DFA123 said:
SeriousSam said:
And what's so unlikely about that scenario? Seems at least as likely as the scenario of Nibali's 3rd week resurrecting elevating his climbing abilities above Quintana's.
Because to do that he would have to survive the four very hard stages before that. Which is very unlikely.
Nibali on the other hand doesn't have to elevate his climbing above Quintana to be in contention. That's pretty weak analysis. He just needs to limit his loses to small amounts, which if he he repeats last years form is a real possibility. Then take time back on descents and even the TT.
Fair enough on Nibali. I'll be very surprised though if he can even somewhat close the gap to Quintana in climbing terms. Except for the final TT, I can only see him losing further time to Quintana, and progressively more time at that.
As for Dumoulin, I don't see why only a complete cracking can result in his loss. A failure to recover as well as Quintana could see him start losing time on the order of what Pinot, Nibali, Zakarin or Mollema are liable to lose to Quintana on any given mountain stage. 30 seconds, a minute, a minute and a half. Whilst now, he is a better climber than they are, inferior recovery and non- __/ stages might degrade him to a climber just below their level in the third week. Repeated moderate losses could then make it close with a TT still to come.
Finally: You seem to think Dumoulin is
much less likely to win than the odds indicate. Are you backing Quintanta and Nibali?