Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 km

[Robert5091]

The climbers have to go nuts to gain time before the ITT - Wednesday's stage is short, Thursday's stage suits the Sky train so ... If Tommy D can stay with Froome, it'll be interesting.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

Movistar brought a team with the one objective of causing carnage in the mountains and with one of their leaders already pretty far behind the best placed gc men I don't think they should wait for doing so any longer. That said, it's the first mountain stage, it's the tour, it's a downhill finish and therefore it's probably a 20 men group with all gc guys finishing together

I am trying to figure out which 20 guys can make it to the finish after those 2 monster climbs!

 

[BetOrLose]

Landa is not going to sacrifice he's own chances for Nairo Quintana.

 

[JS10]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

Froome And Dumoulin doing the Giro has certainly created a different dynamic.What the effect on the result will be is anyones guess-Anyone who says they know are on first name terms with God or they they are a fan boy charlatan indulging in wishful thinking to support their prejudices.
Sundays stage may well have a knock on effect.It seems to me that Portal wasquite happy for Froome and Thomas to look after themselves for the last 30k and told the ,helpers to relax,AS for Poels he must have been having a sunday afternoon jolly I didn't see him at all.This contrasts with AG2R whose domestics looked cooked and they are possibly down another man.Movistar also lost a man and their domestics had to work hard after Landa banged himself up.You have to feel for Porte and Chapeau to Quintana -tremendous ride.
As for Tuesdays stage one would assume That BMC aren't interested in keeping the jersey so it will be over to Sky and Movistar with presumably Sky leading and everyone else following-I doubt if anyone wants to go all-in so soon. Seeing what awaits on Stage 20 Quintana,Landa and Bardet can not afford to lose any more time and Nibali has to be a little disappointed,going downhill may turn out to be just as important as going uphill.
AS for Tuesdays stage anything could happen -It could be follow my leader and equally Sky may decide to inflict some pain just to see what effect sundays stage has had on the GC contenders domestics.An interesting week awaits, though I still expect it to be close at the next Rest Day.

 

[fauniera]

Re:

movistar doesn't have a proper team resource to do a massive drilling work since valverde is not a guy, who's willing to completety sacrifice his chances for the team.

First Amador and then Soler will drive a hard pace on Romme, i guess. Nairo to attack on Colombiere, ideally together with Landa.

Glieres is a great climb, but a long way before the final. Still, it might be worth it to try out an attack with Landa or Valverde.

 

[Jspear]

GT will be in yellow. The GC riders will crest the climb together. Nibali will get a small gap, Valverde will win in the end. The GC riders will all be close to each other.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

All of the GC-contenders are unhurt and in with a shot for the overall still, apart from Porte obviously. Its pretty incredible to think about after these first 9 stages and with so many GC-riders (around 20 or so, maybe even more?) The biggest names which have lost time are TJ, Bernal and Latour.

The Alps can only be good..

It's incredible that most GC contenders are still within '30-1'00 of eachother indeed. Basically the bad luck of Froome early on negated their TTT advantage. And then Uran and Dumoulin who looked to have the advantage after that were thrown back because of bad luck so it's all even again.

Only if you count Thomas and Jungels as real contenders then they have a slight lead on everyone else.

it also shows that the TTT and cobbled stages don't add much to the race for GC.

 

[movingtarget]

Movistar and Bardet's team have to start applying pressure to Dumoulin and Froome on this stage. Last year it was just too easy for Froome to be ridden back to the bunch when he did get in some bother and when Uran was so passive and Bardet's team wasn't getting much assistance from other teams.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Re: Re:

All of the GC-contenders are unhurt and in with a shot for the overall still, apart from Porte obviously. Its pretty incredible to think about after these first 9 stages and with so many GC-riders (around 20 or so, maybe even more?) The biggest names which have lost time are TJ, Bernal and Latour.

The Alps can only be good..

It's incredible that most GC contenders are still within '30-1'00 of eachother indeed. Basically the bad luck of Froome early on negated their TTT advantage. And then Uran and Dumoulin who looked to have the advantage after that were thrown back because of bad luck so it's all even again.

Only if you count Thomas and Jungels as real contenders then they have a slight lead on everyone else.

it also shows that the TTT and cobbled stages don't add much to the race for GC.

The cobbles are riveting regardless of whether or not they shake up the GC. A TTT is guaranteed to impact the GC but is numbingly boring. Cobbles all the way.

 

[Koronin]

With Landa banged up, I'd expect him to just sit on wheels on Tuesday. Quintana SHOULD try something on the final climb. I would HOPE that Nibali and Valverde would try to attack over the top and into the descent. They are the best of the descenders and could put some time into everyone else. If they come together as a group Valverde could end up putting a few seconds into the rest with his sprint.

 

[Robert5091]

Bernal at 18 minutes down will be interesting to follow now. Plus how does Yates plan to gain time?

 

[bambino]

Re:

Bernal at 18 minutes down will be interesting to follow now. Plus how does Yates plan to gain time?

If you think young boy leading the train up to mountains until he cracks is interesting.... because that is where Bernal's place now is after the chase for White is more or less gone. Sky isn't exactly famous on allowing stage hunting in GT's, not with 9 riders and probably even less with 8.

