Is this the biggest team in Tour de France history?

[goggalor]

That team really doesn't understand cycling. First you empty you opponent's plate (and by emptying their plate I don't mean buying all their riders). Maybe Froome himself would have had to work at some point.

BMC, Katusha had 6-7 men in the group. Froome was never going to pull. If the other teams sat up completely he'd be better off having his domestiques do what they could and lose five minutes, he can get that back. The other team leaders can't.

 

[UpTheRoad]

Fuglsang, Rogers, Kreuziger, Ten Dam, Mollema, Contador.

Why BMC didn't pull when Valverde was chasing back? Evans: "But the big thing was that Valverde had a really unfortunate puncture. I'm sorry for him."

They weren't giving Sky a free ride either, they didn't have a single domestique in the group at the finish. Again, them riding was completely sensible, the reaction from this forum not so much.

BMC and others riding isn't the real issue. It is them riding as much as they did for as long as they did when they did. Sky should have been the first in line at all times until they were shelled and Froome had to drive the chasing group. Then the others start their pulls. Obviously, it's not so black and white as I'm portraying, but Sky had way too much help for way too long.

Did other teams not see what Saxo did? They could have done that to Froome and Sky later on (I'm assuming that another team break wouldn't have been chased down by a different team and that it was possible to do so anyway).

 

[UpTheRoad]

BMC, Katusha had 6-7 men in the group. Froome was never going to pull. If the other teams sat up completely he'd be better off having his domestiques do what they could and lose five minutes, he can get that back. The other team leaders can't.

Two teams with 6-7 men each against the strongest rider in the race but with a dying team and said race leader doesn't take a pull? Not because he couldn't but because he didn't have to due to opponents helping. Again, why give the strongest rider a free ride?

Froome was 20th wheel or worse for a long time. It's crazy to me that he got away with it.

 

[theyoungest]

BMC, Katusha had 6-7 men in the group. Froome was never going to pull. If the other teams sat up completely he'd be better off having his domestiques do what they could and lose five minutes, he can get that back. The other team leaders can't.

If Sky were left to their own resources, the group up ahead could easily have gained more than 2 minutes, and Froome wouldn't have had a choice but to ride.

 

[User Guide]

Two teams with 6-7 men each against the strongest rider in the race but with a dying team and said race leader doesn't take a pull? Not because he couldn't but because he didn't have to due to opponents helping. Again, why give the strongest rider a free ride?

Froome was 20th wheel or worse for a long time. It's crazy to me that he got away with it.

Katusha and Lotto were riding for sprinters.
Bmc had nobody in the final selection.
Teams have their own agenda's,and rightly so.
We live in a world of WT points; teams riding for an ex champion too maybe get 8th or 9th come Paris is one of the consequences.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Two teams with 6-7 men each against the strongest rider in the race but with a dying team and said race leader doesn't take a pull? Not because he couldn't but because he didn't have to due to opponents helping. Again, why give the strongest rider a free ride?

Froome was 20th wheel or worse for a long time. It's crazy to me that he got away with it.

The sprinters teams(Lotto, Argos) gave up when it became impossible to rejoin. The Front group contained Kreuziger, Ten Dam, Fuglsang. These three are the riders who will most likely drop down the classification later on. However if given enough time, it will not be possible to overtake them later on. Ergo, The chase by BMC & Katusha with the idea of limiting their losses to the aforementioned riders and not to rejoin the group and also ensuring that Sky does most of the work. Had the peloton really wanted to pull back the group they could have very easily done so.

 

[Sylvester]

Had the peloton really wanted to pull back the group they could have very easily done so.

That's not how echelons work. It's a matter of skills, not of sheer man power.

This being said, I still don't get why FDJ were pulling and why Froome didn't even do a single turn on the front. BMC are obviously totally clueless. Katusha, Lotto and AG2R: sensible riding.

 

[murali]

the only reason i can think of to support froome's tactical error is the convoluted argument that Sky had now drained the energy of other teams.

Now all their domestiques have had an easier race today, so they can work in stage 14 and 15

 

[wwabbit]

http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/oth...e-france-froome-upset-by-doping-questions.php
Check out the caption on the main image in the article.

Add OPQS to the list!

 

[theyoungest]

After Ventoux, it's even more ridiculous what BMC did on the echelon stage. Froome's gap to his nearest competitors could have been 2 minutes instead of 4 now. Froome should really pay them for their efforts.

 

[Jericho]

Not sure the logic here. What does BMC care if Froome takes pulls or not? I don't think BMC has any illusions of first. But they would like to beat the Kreuzingers, Ten Dams, and Fuglsangs of the world. And they're not doing that if they give all those guys 5 minutes for free.

When the split happened, Valverde had been dropped and 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th place overall made the front group. Kwiatowksi was 7th and really isn't seen as a big GC buy (not to mention he was not going to chase down Cavendish) and Quintana was 8th but had no teammates. So doesn't it make sense for the 9th, 10th, and 11th place guys to try and track down the guys ahead? What else are they going to do? Sit around and do nothing out of spite. What exactly are they saving their domestiques for? It makes more sense to work together and all pull, then to burn one team out (Sky) and then play a game of chicken to wait for the next guy to pull is. You'll loose less time all working from the get go.

Seems people are just upset because Froome could have lost more time and didn't. He didn't because it just so happens that Froome's interests and Katusha's and AG2r's interests alligned on this one. It happens.

 

[The Hitch]

Bump

Team Sky 2015
FROOME Chris
PORTE Richie
KÖNIG Leopold
THOMAS Geraint
ROCHE Nicolas
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro,
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander,
ANACONA GOMEZ Winner Andrew,
CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan,
HERRADA LOPEZ Jose