Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[JackRabbitSlims]

(Movistar) suspects his underwhelming displays of late at the Tour de France are due to an allergic reaction and, after seeing Chris Froome (Team Sky) drift further into the distance on the stage 18 time trial, confirmed he is now engaged in a battle for the podium.

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

Maybe Nairo is allergic to Froome??

 

[portugal11]

He should do a long range attack

 

[laurensde+]

Re:

I just heard an interview of him after the TT- his was disappointing with the results ,claimed to may be suffering from some sort of allergy-doesn't know yet- he said "his body refuses to respond at the level he wished- but nonetheless he bowed to finish the race & fight for a podium spot.

He evidently has a hill allergy at the moment. Poor lad.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

He should do a long range attack

Exactly. But he won't do it...

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

I just heard an interview of him after the TT- his was disappointing with the results ,claimed to may be suffering from some sort of allergy-doesn't know yet- he said "his body refuses to respond at the level he wished- but nonetheless he bowed to finish the race & fight for a podium spot.

I just read the same thing. That he body was feeling very good but at the end his body was not responding. Movistar and him still do not know what it is.

Sounds like Nibali in the Giro.

 

[Yingge]

Re:

I just heard an interview of him after the TT- his was disappointing with the results ,claimed to may be suffering from some sort of allergy-doesn't know yet- he said "his body refuses to respond at the level he wished- but nonetheless he bowed to finish the race & fight for a podium spot.

My body refuses to respond at the level I wish too.

 

[Taxus4a]

Nairo lives in a places where the maximun temperature is 20 degrees.., and high humidity... it is not an excuse, but the weather tomorrow will be better for him. I hope to see a better Quintana this last 2 days.

 

[LeoMontero]

Dont be so harsh with Nairo. Yes, we all expect more from him, but he is 4th. So basically, in bad shape he is 4th in the best and hardest stage race. Give him a brake. Today even gain time on Mollema and Yates.

I really expect he recovers like Nibali in Giro and give a good show. Long range attack would be nice, at least try.
The probability that he wins the tour are almost none, but podium its there. I see him 2nd again.

 

[thehook]

He should go long tomorrow. If he has the legs? 4th place in the Tour is NOTHING for him. He has finished 2nd twice and win the Giro. 4th is great for TJ, Aru, Mollema, Yates.etc etc ........

I still think he did not bring his A game to the Tour this season. He looks a little heavier. And you had to know when the Alien attacked on the down hill. And he just watched. Instead of closing the initial 25 ft. He let him ride away. As Nairo looked for help...WTF? IMHO SKY put him on his limit on the ascent and hit him to test him. And it worked.

If YOU want to win the TOUR. You must grab it.

 

[diego721]

Well he is not in shape and Froome is still Fromee + Skyborgs. He has to make a perfect Tour in order to win it, I think he is capable of achieving it later, but is human, a human that out of form is fighting for podium in the hardest stage race in the calendar. So he will learn the lesson.

 

[cineteq]

10 LET stage = 18
20 PRINT "I hope the legs will continue to be good. There are still a lot of mountains. We're going to try everything we can"
30 LET stage = stage +1
40 IF stage = 21 THEN 60
50 GOTO 20
60 END

 

[Escarabajo]

Letting Froome go on the descent is one of the most stupid things I have seen. I agree on that. I am sure he doesn't care for 4th place either. But we are talking about a guy that is trying to gain some strength back. So not sure if expecting more from him at this point is a moot point. I see why people criticize riders when they are not willing to attack. But on this case we already found out that it had to do with something else. He looked dead 2 days ago. I was of the first people to call that he was bad on Arcalis. So not sure why beat on this subject over and over.

I also noticed that he looked heavier. Not sure why. He looked leaner earlier in the season. Could be a visual issue as others look heavier as well.

 

[Ataraxus]

Many posters in this thread still can't get over the fact that he didn't grab Froome's wheel in the Luchon descent.
It was only 23 seconds!
He lost thrice that time in the MTT, for many of which, he was supposed to gain time at best.

 

[glassmoon]

Re:

(Movistar) suspects his underwhelming displays of late at the Tour de France are due to an allergic reaction and, after seeing Chris Froome (Team Sky) drift further into the distance on the stage 18 time trial, confirmed he is now engaged in a battle for the podium.

well... i have an allergy to buIIs**t

 

[Pippo_San]

PR bullsh*t, shameless cheating, ridiculous attitude.
And some of you dare call him the next big thing.
Pathetic showing.

 

[Miburo]

Tomorrow, stage 20!!! Finally he'll attack, enjoy the show!

 

[Gloin22]

Re:

Tomorrow, stage 20!!! Finally he'll attack, enjoy the show!

Timed his peak for perfection

 

[Valv.Piti]

A shame, if he was somewhere near his normal level this stage would have been an easy stage win.

 

[hrotha]

His form was so bad today he made sure to follow every single acceleration by Porte.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

His form was so bad today he made sure to follow every single acceleration by Porte.

And Porte dropped afterwards, yet he tried. But oh no just imagine if an attack would ever backfire on you, we can't take that risk, now can we?

 

[gospina]

Nairo declared that he has been sick and had considered dropping out of the TDF. Even this sick, he is still within reach of 2nd. Still something on play for 2nd-6th in this Tour going to stage 20.

 

[hrotha]

He's not really saying he's sick, though. He says his performance isn't normal and basically that he doesn't know what's wrong, and then he speculates that perhaps it's an allergy or whatever because literally they can't point at anything in particular that's wrong with him beyond "I kinda suck".

 

[Moviestar]

Re: Re:

His form was so bad today he made sure to follow every single acceleration by Porte.

And Porte dropped afterwards, yet he tried. But oh no just imagine if an attack would ever backfire on you, we can't take that risk, now can we?

No, not in this stage of the Tour knowing the limits of Quintana. He can better race conservative and perhaps grab the second place, that is the max. A second or third place will be acceptable for Telefonica, despite the fact that they initially aimed for more.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Nairo declared that he has been sick and had considered dropping out of the TDF. Even this sick, he is still within reach of 2nd. Still something on play for 2nd-6th in this Tour going to stage 20.

Jup, just look at this photo. I don't think I've ever seen him like that. There are no excuses, but it's obvious he's not as good as he should be, whatever the reason may be. He is on his limit every single day. But you've got to hate on him, otherwise you don't fit in.