Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[hfer07]

I haven't given up on Quintana yet, but I'm beginning to believe he has already reached the peak in his career when room for improvement is almost none, and the fact that new young riders are coming up, Quintana is likely to have more difficulties to ever achieve the Tour's victory. As far as today's stage in the Dauphine- at least he tried, but was really uncharacteristic of him to fade that bad in the last Ks - perhaps was the rain - I don't know, but he didn't look well, specially when the Tour is few weeks away....

I do agree completely that Quintana needs to change teams and have a fresh start.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I wouldn't be questioning Quintana's leadership for the Tour. Landa went all out in the Giro, so at best he should just be a semi-protected number two rider imo. I was disappointed in Nairo's ride today, but he still finished less than one minute behind; it wasn't as if his form was totally horrendous. Plus he has been generally good this season.

 

[Moviefan1203]

What matters is his form a month from now. Quintana is a magnificent talent that has to be taken seriously in July. Also, we need to be honest here. The Tour GC field isn’t going to be at a super high level this year.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

And he wants to be a sole leader at the Tour :surprised:

Free Landa

A bad Quintana is bad also for Landa because he needs to be behind him in the GC to unleash his second fiddle superpowers, the leader version of Landa is enough only for a low top 10 like last year.

 

[rick james]

Re:

What matters is his form a month from now. Quintana is a magnificent talent that has to be taken seriously in July. Also, we need to be honest here. The Tour GC field isn’t going to be at a super high level this year.

we hear that every year

 

[Laplaz]

Hans Landa smells blood

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

What matters is his form a month from now. Quintana is a magnificent talent that has to be taken seriously in July. Also, we need to be honest here. The Tour GC field isn’t going to be at a super high level this year.

we hear that every year

Not only do we hear this (along with excuses) every year, this is a contract year for Quintana.

 

[gmedina]

we also hear "Free Landa" every year yet he has not done anything...this year he got outclassed by Carapaz...

 

[Escarabajo]

Quintana has been grilled by social media in Colombia. Probably the same fans that don't let him breathe during training! LOL
It might be too late to do any adjustments but what happened yesterday could have been a good warning for him. He might take a different approach to the Tour.

 

[movingtarget]

Good time for Quintana to move teams I think. The approach of the last few seasons isn't working for him. Some fresh eyes and a new DS might help him better with his preparation for the grand tours. The upcoming Tour looks like being a test for him.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Good time for Quintana to move teams I think. The approach of the last few seasons isn't working for him. Some fresh eyes and a new DS might help him better with his preparation for the grand tours. The upcoming Tour looks like being a test for him.

I assume you mean, in order to reinvigorate his carreer, i agree. But in order to get a good contract deal, i think this is probably the worst possible time for him.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Good time for Quintana to move teams I think. The approach of the last few seasons isn't working for him. Some fresh eyes and a new DS might help him better with his preparation for the grand tours. The upcoming Tour looks like being a test for him.

I assume you mean, in order to reinvigorate his carreer, i agree. But in order to get a good contract deal, i think this is probably the worst possible time for him.

Add in that he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire last year either. Yes both he and Landa got hurt at the Tour last year and both finished in the top 10 with Landa only slightly better. At the Vuelta it was obvious he was struggling as well.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Good time for Quintana to move teams I think. The approach of the last few seasons isn't working for him. Some fresh eyes and a new DS might help him better with his preparation for the grand tours. The upcoming Tour looks like being a test for him.

I assume you mean, in order to reinvigorate his carreer, i agree. But in order to get a good contract deal, i think this is probably the worst possible time for him.

Well if he gets better results he improves his worth. At the moment of course he won't be offered silly money. I doubt that even Nibali will be getting that at Trek next year. Even more so for Porte if he continues racing past next season without any good results to speak of plus his age of course. Porte is moving closer to TJVG territory probably, contract wise unless he can start hitting the podium again and finishing a grand tour in good order.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

we also hear "Free Landa" every year yet he has not done anything...this year he got outclassed by Carapaz...

If you watched the whole race, you certainly saw that without Landa, Carapaz hardly wins the whole thing, and you certainly saw that climbing wise, he was at least on par with Richie. That's the 3rd time in his career that he's among the very strongest riders of the race, but can't go all out because a teammate is in better position overall.

 

[Red Rick]

Big question for me is how much Landa had in the tank on the San Carlo. Think Landa was stronger on the Mortirolo but by then the leadership battle had been decided.

