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Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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Re:

SeriousSam said:
Quintana is very unlikely to win the Tour, but will he have the dubious pleasure of being the strongest climber of the Tour without winning it? Thus far, Froome has equaled or beat him on every occasion.

By my count, he lost 11 seconds at MdH, 63 seconds at PTM and 1 second after the Mende climb for a total of 75 seconds.

If he can gain more than 75 seconds in the Alps through climbing, he would be the strongest climber of the Tour.
The funny thing is that everybody is talking about the "La Pierre St. Martin" stage although the situation of the gc would be hardly different without it.
 
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Mr.White said:
Arredondo said:
hfer07 said:
Arredondo said:
hfer07 said:
now going back to the topic - and Valverde :rolleyes:

Well, Bala is hardly doing any tactics to break the Sky train. He put in some small attacks on Pierre Saint Martin and Plateau de Beille, but with reserve. He just rides for himself. And that's completely logical and acceptable imo. The guy won LBL and FW this season, and is the number 1 on the WT-ranking. He sees there is a chance of finally achieving that podium spot. He never thought that after last years disaster.

A big champion like Valverde has to ride for himself. That's why he's hardly doing anything for Quintana, or to break Froome. And don't expect a long range attack (let's say on Allos, Glandon or Croix de Fer) in order to put Froome under pressure in favour of Quintana and thereby screwing his podium chances.

check once more those two words you wrote: "with reserve" ;)
If Vala was riding his very own race discarding Quintana's leadership-then he could have gone for stage wins very early & attacked without stopping to check on Nairito....

Everything else I completely agree with you-in addition to that- I truly believe Unzué would cream his pants having Alejandro on the podium :D

That would be suicide for Bala. He's not the guy to attack from 10 km out and holding off Froome. He just has to follow the best and doing a really strong last km.

Yet I saw him many times attacking from 10,20,30 km or even more, little confusing.. :confused:

In the Tour against Froome? :confused:
 
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Re:

SeriousSam said:
Quintana is very unlikely to win the Tour, but will he have the dubious pleasure of being the strongest climber of the Tour without winning it? Thus far, Froome has equaled or beat him on every occasion.

By my count, he lost 11 seconds at MdH, 63 seconds at PTM and 1 second after the Mende climb for a total of 75 seconds.

If he can gain more than 75 seconds in the Alps through climbing, he would be the strongest climber of the Tour.
I dont think we can include Mur and Croix nueve into a 'climber' ability.3km is not a mountain :D
But I understand what was your point ;)
 
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Arredondo said:
Mr.White said:
hfer07 said:
Arredondo said:
hfer07 said:
now going back to the topic - and Valverde :rolleyes:

Well, Bala is hardly doing any tactics to break the Sky train. He put in some small attacks on Pierre Saint Martin and Plateau de Beille, but with reserve. He just rides for himself. And that's completely logical and acceptable imo. The guy won LBL and FW this season, and is the number 1 on the WT-ranking. He sees there is a chance of finally achieving that podium spot. He never thought that after last years disaster.

A big champion like Valverde has to ride for himself. That's why he's hardly doing anything for Quintana, or to break Froome. And don't expect a long range attack (let's say on Allos, Glandon or Croix de Fer) in order to put Froome under pressure in favour of Quintana and thereby screwing his podium chances.

check once more those two words you wrote: "with reserve" ;)
If Vala was riding his very own race discarding Quintana's leadership-then he could have gone for stage wins very early & attacked without stopping to check on Nairito....

Everything else I completely agree with you-in addition to that- I truly believe Unzué would cream his pants having Alejandro on the podium :D

Yet I saw him many times attacking from 10,20,30 km or even more, little confusing.. :confused:

In the Tour against Froome? :confused:

He tried to attack him 90km from the finish, back in 2013, for example...
 
cineteq said:
Angliru said:
cineteq said:
Valverde: “I and my team are working to win the Tour with Quintana, but if I make the podium it would be incredible.”

