Romain Bardet Discussion Thread

[rick james]

he should have buried Froome just before he bridged back to the group

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

That was one of the most baffling things I've ever seen in cycling. Bardet and AG2R acted like putting time on Froome was no biggie.

They tried. They failed. But they tried.

The team did very well. Impressive performance.

That said, the captains (not just Bardet) should have attacked before Froome bridged. So they should probably have used up their doms more quickly.

Perhaps they should have. Their idea was to go to the summit with as many teammates as possible, and that's a respectable tactic given the nature of the finale.

Blaming a rider and his team for trying to shake things up is harsh, especially since everyone on this forum seems to praise Uran who is six seconds behind and tried absolutely nothing.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

2nd missed opportunity to potentially win the race.
Sure, compared to others hes actually trying something, but to win requires more risk imo.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

That was one of the most baffling things I've ever seen in cycling. Bardet and AG2R acted like putting time on Froome was no biggie.

They tried. They failed. But they tried.

The team did very well. Impressive performance.

That said, the captains (not just Bardet) should have attacked before Froome bridged. So they should probably have used up their doms more quickly.

Perhaps they should have. Their idea was to go to the summit with as many teammates as possible, and that's a respectable tactic given the nature of the finale.

Blaming a rider and his team for trying to shake things up is harsh, especially since everyone on this forum seems to praise Uran who is six seconds behind and who tried absolutely nothing.

They had Bakelandts up ahead. And saving teammates only works if someone more important than Quintana has been distanced. As long as Vuillermoz was pulling the group, it's understandable (although wrong, imo) that the other captains were hesitant. Ag2r were the ones who controlled the scenario; as such they had most responsibility.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

That was one of the most baffling things I've ever seen in cycling. Bardet and AG2R acted like putting time on Froome was no biggie.

They tried. They failed. But they tried.

The team did very well. Impressive performance.

That said, the captains (not just Bardet) should have attacked before Froome bridged. So they should probably have used up their doms more quickly.

Perhaps they should have. Their idea was to go to the summit with as many teammates as possible, and that's a respectable tactic given the nature of the finale.

Blaming a rider and his team for trying to shake things up is harsh, especially since everyone on this forum seems to praise Uran who is six seconds behind and who tried absolutely nothing.

They had Bakelandts up ahead. And saving teammates only works if someone more important than Quintana has been distanced. As long as Vuillermoz was pulling the group, it's understandable (although wrong, imo) that the other captains were hesitant. Ag2r were the ones who controlled the scenario; as such they had most responsibility.

If they thought the pace was not high enough, they could have worked. They decided to rely on the pace set by Gautier ; good for them.

 

[Sestriere]

The only sensible possibility why they didn't try harder seems to be that Bardet just coudn't go faster. I mean, Vuillermoz could have gone faster, at least it looked like that, but he didn't. And in any case, Bakelants was still at the top, ready to wait. Riding in a group of, say, Bardet, Bakelants, Uran, Yates, Martin, and maybe Aru (he didn't look too good so I'm not sure) surely would have been a risk worth taking. Especially because we can't be sure if Sky would have ordered Landa back. It really seems like a missed opportunity.

 

[Netserk]

Just saw again when Froome bridged. Bardet had three! teammates with him at that point. What value did they have after Froome bridged?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Just saw again when Froome bridged. Bardet had three! teammates with him at that point. What value did they have after Froome bridged?

Going faster in the 30km mostly downhill finale. It seems clear to me.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

Just saw again when Froome bridged. Bardet had three! teammates with him at that point. What value did they have after Froome bridged?

Going faster in the 30km mostly downhill finale. It seems clear to me.

And what was the point of going faster in the 30 km mostly downhill finale for its own sake?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

Just saw again when Froome bridged. Bardet had three! teammates with him at that point. What value did they have after Froome bridged?

Going faster in the 30km mostly downhill finale. It seems clear to me.

And what was the point of going faster in the 30 km mostly downhill finale for its own sake?

Avoid to nullify all the teamwork because Sky would have temporized?

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Just saw again when Froome bridged. Bardet had three! teammates with him at that point. What value did they have after Froome bridged?

Going faster in the 30km mostly downhill finale. It seems clear to me.

And what was the point of going faster in the 30 km mostly downhill finale for its own sake?

Maybe they were hoping Froome would get another mechanical a bit later on?

