• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

Page 314 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re: Re:

IndianCyclist said:
saneguy said:
This Vuelta has Nairo written all over it. TBH it is Nairo's to lose. Pretty weak field - some actually weak / some have different objectives. I would really expect Nairo to take this one. Has to be patient though. Dont know why he attacked today. Not really his style.
Simon Yates is a very strong opponent, IMHO he is likely to win
the attacking was just like in the TDF to show himself for the sponsors without doing too much probably orders from team

Vuelta is really suited a lot more to Nairo's style of riding. Lot more climbs - lot more tough climbs. I doubt if Yates if up to it as yet. Today was an example. Nairo looked strong and pulled several seconds on most opponents. I'd rather think Miguel Angel Lopez will be a tougher opponent than Yates.

Nairo looked really good today. The coming Fri / Sat / Sun should sort the field out completely. Really looking forward to those 3 stages.

Edit - Not to forget the heat which typically doesnt suit him and yet he delivered today.
 
Re:

Moviestar said:
Nairo and the heat, it is a strange story. The recent years in the Tour he was complaining about the heat, but in the Vuelta he is always there ( 40 degrees today!)
He has struggled in the heat at the Vuelta as well. 2014 was an example. One factor that helps him is that these stages are usually shorter and only have one hard climb. It is hard for the recuperation when you have multiclimbs.

For whatever is worth, my theory is not only the heat. I have said it earlier that he showed up at the beginning of the year a bit overweight and it looks like he never could put it back in check. That does not help especially during the Tour in the middle of July.
 
Re:

Pantani_lives said:
He looks like the best climber, but I'm not sure whether that will be enough. This Vuelta doesn't have many tough mountains and he will loose time in the time trial. I think he's too passive and he needs to attack if he wants to win.


It doesn't. It's a route that is very good for the puncheurs actually. The Martins, Yates, Valverdes as there just aren't a lot of tough mountains and higher climbs. Plus the ITT still to come. This Vuelta appears to be one that will be decided by handfuls of seconds and maybe bonus seconds at that.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Pantani_lives said:
He looks like the best climber, but I'm not sure whether that will be enough. This Vuelta doesn't have many tough mountains and he will loose time in the time trial. I think he's too passive and he needs to attack if he wants to win.


It doesn't. It's a route that is very good for the puncheurs actually. The Martins, Yates, Valverdes as there just aren't a lot of tough mountains and higher climbs. Plus the ITT still to come. This Vuelta appears to be one that will be decided by handfuls of seconds and maybe bonus seconds at that.

Kelderman was unlucky as he is a bit too far back now but I think he will still make up good time. Valverde is still also well in it but needs a decent TT and maybe some time bonuses. Quintana needs at least one big mountain win.
 
Quintana ... very puzzling. He launched a halfhearted attack, but as noted pulled to the side. Why not keep going, was only a few ks from the finish with an easier section ahead? It's almost as if he doesn't trust his form. Anyway, I do think he can easily podium, if not win, if he just stays consistent. Yates's 1 second advantage right now doesn't mean anything -- Movistar still needs to control the peloton. If Nairo really wants to win he's going to have to take a real chance at some point. Yesterday I think he could have got himself into second after Yates.
 
I posted this comment in the other thread as well. This could explain his weird performance:

according to interview with Quintana he recognized he had crisis mid way up the climb and Carapaz help him recover. He was about to drop. So good for him that he came back but hopefully he will improves from here.

Additionally he said that now everyone seems to be tired after the long season. So fresher legs now can be an advantage.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube3/?title=Nairo+Quintana+-+entrevista+en+la+meta+-+9a+etapa&dashboard=vuelta-a-espana&id=WkVt11Xf4i4&yr=2018
 
Re: Re:

movingtarget said:
Koronin said:
Pantani_lives said:
He looks like the best climber, but I'm not sure whether that will be enough. This Vuelta doesn't have many tough mountains and he will loose time in the time trial. I think he's too passive and he needs to attack if he wants to win.


It doesn't. It's a route that is very good for the puncheurs actually. The Martins, Yates, Valverdes as there just aren't a lot of tough mountains and higher climbs. Plus the ITT still to come. This Vuelta appears to be one that will be decided by handfuls of seconds and maybe bonus seconds at that.

Kelderman was unlucky as he is a bit too far back now but I think he will still make up good time. Valverde is still also well in it but needs a decent TT and maybe some time bonuses. Quintana needs at least one big mountain win.


