Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[slosada]

So Sky claimed that Nibali did wrong in La Toussuire stage.
It's not only about leaders, it's about GC rivals. Can someone tell me how they distanced Movistar in Zealand? Based on BBC live report, at 15:15 there was a crash, at 15:17 there was an split, I'm not sure if they are related (this is what Unzúe said: "...muchas caídas que han sido las que han roto el pelotón y han provocado que sucediera esto")

Also, later on, in Mende, Froome sucked Quintana's wheel all the way up, just to sprint for the 20th place and gain... 1 sec. (marginal gains or anything goes... for Sky, but don't dare using anything against us because "we will cry loud")

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

So Sky claimed that Nibali did wrong in La Toussuire stage.
It's not only about leaders, it's about GC rivals. Can someone tell me how they distanced Movistar in Zealand? Based on BBC live report, at 15:15 there was a crash, at 15:17 there was an split, I'm not sure if they are related (this is what Unzúe said: "...muchas caídas que han sido las que han roto el pelotón y han provocado que sucediera esto")

Also, later on, in Mende, Froome sucked Quintana's wheel all the way up, just to sprint for the 20th place and gain... 1 sec. (marginal gains or anything goes... for Sky, but don't dare using anything against us because "we will cry loud")

Pretty sure when Movistar and Quintana were in trouble on the Zeeland stage it was because Etixx and Saxo drilled it, Sky actually got blamed for not doing any work in that front group!

 

[Red Rick]

THis is ridiculous. They were on the toughtest climb of the Tour, there were 10 guys left, the race was wide open. Quintana started the Tour to win it, not to show how fair play he is, not to be Froome's butt buddy.

Since when are we all such saints that we can't attack someone because he has a mechanical, it's part of bike racing. Let's get rid of the next part of bike racing. Let's just not attack at all, the yellow jersey might drop.

I would have no problem attack there and I wouldn't cry my eyes about being attacked there either.

 

[Gigs_98]

There are different aspects which are important to win a cycling race. Strength, tactics, bike handling,... but the luck shouldnt be one. If a rider has a mechanical he might have had bad luck and if someone wins because another rider had a mechanical he was simply lucky that he won. If a rider doesnt care about that he should attack but its certainly not a gentleman style.

 

[portugal11]

he looks so weak... much weaker than contador in the tour...

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

he looks so weak... much weaker than contador in the tour...

Don't forget what happened to Contador on stage 3 of the tour. IMO that performance in huy was worse than nairo's today. However I still think he is weak (which is kind of strange to say if you consider that he was the second best GC contender of the day)

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

he looks so weak... much weaker than contador in the tour...

Don't forget what happened to Contador on stage 3 of the tour. IMO that performance in huy was worse than nairo's today. However I still think he is weak (which is kind of strange to say if you consider that he was the second best GC contender of the day)

no way... in the tour, all top guys were in top condition...

 

[TomekA]

He blamed the heat in the post-stage interview. Once again. I don't understand that some people still think that heat is good for him.

 

[Carols]

Ah heat again, he doesn't like heat. Still he looked much weaker than the Nairito I expected. Let's just see how he goes.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Calm down man, Quintana is notoriosuly known for getting better by the stages, not liking the hot AND prefers longer and harder climbs. What I saw today was kinda what I was expecting, alltho it seems pretty extreme when getting dropped by Tom D.

I have no worries and still think he will win. Go Nairo!

 

[Marco Pantani]

He looked fine for me. No worries.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

he looks so weak... much weaker than contador in the tour...

Yeah but where are the other contenders? I didn't see Fabio Aru, nor any of the big riders that did the Tour, outperform him.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

he looks so weak... much weaker than contador in the tour...

Buaaaaaaahh!

He should retire. He is worthless if he is worse than Contador!

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

I cant blame Nairo for what he did. Actually it was a quite a good move.

By taking matters into his own hands he avoided the possibility of losing some seconds to the likes of Froome and he opened up for Valverde who either wasnt intrested or didnt have it today. He isnt at his best on these types of rugged terrain this early.

I wouldnt say anything about his form out of this other than it was a wise move.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

I cant blame Nairo for what he did. Actually it was a quite a good move.

By taking matters into his own hands he avoided the possibility of losing some seconds to the likes of Froome and he opened up for Valverde who either wasnt intrested or didnt have it today. He isnt at his best on these types of rugged terrain this early.

I wouldnt say anything about his form out of this other than it was a wise move.

I think that the move was clever too, but I also think he is pretty weak

 

[NairoQ]

Does anyone know how much time he lost over how much distance after being next to Martin? It looked extreme, as if he went too deep early on, and if he didn't had that final breakdown it wouldn't have looked so bad.

