Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[nairoman]

i hope not i just think that he will not arrive second for two straight years he is just to focused he is a man on a mission , but at the end he could lose for a reason or another

 

[Shame]

Re:

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.

I don't want NQ to win. He had nothing in the Pyrenees.
I think Froome should force NQ to lead, rather than let him follow.
He's looking at fourth, not second right now.
To sit and wait was a mistake in my mind, as many others.

He never could TT before.
Am I to believe he can suddenly TT well?

 

[saganftw]

Re: Re:

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.

I don't want NQ to win. He had nothing in the Pyrenees.
I think Froome should force NQ to lead, rather than let him follow.
He's looking at fourth, not second right now.
To sit and wait was a mistake in my mind, as many others.

He never could TT before.
Am I to believe he can suddenly TT well?

he can TT well enough this season - tour of romandie and vuelta pais vasco two examples (win in route du sud but obviously in lesser competition of chavanel)

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

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.

I don't want NQ to win. He had nothing in the Pyrenees.
I think Froome should force NQ to lead, rather than let him follow.
He's looking at fourth, not second right now.
To sit and wait was a mistake in my mind, as many others.

He never could TT before.
Am I to believe he can suddenly TT well?

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=29899
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=29566
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=29467
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=28113

Now shoo. Jet from this thread.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Quintana can time trial well enough already, but Imagine him after 12 stages, just after Ventoux, on a very hilly course? I would be disappointed if he didn't top-5 and if he loses more than 30 seconds to Froome.

 

[SeriousSam]

Can't wait for Mont Ventoux, round 2. Could be that we'll finally get an epic duel between two closely matched climbers, by far the best in the world, up an iconic climb on which they have history.

 

[hrotha]

Re: 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.

What's nonsense is to say that the only thing that matters is the a posteriori analysis. A decision is good or bad depending on the info available at the time it was taken.

If Nibali had decided to do nothing but follow wheels at the Giro this year, and it so happened that Chaves and Valverde crashed (on top of Kruijswijk) and he won the GC by default, that wouldn't have made vindicated his decision to not try to get back some time where he could.

 

[DFA123]

Re: 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.

What's nonsense is to say that the only thing that matters is the a posteriori analysis. A decision is good or bad depending on the info available at the time it was taken.

If Nibali had decided to do nothing but follow wheels at the Giro this year, and it so happened that Chaves and Valverde crashed (on top of Kruijswijk) and he won the GC by default, that wouldn't have made vindicated his decision to not try to get back some time where he could.

And you have no idea whether or not it was a bad decision until you see what his plan is for the entire race. If he is saving energy for a third week assault, or he doesn't want to be in yellow too early and have to defend for two weeks - it was absolutely the right tactic not to try anything yesterday - IF, of course, his tactic ends up winning him the race.

You are saying it was a bad decision based on your plan of how you think he should ride, but it's a judgement based on not vey much. He's making his decisions based on his own plans - and he clearly knows a lot more about his physical condition - both how it is now and how it should be later in the race - than you do.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Can't wait for Mont Ventoux, round 2. Could be that we'll finally get an epic duel between two closely matched climbers, by far the best in the world, up an iconic climb on which they have history.

Stages 12 and 13 of this year's Tour is strikingly similar to the the ITT and Ventoux in '2013, also mid race, where Froome effectively sealed the deal after the Pyrenees. Same scenario, only this time Quintana is closer and the ITT is hilly. Im of the belief that Froome never has been better, never more dominant and never will be this good again. I think we will look back at '13 Froome the same way Contador-fans do with '09.
Very interesting to see whether that assumption is wishful thinking or it indeed is true, but no matter what, Nairo will be a lot closer this year. 3 years in the bank does a lot.

 

[LeSensei]

Quintana is a talented little man with big heart, albeit a severe lack of bravery. Too bad he can't start right after Froome in the TT. Let's not hope he then realises about the missed chances

 

[Climeon]

Have been disappointed with how Quintana's raced so far. I do wonder though whether it is him to blame or Unzue. Given how he speaks in interviews, for example saying he was previously too aggressive in grand tours and needs to be more conservative in the future to win them, combined with the non-aggressive tactics of pretty much every rider who's ridden under Unzue's tutelage regardless of rider type, I think the tactics come not from Quintana but Unzue.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

Can't wait for Mont Ventoux, round 2. Could be that we'll finally get an epic duel between two closely matched climbers, by far the best in the world, up an iconic climb on which they have history.

