He earned that Tour win, but I was alluding to what Netserk said; the top two contenders tried the Giro-Tour double. Imagine if Almeida wins the Tour next year after Pogacar and Vingegaard show up battered form the Giro. Would you think there was a bit of luck involved? When have the top 2 contenders ever opted for the Giro? Maybe one, but both? Not trying to hate on G. I like the guy and, as I said, he won that fair and square. Just lucky circumstances.
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If you are making statements about the level of the Vuelta and the Giro in general, it would be very helpful if you at least tried to name the factors you consider relevant and then go through each GT accordingly. A "xy podiumed, that tells us all" is... ehm, nothing but an anecdote. Sorry, can't help it. That approach always upsets me. 
Personally I think it's more about how Froome almost certainly doesn't ride the 2018 Giro and focuses on getting a fifth Tour if he hadn't had the cloud over him at the time. If Froome doesn't do the Giro, Thomas either leads the Giro or is a much more clear second in command for the Tour instead.
Froome crashed and lost 1 minute + on day 1, and Dumoulin lost a minute+ on a mechanical + time penalty to Mur de Bretagne.
Then Nibali gets brokeback mountained
I think you should start using Why Always Me? as your signature
Btw one of my very favourite City platers of all time. That assist and starting the 6-1 derby demolition.
Interesting stuff.
How is then Quintana better than Thomas?
6 hours, close to 6k altitude meters and apparently fairly high tempo throughout the stage, I doubt it was a mid performance
It was a good performance. But of course, roglic at 100% can do better, pogacar can do better, Vingegaard can do even better than everybody.
Just watching the LRP for today and they said Cav tried getting in the breakaway and couldn’t find anything about it on a quick search. Is that true, does anyone know?
Nibali was not going to win that Tour...
Contador was lucky to win the 2007 Tour. Nibali was lucky to win the 2016 Giro. Pereiro was lucky to win the 2006 Tour.
But Thomas was not lucky - if he was, then more than half of all GT wins were, including most of Contador's and Nibali's.
him and Marit were both in one of the early moves, yeah. Probably just to get a bit of a head start before the climbs, though.
Because Giro>Vuelta. Basically 1 Giro+ 1 Vuelta => 1 Tour. And Quintana has more podiums to show for than Thomas.
I think all of those had a strong element of luck. Rasmussen getting pulled was extremely lucky, even though there were valid clinic reasons that also explained why he was suddenly so good. Nibali looked nowhere close until he forced that error and then found his legs. Pereiro was an lol winner. How is Thomas’s top 2 challengers, including his own teammate and 4-time Tour champ and the returning Giro champ, deciding not to prioritize the Tour not luck? Had Froome started that race going all in for number 5 it wouldn’t have mattered how good Thomas was, they would have gone for it with Thomas. And, as Red Rick mentioned, he didn’t beat Dumoulin by much despite their fatigue from the Giro and their respective mishaps, which cost them each over a minute.
The reality is that there is often a lot of luck involved though. If Almeida wins this, he will be lucky Remco got Covid and Roglic and GHG crashed, etc. That doesn’t mean he won’t deserve it, and the history books will forget anyways.
So you think TGH and Hindley’s combined Giros are worth more than Roglic’s 3 Vueltas? Come on. A GT is a GT but the Tour is the Tour IMO, meaning they are all major victories but the Tour is worth more. If I were a rider, I’d want Tour wins above all but would prefer my other victories come over the best opponents, whether that is in the Giro or the Vuelta.
Why is Roglic allowed to switch from skijumping to road cycling but Thomas is not allowed to switch from track cycling to road cycling.?
Now that Milan has switched to road cycling, who knows if he will show himself to be a GT winner. Impossible to have firm expectations.
But given Thomas’s trajectory, we have to wait at least six years before Milan ought to somewhat deliver in the mountains. And in 2031 he could make his first GT top-10 when he wins the Tour.
But given Thomas’s trajectory, we have to wait at least six years before Milan ought to somewhat deliver in the mountains. And in 2031 he could make his first GT top-10 when he wins the Tour.
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In the AdH stage, Froome attacked, Nibali followed comfortably. Nibali gets the slingshot. They all slow down and Thomas sprints to the stage victory. (Sprint wins should be outlawed on AdH). Without the crash, Froome or Nibali probably wins the stage. Nibali was in the shape of life in that Tour. He might not have won but him having to withdraw was another thing that changed the race dynamics in favour of Thomas. Thomas is a likeable guy but a very boring rider. I think he maximises his talents.
Last year at the Tour Thomas was originally one of three team leaders and I think the team did not have high hopes for him. Now it seems he's at least on a par with Hart, but it says a lot about Ineos that a soon (tomorrow!) 37 year old is their best hope of a GT win.
Congratulations to João Pedro Gonçalves Almeida for the stage win.
Thomas performed good too. Both gaining some time on Roglič. In regards to Roglič and JV. Kuss again proved to be invaluable. Helping Roglič to chase and in the last kilometer Roglič adding a bit extra to it. From this point of view it might have been calculated risk. We'll see in the stages to come. The rest of the team was rather good but likely Dennis was pushed at front a bit earlier then expected. He did a good job. Still 15km to go is too soon. I was thinking before the stage that JV likely won't be able to reduce the bunch enough on this stage. Working alone. And indeed both Ineos and especially UAE were still going strong. Riding more conservative to last longer on the last climb would in my opinion be better tactics on this stage. But OK now the cards have been revealed and the terrain that is coming should suit Roglič. Fingers crossed that he turns it around before the time trial.
Thomas performed good too. Both gaining some time on Roglič. In regards to Roglič and JV. Kuss again proved to be invaluable. Helping Roglič to chase and in the last kilometer Roglič adding a bit extra to it. From this point of view it might have been calculated risk. We'll see in the stages to come. The rest of the team was rather good but likely Dennis was pushed at front a bit earlier then expected. He did a good job. Still 15km to go is too soon. I was thinking before the stage that JV likely won't be able to reduce the bunch enough on this stage. Working alone. And indeed both Ineos and especially UAE were still going strong. Riding more conservative to last longer on the last climb would in my opinion be better tactics on this stage. But OK now the cards have been revealed and the terrain that is coming should suit Roglič. Fingers crossed that he turns it around before the time trial.
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