Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[SeriousSam]

Just like last year, should he lose the Tour, there will be all sorts of people pretending that he'd have won if only he'd attacked today, based on no evidence whatsoever.

Amazingly, some people infer from the absence of an attack at a juncture of the race at which Froome historically annihilated him that he was super strong and could have gotten a minute if only he had attacked.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

if its a gamble how do you know it wont pay off? - the nature of gamble is that we dont know how it ends :lol:

History :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Cervelo77]

Quintana looked comfortable. I guess the plan is to wait for the 3rd week.

 

[Marco Pantani]

Mont Ventoux

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

Everyone gave it a go today bar him.

Even the yellow jersey attacked and all Quintana did was follow.

Baffling. Just baffling.

or being on the limit

Oh, please. He could follow Froome and was clearly one of the strongest in the day.

The moment pretty much every outsider had attacked, there were on more excuses for him to not try himself.

so in your mind he didnt attack even tho he could because? what? he loves froome so much?

or is it just simple fact that following froome was exactly his limit?

which one do you think is more plausible?

See my post above. I think he didn't attack because he is gambling and his is natural M.O to ride in a conservative way until the very final stages, where in his mind he's thinks he can make up for the time lost with fewer risks of bonking. It's a gamble he should know won't pay off, or, at least, that he should not be inclined to follow as a first resort.

His gamble is to save all energy possible for TT, which he knows is where Froome has advantage. Marginal gains in 1st week are secondary to him compares to limit losses before the Alps

 

[Gloin22]

What advantage? Where has Froome shown in past 2 years he has any advantage to Nairo in hilly TT's?

 

[LeSensei]

Re: Re:

His gamble is to save all energy possible for TT, which he knows is where Froome has advantage. Marginal gains in 1st week are secondary to him compares to limit losses before the Alps

Might as well save energy every single mountain day until Champs Elysees, where he can deliver the final blow.

 

[movingtarget]

Movistar fail two days in a row. The best climber in the world cannot drop Mollema, Martin or Yates after four mountain climbs. This is all sounding too similar to the 2015 Tour only worse.

 

[bambino]

Re:

What advantage? Where has Froome shown in past 2 years he has any advantage to Nairo in hilly TT's?

I'm not aware of hilly TT where these 2 have competed both in top form with GC ambitions in the past 2 years, so please enlight me.

 

[dacooley]

great riding from nairo. now he ought to limit his losses in mont ventoux and 1st tt and strike in the alpes to take the tour.

 

[LeSensei]

It's almost as if Movistar didn't want to win the TdF. Last year they were slightly superior and blew it. This year they seem clearly superior and they are trying hard to not win the Tour. I can't stress enough the importance of the TT that many Quintana fans seem to dismiss, perhaps even the man himself given his inaction today.

 

[Gloin22]

Re: Re:

What advantage? Where has Froome shown in past 2 years he has any advantage to Nairo in hilly TT's?

I'm not aware of hilly TT where these 2 have competed both in top form with GC ambitions in the past 2 years, so please enlight me.

Exactly, so what is his advantage? What makes him better than Nairo for the TT's? Because for past 2 years Quintana was pretty equal in any other TT's they did with Froome.

So what is his advantage? Froome has been mediocore in TT's ever since Olmypics..

 

[saganftw]

Re: Re:

if its a gamble how do you know it wont pay off? - the nature of gamble is that we dont know how it ends :lol:

History :lol: :lol: :lol:

what history?

based on last year when he was way more behind and gained a lot of time on froome in 3rd week, his gamble is actually right thing to do because he is only 22 seconds back

 

[hfer07]

Quintanita doing the right moves & saving energy for the last week.

 

[hrotha]

Not striking now so that he can strike in the Alps. Brilliant.

He has to strike regardless, so why not now? He's gambling on the balance of power tilting in his favour later on, but that can backfire spectacularly. Meanwhile, in the here and now, he's at least as strong a climber as Froome, so he could be trying to do the deed now. Plus he'd be putting time on everyone else - you know, people who could create all sorts of dangerous tactical situations for him down the line.

You win races by taking time when you can, not by sparing your rivals and hoping you'll still be able to take some time later on.

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

What advantage? Where has Froome shown in past 2 years he has any advantage to Nairo in hilly TT's?

I'm not aware of hilly TT where these 2 have competed both in top form with GC ambitions in the past 2 years, so please enlight me.

Exactly, so what is his advantage? What makes him better than Nairo for the TT's? Because for past 2 years Quintana was pretty equal in any other TT's they did with Froome.

So what is his advantage? Froome has been mediocore in TT's ever since Olmypics..

I guess 2013 and 2014 was before Olympics

 

[Ricco']

Don't forget that the yellow jersey is a burden for Movistar. Eusebio probably only wants to take it in Paris.

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

What advantage? Where has Froome shown in past 2 years he has any advantage to Nairo in hilly TT's?

I'm not aware of hilly TT where these 2 have competed both in top form with GC ambitions in the past 2 years, so please enlight me.

Exactly, so what is his advantage? What makes him better than Nairo for the TT's? Because for past 2 years Quintana was pretty equal in any other TT's they did with Froome.

So what is his advantage? Froome has been mediocore in TT's ever since Olmypics..

Well, I'd rather ask you to show why there would not be advantage pointing hilly and long TT's where Quintana has been in same level as Froome?

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Great tactics today. The longer Froome and Sky have yellow the longer they have the onus to lead the pack. Froome on his own isn't a threat, it's the Sky train that makes him so strong. That'll hurt them the longer the Tour goes on. Movistar are playing it perfect so far. Nairo looked fantastic today.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

It's almost as if Movistar didn't want to win the TdF. Last year they were slightly superior and blew it. This year they seem clearly superior and they are trying hard to not win the Tour. I can't stress enough the importance of the TT that many Quintana fans seem to dismiss, perhaps even the man himself given his inaction today.

Superior to whom? and what?! Sky is the strongest, again. It's pretty obvious if you just look at the numbers. They had 6 riders (SIX!!!) at the beginning of the Arcalis climb, in the group of only 25 men. Movistar had three, and Dani dropped right away.

 

[Escarabajo]

If he was saving energy I hope it does not come back to bite him. Not sure if Froome gamble again by trying to peak on the third week.

We'll see.

What we learned today? maybe that an isolated Froome is easier to attack and beat him.

 

[Escarabajo]

Movistar does not look superior this year.

 

[sir fly]

Quintana needs to invent something on Ventoux.
With the time trial following day, he shouldn't just sit and wait. Might find himself further back than he would like, and against Froome that isn't fading.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Bcos of the TT, Quintana will be in the same position he was last year 2 min down by start of 3rd week. History repeats

 

[Punkan]

Mont-Ventoux-stage and stage 17, 19 and 20 are all great stages for Quintana. All of them end with a hard steep climb. Froome better bring his A-game here or else Quintana will crush him.