There's really only 1 big mountain stage left in the Vuelta. Most of the Vuelta's mountain stages are typical Spanish mountain stages that are better for puncheurs than true climbers.
 
Theres Covadonga and Gallina. Both stages should suit Quintana very well.

Then you have Camperona, Les Praeres and Monte Oiz which are the typical Vuelta climbs. Quintana has shown that, when peak shape, he can put time into everyone in the world on those type of climbs, like he did to Froome and the rest on Camperona 2016. Thats more than enough climbs - and Im not even sure he needs to attack in order to win.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Theres Covadonga and Gallina. Both stages should suit Quintana very well.

Then you have Camperona, Les Praeres and Monte Oiz which are the typical Vuelta climbs. Quintana has shown that, when peak shape, he can put time into everyone in the world on those type of climbs, like he did to Froome and the rest on Camperona 2016. Thats more than enough climbs - and Im not even sure he needs to attack in order to win.


Except there is still that ITT after the 2nd rest day.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Valv.Piti said:
Theres Covadonga and Gallina. Both stages should suit Quintana very well.

Then you have Camperona, Les Praeres and Monte Oiz which are the typical Vuelta climbs. Quintana has shown that, when peak shape, he can put time into everyone in the world on those type of climbs, like he did to Froome and the rest on Camperona 2016. Thats more than enough climbs - and Im not even sure he needs to attack in order to win.


Except there is still that ITT after the 2nd rest day.
Don't worry, Quintana should win it easily.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Escarabajo said:
A coded dig at team orders? 'tienes que arriesgar una bala para vencer?'

Except Valverde has specifically stated he is 100% free to race la Vuelta however he wants to and that he does not have to do any work for anyone on the team and that was understood long before this race started. He said earlier this week that the team made an agreement with him that if he went to the Tour to help Landa and Quintana he would have full freedom to race the Vuelta how he wanted and he could go for stages and GC if he wanted and would never be required to do any work.

I think the "bullet" Quintana is referring to is not Valverde by nickname but to attacks being bullets and if you only have so many in any given stage or any given race.
 
I think Quintana didn't really have the legs to pull through, while Lopez decided to sit on great legs and decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Maybe Quintana also lacks a bit of confidence. Yesterday he easily sprinted away from Yates in the last 200m, so that indicates that he was the better one yesterday and could've gained more time.
 
Re: Re:

ClassicomanoLuigi said:
DFA123 said:
A coded dig at team orders? 'tienes que arriesgar una bala para vencer?'
Yeah, the green bullet, to be specific, haha ;)
tiro al aire means "a shot into the air", by the way, not "a bullet made of air"
Quintana did "take a shot at it" but it kind of backfired, by losing the bonus seconds. I wonder if Quintana had just ignored López and kept going, rather than playing a guessing-game, whether Yates still would have won the stage...
All of the top five finishers looked pretty good, it was hard to differentiate today, maybe tomorrow will be more telling
To the first bolded, my mistake. Bad Spanish from me.
To the second, I wonder that as well. Quintana and his form in the last 2 years has played tricks on him to the point of doubting himself and lacking confidence. And I don't blame him for that. Maybe he thought that he was better off to wait and outsprinting the rest like the day before.
 
Unlike chumps becoming champs, many examples exist of great young talents plateauing when they should be in their prime. Or declining. That could be the case for Quintana, or Aru for that matter.

The expectations are super-high for him: after the '13 TdF, he was the new Lucho, he was going to nip the Sky experiment (some call it "joke"), then he wins the Giro, '15 TdF meh but second, and a fantastic Vuelta win. For such an heralded rider, when you don't win, you take flak; people love to build statues, love to destroy idols. It goes to show how Quintana is a figurehead of GT races. Only Froome and Nibali compare. And remember when Aru was winning: Nibali took flak, was a has-been. Fans are fickle.

So has Quintana peaked? Is he slowly declining? I don't know. But his TdF performance and lack of dominance at this Vuelta are worrisome. "El Condor de Los Andes" is not the eagle of Toledo. And I agree that his hesitations, his conservative riding show some lack of confidence.

He's a mystery to me. he looks strong right now, at least sometimes, but if I were to bet a coin on a Movistar rider, Valverde it would be.

Has he plateaued? Against this field, Quintana (as we expect him to be) should kick arses and he is not.
 

TRENDING THREADS