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Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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Polka dots + stages > anonymous 12th spot on GC imo.

Absolutely, but he was 18th going into today with his worst part of the race done and dusted and about 7 riders who have 0 chance of lasting the distance ahead of him.

Meanwhile I think you'd say there's only 3 riders ahead on GC who are categorically better climbers if he has good legs (as the first couple of stages suggested he might) and one of those is done as well after today.

We'll see how the race develops.
 
Why today he loose time on purpose??? it was not necesary.
I hope he goes bananas tomorrow, win the polka dot jersey and the stage.
The funny thing is that Arkea let warguil, which is far behind in GC, with the peloton, and let Nairo loose time.
Really dont get it
He is done in this Tour. He is not motivated either, and the team has isolated him completely with no friends, family and anybody from his inner circle.
 
He is done in this Tour. He is not motivated either, and the team has isolated him completely with no friends, family and anybody from his inner circle.
Well as a professional that is a weak excuse. I don't get to bring my friends, family or inner circle to work with me either.

Hard to understand him choosing this stage to lose time intentionally, seemed like he was dropped well before any of the hard climbing and UAE sure wasn't setting any kind of pace
 
Personally I think it's most likely that he's got ill which has been a regular occurrence in his career.

His TT wasn't great but it certainly wasn't bad enough for me to think he wasn't trying, and if you're planning to tank time why not chill a bit more in a TT along the way?

We'll see tomorrow I guess, but if he has really thrown away a GC that was opening up for stage wins and polka dots I am very confused.

I can't see the plan being the Olympics and I doubt the team is even at the Vuelta?

All the Vuelta invites are to Spanish Pro Conti teams along with the Van der Poel's team that gets an automatic invite.
 
Quintana's days as a GC rider seem to be over. That crash of last year and those knee operations probably ended it. I feel a bit sad about it, because there's something unfulfilled about his career. He seems to be a happy though. He's got a Giro and a Vuelta and a lot of other wins. I supported him because in 2013-2016 he was the only one (except Bardet) who at least tried to do something against that terrible Sky train.

You can't win the Tour if you can't time trial. Pantani and Sastre did good time trials at their peak, not to mention Contador. For a pure, light-weight climber just making the podium in the Tour is already exceptional.

I'm not sure if he can win a stage or the polka dots. At the moment I've got the impression that he's just in a poor shape. There are only eight mountain stages left, but there are already nine riders who want to save their Tour by winning a stage. He'll probably join the break today or tomorrow, but I don't know what to expect after that.
 
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More in my point with the stage today, pierre latour out, roglic put, thomas out, if he didnt loose time yesterday, he would be top 10 by monday.
i dont belive that he has a bad day and tday he is like new and trying to get in the break at all cost. BS.
obviously he is not at his peak, but men, last year a car crash him, and then a big crash in Tour, and then he has surgery in both knees. dont think he is over, but he has less chances than 4-5 years ago.
 
Chapeau Nairo!
Monumental effort today. I know he doesn't have a great fitness at this time but still made a big effort to get that jersey.
Does anybody know what happened at the end? he barely could move hands and body. Not sure is it was hypothermia. Maybe someone knows!

I always thought that this year was going to be almost absent because of his knee surgery. He basically had a hole of 3-4 months of base training. In my opinion that is big. Maybe in other team they would have given him a better schedule or better recovery program.
 
I think this little guy is dead. But I have been wrong many times before. Hope he has energy to fight for the jersey. At least this time the team left someone with him than letting him fight for himself.
I hope it's not more downhill from here but he's got the whole nine yards of issues. Motivation, health/injury and lack of success on the last two teams make him a questionable addition to a GC team. He hasn't shown alot of willingness to perform domestique duty so there's not contract value there and he's not a one-day guy, yet. It will be sad if he fades away without a last success.
 
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I really like Quintana but his great talent was climbing esp in the high mountains
That seems to be gone now

Its hard to see where he can go without his climbing legs. He doesn't TT or is not a one day racer and is no Dom

he probably could win a stage in a GT but only if he rests up for most of the Tour and does not go for KOM or GC

not sure if he makes wise decisions in races or if he allows other to make them for him
 
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