Paris - Nice 10 March - 17 March 2019 77th edition

[Robert5091]

At least Quintana gave it a go but Astana had just as many men in the break! Chapeau Astana again & Bernal for the GC. Quintana is going to need a couple of good climbers to help him out against Sky.

 

[Scarponi]

Bit dreary from everyone else in that break bar Iza, TJ and Quintana. Didn’t even try and win the stage

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Quintana might miss out by a few seconds like everyone who attacks on this stage

Solar won on that stage so it's not everyone who attacks on this stage that misses out by a few seconds.

 

[sir fly]

Great effort by Quintana, but Sky controlled it well.
Excellent race.

 

[Koronin]

Need to congratulate Izagirre on winning the stage, TJ for trying and Quintana for actually trying. Also congrats to Bernal to hanging on to win.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Sky's tactics are really a bit disgusting. They continue to getting away with doing nonchalant crap over and over again, but are winning anyways on sheer power anyways and people and commentators are praising them for riding tactically. They are just so much better, teamwise, that its almost impossible to lose man. Keep holding on to dead domestiques for two long, doesn't matter.

Congrats to Egan, but he basically didnt do anything all race other than holding on to Rowe's or Sosa's wheel.

 

[pastronef]

Sky did it in 2016-17 and the team does it again this year. super job by them all, Rowe, Tao, S.Henao, Narvaez, Sosa, Kwiato
Bernal wins. Dave B has a diamond in his team. kudos!

 

[Red Rick]

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

 

[yaco]

Quintana attacked one climb too early - Waited to the second last climb with his team-mates up the road and with more energy, while Sky will have one less rider at the front of the peleton, then he had a better chance of stealing PN.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.

At least Henao tried to follow Contador in '17, but I guess the team that SKY sent on that occasion was a lot weaker than the ridiculous train they had this time. For this reason, I could not really be bothered watching the stage, seeing how 6 SKY riders kept Quintana on a 50 second leash for most of his brave attack. It seemed inevitable that the long range attack would fail unlike in previous years. Apart from the echelon stages in the beginning of the race and the cat-and-mouse-play between Yates, Martinez and Lopez yesterday, I don't think Paris-Nice was anything special this year. Tirreno, so far, has clearly been the better race.

 

[WheelofGear]

Naesen 13th in Nice and 16th in Oman.

Definitely one of the better climbers of the classic guy.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.

Booooo. Kinda disappointing really.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Sky's tactics are really a bit disgusting. They continue to getting away with doing nonchalant crap over and over again, but are winning anyways on sheer power anyways and people and commentators are praising them for riding tactically. They are just so much better, teamwise, that its almost impossible to lose man. Keep holding on to dead domestiques for two long, doesn't matter.

Congrats to Egan, but he basically didnt do anything all race other than holding on to Rowe's or Sosa's wheel.

lol

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Sky's tactics are really a bit disgusting. They continue to getting away with doing nonchalant crap over and over again, but are winning anyways on sheer power anyways and people and commentators are praising them for riding tactically. They are just so much better, teamwise, that its almost impossible to lose man. Keep holding on to dead domestiques for two long, doesn't matter.

Congrats to Egan, but he basically didnt do anything all race other than holding on to Rowe's or Sosa's wheel.

When a team has the money to buy the best domestiques it's what you get.

[quote="tobydawq":371frhbr][quote="Red Rick":371frhbr]Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.[/quote]
Booooo. Kinda disappointing really.[/quote]

He had no reason to follow.

 

[KZD]

Re:

Sky's tactics are really a bit disgusting. They continue to getting away with doing nonchalant crap over and over again, but are winning anyways on sheer power anyways and people and commentators are praising them for riding tactically. They are just so much better, teamwise, that its almost impossible to lose man. Keep holding on to dead domestiques for two long, doesn't matter.

Congrats to Egan, but he basically didnt do anything all race other than holding on to Rowe's or Sosa's wheel.

You are forgetting the great time trial he did.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Quintana attacked one climb too early - Waited to the second last climb with his team-mates up the road and with more energy, while Sky will have one less rider at the front of the peleton, then he had a better chance of stealing PN.

That's correct. But now we know. I would have done the same as they did since they had 3 guys in front. The problem is that they didn't last long but Soler.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.

Booooo. Kinda disappointing really.

Disappointing yeah, but the reasonable choice. There was no way he was ever gonna lose the race if he just stayed with his team so why should he have made himself vulnerable by isolating himself

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Didn't see it, but Bernal made no attempt to follow Quintana?

None whatsoever.

Booooo. Kinda disappointing really.

Disappointing yeah, but the reasonable choice. There was no way he was ever gonna lose the race if he just stayed with his team so why should he have made himself vulnerable by isolating himself

I agree totally. It is hardly the fault of Sky for racing in a sensible manner. It would be like a basketball team having a 10 point lead late in the game, and running down the shot clock on every possession, and complaining because they made sure of the victory (in a boring way).

It's the sport itself that needs to change, not the teams. Some sort of a salary cap? I don't know how this would be arranged, as the sport doesn't really own the teams, as they are sponsors that come and go, they are not the Golden State Warriors (well, they created a super team anyway :lol: ).

Any ideas? Don't hate the player, hate the game.

 

[hayneplane]

Chapeau to Bernal and Team Sky. I feel Egan could have followed Nairo had he been more exposed but with 5 teammates still in the group at the time it was wise for him to put his faith in them to control the gap.

Most eye catching results on GC for me was Madouas in 11th but equal in time for 10th, Naesen in 13th and on that form set to be a beast in the classics plus Jack Haig profiting from Yates losing time in the crosswinds and getting a career best performance in 4th.