Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[perico]

I am in agreement with Lance Armstrong (of all people). Kwiatkowski wasn't dropped today before making contact. Brailsford/Portal told him to wait for Froome. If they had allowed him to join the group Landa would be in yellow tonight with a minute lead over Nairo. Instead Kaiatkowski dropped back and worked with froome. Otherwise he would've been no help to Froome.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

I am in agreement with Lance Armstrong (of all people). Kwiatkowski wasn't dropped today before making contact. Brailsford/Portal told him to wait for Froome. If they had allowed him to join the group Landa would be in yellow tonight with a minute lead over Nairo. Instead Kaiatkowski dropped back and worked with froome. Otherwise he would've been no help to Froome.

I don't think that Kwiatkowski would have made that big of a difference (The Froome group didn't work all that well together with him in it anyway, so the difference would have just been the extra speed in the breakaway group). Still, Landa, Quintana (and Contador!) would probably be around 40-50 seconds better off on GC imo.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I am in agreement with Lance Armstrong (of all people). Kwiatkowski wasn't dropped today before making contact. Brailsford/Portal told him to wait for Froome. If they had allowed him to join the group Landa would be in yellow tonight with a minute lead over Nairo. Instead Kaiatkowski dropped back and worked with froome. Otherwise he would've been no help to Froome.

I don't think that Kwiatkowski would have made that big of a difference (The Froome group didn't work all that well together with him in it anyway, so the difference would have just been the extra speed in the breakaway group). Still, Landa, Quintana (and Contador!) would probably be around 40-50 seconds better off on GC imo.

Had he worked for Landa on that descent and Froome had no one to work with I think he would've made a much bigger difference. Maybe not a minute lead, but enough. An extra 40-50 seconds would've put him within 20 seconds of the lead.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Okay. let me rephrase it. I THINK Landa would have won the Giro had Astana realised from the start he was as strong or stronger than Aru and let him ride his own race. No certainties here, obviously.

I agree with you

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

I want Landa to go rogue. But that wouldn't be smart of him, since if it went south, he'd have a hard time finding a good team next year.

Is his next team not already signed and sealed? Trek Segafredo would be good.

why? because he went on one attack with Bertie?

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

I want Landa to go rogue. But that wouldn't be smart of him, since if it went south, he'd have a hard time finding a good team next year.

Is his next team not already signed and sealed? Trek Segafredo would be good.

why? because he went on one attack with Bertie?

Because Bertie has one foot out the door already, and because anyone would pick Landa over Mollema.

Only issue could be if Contador and Landa both want sole Giro leadership, which is probably the case.

I don't see it happening though. Landa should have a decent number of teams who want him, depending on his salary demands. If he does great in the other two mountain stages and shows one of the best climbers in the Tour after riding the Giro, he's gonna drown in offers.

 

[ontheroad]

The obvious tactic from sky from here on in would be to send Landa off the front and on the attack, have the others chase him down with Froome wheel sucking and then counter attacking. This will only work if the other teams are short of dom's to lead the chase which is likely to be the case in the big stages on the Alps. Deep down I don't think sky will want Landa to win the race since he is leaving at the end of the season. Therefore if he attacks I think the other teams should give him a bit of rope as it will play with Froome's head seeing his team mate go up the road and very likely into yellow. If Landa went into yellow with a small lead of < 30 seconds it wouldn't be the worst result in the world for the other teams as it will create more friction within sky.

The other dynamic is for Froome to wheel suck all the way to the penultimate stage knowing that he will likely have enough in the tank to win it in the TT. Aru and Bardet know that they need to attack Froome at some stage to stand a chance of winning the race. Aru seems up for the fight and played clever tactics yesterday considering how isolated he was. However now he has 2 sky riders to worry about.

 

[Red Rick]

I hope for Landa to join a move with Contador and Quintana on the Croix de Fer.

 

[MovistarRider]

Gained something like 20+ seconds on Aru it seems..how good is he?

 

[Forever The Best]

Now that Froome is in yellow he'll be in the train for Froome and pull the attackers back instead of attacking them. He must be disappointed today.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

Gained something like 20+ seconds on Aru it seems..how good is he?

Now that froome is again in Yellow, his tour is over

 

[JRanton]

Now back in your box Señor and take your place in the train.

 

[laurensde+]

No more indo, gin, and juice.

