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Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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He wasn't that good at the Tour and he wasn't that far off from this at last year's Vuelta. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest he's better than last year.

I still think he can do a high finish in this race and let's face it the field is a drop off compared to the other grand tours. If he can't finish in the top four or five in this race I'd be surprised. Anything higher is a bonus based on his last few grand tours. I will say third place.
 
I still think he can do a high finish in this race and let's face it the field is a drop off compared to the other grand tours. If he can't finish in the top four or five in this race I'd be surprised. Anything higher is a bonus based on his last few grand tours. I will say third place.

With what we have left for GC riders in the Vuelta it's obvious that a not close to 2015 form Quintana is one of the best GC riders. I do agree with that. An in 2015 form Quintana, he wins this Vuelta. As it is, Roglic, Lopez, Quintana and Valverde should all finish in the top 5 if not the top 4 barring a truly disastrous day.
 
Valverde himself has said he has been a stage hunter for at least 7 years now. and has ruined team dynamics with this. He has won his stage so he should put everything side to help the GC rider in the team.

So he's been a stage hunter since 2012 (that would be 7 years ago) and yet has podiums at the Giro, Tour, and several at the Vuelta. Plus was definitely riding for GC in all 3 of those Grand Tours multiple times. 2016 Giro he had 2 main goals which was winning a stage and the overall podium. A stage hunter isn't targeting an overall podium. Sorry, but that's just doesn't really work with what has actually happened. Plus he even stated last year that he still wanted another shot at la Vuelta. When asked if he could win this Vuelta yesterday, his response was basically, don't know, but it would be great if I could. That isn't the response a stage hunting would give.
 
So he's been a stage hunter since 2012 (that would be 7 years ago) and yet has podiums at the Giro, Tour, and several at the Vuelta. Plus was definitely riding for GC in all 3 of those Grand Tours multiple times. 2016 Giro he had 2 main goals which was winning a stage and the overall podium. A stage hunter isn't targeting an overall podium. Sorry, but that's just doesn't really work with what has actually happened. Plus he even stated last year that he still wanted another shot at la Vuelta. When asked if he could win this Vuelta yesterday, his response was basically, don't know, but it would be great if I could. That isn't the response a stage hunting would give.
Exactly that's my point on the rare occasions he has been the sole leader like Giro 16 of course he would be trying to win/podium but every other time a potentially stronger GC option lines up he is always "stage hunting" and extremely vague about his chances and instead of helping out he would rather hang on for an 8th place finish which helps absolutely no body. If he had came out at the start and stated at all of this GTs he wanted to go for the win I would not have a problem with it.
 
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Exactly that's my point on the rare occasions he has been the sole leader like Giro 16 of course he would be trying to win/podium but every other time a potentially stronger GC option lines up he is always "stage hunting" and extremely vague about his chances and instead of helping out he would rather hang on for an 8th place finish which helps absolutely no body. If he had came out at the start and stated at all of this GTs he wanted to go for the win I would not have a problem with it.

Except in this case we're talking about la Vuelta where he has an extremely good record. He's only finished outside the top 5 of GC twice and only outside the top 10 once. In the case of outside the top 5 and inside the top 10, that was 2015 when he had a crash in week one and hurt his shoulder very badly which destroyed his 2nd week where he couldn't do much. The only time outside of the top 10 was 2016 where la Vuelta was his 3rd Grand Tour of the season. This is his 13th Vuelta. In his past 12 he has finished on the podium in half of them and in the top 5 in 4 others including last year. Before the season starts he does say he wants another chance at la Vuelta each year. I think the reason he tempers that when it gets close to la Vuelta is a combination of his own personality with his love of downplaying his chances to win anything, and his not wanting to get into arguments/disagreements with teammates like Quintana. In the case this year, his DS specifically stated that he is supposed to be a stage hunter at the Tour, but the problem is that he can't mentally bring himself to lose time on GC on purpose so he can go stage hunting. So he keeps riding for GC because he just can't bring himself to disconnect from doing that. Basically the team said he's going to ride for GC simply because he doesn't know how pull back from riding for GC. If you listen to what he says before races about his chances you'd never know he's one of the most prolific winners in the peloton.
 
Exactly that's my point on the rare occasions he has been the sole leader like Giro 16 of course he would be trying to win/podium but every other time a potentially stronger GC option lines up he is always "stage hunting" and extremely vague about his chances and instead of helping out he would rather hang on for an 8th place finish which helps absolutely no body. If he had came out at the start and stated at all of this GTs he wanted to go for the win I would not have a problem with it.
I think his team knows exactly what are his goals in every race he starts, so the only problem is that you don't know.
His team is quite happy with him, I would say...
 
I think his team knows exactly what are his goals in every race he starts, so the only problem is that you don't know.
His team is quite happy with him, I would say...
Ofcourse, it’s just my opinion, I still like him as a rider and what he brings to races. You can never fully count him out and it adds to the dynamic. I just didn’t like what he did to Nairo in the tour. Shouldn’t have been spoken about to the media like that.
 
Ofcourse, it’s just my opinion, I still like him as a rider and what he brings to races. You can never fully count him out and it adds to the dynamic. I just didn’t like what he did to Nairo in the tour. Shouldn’t have been spoken about to the media like that.
He done that for the first time in his almost 20-years career, so I guess there must be a reason for that, don't you?
 
I don't think Roglic is a given to get minutes on his rivals. Of course he'll still gain decent time on Lopez and Quintana, but I think in the past he has struggled to put in his usual TT level after a hard week of GT riding.

He has won 3 of the 5 ITTs he has contested in the first half of a Grand Tour, finished second by the tiniest of margins in one other and crashed in the last.

He has won both ITTs he has contested situated in the middle part of the race.
 

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