Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[Rollthedice]

Froome probably has sleepless nights and a ruined rest day waiting, thinking and not knowing when Nairo will strike.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Froome probably has sleepless nights and a ruined rest day waiting, thinking and not knowing when Nairo will strike.

Somehow I doubt that!!! But strike he will, the only question is when? I just hope it isn't to late....

 

[PremierAndrew]

If Froome felt really good yesterday, Sky would not have let the break succeed and given away the stage win (see Ax3, Ventoux, PSM, Planche des Belle Filles). Ridiculous that Quintana didn't even test him

 

[dacooley]

lol at posters thinking quintana dropping froome and vice versa is something kinda elementary.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

It's a 3 week race. AC crashed twice, on innocuous stages, and is gone. Anything can happen yet. Quintana is one good attack away from taking the yellow jersey and he has every Alpine stage left to take that time back. Sky are currently ridiculously strong and would likely have hauled in anything early with Froome covering anything later. I think Nairo played it exactly right. Mark Froome, stick to his wheel like glue so every time he looks back you are there. Let him know that while his support is tiring you're not and that whatever he tries he can't drop you.

There are plenty of stages left, including the mountain ITT, where he can take time. This is shaping up to be a very good battle.

The mountain TT is 10.5km at 6.2%, ie a Cat 1 climb. It comes after 4km of flat and has 2.5km of descent too. I'm not so sure Quintana will gain time on that mountain TT

 

[Miburo]

Re:

Froome probably has sleepless nights and a ruined rest day waiting, thinking and not knowing when Nairo will strike.

Yea cause Quintana is such an unpredictable rider

You're a nibali fan and you cheer for quintana? That's weird unless you're being sarcastic

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

It's a 3 week race. AC crashed twice, on innocuous stages, and is gone. Anything can happen yet. Quintana is one good attack away from taking the yellow jersey and he has every Alpine stage left to take that time back. Sky are currently ridiculously strong and would likely have hauled in anything early with Froome covering anything later. I think Nairo played it exactly right. Mark Froome, stick to his wheel like glue so every time he looks back you are there. Let him know that while his support is tiring you're not and that whatever he tries he can't drop you.

There are plenty of stages left, including the mountain ITT, where he can take time. This is shaping up to be a very good battle.

The mountain TT is 10.5km at 6.2%, ie a Cat 1 climb. It comes after 4km of flat and has 2.5km of descent too. I'm not so sure Quintana will gain time on that mountain TT

2.5km at 9.4% is what will give Quintana an edge if he's on form. I'm wondering if anyone will bother with a bike swap. I didn't say he would gain time, I just said he could.

 

[kenk09]

Re:

If Froome felt really good yesterday, Sky would not have let the break succeed and given away the stage win (see Ax3, Ventoux, PSM, Planche des Belle Filles). Ridiculous that Quintana didn't even test him

There were 3 strong Movistar riders in that break. It would have been madness for Sky to bring them back into the equation.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Froome probably has sleepless nights and a ruined rest day waiting, thinking and not knowing when Nairo will strike.

Yea cause Quintana is such an unpredictable rider

You're a nibali fan and you cheer for quintana? That's weird unless you're being sarcastic

Of course I'm sarcastic. Froome sleeps like a baby in that egg position he showcased on the descent.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Froome probably has sleepless nights and a ruined rest day waiting, thinking and not knowing when Nairo will strike.

Yea cause Quintana is such an unpredictable rider

You're a nibali fan and you cheer for quintana? That's weird unless you're being sarcastic

Of course I'm sarcastic. Froome sleeps like a baby in that egg position he showcased on the descent.

 

[perico]

Re:

BigMac: I don't really want to expand since it clogs up a lot of space - especially not when one of yours points was he lost in '13 due to waiting for the Alps which is pretty lol. He pretty much did the exact opposite, but whatever fits your agenda. He missed the ball in 2015 when the didn't a) attacked on Croix de Fer or b) attacks earlier on La Touissuire.

So far, he couldn't have written a better manuscript. He knows what his win conditions are and doesn't ride to please you, nor me, nor anyone else. The first mountain chain is Froome's territory and here, he hasn't managed to gap Quintana significantly, only on the downhill. Now, onto Ventoux and the Alps, there are A LOT of terrain left to show who boss is if he indeed is stronger which I obviously don't have to say I believe he is. Its gonna be interesting.

The problem with this is that it assumes Froome is following the usual strategy they program into his computer.

