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Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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Ryo Hazuki said:
if it has to do with weight than explain to me how langeveld goes over cobbles faster than guys 25 kg heavier than him. cobbles is all about placing beforehand. you may lose 10-15 seconds max on a cobbled section but teammates will easily close that.
Yeah sure, compare the master of style and technique on cobbles to Quintana. Yes, Langeveld is light for a cobbles rider, but he also has a lot of power on the flat, and he's still about 15 kgs heavier than Quintana.

It's nonsense to think that the gaps last time came only from crashes, Cancellara was on the front and he turned a small gap into minutes of difference at the finish.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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maltiv said:
That's a worthless argument, that's like saying climbing is not about weight because Ullrich climbed fast...Of course there will always be outliers in a sample, but the point is that the average weight of those who excel on cobbles is much higher than it is for other terrain. You have for example Cancellara (82 kgs), Boonen (81 kgs), Hushovd (82 kgs), Pozzato (77 kgs), Vanmarcke (77 kgs) and so on.

If Quintana loses 10-15 seconds on a cobbled section then it's over for him, because there's no way anyone on Movistar can close that gap while guys like Cancellara are riding on the front.

of course quintana won't lose 10-15 seconds to cancellara if he is working for andy, andy can't go that fast over them either. the tour favorites none will be significantly better on cobbles compared to each other
 
Ryo Hazuki said:
how do you know? that didn't happen in 2010 either
every GC guy will be badly placed at some point. Unless you're the one pulling the peloton, at every sector start the peloton shrinks and who's not used to cobbles will just care about staying upright. I'm not meaning everyone will fall. I mean everyone could be caught in a crash, depending when it will happen. Lottery, as I said.
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Eshnar said:
every GC guy will be badly placed at some point. Unless you're the one pulling the peloton, at every sector start the peloton shrinks and who's not used to cobbles will just care about staying upright. I'm not meaning everyone will fall. I mean everyone could be caught in a crash, depending when it will happen. Lottery, as I said.

yes it will be a lottery, so that's why I don't understand people thinking quintana will waste his tour his and not froome, contador or others. can happen to anyone, even specialists
 
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The Hitch said:
Anyone one else remember when last year Ryo said that its possible for Henao to win Paris Roubaix and very likely that he would win Ronde van Vlanderen before his career was over

I don't think his posts on Colombians and cobbles are to be taken seriously

I never said henao could win roubaix but I said he could win flanders. not that he would. you aging brain is failing you I'm afraid.
 
Aug 16, 2011
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I could see the cobbles proving either to be very bad for Quintana or not too bad that he can't handle himself and stay in contention. It's a mystery though which of those will happen as riding the cobbles is probably the most unpredictable part of road cycling.

Given the mystery of how Quintana actually handles cobbles and how one slip up on them could doom his race, I am hoping he decides to go Giro-Vuelta.
 
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Afrank said:
I could see the cobbles proving either to be very bad for Quintana or not too bad that he can't handle himself and stay in contention. It's a mystery though which of those will happen as riding the cobbles is probably the most unpredictable part of road cycling.

Given the mystery of how Quintana actually handles cobbles and how one slip up on them could doom his race, I am hoping he decides to go Giro-Vuelta.

I think he would win either Giro and or Vuelta but at the same time I can't see him passing up the opportunity to win the Tour. He will also be strongly encouraged to ride the Tour :)
 
maltiv said:
But he'll probably lose a lot of time on the cobbles. I fear that stage could put him completely out of contention.

Quintana's pretty savvy and will be focused on being in the best position possible to avoid that happening. If I recall the same expectation was there for Contador in 2009 and the only thing that caused him to lose time was Frank Schleck crashing out of the Tour in front of him. He was in excellent position to not surrender any time at that moment.
 
Jul 19, 2010
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with 54km ITT, Quintana should just focus on Giro. He can take Evan or Porte better than his chances to take Froome. I don't see next year TDF is for Quintana. He can help valverde again for TDF2014. I hope movistar won't put quintana's egg on one TDF only basket.
 
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Jelantik said:
with 54km ITT, Quintana should just focus on Giro. He can take Evan or Porte better than his chances to take Froome. I don't see next year TDF is for Quintana. He can help valverde again for TDF2014. I hope movistar won't put quintana's egg on one TDF only basket.

How are Piti's chances any better than Quintana's?
 
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Contadoraus Schlecks said:
I think he would win either Giro and or Vuelta but at the same time I can't see him passing up the opportunity to win the Tour. He will also be strongly encouraged to ride the Tour :)

The only problem with going for the Tour win though is he's not heading into it as the #1 favorite for the win (that will be Froome), there will be question marks on how he will handle the cobbles, and if he can't put big time on Froome by Hautacam (Will probably need at least 2 minutes if not more) Froome will take time on him in the TT.

Based on those I would consider him in with a much better shot at the top step in the Giro and Vuelta.
 

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