Instead of working to win the Tour, they're thinking of making podiums. The loser mentality syndrome by Team Movistar :rolleyes:

In just one sentence your reading comprehension is non-existent. What is your problem?
No problem there. I know Alejandro, actions speak louder than words.
So why post what he said?
 
Re:

SeriousSam said:
Quintana is very unlikely to win the Tour, but will he have the dubious pleasure of being the strongest climber of the Tour without winning it? Thus far, Froome has equaled or beat him on every occasion.

By my count, he lost 11 seconds at MdH, 63 seconds at PTM and 1 second after the Mende climb for a total of 75 seconds.

If he can gain more than 75 seconds in the Alps through climbing, he would be the strongest climber of the Tour.
If Froome takes it easier in the Alpes cos he has the Tour locked up does that mean Quintana is the better climber?

Especially since Froome says he will go for the Vuelta. Can pretty easily see him not going 100% on all those stages.
 
Re:

The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?

If you attack the guy in front of you multiple times but you can't distance him it's better to then focus on distancing the guys behind you on that day, it makes the future less complicated. Basic common sense.
 
Re:

The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?

Quintana should have waited for Tejay Van Garderen... :confused:

Seriously: I get your point from the stance of Quintana waiting for Valverde: it's more pressure on Froom if both Quintana and Valverde are still a treat in the GC. So Quintana shouldn't push it too much if Froome can follow, because in this way, Froome only has to watch Quintana.
The more competition there is in the Alps, the more Froome and his team have to counter.
 
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Re: Re:

The Hitch said:
SeriousSam said:
Quintana is very unlikely to win the Tour, but will he have the dubious pleasure of being the strongest climber of the Tour without winning it? Thus far, Froome has equaled or beat him on every occasion.

By my count, he lost 11 seconds at MdH, 63 seconds at PTM and 1 second after the Mende climb for a total of 75 seconds.

If he can gain more than 75 seconds in the Alps through climbing, he would be the strongest climber of the Tour.
If Froome takes it easier in the Alpes cos he has the Tour locked up does that mean Quintana is the better climber?

Especially since Froome says he will go for the Vuelta. Can pretty easily see him not going 100% on all those stages.
That's a good point. I do think Froome will go a 100% at Alpe d'huez though. At least I hope he will.

If so, "Froome alway fades in the last week and always has a bad day", which some people still cling to, will be shown to be wrong as well.
 
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Re: Re:

Hugo Koblet said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?
Yes. And he got 39 seconds on his biggest rival.

Don't tell me you're talking about tj? :eek:
 
Aug 4, 2010
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Re: Re:

Hugo Koblet said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?
Yes. And he got 39 seconds on his biggest rival.
:confused:
uhh, are you serious? he trained for this race from last september to win it.
 
Re: Re:

ILovecycling said:
:confused:
uhh, are you serious? he trained for this race from last september to win it.
Yeah, I'm serious. I'm sure Quintana will take a small dig at some point but in the end he will ride for second. A lot of riders have trained to win this race for a long time, but all of them except one know that they won't win it.

Miburo said:
Don't tell me you're talking about tj? :eek:
I am. TJ is the biggest threat to his second place at the moment. Although that might change in the Alps.
 
Re: Re:

ILovecycling said:
Hugo Koblet said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?
Yes. And he got 39 seconds on his biggest rival.
:confused:
uhh, are you serious? he trained for this race from last september to win it.
Then why is he pulling Froome, thereby saving Froome energy and costing himself?

If he really is riding for the win, he shouldn't care about TJ. Instead what he was doing was riding for 2nd at the expense of 1st.

As someone else said its also better for Quintana that others are closer to Froome. Everything he did screamed to me riding for 2nd.
 
Re: Re:

Arnout said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?

If you attack the guy in front of you multiple times but you can't distance him it's better to then focus on distancing the guys behind you on that day, it makes the future less complicated. Basic common sense.
Quintana is in a situation where a more complicated future should be an advantage for him against Froome. That is if his goal is winning the Tour...
 
