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

[Bolder]

Once again Alaphilippe is the most interesting rider in the race. He sneaked into the break like a cat there...but I am stunned that not a single Top 10 rider hasn't yet tried to get away from Sky...

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Seriously, no GC rider even trying to get into the break?

Valverde is there.

the poster said GC rider

 

[phanatic]

Re:

One thing is sure, Froome will not pull off an 80km solo

:lol: So vicious.

 

[Escarabajo]

If anyone of the top ten goes, then Luke Rowe will go off to the back. And that won't take too much energy!

 

[Bolder]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

Yep. The lesson so far: 2 leaders (Sky) good, 3 leaders (Movistar) bad.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

Seriously, no GC rider even trying to get into the break?

Valverde is there.

Yeah exactly. It's pretty sad that the only semi relevant rider in the break is 11 in the GC and has show no legs and no interest in the GC at all.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

Movistar and Bahrain battling for the teams classification there I assume

This is what SKY has done to cycling. Well, the other team fighting for a 9th place does not help either.

No, this is what Abarca does to themselves.

Abarca sent Valverde to the front, lets wait a bit until crucifying them today

 

[ppanther92]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

Yep. The lesson so far: 2 leaders (Sky) good, 3 leaders (Movistar) bad.

Or even more simple - Sky good, Movistar bad.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

Yep. The lesson so far: 2 leaders (Sky) good, 3 leaders (Movistar) bad.

Not sure it's anything to do with the numbers, it's about the quality. If Movistar had a leader who was stronger than Sky's two, then I'm sure they would be animating a lot more. But it's pretty clear that Quintana, Landa and especially Valverde, are nowhere near good enough right now to challenge for the overall.

 

[The Hitch]

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.

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

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.

Pretty much, yes.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

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.

 

[loge1884]

Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

must have been some other Movistar team ... the Movistar team present in TdF is set to 'go carefully' (at least that's what I read yesterday in a translated interview with Mikel Landa) ... suppose they have a non-attacking policy for the Tour (actually for some years now, Valverde seems the only one who disrespects that at times)

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

Yep. The lesson so far: 2 leaders (Sky) good, 3 leaders (Movistar) bad.

2 leaders (sky) good. 2 leaders (lotto) good, 3 leaders (movistar) hype only.

 

[happytramp]

The good news... there's less that 60k left.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

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.

That's just bs though. They didn't prioritize the team classification in 2015 or in the Vuelta 2016. This year, if they have decided to do that, which is also dubious imo, then it's simply because their riders are not good enough to win the overall.

 

[woodburn]

So the leaders wait until the last climb? Big help for Dumoulin and Thomas.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

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.

 

[Kwibus]

Not a single team testing the sky doms from the start. We'll not much will happen until the final climb I guess.

 

[loge1884]

Re: Re:

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)?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I cannot take this grid Formula 1 start seriously.

Please stop. 65 km is bad enough (gonna be a great stage Im sure, but because of Col du Portet)

EXPLOSIVE SHORT MOUNTAIN GRID STAGE

 

[ppanther92]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

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.

Sunweb clearly can't. They have Geschke and that was all. AG2R had really bad luck (only 5 riders left), but also are nowhere as good as last year (with 5 riders in the top 30 of the GC) and all 9 rideres in the first 68.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

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

 

[ruamruam]

Re:

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

He did slow down when he was passing the point where Yates crashed.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Wasn't Movistar supposed to make this stage hard???

Logic dictates Movistar is supposed to do a lot of things. They rarely deliver.

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.

Sunweb clearly can't. They have Geschke and that was all. AG2R had really bad luck (only 5 riders left), but also are nowhere as good as last year (with 5 riders in the top 30 of the GC) and all 9 rideres in the first 68.

Well, they have Dumoulin as well, it's not illegal for him to try something straight from the start. This is actually a stage where a leader can actually afford to waste a bit of energy to disrupt a rival's domestiques.