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Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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Re:

AlexNYC said:
The Tour in 2016 was the first time he looked bad while riding GC in any kind of race. It was a minor miracle he managed to podium. I’d be very interested to find out what his real problem is. It is baffling that he declined so quickly while still being so young. Was it lack of discipline? Too much attention at home? I’ve no idea, but at the kind of level he was at, it really only takes small physiological changes to look mundane.

It’s very strange to see riders that, while great in certain disciplines, were never close to his level in 1 and 3 week races, suddenly look much better than him while being 5 or more years older.
indeed, though his 2016 tour level basically seems cosmic compared to where he is now. back then quintana was very solid having been able to keep fairly good form throughout the whole tour. yes, he wasn't flying like in 2013 and 2015, but still was reasonably competitive. for sure nairo was relentlessly and, in my opition, undeservedly criticized at that time for not riding agressively enough as way too many people wanted him to replace froome at the top of the tour while he really used to be the biggest threat...

apparently quintana just doesn't have it anymore. I don't think he has some issues with professional ethic, determination or something, but body simply does not respond.
 
People really have short memory...
He was 2nd in Giro 2017 winning in great fashion on Blockhaus. He won Vuelta 2016 by keeping up with Chris Froome on every mountain. It's just now and last year that he is bad. In Vuelta 2016 he responded to peak Froome on all mountains and now he's dropped like a stone on a mountain who should favour him by a group of more than 20 riders.... I don't know what happened to him but he really changed. Even in 2017 he was a very little and slim men. Now, his core is much more bigger. Also his legs seem much bigger.
 
Re:

Red Rick said:
Is it true he didn't say anything to his team about being total ****?

What a big **** you to the team that brought him to Europe

Valverde said it, it's on the team website.

"I think we have made a good stage, taking control of the race from afar. It has been tried. Nairo was not at his best, but neither did we know, he did not say anything either, you should ask him."
 
Re:

pink_jersey said:
People really have short memory...
He was 2nd in Giro 2017 winning in great fashion on Blockhaus. He won Vuelta 2016 by keeping up with Chris Froome on every mountain. It's just now and last year that he is bad. In Vuelta 2016 he responded to peak Froome on all mountains and now he's dropped like a stone on a mountain who should favour him by a group of more than 20 riders.... I don't know what happened to him but he really changed. Even in 2017 he was a very little and slim men. Now, his core is much more bigger. Also his legs seem much bigger.

You are saying... :confused:
 
Re: Re:

Moviefan1203 said:
dacooley said:
unfortunately we are witnessing a decline of one of the brightest grand tour specialists over last 5-7 years. probably, nairo will show some spark yet winning one the queen mountain stages...

He hasn’t been a factor in years.

That's the hard truth-like it or not - but nonetheless the truth.

Nairo has been fading - at least to me- since last 4 years in a "progressive way" where circumstances surrounding his preparation & goals are in total contradiction with what he has delivered lately. MoviStar- despite all the wrongs - has given Nairo complete freedom to prepare & train his own way, and has always supported his bid on the Tour, above and beyond every other teammate. Sadly the time has come to somewhat "accept" his reality - which is reflected on his new team's choice....
See- one has to wonder why or why a multiple GT winner & week long races could not secure a contract with any of the Pro Tour teams at all... Money? doubt it! I believe is has become obvious to everyone that Quintana is unfortunately on the downside of his career as a GT winner.
Can he get a top 5 on a GC? sure
Can he win a week long race? certainly
Can he win a Grand Tour? Not a chance- unless all the favorites crash or abandon...
 
I have seen some really nasty messages have rightly been deleted.

No doubt, the last 2-3 years have been disappointing and it is hard to understand how he has fallen off so badly. What is even more hard to understand, however, is why some people feel the need to be so vitriolic towards him.

By all accounts I've heard, he is a quiet man and a good man. A man who by his talent and determination has improved the lives of many many people, particularly in his home town on Combita (if you ever get the chance, it's a very interesting place to visit and the pride of his parents and town folk is really quite moving).

To see him struggling like this should, in any decent person, elicit feelings of sympathy. I can't begin to think why people would want to be unkind to him in these circumstances.

I hope he will find his previous level but it seems less likely every day. Still, from where he has come from and what he has achieved, if he never wins another bike race he has still had a great career, always conducted himself well, and left an indelible mark on a generation of Colombians.
 
Re:

The Barb said:
I have seen some really nasty messages have rightly been deleted.

