Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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May 22, 2014
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Not enough legs. They might miss out on both objectives because of the crazy decision to try double up for form reasons
 
Jul 12, 2012
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He looked absolutely spent when stepping off the bike, going to be tough for him to win from here, plus even tougher to win the Tour going so deep.
 
Nov 7, 2010
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Matteo. said:
He's on a similar level of Tour 2016
Not sure he could have put in that Blockhaus performance during the Tour. He was horrible on Ventoux which was kind of an equivalent time in the race. Maybe the crash is just affecting him more than he's letting on.
 
Feb 20, 2012
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I think Quintana is still affected by the crash, or there was a headwind on the final climb today. Or a bit of both. You don't go from dominating the Blockhaus MTF's to being reeled in by Reichenbach without weird circumstances.

Good that he tried today, I think it failed because he and his teammates just weren't good enough.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Red Rick said:
I think Quintana is still affected by the crash, or there was a headwind on the final climb today. Or a bit of both. You don't go from dominating the Blockhaus MTF's to being reeled in by Reichenbach without weird circumstances.

Good that he tried today, I think it failed because he and his teammates just weren't good enough.

He didn't really dominate Blockhaus though, the others closed quite a few seconds in the last kms. Though obviously he was better there than he was today. I don't know, I think he just doesn't have the form or the physical ability to gain the four minutes he needs in any GT to win the race.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Tbh the course doesn't work in favor either. The climbs seem to be all gradual 6/7/8%. Perfect for Dumoulin.
Apart from Blockhaus there is no climb steep enough. There is no Zoncolan this year, no Mortirolo from the hard side. No big mountain ITT.

Apart from Dumoulin cracking there seems to be no chance. I even think he's not going to finish 2nd. Pinot or Nibali to get him in the ITT.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Escarabajo said:
lenric said:
To be fair, Quintana's public goal was winning the Giro by soft-pedalling over it and peaking for the Tour. Naturally, he's not on peak form and he undervalued his competition.
Raise your hand if anybody was expecting TD to be going like this!

I thought he could win, but not necessarily that he would win. I'm not surprised, but wouldn't have put money on it.
 
Jun 25, 2015
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DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
He's on a similar level of Tour 2016
Not sure he could have put in that Blockhaus performance during the Tour. He was horrible on Ventoux which was kind of an equivalent time in the race. Maybe the crash is just affecting him more than he's letting on.

In my opinion, we overrated him on blockhaus. He attacked by far gaining only 20s on pinot...40s on mollema...not a great result in the end.
 
May 20, 2016
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Tomorrow is the last chance for Quintana to do something in my opinion. He tried today but it just didn't work out and I think it is good that he didn't go all out on the last climb because he would not have gained anything at all (for the effort he would have had to put in) even if he went over the climb first. I think that Movistar is going to make one last big push tomorrow on the last climb and if it doesn't work out then secure 2nd place because there isn't nothing else to do.
 
Nov 7, 2010
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Matteo. said:
DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
He's on a similar level of Tour 2016
Not sure he could have put in that Blockhaus performance during the Tour. He was horrible on Ventoux which was kind of an equivalent time in the race. Maybe the crash is just affecting him more than he's letting on.

In my opinion, we overrated him on blockhaus. He attacked by far gaining only 20s on pinot...40s on mollema...not a great result in the end.
Sure, it wasn't an amazing result. But it is still way better than anything we saw from him in the Tour last year. And much better than we saw from him today. At the Tour he got dropped by the likes of Mollema and Yates at times. At least he's been the main protagonist in the climbs this race.
 
Jun 20, 2015
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Will be interesting what happens at the TDF - Valverde holds his easy season form and it's a suitable parcours for his skill set.
 
Nov 7, 2010
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yaco said:
Will be interesting what happens at the TDF - Valverde holds his easy season form and it's a suitable parcours for his skill set.
They surely will have to start as co-leaders, at least until Quintana shows he is at his best. Valverde's kind of a more interesting opponent for Froome anyway, because there are areas where he can clearly take time back, which isn't necessarily the case with Quintana. It's just that he's also very likely to have a bad day.
 
Sep 1, 2012
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Nairo's form at this Giro is quite comparable to his Tour 2015 one, but he is up against a stronger opponent now. Plus there's lot more TT-ing, automatically increasing his disadvantage. Even if Nairo is bit below that form, he is still much closer to it than to the one shown in last Tour. He is losing the Giro not because he is below par and/or riding cowardly, but because Dumoulin is stronger, more complete rider right now.
 
Mar 31, 2015
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Quintana says he is good, just so is everyone else.

Problem is that no Quintana that we have ever seen would've beaten this dumoulin on a balanced course like this (without the dump, with it he may have been able to). He tried today, but it wasn't enough.
 