 

[portugal11]

Quintana is such a loser. In 3 years, cycling is dead. He had luck that it was raining because froome isn't superb in this conditions.

 

[masking_agent]

unfortunately I see Nairo's career going the route of an underachiever. In the Froome era he may turn out to be the eternal second a la Jan Ullrich-esque..

 

[Miburo]

There are no echelons to blame it on this time. Hope he loses, any cycling fan should. Maybe then he'll realise the error and the boredom of his way.

 

[saganftw]

Re:

unfortunately I see Nairo's career going the route of an underachiever. In the Froome era he may turn out to be the eternal second a la Jan Ullrich-esque..

he just turned 26,he will be in contention for another decade...he will fight some track specialist turned GT specialist after froome tho which might be a problem :lol:

 

[saganftw]

Re:

There are no echelons to blame it on this time. Hope he loses, any cycling fan should. Maybe then he'll realise the error and the boredom of his way.

i hope he wins by attacking in last mountain stage...i would laugh more than yesterday when Lord Eder scored a winner against France

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

There are no echelons to blame it on this time. Hope he loses, any cycling fan should. Maybe then he'll realise the error and the boredom of his way.

There's just no in between for you. But I guess you need something to keep you busy now that Contador is a complete no show again.

 

[SeriousSam]

What would be an amusing outcome is Quintana entering the Alps with a 30 second advantage thanks to Froome suffering a mechanical or something of that nature, and then sticking like glue to Froome's back wheel all the way, never attacking, except with Contador-esque last km uphill sprints resulting in 10-15 second gains.

 

[Puckfiend]

Nairo is this generation's Levi Leipheimer. About the same size too.

 

[hrotha]

A happy outcome for Quintana wouldn't make his current strategy right. It's an unnecessary and silly gamble, but of course it can work out in his favour.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

There are no echelons to blame it on this time. Hope he loses, any cycling fan should. Maybe then he'll realise the error and the boredom of his way.

There's just no in between for you. But I guess you need something to keep you busy now that Contador is a complete no show again.

Sure mate. You would be unemployed for a year with contadors crash but yea 2nd in uci ranking. What a no show...

 

[Jungle Cycle]

Re:

Quintana hasn't beaten Froome in any meaningful way in any stage of any Tour de France they've raced against each other. There's this crazy narrative that Quintana is in some way assured to be much stronger in the third week and can just kind of follow Froome until stage 20 where he'll blow him out the back of the race. It's based on Quintana taking time on Froome on stages late in the tour when that time made absolutely no difference in taking away the top step of the podium. I'm not saying Froome soft pedaled or that Nairo wasn't the stronger of the two on the day(s). I'm just saying mentally there's a difference for Froome if the overall is at stake, and that might give him the extra he needs to hold on to his jersey. Until Nairo beats Froome when the whole bowl of potatoes is at stake he's not the favorite for this race. He needs to gain time where he can.

As for some sort of tactical nous that Quintana might have shown by "keeping his powder dry" we're talking about a stage before a rest day and 2 consecutive sprint days (ie days off). If he had it, he could have gone for it, he just didn't have it, and he might never have it. (caution: hot take incoming) Until he develops a killer instinct he needs to go back to polishing off guys like Uran in the Giro and leave Contador and Froome alone.

What?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaqtMMybrs
maybe he does have it, but what i DONT understand is why wait until stage 20 to blow Froome, if that it'll be the case...
why not chip away his lead NOW spatially with the rest day to follow. It didnt even had to take yellow if that was a concern.!?..
I believe its a given that he'll lose wednesday and it'll only increase Froome's lead, so why not try to take some time back?!...

Edit: wednesday, a mean friday...

 

[DFA123]

Re:

A happy outcome for Quintana wouldn't make his current strategy right. It's an unnecessary and silly gamble, but of course it can work out in his favour.

What nonsense! If he wins the Tour, his strategy has worked perfectly. He will have overturned a deficit to the favourite, without panicking and without making rash decisions. Perhaps the silly gamble would have been making an attack on a pretty gentle climb to try to gain a few seconds and ending up losing a few more, or trying to to descend too hard following another rider and crashing as a result.

 

[nairoman]

a lot of people here cheering for team sky but this is an english forum , Nairo have no love here

 

[Valv.Piti]

I hope he thinks Ventoux + ITT, not Alps. They probably are the two most crucial stages on paper, even. Best case scenario, he wins on Ventoux with +30 seconds and goes even in the ITT.