 

[skippo12]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

If Froome is showing any weakness they have to go for the killing blow. We all watched the Giro and saw what happened. Opponents could have easily gained time on him in the first two weeks but focused on each other...Froome made them regret that decision later on.
Movistar needs to go all out from the very beginning to test him. Same for Bahrain-Merida. Both teams have the numbers to bury Froome if he isn´t at 100%.

 

[bambino]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

If Froome is showing any weakness they have to go for the killing blow. We all watched the Giro and saw what happened. Opponents could have easily gained time on him in the first two weeks but focused on each other...Froome made them regret that decision later on.
Movistar needs to go all out from the very beginning to test him. Same for Bahrain-Merida. Both teams have the numbers to bury Froome if he isn´t at 100%.

Agree. Movi should make their move already tomorrow given Nibali will probably struggle after rest days as he normally does.

 

[The Barb]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

Seems about 50-50 breakaway or GC guys to me. I would usually say the break more likely but the lack of success for the breaks at the Giro has made me a little gun shy. Still, I don't see many teams motivated to chase, especially given what is coming up.

I would expect Caruso (9 mins down) and Van Garderen (6 mins down) to have a go now they have no Porte to support (and surely BMC won't try to hold yellow for GVA).

 

[dacooley]

I have a higher hope for Bahrain rather than Movistar. Landa quite heavily hit the deck and needs some time to heal his wounds. I don't remember Valverde launching any serious attack while being a gc relevant rider in the tour for many many years. Quintana is not suited to that kind of finales since he prefers to explode when a stage finishes uphill. Most likely it is going to be a gc reconnaissance stage. there is too much climbing to come yet.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

If Froome is showing any weakness they have to go for the killing blow. We all watched the Giro and saw what happened. Opponents could have easily gained time on him in the first two weeks but focused on each other...Froome made them regret that decision later on.
Movistar needs to go all out from the very beginning to test him. Same for Bahrain-Merida. Both teams have the numbers to bury Froome if he isn´t at 100%.

Agree. Movi should make their move already tomorrow given Nibali will probably struggle after rest days as he normally does.

What's normally?
Because last year he was 3rd in the long Vuelta ITT after a rest day and won the double Stelvio stage in the Giro after a rest day.

 

[Kazistuta]

Re:

GT will be in yellow. The GC riders will crest the climb together. Nibali will get a small gap, Valverde will win in the end. The GC riders will all be close to each other.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[bambino]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

If Froome is showing any weakness they have to go for the killing blow. We all watched the Giro and saw what happened. Opponents could have easily gained time on him in the first two weeks but focused on each other...Froome made them regret that decision later on.
Movistar needs to go all out from the very beginning to test him. Same for Bahrain-Merida. Both teams have the numbers to bury Froome if he isn´t at 100%.

Agree. Movi should make their move already tomorrow given Nibali will probably struggle after rest days as he normally does.

What's normally?
Because last year he was 3rd in the long Vuelta ITT after a rest day and won the double Stelvio stage in the Giro after a rest day.

Need to admit I had much more a feeling that he has been struggling after rest than it seems per the latest results. Giro 2016 and Tour 2015 he was losing though quite significantly after rest days, but wasn't the Giro something to do with stomache problems?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

After the disappointment on yesterday's cobbles stage, let's hope this one delivers.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

Need to admit I had much more a feeling that he has been struggling after rest than it seems per the latest results. Giro 2016 and Tour 2015 he was losing though quite significantly after rest days, but wasn't the Giro something to do with stomache problems?

In the 2016 Giro the rest day came after the abysmal MTT. Nibali attacked a lot at the beginning of the stage to Andalo but was later dropped for good. Surely a bad performance, but I wouldn't say his problem was the rest day.

The stage to PSM in the 2015 Tour was probably his worst performance in a GT ever. Wether he sucked because of the rest day or a general lack of shape is debatable. He didn't look particularly good in the next few stages either (compared to his 3rd week results).

 

[spalco]

Pretty serious mountain stage for the Tour, and right after a rest day, and even if it's not a MTF, the GC picture should get a bit more clear here.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Re: Le Tour 2018 stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 158,5 k

I would think it depends on how Landa is feeling whether Movistar hammer it through the stage. Quintana needs to attack, whether its tomorrow, I'm not sure, he needs to make up time plus extra, with the ITT later. Froome and Thomas are probably seeing who they need to keep an eye on through the mountain stages as there is probably only Doumo who can cause them problems in the ITT. If SKY hammer it tomorrow, then we'll all know they mean business and the rest need to up their game. Such a lottery, I'll go for Valverde to win a GC sprint.

 

[Bolder]

If this was the Giro or Vuelta, they'd end the stage at the summit of Colombiere.

Don't underestimate this week at all. It's going to be hot as hell in the Alps, with temperatures in the valleys well over 30.

That said, the AdH stage looks like the crux to me, so unless someone like Quintana has amazing "sensations" tomorrow, we'll see all the GC riders together at the end.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

After the disappointment on yesterday's cobbles stage, let's hope this one delivers.

Wait, what disappointment?