Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[Marco Pantani]

He's the strongest, his team looks amazing. Couldn't ask for more.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Dumoulin is not known for his excellent recovery. So I'm comparing Quintana more to Pinot.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: j

Dumoulin is not known for his excellent recovery. So I'm comparing Quintana more to Pinot.

That was as a worse climber without specific preparation.

Team is still horrible though. Cant win with a team like that

 

[JoeD1997]

When it comes to winning the psychological battle, it must be so hard racing against this guy, his poker face is phenomenal. Gives nothing away.

His face looks the same regardless of whether he is riding away to win a summit finish or breaking his collarbone in 2015 Vuelta :lol:

 

[AlexNYC]

Amazing that he can be this good so quickly; two weeks ago he couldn't even win the Vuelta a Asturias GC! Dumoulin and Pinot will make it interesting, but not very interesting I think. Even if they could somehow stay with Nairo in the third week, which is doubtful, Movistar is overwhelmingly better than Sunweb and FDJ. His other rivals, including Nibali, don't stand much of a chance I think.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ofcourse he couldnt with Vuelta a Asturias with miracle workers like Raul Alarcon.

Raul Alarcon to win Giro 2018

 

[Pantani_lives]

Great win by Quintana today and by Movistar as a team. He's clearly the best climber and he showed grinta. However that doesn't mean he's got the Giro in his pocket. He can lose two minutes in the time trial on Tuesday. It will be a duel between Quintana and Dumoulin. It's a classic confrontation between a climber and a time trialist. It's like Pantani vs. Ullrich, or maybe I should say Pantani vs. Olano.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Let's not overestimate him. Yeah he was good, but he gained less than half a minute on Dumoulin. If I had told you that before the stage most of you would have said that result would be disappointing. He is the favorite but the race surely isn't over yet.

Dumoulin did much better than expected and was in fact the second best climber together with Pinot.

The race is as over as it can be. The remaining small doubts are Nibali magic, whether Dumoulin has become Indurain and whether Quintana suffers some sort of misfortune.

Pretty much. Quintana has become an even bigger favourite after Blockhaus, regardless of Dumoulin riding extremely well today.

In GTs, Nairo has now won at legendary places such as Covadonga, Monte Grappa and Blockhaus. And he should have added Alpe d' Huez, but Movistar faked it up. You can add Val Martello (over Stelvio + Gavia) and Annecy Semnoz to that list as well, Semnoz very similar to today's finishing climb, beast of a climb that Prudhomme should use more often.

In week long WT stage races, he has won big MTFs on Monte Terminillo (2 times!), Vallter 2000, Morgins, Arrate and obviously his first big win over Joux Plane in Morzine.

Then he also have Neila (2 times), Arras en Lavedan (over Tourmalet and a couple of other classic Pyréneen passes, solo!), Sierra de Espuna, Alto del Acebo and Mas de la Costa.

Winning stage races is great. But winning stage races with an exclamation point is even more great, winning the most meaningful, hardest and most legendary places. I hope this trend will continue, its a joy to watch.

 

[yaco]

Won as expected today but expected him to put more time into his opposition - Should still win the Giro.

 

[dacooley]

Let's not overestimate him. Yeah he was good, but he gained less than half a minute on Dumoulin. If I had told you that before the stage most of you would have said that result would be disappointing. He is the favorite but the race surely isn't over yet.

Dumoulin did much better than expected and was in fact the second best climber together with Pinot.

The race is as over as it can be. The remaining small doubts are Nibali magic, whether Dumoulin has become Indurain and whether Quintana suffers some sort of misfortune.

Pretty much. Quintana has become an even bigger favourite after Blockhaus, regardless of Dumoulin riding extremely well today.

In GTs, Nairo has now won at legendary places such as Covadonga, Monte Grappa and Blockhaus. And he should have added Alpe d' Huez, but Movistar faked it up. You can add Val Martello (over Stelvio + Gavia) and Annecy Semnoz to that list as well, Semnoz very similar to today's finishing climb, beast of a climb that Prudhomme should use more often.

In week long WT stage races, he has won big MTFs on Monte Terminillo (2 times!), Vallter 2000, Morgins, Arrate and obviously his first big win over Joux Plane in Morzine.

Then he also have Neila (2 times), Arras en Lavedan (over Tourmalet and a couple of other classic Pyréneen passes, solo!), Sierra de Espuna, Alto del Acebo and Mas de la Costa.

Winning stage races is great. But winning stage races with an exclamation point is even more great, winning the most meaningful, hardest and most legendary places. I hope this trend will continue, its a joy to watch.

luckily, that's the only way nairo's able to win stage races!

 

[Valv.Piti]

On another note, I think Quintana has shown this year he is the best climber in the peloton right now. Froome might have something to say in absolute peak shape in 30 degrees and sunshine, surrounded by the likes of Poels and Nieve, but Quintana is much, much more consistent at the moment.

One thing I'd like to see is a classic Mortirolo-Aprica stage, say something like the 2015-stage, and Quintana 4 minutes down on La Maglia Rosa. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he never makes silly mistakes, so he doesn't find himself in these situations.

