Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[MightyWheelSucker]

Maybe I have not watched two last Tours very closely, but what was the real advantage for Quintana of having Valverde during those Tours? How have it impacted Sky train? I have barely noticed any so do not understand cries about Valverde being out, to be honest.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Come down guys. Is not the end of the world. It is what it is!

It just all feels a bit like the Indurain or Armstrong eras. And I'm not making any clinic references or insinuations here, just about the inevitability of the outcome of the race from a very early stage.

This year there were some possibilites for something different. The Quintana/Valverde duo creating havoc, or Porte gaining 30 seconds in the first TT. But now the strongest rider, with by far the strongest team, already has a decent advantage.

I think the only way Froome could lose it (apart from the ever present caveat of crashes!) is some kind of Formigal scenario, where he loses 2or 3 minutes unexpectedly on an innocuous looking stage. But he will be so attentive to that now.

Will be interesting to see if Quintana even tries anything serious, or just rides for 2nd place now.

Pretty much. Depressing, but we also had some great editions in the Lance-era. I have no problem with a clear cut winner as long as the racing will be good otherwise, take 2005 as an example, but I don't see that happening either.

That said, since its the Quintana-thread, a very decent effort today.

Apart from 2003 everything else was a borefest. Even 2000 became so stupid when Pantani retired. LOL.

2005 was also good. Not 2003-level, but it was a great race IMO.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

Come down guys. Is not the end of the world. It is what it is!

It just all feels a bit like the Indurain or Armstrong eras. And I'm not making any clinic references or insinuations here, just about the inevitability of the outcome of the race from a very early stage.

This year there were some possibilites for something different. The Quintana/Valverde duo creating havoc, or Porte gaining 30 seconds in the first TT. But now the strongest rider, with by far the strongest team, already has a decent advantage.

I think the only way Froome could lose it (apart from the ever present caveat of crashes!) is some kind of Formigal scenario, where he loses 2or 3 minutes unexpectedly on an innocuous looking stage. But he will be so attentive to that now.

Will be interesting to see if Quintana even tries anything serious, or just rides for 2nd place now.

Pretty much. Depressing, but we also had some great editions in the Lance-era. I have no problem with a clear cut winner as long as the racing will be good otherwise, take 2005 as an example, but I don't see that happening either.

That said, since its the Quintana-thread, a very decent effort today.

Apart from 2003 everything else was a borefest. Even 2000 became so stupid when Pantani retired. LOL.

Well Pantani retired after the last mountain stage and Joux-Plane was entertaining.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Maybe I have not watched two last Tours very closely, but what was the real advantage for Quintana of having Valverde during those Tours? How have it impacted Sky train? I have barely noticed any so do not understand cries about Valverde being out, to be honest.

You didn't watch very closely then, or you simply don't understand cycling that much.

 

[Galic Ho]

Re: Re:

The only good thing I could make out of Alejandro crashing, is that Movistar and Nairo don't have any other option than to go all-out attacking from stage 2 onwards. Nairo himself admitted before this TT that he would have to attack more than he did in the last 3 TDF editions to stand any chance. With Alejandro now out that attacking mentality now has to become even more attacking.

But where and when and how can Nairo do Froome some damage? You tell me. This doesn't look good at all.

meh. quintana said that every year, but still he never seemed to risk everything. He didn't win the giro, so now his pressure is on to win TDF. With Valverde out, his task is just getting much harder, especially when now Froome is already ahead by 30 seconds. With strong team, I don't think mountain will be the best way to take time from Froome, unless quitana has a monster form that we didn't know about.

Do you think Quintana will attack on the flat then?

Where else other than the mountains can he attack Froome?

 

[Galic Ho]

2006.

Valverde was a huge favourite for the Tour win.

He crashed in the most unkempt manner. He just went off sideways up a slight incline (was it stage 6?).

Broken arm or shoulder...either way, his race was over.

Oscar Perreiro in the worlds most outrageous breakaway, went ahead and gained 30 minutes and was the strongest GC rider (other than a massively uber doped Floyd Landis).

Cheer up. When Valverde leaves the Tour, his team mate wins.

And on that note, I think this race is on like Donkey Kong!!

 

[saneguy]

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Maybe I have not watched two last Tours very closely, but what was the real advantage for Quintana of having Valverde during those Tours? How have it impacted Sky train? I have barely noticed any so do not understand cries about Valverde being out, to be honest.

This year more than ever it seemed a real weapon, because of the route and because of Valverde's form. There was a strong chance he would be within a minute or so of Froome going into the final week. Then his attacks are incredibly dangerous because they could destroy the Sky train and force Froome to chase himself (because Valverde, at only a minute or so down, would be way too dangerous to go up the road and perhaps only Landa in the Sky train could come close to matching his power). Then the plan would be for Quintana to sit on and counter Froome when he bridges to Valverde.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Funny thing is he won the Vuelta when I had no real expectations. I don't have this Tour either, so maybe he will surprise. Has done very decently so far.

 

[MovistarRider]

Re:

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

Doesn't a stage with only one real mountain favours Froome more than Quintana?

I honestly expect Froome to take some time on Nairo on wednesday. Stage 5 is short of like the Col de Soudet in 2015, although La Planche des Belles Filles is alot shorter. Expect Sky-train to ride in murdering tempo and then Froome with a violent acceleration 3 or 4 kms before the top.

If Nairo can somehow hang on with Froome (and Porte?) until the top, well then I will start to believe.

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

Doesn't a stage with only one real mountain favours Froome more than Quintana?