No reason to assume he's worse than other gc contenders for me, this isn't his type of finish and yet he managed to take (some, but looked like it should've been 10s) time. Good day.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Does anyone know how much time he lost over how much distance after being next to Martin? It looked extreme, as if he went too deep early on, and if he didn't had that final breakdown it wouldn't have looked so bad.

No reason to assume he's worse than other gc contenders for me, this isn't his type of finish and yet he managed to take (some, but looked like it should've been 10s) time. Good day.

Its very hard if you just came off from the red and there is 20% section in front of you.wrong gears etc
Otoh he didnt look superb,but we will see how he goes in the mountain stages

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Does anyone know how much time he lost over how much distance after being next to Martin? It looked extreme, as if he went too deep early on, and if he didn't had that final breakdown it wouldn't have looked so bad.

No reason to assume he's worse than other gc contenders for me, this isn't his type of finish and yet he managed to take (some, but looked like it should've been 10s) time. Good day.

The heli shot right before the final k showed at least a 30-35" gap between the front group and the favourites group, so he lost a lot.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

Does anyone know how much time he lost over how much distance after being next to Martin? It looked extreme, as if he went too deep early on, and if he didn't had that final breakdown it wouldn't have looked so bad.

No reason to assume he's worse than other gc contenders for me, this isn't his type of finish and yet he managed to take (some, but looked like it should've been 10s) time. Good day.

The heli shot right before the final k showed at least a 30-35" gap between the front group and the favourites group, so he lost a lot.

I counted 22secs but its possible,that half a minute.

 

[AlexNYC]

What I find very interesting is that Nairo actually went on the attack so early; this is completely unlike him.

Was it planned by the team, so as to give Valverde a leg up closer to the summit? Or did he do it on his own? If the latter, this might be Quintana trying to prevent Valvelde from becoming the sole focus of the team. Piti is probably trying to do just that by exploiting all the early punchy finishes to gain a substantial advantage on Nairo.

 

[Flamin]

"Anoche lo pasé mal, tenía bastante fiebre y una descompensación. Afortunadamente he librado el día. Todos somos seres humanos y hoy me ha tocado a mí pagar los efectos de una fiebre inesperada. De hecho había pensado un par de veces en retirarme de la etapa, pero he tirado de clase. No podía abandonar a mi equipo. Al menos he podido llegar, tras una etapa en la que he estado sufriendo mucho, tratando de seguir ahí, de ayudar... pero no he podido apoyar mucho. Seguimos en carrera, espero recuperarme y ayudar al equipo a seguir luchando".

That explains..

 

[Escarabajo]

If that is true then it would be very impressive. However, I always take what riders say, after they crack, with a grain of salt. Honestly I see very difficult for a rider to ride that kind of stage the day after having had fever.

 

[TomekA]

Oh, fever? So he was not that bad today. But I don't think that he should stay in the race. He is not that strong as he was in the Tour (obvious) and now he is sick. He will finish TOP 10 at best...

 

[ILovecycling]

I think that Nairo's body said stop after first week of Vuelta.He should probably take it easy and go for the Alba stage or abando if he is sick.
He trained hard since winter till july and he doesnt have age to go for double.
Animo Nairoman!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yeah, reports of fever and I must admit that I believe it, he looked downright awful when he crossed the line, it was obvious he didn't feel well at all, as was it he overestimated himself in the bottom of Els Cortals for reasons I cant explain (maybe he'd hoped he would be much better, but what to expect after a day of fever the day before?). The first 10 days have been relatively good for Nairito, he didnt seem that strong, but that was never the goal at these one-short-climb stages, it was to arrive in Andorra without conceding too much and he did that. Unfortunately things like this happen. I must admit he seems kinda fragile since there have several similar reports this year, also one in the Tour if im correct?

Anyways, he states he wants to help the team, but I really dont know about that. Its very limited what he can do for Valverde at this point who at best can grab a podium, but honestly, Quinco can do that as well IF reports were correct about fever, kinda severe. I'll believe them which doesnt mean Valv > Nairo at this point. Simple matter of who is the strongest as it has been the first 11 days which is great to witness compared to the *** going on at Astana. These 2 also seems to be very good friends, obviously there can be some tension from time to time, but I have seen numerous videos with them featuring, several reports etc. Even today I saw a short clip of Valv kissing Quintana on the forehead after telling about the stage: Do I have to say that was adorable? Seemed like father and son.

Anyways, looking forward to seeing if this duo is able to recover. Im hoping one of them is, at least. Especially Nairo for stage 16 - imagine him attacking in the bottom of Cobertoria. If he feels right, there still potentially could be carnage