Nov 7, 2010
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Põhja Konn said:
Nairo's form at this Giro is quite comparable to his Tour 2015 one, but he is up against a stronger opponent now. Plus there's lot more TT-ing, automatically increasing his disadvantage. Even if Nairo is bit below that form, he is still much closer to it than to the one shown in last Tour. He is losing the Giro not because he is below par and/or riding cowardly, but because Dumoulin is stronger, more complete rider right now.
I think he's significantly below 2015 Tour level, but above 2016 Tour level this Giro. Today, for example, he got closed down quite comfortably by Reichenbach in his big final effort - no way that would have happened in 2015 form. I mean, Reichenbach is a good rider, but he's not that strong.

But then again Quintana is making attacks and animating most of the mountain stages, just without the ability to sustain them properly that he has at his best. And his attacks have at least been a bit more convincing than those efforts he did on Ventoux last year.
 
May 30, 2015
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as concerning to the giro-tour double, i don't believe in theory of a big rider planning to win the giro easily in a canter with the major peak for the tour in mind. the risk of coming to the giro at 80-90% and accidentally 'forget' to take it is too big. you never know for sure, how it is going, who can suddenly strike like TD or Landa and so on. Hoping for the whole field being in an average form is quite laughable. of course any double attempt is delivered as a brave act and an attempt to go pantani's path, but it's always more of a pr stunt. i'm quite assured both nairo and contador lauched a double campaign with the thought 'so first i should do my best to win the giro. and then we'll see what i will manage to show in the tour'. it's the most reasonable approach not to put too much pressure on oneself imo.

as to nairo, sunday's crash clearly seems to be taking a toll on him, otherwise he would've distanced dimoulin, that's for sure.
 
Jul 27, 2009
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I fear he simply ain't got the shape. He tried today as well as in Oropa. No need to criticize him exorbitant anymore. Certainly he tries on & on. It ain't over until it's over!
 
Jun 25, 2015
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Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
He's on a similar level of Tour 2016
Not sure he could have put in that Blockhaus performance during the Tour. He was horrible on Ventoux which was kind of an equivalent time in the race. Maybe the crash is just affecting him more than he's letting on.

In my opinion, we overrated him on blockhaus. He attacked by far gaining only 20s on pinot...40s on mollema...not a great result in the end.
Sure, it wasn't an amazing result. But it is still way better than anything we saw from him in the Tour last year. And much better than we saw from him today. At the Tour he got dropped by the likes of Mollema and Yates at times. At least he's been the main protagonist in the climbs this race.

Anyway,looking his actual shape, l'm pretty confident he'll be near the top in july. I believe he's playing 2016 combo
 
Nov 7, 2010
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Re: Re:

Matteo. said:
DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
DFA123 said:
Matteo. said:
He's on a similar level of Tour 2016
Not sure he could have put in that Blockhaus performance during the Tour. He was horrible on Ventoux which was kind of an equivalent time in the race. Maybe the crash is just affecting him more than he's letting on.

In my opinion, we overrated him on blockhaus. He attacked by far gaining only 20s on pinot...40s on mollema...not a great result in the end.
Sure, it wasn't an amazing result. But it is still way better than anything we saw from him in the Tour last year. And much better than we saw from him today. At the Tour he got dropped by the likes of Mollema and Yates at times. At least he's been the main protagonist in the climbs this race.

Anyway,looking his actual shape, l'm pretty confident he'll be near the top in july. I believe he's playing 2016 combo
Yeah, I think it's definitely going to go one of two ways. Either he'll be absolutely flying at the Tour, or he'll be terrible. Depends I guess whether the Giro gives him a huge training benefit, or whether it just puts him in a hole.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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Quintana clearly didn't seem to have the legs today. He tried twice today (which is a great thing rather than peddling all the way home) and failed miserably. Having said that TD is looking ominous. Didn't seem to be in trouble at all at any point in the race. And of course Nibali is no where near his last year's form. So I think this has TD written all over it with the ITT on Sunday hugely favoring him.
 
Mar 13, 2015
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He tried today, hats off to that. But Dumoulin is really strong, he will need a lot of luck to win this thing. He just needs to keep trying, full gas on Piancavallo and on Monte Grappa already. If Dumoulin cracks, then great. If not, well he tried...
 
Aug 3, 2015
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First time I think Dumoulin is the favourite now. He survived the 2 hardest stages, chapeau!

Still, all Quintana needs is un dia sin from Dumoulin. Can happen to the best of them and happened to him in the Vuelta in 2015, the Grappa stage is pretty similar to the day Aru and Astana cracked him. But its obviously a different Dumoulin, so it will be super hard.
 

rick james

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Sep 2, 2014
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Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
Tbh the course doesn't work in favor either. The climbs seem to be all gradual 6/7/8%. Perfect for Dumoulin.
Apart from Blockhaus there is no climb steep enough. There is no Zoncolan this year, no Mortirolo from the hard side. No big mountain ITT.

Apart from Dumoulin cracking there seems to be no chance. I even think he's not going to finish 2nd. Pinot or Nibali to get him in the ITT.
Oh don't give me that crap, this route is perfect for him he just doesn't have the legs