Really Landa messed himself up by having an awful ITT again.

Don't know what to expect from Quintana. Probably around 5th place in the Tour? One great thing for him is that the first week isn't all that flat and while he still can't gain time there, it's the transition from flat stages to mountains in the 2nd week that's always favored the bigger climbers in the Tour. I am convinced that stage 9 being a cobbled stage last year played a role in all the tiny climbers underperforming in the Alps.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Quintana has been grilled by social media in Colombia. Probably the same fans that don't let him breathe during training! LOL
It might be too late to do any adjustments but what happened yesterday could have been a good warning for him. He might take a different approach to the Tour.

Ligs legs looked kinda thick. Bjarne Riis would immediately order him on a diet.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

Good time for Quintana to move teams I think. The approach of the last few seasons isn't working for him. Some fresh eyes and a new DS might help him better with his preparation for the grand tours. The upcoming Tour looks like being a test for him.

I assume you mean, in order to reinvigorate his carreer, i agree. But in order to get a good contract deal, i think this is probably the worst possible time for him.

Well if he gets better results he improves his worth. At the moment of course he won't be offered silly money. I doubt that even Nibali will be getting that at Trek next year. Even more so for Porte if he continues racing past next season without any good results to speak of plus his age of course. Porte is moving closer to TJVG territory probably, contract wise unless he can start hitting the podium again and finishing a grand tour in good order.

Nibali will have the 4M per year he asked but is also a PR move for Segafredo, probably only Sky could have offered a similar deal for him, at Bahrain they offered to him only one year at a lower wage for example.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Quintana has been grilled by social media in Colombia. Probably the same fans that don't let him breathe during training! LOL
It might be too late to do any adjustments but what happened yesterday could have been a good warning for him. He might take a different approach to the Tour.

Ligs legs looked kinda thick. Bjarne Riis would immediately order him on a diet.

Well, 2.5 years ago he showed up pregnant to one of the races at the beginning of the season and haven't resolved the issue yet. The bad bart is that Movistar hasn't helped to resolve the issue either. In photos at the beginning of the year in Tour Colombia with Lopez and Bernal he looked thick compared to his country friends.

In Dauphine he looked slightly skinnier but that's just my simple opinion by looking at him on TV.

He can hope for top 5 at best on this weak field. Every rider in the Tour has an issue as well. It can be a fun Tour because of the absence of Froome.

 

[Põhja Konn]

We simply have no reference for for his performance last week. It did look quite bad, but he hasn't done Dauphine in this capacity (as a prep race for the Tour) before, so we just don't know what that means for July. I don't quite believe he will be good enough to challenge seriously for victory - he needs to be at his career best form for that and nothing points to that being the case for now - , but wouldn't be surprised at all if he comfortably ends up on the podium.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

We simply have no reference for for his performance last week. It did look quite bad, but he hasn't done Dauphine in this capacity (as a prep race for the Tour) before, so we just don't know what that means for July. I don't quite believe he will be good enough to challenge seriously for victory - he needs to be at his career best form for that and nothing points to that being the case for now - , but wouldn't be surprised at all if he comfortably ends up on the podium.

I wouldnt either. I just hope he has the legs to do something which he unfortunately only has showed on pretty much one or two stages in the last 3 Tours.

 

[staubsauger]

Quintana has never done these full summer peaks has he? He still might slightly improve until July to at least fight for a podium spot and stage wins.

I'm more worried about Bardet who's condition looks absolute horse crap all year long. Now he loses contact to the favorites on a hilly stage that normally favors him and can't even beat Herrada on the Ventoux. That all while Bardet normally hits his peak for the Dauphine already!

 

[Velolover2]

It's now or never, Nairo.

 

[Squire]

Re:

It's now or never, Nairo.

My big bet on him for the TDF which I placed at odds of 35 at the beginning of the season looks better by the day.

 

[topcat]

Re: Re:

It's now or never, Nairo.

My big bet on him for the TDF which I placed at odds of 35 at the beginning of the season looks better by the day.

You wouldn't want to collect money because of crashes. It would be money with an asterisk.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

It's now or never, Nairo.

My big bet on him for the TDF which I placed at odds of 35 at the beginning of the season looks better by the day.

You wouldn't want to collect money because of crashes. It would be money with an asterisk.

Surely you didn't think GT was going to win the Tour?
He has been celebrating for a long time and hasn't really raced much.