 

[silvergrenade]

Now back in your box Señor and take your place in the train.

I dont think Froome will want him to sit at the front and ride in the wind..
Either he attacks or just follows moves.

 

[spalco]

I really doubt Brailsford likes Froome enough to risk Sky's chances at winning by ruining Landa's race. I would rather take him as somebody who'd just unemotionally drop Froome if necessary and look for a new Tour contender next year, maybe a French one as he's suggested in the past.

If Landa's actually strong enough, he'll still get his shot imo.

 

[Hayabusa]

Landa just needs a free role next week. No need for Sky to control him as if he goes up the road, it's going to put pressure on Aru/Bardet/Uran.

 

[Escarabajo]

Back to the train. Cho-Choooo!!!

 

[jsem94]

I hope this still allows Landa free reign, it would put pressure on the other teams to chase and we don't have to see a train. But they do seem to like trains so...

 

[KyoGrey]

Back to the train...till Wednesday when he follows Contador's wheel along Quintana in the Telegraphe.

Now, being serious I thing it may depend on what team has he signed with. If he has already signed with Movistar or any other team, he will go rogue. If he still has the option to resign with Sky, maybe not.

Apparently the informations that confirm him signing with Movistar are incorrect. There is no compromise, his caché is going up and up this past weeks.

 

[KyoGrey]

Also, if Sky thinks that Landa will be a conventional domestique to burn himself before some km's to go, they are wrong.

Team leader is Froome, but Mikel it's not stupid: he is top-5 in the Tour de France with a minute time to the leader and this occassions may well happen once in a lifetime.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Also, if Sky thinks that Landa will be a conventional domestique to burn himself before some km's to go, they are wrong.

Team leader is Froome, but Mikel it's not stupid: he is top-5 in the Tour de France with a minute time to the leader and this occassions may well happen once in a lifetime.

...like Vino thought, and Ulle/Kloden did the chasing. Remember?

He's not stupid, but he's stuck in a deal that spells: you're a dom. He signed up with Sky...there was an understanding. Like De Las Cuevas with Banesto in a way. Foreigner in a team, sponsors don't want you sharing the headlines. Shut up and pedal...sad but true.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Also, if Sky thinks that Landa will be a conventional domestique to burn himself before some km's to go, they are wrong.

Team leader is Froome, but Mikel it's not stupid: he is top-5 in the Tour de France with a minute time to the leader and this occassions may well happen once in a lifetime.

...like Vino thought, and Ulle/Kloden did the chasing. Remember?

He's not stupid, but he's stuck in a deal that spells: you're a dom. He signed up with Sky...there was an understanding. Like De Las Cuevas with Banesto in a way. Foreigner in a team, sponsors don't want you sharing the headlines. Shut up and pedal...sad but true.

Yes, like with Kloden having to ride for Vino at Astana when he was better placed in the gc and had better legs. But we don't even know if the latter will be true for Landa and Froome in the alps.

 

[gregrowlerson]

An interesting article about Sky's tactics on stage 13.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/blog/2017/07/15/how-did-sky-fail-reclaim-yellow-jersey

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

An interesting article about Sky's tactics on stage 13.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/blog/2017/07/15/how-did-sky-fail-reclaim-yellow-jersey

Good article although it's nonsnese that kwiat and froome worked because they were afraid of Quintana. If that was the case landa wouldn't have pulled the leading group and had tried to win the stage instead.

 

[KyoGrey]

Re: Re:

Also, if Sky thinks that Landa will be a conventional domestique to burn himself before some km's to go, they are wrong.

Team leader is Froome, but Mikel it's not stupid: he is top-5 in the Tour de France with a minute time to the leader and this occassions may well happen once in a lifetime.

...like Vino thought, and Ulle/Kloden did the chasing. Remember?

He's not stupid, but he's stuck in a deal that spells: you're a dom. He signed up with Sky...there was an understanding. Like De Las Cuevas with Banesto in a way. Foreigner in a team, sponsors don't want you sharing the headlines. Shut up and pedal...sad but true.

We'll see. I not saying is a given that he will look also for himself in the Alps, but if race circumstances deal him good cards in his hands, he can take the chance for sure.

And to be honest, given the stellar form that Kwiatkowski is in (wasted by Sky stage after stage, of course), Froome may even never need Landa to pace himself to victory.

Not sure if the De las Cuevas - Banesto is the best example of loyal domestique.