plus even last year when Contador put in a few attacks Movistar were usually the ones to chase. They won't give him an inch in this Tour.

 

[Poursuivant]

I am very curious to see how these three match up in the TT's, I think they really suit Contador this year. What do yous all think will be the time gaps if everyone gets there in one piece? To be fair Quintana seems to have inproved his TT too, and the final one will suit him, Froome: it's hard to say, I don't think his TT's will be as good as 2013, but he will surely see the first TT as an opportunity to put time into his rivals.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

I am very curious to see how these three match up in the TT's, I think they really suit Contador this year. What do yous all think will be the time gaps if everyone gets there in one piece? To be fair Quintana seems to have inproved his TT too, and the final one will suit him, Froome: it's hard to say, I don't think his TT's will be as good as 2013, but he will surely see the first TT as an opportunity to put time into his rivals.

Contador's retiring in three days...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I am very curious to see how these three match up in the TT's, I think they really suit Contador this year. What do yous all think will be the time gaps if everyone gets there in one piece? To be fair Quintana seems to have inproved his TT too, and the final one will suit him, Froome: it's hard to say, I don't think his TT's will be as good as 2013, but he will surely see the first TT as an opportunity to put time into his rivals.

Contador's retiring in three days...

What?

I think they will be pretty even across the board. I could se anyone of those 3 win both time trials.

 

[sir fly]

I am very curious to see how these three match up in the TT's, I think they really suit Contador this year. What do yous all think will be the time gaps if everyone gets there in one piece? To be fair Quintana seems to have inproved his TT too, and the final one will suit him, Froome: it's hard to say, I don't think his TT's will be as good as 2013, but he will surely see the first TT as an opportunity to put time into his rivals.

Contador's retiring in three days...

What?

I think they will be pretty even across the board. I could se anyone of those 3 win both time trials.

Helping to spread the rumour.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Whats all that about, jens_attacks on it with his one-liners? Nothing new under the sun

 

[BlurryVII]

That's not exactly a rumour, that's your wish

 

[BlurryVII]

Re:

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to.

Wow, I mean I know AC is strongly underrated, but you've reached a whole new level.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

That's not exactly a rumour, that's your wish

You wish...

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Whats all that about, jens_attacks on it with his one-liners? Nothing new under the sun

He's just rolling t.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

The only way Bertie is winning this is if the other two pay so much attention to each other, that they just flat out underestimate him and give him a big chunk of time that he can hold on to.

Wow, I mean I know AC is strongly underrated, but you've reached a whole new level.

Obviously, it won't ever happen. All that nonsense about long range attacks, underestimating etc. - we all know that it is decided on the last climb and the two ITTs, most w/kg wins. Its really simple and most of us know that.

I don't think he is strongly underrated, nor do I think he is underrated. But I guess thats a question of perspective.