No doubt, the last 2-3 years have been disappointing and it is hard to understand how he has fallen off so badly. What is even more hard to understand, however, is why some people feel the need to be so vitriolic towards him.

By all accounts I've heard, he is a quiet man and a good man. A man who by his talent and determination has improved the lives of many many people, particularly in his home town on Combita (if you ever get the chance, it's a very interesting place to visit and the pride of his parents and town folk is really quite moving).

To see him struggling like this should, in any decent person, elicit feelings of sympathy. I can't begin to think why people would want to be unkind to him in these circumstances.

I hope he will find his previous level but it seems less likely every day. Still, from where he has come from and what he has achieved, if he never wins another bike race he has still had a great career, always conducted himself well, and left an indelible mark on a generation of Colombians.

He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.
 
Re: Re:

Moviefan1203 said:
The Barb said:
I have seen some really nasty messages have rightly been deleted.

No doubt, the last 2-3 years have been disappointing and it is hard to understand how he has fallen off so badly. What is even more hard to understand, however, is why some people feel the need to be so vitriolic towards him.

By all accounts I've heard, he is a quiet man and a good man. A man who by his talent and determination has improved the lives of many many people, particularly in his home town on Combita (if you ever get the chance, it's a very interesting place to visit and the pride of his parents and town folk is really quite moving).

To see him struggling like this should, in any decent person, elicit feelings of sympathy. I can't begin to think why people would want to be unkind to him in these circumstances.

I hope he will find his previous level but it seems less likely every day. Still, from where he has come from and what he has achieved, if he never wins another bike race he has still had a great career, always conducted himself well, and left an indelible mark on a generation of Colombians.

He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.

He did not want to disrupt the work being done so Landa could capitalize is what he said. How could everyone on this forum see he was cooked and not his team?
 
Re: Re:

Scarponi said:
Moviefan1203 said:
The Barb said:
I have seen some really nasty messages have rightly been deleted.

No doubt, the last 2-3 years have been disappointing and it is hard to understand how he has fallen off so badly. What is even more hard to understand, however, is why some people feel the need to be so vitriolic towards him.

By all accounts I've heard, he is a quiet man and a good man. A man who by his talent and determination has improved the lives of many many people, particularly in his home town on Combita (if you ever get the chance, it's a very interesting place to visit and the pride of his parents and town folk is really quite moving).

To see him struggling like this should, in any decent person, elicit feelings of sympathy. I can't begin to think why people would want to be unkind to him in these circumstances.

I hope he will find his previous level but it seems less likely every day. Still, from where he has come from and what he has achieved, if he never wins another bike race he has still had a great career, always conducted himself well, and left an indelible mark on a generation of Colombians.

He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.

He did not want to disrupt the work being done so Landa could capitalize is what he said. How could everyone on this forum see he was cooked and not his team?

From his teammates and team manager’s comments, they don’t see things that way. Landa has a Giro in his legs.
 
Some years ago, at the top of La Toussuire (TdF 2015), I was retrospectively right, unfortunately. As a Quintana's supporter, I was wondering already if he could ever win TdF one day, versus Froome or not. He's no longer the next mythical climber that we've dream of, time flies so fast. However, I try to be loyal, I always back Quintana and I will still back him.
 
Re: Re:

Moviefan1203 said:
The Barb said:
I have seen some really nasty messages have rightly been deleted.

No doubt, the last 2-3 years have been disappointing and it is hard to understand how he has fallen off so badly. What is even more hard to understand, however, is why some people feel the need to be so vitriolic towards him.

By all accounts I've heard, he is a quiet man and a good man. A man who by his talent and determination has improved the lives of many many people, particularly in his home town on Combita (if you ever get the chance, it's a very interesting place to visit and the pride of his parents and town folk is really quite moving).

To see him struggling like this should, in any decent person, elicit feelings of sympathy. I can't begin to think why people would want to be unkind to him in these circumstances.

I hope he will find his previous level but it seems less likely every day. Still, from where he has come from and what he has achieved, if he never wins another bike race he has still had a great career, always conducted himself well, and left an indelible mark on a generation of Colombians.

He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.
Why bother.
They were also riding for Landa as well. They are all grown ups already. They also have TV's. Team is playing stupid now. If you didn't know from far away that he was having a bad day and you work for Movistar then you are a an idiot.
What I read here is not what I read in other outlets also. Perspectives changes depending on how you view the rider. If you don't like the rider most likely anything he does is not going to be liked either.
Sometimes I hate what he does but I don't see it as a big deal with what he did yesterday. Then he goes and says that he will work for the team. It is just his personality being like that, very reserved. Typical from people from Boyaca.
 