I don't think they will both go too deep with TT day after, going off Froome's comments today.

 

[SeriousSam]

That would be a very unwise missed opportunity and certainly wreck both of their Tour chances, because it would fail to entertain me.

 

[carton]

Re:

That would be a very unwise missed opportunity and certainly wreck both of their Tour chances, because it would fail to entertain me.

LOL. It also never ceases to amaze me just how many people think the earth revolves around it's axis just to please them. Meanwhile, four out of the last five Tour winners have been Froome, Froome, Wiggins and Evans; Andy Schleck and Juan Mauricio Soler were perhaps the most attacking Tour riders of the zips and Marco Pantani of the nineties; and Miguel Indurain remains the last man to win back-to-back Tours. Root for whatever you find entertaining, by all means, all sport is but spectacle. But the sporting gods do not care about your entertainment. I mean, Portugal just won the European Championships. And Floyd Mayweather remains the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world (and perhaps in history).

 

[ILovecycling]

Little apetizer for Thursday
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-eiN2vfGKhk

But I think that this year's video will take the other name

 

[sir fly]

Any voice from Quintana and Movi on the rest day.?

 

[Shame]

Re: Re:

I don't want NQ to win. He had nothing in the Pyrenees.
I think Froome should force NQ to lead, rather than let him follow.
He's looking at fourth, not second right now.
To sit and wait was a mistake in my mind, as many others.

He never could TT before.
Am I to believe he can suddenly TT well?[/quote]

Now shoo. Jet from this thread.

Look back before this. All of a sudden, he can time trial.
(and I'm just talking flat, not climbing tt)

 

[carton]

Re:

Any voice from Quintana and Movi on the rest day.?

Not much (external).

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Any voice from Quintana and Movi on the rest day.?

Not much (external).

He's right speaking about time deficit.
It isn't much, but he's behind.
Froome won't have to pull in "mano a mano".

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

That would be a very unwise missed opportunity and certainly wreck both of their Tour chances, because it would fail to entertain me.

Whatever happens there will be a shake up of the top 10 for sure. Ventoux is often hot or windy or both and for riders not at their best it will be very difficult. Quintana will have to try something just to see how Froome is going. The organizers were smart. Putting a TT after Ventoux means that non GC riders will ride Ventoux conservatively but for the top 10 it's a big stage and some riders will crack on the the mountain, the TT or both ! Riders like Porte and Quintana have to try something and Froome realizes that he can't sit on a small lead unless he is very confident of gaining big time in the TTs.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

That would be a very unwise missed opportunity and certainly wreck both of their Tour chances, because it would fail to entertain me.

Whatever happens there will be a shake up of the top 10 for sure. Ventoux is often hot or windy or both and for riders not at their best it will be very difficult. Quintana will have to try something just to see how Froome is going. The organizers were smart. Putting a TT after Ventoux means that non GC riders will ride Ventoux conservatively but for the top 10 it's a big stage and some riders will crack on the the mountain, the TT or both ! Riders like Porte and Quintana have to try something and Froome realizes that he can't sit on a small lead unless he is very confident of gaining big time in the TTs.

Yes, Ventoux is often hot and windy, but I'm not sure Quintana fancies those conditions.
He said in some pre-race interview that last time he attacked too early. Hard to expect anything before bare slopes keeping that in mind. Or he didn't realise that the bare slopes were exactly the reason he dropped in 2013..
Nevertheless, starting immediately before Froome in the tt won't be the most comfortable place.
2009 Ventoux comes to mind. Not the same circumstances regarding its place in the route, but with tt on Friday - may become similar anticlimax.

 

[alspacka]

Fret not people, Nairo's gonna launch a blistering attack up the Champs-Élysées. He's just killing time till then.

 

[Isaak-Gabriel]

Some guys said he is the new Leipheimer but he seems to be the new Carlos Sastre, a big big diesel.

 

[saganftw]

Re: Re:

Any voice from Quintana and Movi on the rest day.?

Not much (external).

He's right speaking about time deficit.
It isn't much, but he's behind.
Froome won't have to pull in "mano a mano".

after leaving the press conference some journalists swear they heard evil giggling from movistar camp and a lightning striked in the distance...the surprise came from the fact it was a sunny day :twisted:

 

[glassmoon]

once he is 1:30 behind (after itt), he sure will attack.
could be too late though.