Le Tour 2018 stage 17: BDL to Saint-Lary-Soulan 65k

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ruamruam said:
Hugo Koblet said:
Brian Holm says in an interview that Alaphilippe stopped and wanted to wait for Yates yesterday when the latter crashed, but Holm afsked if he was crazy and told him to continue riding :D
He did slow down when he was passing the point where Yates crashed.
Thats the point, Holm said he was crazy and should continue and win the stage instead of that nonsense 'sportmanship'
 
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woodburn said:
So the leaders wait until the last climb? Big help for Dumoulin and Thomas.

I expect that there will at least be some action on the next climb. If they wait until the final climb they might as well just give up on podium spots. Dumoulin might sit in and hope to get some time on Thomas on the last climb but the rest surely have to try something.
 
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loge1884 said:
hrotha said:
burning said:
Abarca sent Valverde to the front, lets wait a bit until crucifying them today
They've said they're merely fighting for the team classification, so I don't see how Valverde doing exactly that invalidates my reply to someone saying that Sky is to blame for Movistar doing what they always do: prioritize the team classification over everything else.

why would you blame someone (Sky) for the shortcoming of someone else (Movistar)?


I think most people are blaming SKY for killing the excitement of the race. When you have a massive budget and sketchy methods that looks very much like doping, people won't like you. And especially since they are calling everyone idiots because they can't see how clean they are...
 
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ontheroad said:
woodburn said:
So the leaders wait until the last climb? Big help for Dumoulin and Thomas.

I expect that there will at least be some action on the next climb. If they wait until the final climb they might as well just give up on podium spots. Dumoulin might sit in and hope to get some time on Thomas on the last climb but the rest surely have to try something.

If Bordet and Roglič does not try today, I'll be very disappointed.
 
Apr 1, 2013
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DFA123 said:
MikeTichondrius said:
IndianCyclist said:
Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.
Movistar and not really the ones losing out by being passive in this stage. It seems highly dubious that either Quintana or Landa have the ability to deliver based on current form, whatever their tactics may be.

Dumoulin or Bardet on the other hand, have shown they can stay with and possibly trouble the Sky duo. So why are their teams being quite so passive? Surely the onus is on them to be creating chaos - not Movistar.

you are right .... but who at Sunweb or AG2R (apart of the leaders themselves) would be able to create any kind of threat to Sky?
 
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Walkman said:
ontheroad said:
woodburn said:
So the leaders wait until the last climb? Big help for Dumoulin and Thomas.

I expect that there will at least be some action on the next climb. If they wait until the final climb they might as well just give up on podium spots. Dumoulin might sit in and hope to get some time on Thomas on the last climb but the rest surely have to try something.

If Bordet and Roglič does not try today, I'll be very disappointed.

I expect an attack from Bardet. Roglic is a great time trialist. He is not the one who has to attack. Especially considering a top5 would be a great achievment in his first real GC try.
 
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loge1884 said:
DFA123 said:
MikeTichondrius said:
IndianCyclist said:
Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.
Movistar and not really the ones losing out by being passive in this stage. It seems highly dubious that either Quintana or Landa have the ability to deliver based on current form, whatever their tactics may be.

Dumoulin or Bardet on the other hand, have shown they can stay with and possibly trouble the Sky duo. So why are their teams being quite so passive? Surely the onus is on them to be creating chaos - not Movistar.

you are right .... but who at Sunweb or AG2R (apart of the leaders themselves) would be able to create any kind of threat to Sky?

Yes, unfortunately AG2R is nowhere near its last years form...
 
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loge1884 said:
DFA123 said:
MikeTichondrius said:
IndianCyclist said:
Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.
Movistar and not really the ones losing out by being passive in this stage. It seems highly dubious that either Quintana or Landa have the ability to deliver based on current form, whatever their tactics may be.

Dumoulin or Bardet on the other hand, have shown they can stay with and possibly trouble the Sky duo. So why are their teams being quite so passive? Surely the onus is on them to be creating chaos - not Movistar.

you are right .... but at in Sunweb or AG2R (apart of the leaders themselves) would be able to create any kind of threat to Sky?
I'd have thought at the very least Sunweb domestiques could set a hard enough pace on the climb to get rid of Rowe, and maybe put Castroviejo and Kwiatkowski in difficulty.

Or AG2R could send half the team up the road, with the idea of Bardet bridging on descent of the Azet.

Dumoulin or Bardet could even try to do something useful themselves. Attack straight out of the gun - it was 7% straight away - even if you're wasting a bit of energy, you can set a pace which eliminates some Sky domestiques right from the start.
 
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
the last climb is way too hard (16km at 9%) to have your leader attack alone vs sky train on first climb.

Exactly this. Why would Dumoulin exhaust himself to disrupt the Sky riders at the expense of his own chances in GC because that is what he would do.
 
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The Hitch said:
With the possible exception of the first week of 2014 (before Froome and then Contador crashed out), when was the last moment in TDF history that you didn't know who (or at least which team) was going to win the Tour?

I think it was at some point of the second Galibier ascent in 2011.
Stage 12 last year I thought that Aru could win, only for him to blow up completely in the final week
 
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Zoophonic said:
Dekker_Tifosi said:
the last climb is way too hard (16km at 9%) to have your leader attack alone vs sky train on first climb.

Exactly this. Why would Dumoulin exhaust himself to disrupt the Sky riders at the expense of his own chances in GC because that is what he would do.
None of these riders are going to be exhausted by a two hour stage.

The Sky train has controlled and constricted the race for 7 years now. If you want to win you have to disrupt it somehow - and this short stage, with the grid start and immediate climbing, has offered a unique opportunity. Yet those best placed in the GC have tried nothing.