Re: Re:

Moviefan1203 said:
He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.
Because he wants to win the Tour de France or die trying. Because he thinks his team wants the same thing. I have never seen a rider want to win the Tour more than Quintana. Well, perhaps HWMNBN.

The passive Quintana thing is the weirdest narrative in pro cycling to me, by far. He attacks more than any GC rider over the last twenty years. He just hasn't had the legs. He goes on PSM, gets dropped, really cost him the Tour that year. He attacks over Alpe d'Huez and gets caught and dorpped by Froome. He attacks Oropa and gets caught and dropped by Dumoulin. He attacks on Croix de Fer, can't quite get a gap. People expect him to somehow drop Froome on the flat. He attacks again in Alpe d'Huez from the base of the climb, gets reeled back. He attacks again, gets a gap, makes it a brilliant stage, but doesn't win the stage, doesn't win the Tour. He attacks, he attacks, he attacks. But time after time after time he doesn't have the legs to win, so its must not be aggressive somehow.

I have come to believe the reason people don't like Quintana is because it shatters their belief that attacking racing wins races. So instead people engage in some astonishing cognitive dissonance that he must not really be aggressive if he gets caught. That he should have "kept going", like he wanted to get caught, otherwise, how could he get caught. If you are really attacking you stay away. Because that's how cycling should work, aggressive racing should be rewarded.

So whatever he is doing must therefore not really be attacking. Its just floating a little ahead of the heads of state, because that is something he just does because it is so easy, it is so passive, to attempt to get a gap on a mountain stage at a Grand Tour. When he gets dropped, later, it had nothing to do with those cost-less, friction-less accelerations where he was really using less energy than those that were drafting, because he was just floating, like it was just a magic Colombian trick he has. It is an effortless thing for him to do, that he just does because he things its the safe, passive way to race. If he was really an "aggressive" rider he would continue growing those gaps. So he must be passive. He must not try hard enough.
 
Re: Re:

carton said:
Moviefan1203 said:
He’s so guarded that most of us know so little about him. But from a cycling perspective, he is rather passive. He tends to not have an attacking nature, which turns a lot of people off. Why wouldn’t he tell his teammates he wasn’t having a good day? They were burying themselves for a man that didn’t have it. Be honest.
Because he wants to win the Tour de France or die trying. Because he thinks his team wants the same thing. I have never seen a rider want to win the Tour more than Quintana. Well, perhaps HWMNBN.

The passive Quintana thing is the weirdest narrative in pro cycling to me, by far. He attacks more than any GC rider over the last twenty years. He just hasn't had the legs. He goes on PSM, gets dropped, really cost him the Tour that year. He attacks over Alpe d'Huez and gets caught and dorpped by Froome. He attacks Oropa and gets caught and dropped by Dumoulin. He attacks on Croix de Fer, can't quite get a gap. People expect him to somehow drop Froome on the flat. He attacks again in Alpe d'Huez from the base of the climb, gets reeled back. He attacks again, gets a gap, makes it a brilliant stage, but doesn't win the stage, doesn't win the Tour. He attacks, he attacks, he attacks. But time after time after time he doesn't have the legs to win, so its must not be aggressive somehow.

I have come to believe the reason people don't like Quintana is because it shatters their belief that attacking racing wins races. So instead people engage in some astonishing cognitive dissonance that he must not really be aggressive if he gets caught. That he should have "kept going", like he wanted to get caught, otherwise, how could he get caught. If you are really attacking you stay away. Because that's how cycling should work, aggressive racing should be rewarded.

So whatever he is doing must therefore not really be attacking. Its just floating a little ahead of the heads of state, because that is something he just does because it is so easy, it is so passive, to attempt to get a gap on a mountain stage at a Grand Tour. When he gets dropped, later, it had nothing to do with those cost-less, friction-less accelerations where he was really using less energy than those that were drafting, because he was just floating, like it was just a magic Colombian trick he has. It is an effortless thing for him to do, that he just does because he things its the safe, passive way to race. If he was really an "aggressive" rider he would continue growing those gaps. So he must be passive. He must not try hard enough.
Very much agree with this!
 
Yup, thats a great post. I agree with most of it. Unfortunately, he hasn't got the legs, but still, in this instance he could have told them that he wasn't great but try to continue for Landa anyways.

He has basically declined a bit, year by year, since the top of Alpe d' Huez in 2015. That sucks because this would have been a great, great Tour with Quintana being at his best with THIS Movistar team.
 

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