I honestly expect Froome to take some time on Nairo on wednesday. Stage 5 is short of like the Col de Soudet in 2015, although La Planche des Belles Filles is alot shorter. Expect Sky-train to ride in murdering tempo and then Froome with a violent acceleration 3 or 4 kms before the top.

If Nairo can somehow hang on with Froome (and Porte?) until the top, well then I will start to believe.

Yea I also think stage 5 is a big Froome stage, easy-ish run up and lots of flat stages before hand.

If Quintana loses no time at all to Froome then I'd be impressed.

 

[Vasilis]

Well I haven't seen him at all this Tour yet, which is probably a good thing.

 

[Poursuivant]

Ninja Nairo thus far.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

It depends on Froomes form. It suits him the most. If NQ/ Porte etc lose no time or take time, we have a race on our hands.

 

[saneguy]

Re: Re:

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

Doesn't a stage with only one real mountain favours Froome more than Quintana?

I honestly expect Froome to take some time on Nairo on wednesday. Stage 5 is short of like the Col de Soudet in 2015, although La Planche des Belles Filles is alot shorter. Expect Sky-train to ride in murdering tempo and then Froome with a violent acceleration 3 or 4 kms before the top.

If Nairo can somehow hang on with Froome (and Porte?) until the top, well then I will start to believe.

Given that Nairo has Giro already in his legs I do expect him to match the violent accelerations of Froome. If he gets dropped then of course the Tour is over for him. Its stage hunting time then. But honestly I think he will match on Wednesday. I'd be really surprised if he cant. In fact the one guy who might attack madly will be Porte. Heck have a look at yesterday. He almost pulled away from the bunch. I really didnt see any need for him to do that. I see him being a bit impatient.

What I do agree with you on is Sky Train's "Mad Tempo" into the climb. That will cause some casualties. Not Nairo though

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

Doesn't a stage with only one real mountain favours Froome more than Quintana?

I honestly expect Froome to take some time on Nairo on wednesday. Stage 5 is short of like the Col de Soudet in 2015, although La Planche des Belles Filles is alot shorter. Expect Sky-train to ride in murdering tempo and then Froome with a violent acceleration 3 or 4 kms before the top.

If Nairo can somehow hang on with Froome (and Porte?) until the top, well then I will start to believe.

Given that Nairo has Giro already in his legs I do expect him to match the violent accelerations of Froome. If he gets dropped then of course the Tour is over for him. Its stage hunting time then. But honestly I think he will match on Wednesday. I'd be really surprised if he cant. In fact the one guy who might attack madly will be Porte. Heck have a look at yesterday. He almost pulled away from the bunch. I really didnt see any need for him to do that. I see him being a bit impatient.

What I do agree with you on is Sky Train's "Mad Tempo" into the climb. That will cause some casualties. Not Nairo though

following this script nairo would've probably easily gapped froome and porte on pdbf without the giro in the legs.

 

[saneguy]

Re: Re:

All safe so far for Nairo. Finished well today. Wednesday should be the first test of his form. Dont expect him to win or anything but I dont expect him to lose any time either.

Doesn't a stage with only one real mountain favours Froome more than Quintana?

I honestly expect Froome to take some time on Nairo on wednesday. Stage 5 is short of like the Col de Soudet in 2015, although La Planche des Belles Filles is alot shorter. Expect Sky-train to ride in murdering tempo and then Froome with a violent acceleration 3 or 4 kms before the top.

If Nairo can somehow hang on with Froome (and Porte?) until the top, well then I will start to believe.

Given that Nairo has Giro already in his legs I do expect him to match the violent accelerations of Froome. If he gets dropped then of course the Tour is over for him. Its stage hunting time then. But honestly I think he will match on Wednesday. I'd be really surprised if he cant. In fact the one guy who might attack madly will be Porte. Heck have a look at yesterday. He almost pulled away from the bunch. I really didnt see any need for him to do that. I see him being a bit impatient.

What I do agree with you on is Sky Train's "Mad Tempo" into the climb. That will cause some casualties. Not Nairo though

following this script nairo would've probably easily gapped froome and porte on pdbf without the giro in the legs.

Well yeah thats possible. But will he? I dont think so.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Quintana has shown himself to do pretty well on one-climb stages in the past tho, most recently at Blockhaus. I really hope he will keep up with Porte and Froome here for the confidence.

 

[Katabatic]

Oropa was more of a true one-climb stage, and it didn't go so well for him there.

 

[Blanco]

I actually think he'll win on Planche.

 

[dacooley]

post-giro nairo comfortably beating fresh and fit porte, froome and bertie might explode the forums imo.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

post-giro nairo comfortably beating fresh and fit porte, froome and bertie might explode the forums imo.

Don't see it happening but I don't expect significant time gaps either.

 

[Eclipse]

Happy with Nairito's start (though the Balabandonment hurts)

Not a bad TT at all really and he's not been exposed to anything.

Still don't believe he can knock off Froome, particularly on this parcours but so far so good really.

Tomorrow doesn't suit him but perhaps the theory about having a GT in his legs will help him not get blown out on the first climb as we've seen before.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I've got no hope for Quintana at Planche. If he get's beaten on Oropa by not only Dumoulin, but also Zakarin and Landa, he has no hope against Froome and Porte

 

[AlexNYC]

Re:

I've got no hope for Quintana at Planche. If he get's beaten on Oropa by not only Dumoulin, but also Zakarin and Landa, he has no hope against Froome and Porte

Oropa is not really a good benchmark for him this year. His form's progression throughout the Giro was so strange, I really don't think we can use any of it to judge how he'll do the rest of the year. It will become somewhat clearer after the Tour, though not completely.

I think he will lose a little bit of time to Froome in La Planche, but I wouldn't be surprised by any other outcome.