 

[dacooley]

perfectly fit quintana, by far the strongest team, some contenders expierencing big troubles in today's stage. everything seems to really well come down to the giro-tour double for movistar and nairo!

 

[Pantani_lives]

You all sound very optimistic, but I'm worried about the time trials. How much can he lose to Dumoulin in 69.1K? My guess would be three to five minutes. I don't think Dumoulin is just going to collapse in the queen stage.

 

[dacooley]

Re:

You all sound very optimistic, but I'm worried about the time trials. How much can he lose to Dumoulin in 69.1K? My guess would be three to five minutes. I don't think Dumoulin is just going to collapse in the queen stage.

2'30'' at worst imo. 6'30'' would've been possible only if dumoulin hadnt needed to race for the GC and meanwhile nairo had been significantly below par as it really happened in last year's tour. as even in the vuelta 2015 when dumo was in gc shape of his life (thus far) and quintana was quite average, the dutchman could gain only 1'35' in the similar TT. I see the only option for the gc battle being sharpened up - dumoulin or (and) pinot greatly improving their climbing skills which doesn't seem very likely. otherwise, nairo will be eating them alive in week 3.

 

[Mr.White]

It's far from over. Dumoulin is a big threat, he could be 2min in the lead after TT, it's not easy to nullify that with current Dumoulin's climbing form. Pinot and Nibali are far from done also. It's still very open race

 

[Durden93]

I think people are forgetting that a grand tour is three weeks. A lot can still happen. A well rested Dumoulin could take 1:30 out of Nairo Tuesday. Hoping for a great duel between the two.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

A grand Tour is 3 weeks, which is exactly why Quintana is the big favorite. He has far more experience riding 3 weeks for a GT win than Dumoulin (who only tried before in Vuelta 2015). And he seems to be more stable than Pinot and Nibali (both susceptible to off-days). The only GT Quintana was really bad in was the TDF last year. Seems to be already much better. So I cannot see him losing really.

He will lose pink after tuesday, then claim it back in one of the 3rd week mt stages, and then hold on for the win.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Of course I see him as the favorite, but I want to warn for premature optimism. He will have to limit the damage on Tuesday and attack later in the mountain stages. Dumoulin proved today that he's improved as a climber, so this race is far from over.

 

[sir fly]

Today he was maybe the best he's ever been in the first half of a GT. In a week time he should get to that gliding climbing form. Wasn't that smooth today.

 

[killswitch]

Re:

Of course I see him as the favorite, but I want to warn for premature optimism. He will have to limit the damage on Tuesday and attack later in the mountain stages. Dumoulin proved today that he's improved as a climber, so this race is far from over.

Movistar is the best team in the race after this stage though. Astana's was decimated before the race, Sky are done after the crash, Bahrain are the weakest of the pre-race favourites - no Navardauskas and even weaker now after undercover agent Moreno got himself expelled. Major Tom has lost his main climbing domestique (and I think ten Dam is sadly past it).
Even if Nairo loses pink on Tuesday the gap to Tom won't be more than a minute and his team can rest all week and be ready to decide the GC on the Stelvio stage.

 

[Escarabajo]

Valv.Piti, let's not celebrate yet please. A lot of racing left. Including the medium mountain stages where anything can happen. It is still too early. I don't deny that he is in the driving position.

And I warn people who are under estimating Quintana's TT abilities. He is not that bad and he has been training quite a bit on that discipline. Last year at the Tour he was bad physically so he was bad in the TT as well.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Valv.Piti, let's not celebrate yet please. A lot of racing left. Including the medium mountain stages where anything can happen. It is still too early. I don't deny that he is in the driving position.

And I warn people who are under estimating Quintana's TT abilities. He is not that bad and he has been training quite a bit on that discipline. Last year at the Tour he was bad physically so he was bad in the TT as well.

Lool...and the vulta's time trial? What is the excuse?
Big tom will put 3 minutes on quintana if he shows something similar to his 2016 time trials

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Valv.Piti, let's not celebrate yet please. A lot of racing left. Including the medium mountain stages where anything can happen. It is still too early. I don't deny that he is in the driving position.

And I warn people who are under estimating Quintana's TT abilities. He is not that bad and he has been training quite a bit on that discipline. Last year at the Tour he was bad physically so he was bad in the TT as well.

Im not celebrating Esca. Anything can still happen - Im just glad that he won on such a mythical climb, it beefs any palmarés up.

 

[gospina]

One thing all the haters can't say anymore, that:
a) Nairo doesn't do anything from far out
b) Nairo doesn't do anything on the 1st week, just sits on wheels.
c) Nairo doesn't attack.

Haters, please find new things to say about Nairo, he proved you wrong permanently on these 3 items today.

 

[Fernandez]

LOL, this was a single climb stage and Quintana tore apart the field, imagine what can he do in a monster multiclimb stage like the ones in third week. And people speaking about Dumoulin..., Ok hes a very good time trialist, but hes gonna loose serious minutes in the third week.