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

And what was the point of going faster in the 30 km mostly downhill finale for its own sake?

Avoid to nullify all the teamwork because Sky would have temporized?

I don't think I understand what you mean. Could you rephrase?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

And what was the point of going faster in the 30 km mostly downhill finale for its own sake?

Avoid to nullify all the teamwork because Sky would have temporized?

I don't think I understand what you mean. Could you rephrase?

They didn't want their work to be scrapped, hence why they kept going. I don't think Sky would have set a good enough pace.

 

[hrotha]

But that wouldn't have been an issue if they had used up their team to make sure Froome couldn't come back, or that he only could do so after sacrificing Landa, thus isolating himself. By not going all-in, they did make their previous work be scrapped and go to waste.

I think it's a perfectly good tactic a priori to try to have teammates there for the finale, but the Froome thing changed the situation completely and AG2R were too conservative to capitalize it, choosing instead to stick to a now obsolete tactic.

 

[Escarabajo]

He said it was too far out to attack. So why put the team to press? to drop the others trying to get his podium place?

I guess he wants a second podium.

At least Froome knows Bardet's tactic going in the Galibier stage. That would be one GC contender less to worry about.

 

[Tonton]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

 

[Netserk]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

What other team could do anything today? They were all isolated in the group, except Bardet.

 

[Pentacycle]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

Sky has been vulnerable on numerous occasions and yet their closest competitors(Bardet, Uran, Aru) have done almost nothing to capitalize on that. The only successful attack has been Aru's win on PdBF, others were all neutralized. And there is 0 guarantee that another chance will pop up.

 

[Tonton]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

What other team could do anything today? They were all isolated in the group, except Bardet.

I'm not necessarily talking about today, but moving forward...the question is: who's willing to risk a blowback? I'm afraid that only Bardet has that win-all-or-lose-all attitude...for example, I don't trust Aru one bit: he'll wait for others to kill each other and collect the pieces.

 

[Forever The Best]

If their tactic was staying away from Froome on the climb and hammering on the flattish part with doms they messed up. As soon as Froome was closing the gap Bardet should've attacked and cooperated with whoever comes with him.

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

If their tactic was staying away from Froome on the climb and hammering on the flattish part with doms they messed up. As soon as Froome was closing the gap Bardet should've attacked and cooperated with whoever comes with him.

Which he did and Uran refused to work.

 

[hrotha]

I'm afraid that only Bardet has that win-all-or-lose-all attitude...

If their tactic was staying away from Froome on the climb and hammering on the flattish part with doms they messed up. As soon as Froome was closing the gap Bardet should've attacked and cooperated with whoever comes with him.

Which he did and Uran refused to work.

No, he didn't. He attacked after Froome came back, and not even immediately afterwards. And he sat up like a nanosecond later.

 

[Pentacycle]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

What other team could do anything today? They were all isolated in the group, except Bardet.

I'm not necessarily talking about today, but moving forward...the question is: who's willing to risk a blowback? I'm afraid that only Bardet has that win-all-or-lose-all attitude...for example, I don't trust Aru one bit: he'll wait for others to kill each other and collect the pieces.

Talking about collecting pieces, Bardet was the one who profited from Aru going early and burying himself against that 20% wall.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

If their tactic was staying away from Froome on the climb and hammering on the flattish part with doms they messed up. As soon as Froome was closing the gap Bardet should've attacked and cooperated with whoever comes with him.

Which he did and Uran refused to work.

He attacked way too late. He should've already attacked when the gap was down to 30 seconds. And his attack wasn't even a proper attack, he stopped 2 or 3 seconds after it.

 

[Rollthedice]

Maybe the LeMond article in the "Home" section answers the question about tactics, except that it wasn't Sky but AG2R who attempted to whack Aru out of contention.

Having said that, today showed what most suspected: Froome/Sky is/are beatable. It's up to the other contenders to help make it happen, or at least participate, instead of sitting back, letting AG2R do all the work and hope to benefit in the end.

Only today showed? Without the TT he is Dan Martin level or even worse in this Tour. The only thing keeping him so high in contention is his formidable team and when they fail the ineptitude of his rivals to capitalize. Froome is a galaxy away from 2013. This Tour some guys have the unique chance to win against Froome. This is what Bardet's DS should've shouted in his ear when Froomey was struggling to make contact.