Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[topcat]

Surely you don't think Froome and his support would have been beaten

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Surely you don't think Froome and his support would have been beaten

That I agree!
But I don't have much faith in Thomas this year.

 

[perico]

Re:

Surely you don't think Froome and his support would have been beaten

Nobody's unbeatable, even in years where the overwhelming favorite focuses solely on the TdF.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Surely you don't think Froome and his support would have been beaten

That I agree!
But I don't have much faith in Thomas this year.

Everything went smoothly for Thomas last year. No crashes, Dumo and Froome had done the Giro, Roglic is still inexperienced over three weeks and Thomas was in the form of his life. Really it was a year that riders like Quintana and Bardet also should have done well in and of course Porte was gone in the second week. They get another chance this year if they are good enough with Froome out, Dumo questionable and Thomas having some issues.

 

[AlexNYC]

Not a good start for Movistar by any means, but Nairo in 2015 form would not be too concerned. It seems futile to keep hoping that that version of Quintana will make an appearance, but I guess it’s still possible with all the backloaded mountain stages this year.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Quintana sprinted for bonus seconds today, unfortunately at the wrong place.

 

[Koronin]

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

I agree with you. But why sprint for seconds at the top of a climb and then just give them right back?

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

I agree with you. But why sprint for seconds at the top of a climb and then just give them right back?

The whole ordeal just seems to be wasting energy he might need later in the race.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

I agree with you. But why sprint for seconds at the top of a climb and then just give them right back?

The whole ordeal just seems to be wasting energy he might need later in the race.

Agreed. The last time we saw him climbing in a race he got dropped by Tejay Van Garderen. I happen to like Tejay, but even an inform Tejay should not be dropping him on a climb. I agree that he's definitely wasting energy for no reason at all. Wonder if he's worried that Landa is in better form?

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

I agree with you. But why sprint for seconds at the top of a climb and then just give them right back?

The whole ordeal just seems to be wasting energy he might need later in the race.

Agreed. The last time we saw him climbing in a race he got dropped by Tejay Van Garderen. I happen to like Tejay, but even an inform Tejay should not be dropping him on a climb. I agree that he's definitely wasting energy for no reason at all. Wonder if he's worried that Landa is in better form?

Quintana is such a mysterious character, tough to get a read on him. I didn’t like what I saw from Tejay today. Seemed a little far back.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Quintana sprints for bonuses seconds and then loses more than what he sprinted for at the end of the stage with the time gap to where Bernal ended up.

Those few seconds likely won’t matter in the end but, jeez.

I agree with you. But why sprint for seconds at the top of a climb and then just give them right back?

The whole ordeal just seems to be wasting energy he might need later in the race.

Agreed. The last time we saw him climbing in a race he got dropped by Tejay Van Garderen. I happen to like Tejay, but even an inform Tejay should not be dropping him on a climb. I agree that he's definitely wasting energy for no reason at all. Wonder if he's worried that Landa is in better form?

Quintana is such a mysterious character, tough to get a read on him. I didn’t like what I saw from Tejay today. Seemed a little far back.[/quote]


With Tejay, remember he is there is support of Uran and he likely put in huge turns yesterday in the TTT while being one of the 4 to finish together for the time. If he needed to save some energy today, that was more than acceptable for him to do. Uran is going to need him more in the high mountains than in a stage like today.

I've thought Quintana has needed a chance of teams for awhile, however, at this point I'm not entirely sure even that by it's self would be enough. I agree he's hard to get a real read on.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Maybe he was just testing his legs and letting all the others know he's still around. Early doors yet.

 

[AlexNYC]

Pretty good today I think. Hoping he’s going for a second half peak ala 2015.

 

[Scarponi]

Never been a Murito man so it was positive signs

 

[Põhja Konn]

Given what showed (or rather didn't) at the Dauphine, Quintana was the standout performer today. Super steep gradients, specially on rough surface are not his preferred climbing terrain - his more spectacular performances have come on climbs with rather more rideable (and often irregular) gradient. Now, he will lose around 2 minutes in TT to Thomas and is already almost a minute down. That means he needs to show the kind of in-race recovery he was famous for in the early years of his career if he wants to win it. We'll see if that's the case during next two weeks.

 

[Koronin]

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

 

[Simurgh]

Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

In my opinion, we again saw terrible tactics by Movistar and again saw Quintana unable to do anything with what was set up. The only thing they did was show that Ineos isn't invulnerable this year with their train. However, I also think that means we're going to see at lot more breaks win stages. As for Valverde, he looks like he doesn't really want to be there.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

In my opinion, we again saw terrible tactics by Movistar and again saw Quintana unable to do anything with what was set up. The only thing they did was show that Ineos isn't invulnerable this year with their train. However, I also think that means we're going to see at lot more breaks win stages. As for Valverde, he looks like he doesn't really want to be there.

This seems like an opinion you have formed before the race, as nothing of what he did today really suggested that. But not much surprise there.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

In my opinion, we again saw terrible tactics by Movistar and again saw Quintana unable to do anything with what was set up. The only thing they did was show that Ineos isn't invulnerable this year with their train. However, I also think that means we're going to see at lot more breaks win stages. As for Valverde, he looks like he doesn't really want to be there.

This seems like an opinion you have formed before the race, as nothing of what he did today really suggested that. But not much surprise there.

Not just today, just the way he's raced and positioning in other stages as well. Before today's stage Movistar posted a short video which most of their riders were around the team bus while Bala was sitting at a table with several riders from other teams talking. Didn't really take any impressions from that other than finding it interesting.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

In my opinion, we again saw terrible tactics by Movistar and again saw Quintana unable to do anything with what was set up. The only thing they did was show that Ineos isn't invulnerable this year with their train. However, I also think that means we're going to see at lot more breaks win stages. As for Valverde, he looks like he doesn't really want to be there.

This seems like an opinion you have formed before the race, as nothing of what he did today really suggested that. But not much surprise there.

Valverde pulled for less than 4 minutes in total on the last climb, and it was over 2.5 minutes between Valverde pulling over after his last pull and Landa's attack.

If that was the setup, they should rethink the tactics

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

He wasted the efforts of his team today is the only thing I saw.

I don't know - he did well considering the question marks regarding his form and that steep walls like the end aren't his strong suit. The Landa attack was as much tactics as it was him getting an opportunity. Valverde in domestique duty, he would perhaps do better if not, but since the stage win was all but sure to be decided by the breakaway, a top 10 placing doesn't matter for Valverde. Whatever energy expended today by Movistar, it won't affect them in the rest of the Tour, I'm sure.

In my opinion, we again saw terrible tactics by Movistar and again saw Quintana unable to do anything with what was set up. The only thing they did was show that Ineos isn't invulnerable this year with their train. However, I also think that means we're going to see at lot more breaks win stages. As for Valverde, he looks like he doesn't really want to be there.

This seems like an opinion you have formed before the race, as nothing of what he did today really suggested that. But not much surprise there.

Valverde pulled for less than 4 minutes in total on the last climb, and it was over 2.5 minutes between Valverde pulling over after his last pull and Landa's attack.

If that was the setup, they should rethink the tactics

That has hardly anything to do with wether or not Valverde wants to be in the race, which was what I was talking about.

 

[Blanco]

Tactics were ok, they wanted to see where other teams and favorites are. Landa tried, didn't lose time, it's ok. Valverde lose some, but he's not riding for the GC anyway, so ok again. Quintana finished with the favorites, ok also. They exposed Ineos a bit, so that's another good thing. All in all, not a bad performance.