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Re: Re:

The Hitch said:
ILovecycling said:
Hugo Koblet said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?
Yes. And he got 39 seconds on his biggest rival.
:confused:
uhh, are you serious? he trained for this race from last september to win it.
Then why is he pulling Froome, thereby saving Froome energy and costing himself?

If he really is riding for the win, he shouldn't care about TJ. Instead what he was doing was riding for 2nd at the expense of 1st.

As someone else said its also better for Quintana that others are closer to Froome. Everything he did screamed to me riding for 2nd.

Does he have confidence and form, to overhaul Froome ? Mende provided him with a realistic chance of potentially clawing a few seconds back. Froome was isolated along with TVG, AC and VN. Unless Quintana can really put sustained pressure onto Froome, dropping him. Second is his realistic final placing in the GC. Unless Movistar are banking on Porte, Thomas and Poels running out of steam on the alps. Using Valverde more effectively supporting Quintana is an intriguing battle forming.
 
Re: Re:

The Hitch said:
ILovecycling said:
Hugo Koblet said:
The Hitch said:
Mentioned this in the Contador thread but this is probably better, why was Quintana pulling Froome in Mende? Is he resigned himself to riding for 2nd. Already?
Yes. And he got 39 seconds on his biggest rival.
:confused:
uhh, are you serious? he trained for this race from last september to win it.
Then why is he pulling Froome, thereby saving Froome energy and costing himself?

If he really is riding for the win, he shouldn't care about TJ. Instead what he was doing was riding for 2nd at the expense of 1st.

As someone else said its also better for Quintana that others are closer to Froome. Everything he did screamed to me riding for 2nd.
I fail to see what you see. I clearly saw a Quintana trying to drop Froome. In the process he distanced TJ. At the end when he couldn't he eased off a bit. That was when Valverde got close to him. At that point there was not reason for Quintana not to pull since he had already distanced the other rivals and the end of the stage was close. Besides, he cannot wait for the other rivals to come back to him. It does not make sense. So don't understand what was wrong about that.
 
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riding for 2nd isnt that wrong. these guys know each others fitness. they look each other in the eyes. we had many really strong riders who had no chances than ride for 2nd. basso in 2004/5, ullrich, rominger...poulidor ;)
but still, nairo has a smell for unusual chances (stelvio 2014). im sure if he smells froome weakening, hes gonna hit him. but he wont force it brainless and risk his and pitis podium + team GC
 
Re: Re:

The Hitch said:
Then why is he pulling Froome, thereby saving Froome energy and costing himself?

If he really is riding for the win, he shouldn't care about TJ. Instead what he was doing was riding for 2nd at the expense of 1st.

As someone else said its also better for Quintana that others are closer to Froome. Everything he did screamed to me riding for 2nd.

How can you possibly conclude that he is riding for second when he attacked Froome twice? TVG being dropped was incidental to those attacks; obviously that wasn't Quintana's objective.
 
Aug 4, 2011
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Re: Re:

Ruudz0r said:
ray j willings said:
Another day gone by no Quintana attack, very disappointing. Valverde tries but Froome was to strong.
Quintana still the 2nd best rider in Movie.

Was no point in attacking today for Nairo. Climb was not steep enough for him and the headwind would have killed him. He will attack in the Alpes.

You need to take every chance you can get. Headwind was not to strong for Nibs?
Valverde nearly got away. You have to try. Even Bertie was thinking about it. Tinko did the damage on the climb.
Froome looks stronger than Quintana. How is Quintana going to get 3 minutes back if he wont Attack.
Better to go down fighting. It seems Quintana is hoping Froome will have a bad day. Froome will tt like in Vuelta if he does have a bad day. The time gap is to big.
Quintana has to do something sensational to win this tour and not fear losing because he's already losing.
Take a chance "go for it" or settle for defeat now.
 

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