Romain Bardet Discussion Thread

[Red Rick]

Given that Bardet was talking about not caring for a podium, losing it really, really shouldn't have been heartbreaking.

I fear that ASO will keep going very easy on the ITTs, but if they don't then Bardet really should just target the GTs with the lowest amount of TT'ing. Go where Dumoulin goes not.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

He should do the Giro-Vuelta double..
He has the caliber to probably win if the TT miles are less

He has no business in Giro, lots of TT always. I doubt he would end up on a podium there this year. But I doubt he would end up on a podium here also if some main contenders didn't crashed. Vuelta maybe, but I think he's not winning caliber anyway.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Given that Bardet was talking about not caring for a podium, losing it really, really shouldn't have been heartbreaking.

I fear that ASO will keep going very easy on the ITTs, but if they don't then Bardet really should just target the GTs with the lowest amount of TT'ing. Go where Dumoulin goes not.

I think they will continue to have a short mountain stage and maybe no TTT but they usually go up and down with the TT distances. That TT could have been any length and it still wouldn't have made any difference to Bardet winning. I also think they would prefer to see Dumoulin in the Tour next year as well. Someone else to threaten the Froome crown.

 

[swissfr]

Re: Re:

Given that Bardet was talking about not caring for a podium, losing it really, really shouldn't have been heartbreaking.

I fear that ASO will keep going very easy on the ITTs, but if they don't then Bardet really should just target the GTs with the lowest amount of TT'ing. Go where Dumoulin goes not.

I think they will continue to have a short mountain stage and maybe no TTT but they usually go up and down with the TT distances. That TT could have been any length and it still wouldn't have made any difference to Bardet winning. I also think they would prefer to see Dumoulin in the Tour next year as well. Someone else to threaten the Froome crown.

No, Dumoulin is not french. All the young french climbers are very bad in TT (Bardet, Barguil, Pinot, Gaudu), so...

 

[toolittle]

Re: Re:

It is expected that harder will lose 2min. Nothing surprise.

 

[Ikbengodniet]

Could it be the same as Pinot that if he trains his TT he will lose climbing ability?

 

[staubsauger]

If it wasn't for Astanas late-up call, Ricco would be a Giro winner. That wasn't a TT shy Giro either. Bardet should absolutely go and try for the Giro once. Especially if his main opponent is Aru. Peak shape Landani would be another case though.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Given that Bardet was talking about not caring for a podium, losing it really, really shouldn't have been heartbreaking.

I fear that ASO will keep going very easy on the ITTs, but if they don't then Bardet really should just target the GTs with the lowest amount of TT'ing. Go where Dumoulin goes not.

I think they will continue to have a short mountain stage and maybe no TTT but they usually go up and down with the TT distances. That TT could have been any length and it still wouldn't have made any difference to Bardet winning. I also think they would prefer to see Dumoulin in the Tour next year as well. Someone else to threaten the Froome crown.

Given Dumoulin's climbing, that may not even require that much TT'ing, and Dumoulin isn't taking minutes out of Froome in TT's anyway so unless Dumoulin's climbing is almost equal to Froome it's not happening. That said, I honestly think that Dumoulin's peak climbing performances were better than Froome this year. He only faded toward the very end, and faced a lot more pressure on a lot more stages than Froome did.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Could it be the same as Pinot that if he trains his TT he will lose climbing ability?

ITT Pinot in Romandie was still very close to Quintana in the mountains (at 26" in Morgins), finishing second overall. Giropino had regressed in ITT, but still "only" lost 1'27" to Dumoulin in the final 29.3km ITT. It's not good, but much better than what Romain did today.

My point: considering the huge chunks that Bardet loses in this exercise, to me he has no choice but try to improve, even if it costs him a fraction of his climbing skills. Otherwise, he can't win a GT that has more than 2km ITT.

 

[Red Rick]

Bardet should be making big improvements by changing position alone, unless he's the stiffest in the peloton.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Could it be the same as Pinot that if he trains his TT he will lose climbing ability?

If you're a good climber than the w/kg are there. There is then little reason you cannot do a time trial as good as a rider of similar weight if you work on aero and pacing

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Could it be the same as Pinot that if he trains his TT he will lose climbing ability?

If you're a good climber than the w/kg are there. There is then little reason you cannot do a time trial as good as a rider of similar weight if you work on aero and pacing

To a certain extent for sure.

What I'm not sure about is if there are certain benefits to stiffer muscles. A great TT position requires flexibility, but I can imagine flexibility not being very helpful when you're not in a TT position because you get less energy storage in muscle during eccentric movement. This is a big thing in running, but I don't know if it applies to cycling honestly.

 

[Rollthedice]

Overall Bardet was at Pinot 2014 level with Uran as JC Peraud. It looked better because Froome was average.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Overall Bardet was at Pinot 2014 level with Uran as JC Peraud. It looked better because Froome was average.

I will buy this one. There are no superman in the peloton at the moment.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

Overall Bardet was at Pinot 2014 level with Uran as JC Peraud. It looked better because Froome was average.

I will buy this one. There are no superman in the peloton at the moment.

If I refer to Frédéric Portoleau's work, that's right

Quintana averages 411 watts per important climb (Giro only)
Froome 410
Zakarin 410
Dumoulin 409
Pinot 408
Uran 407
Bardet 407
Nibali 407
Pozzovivo 407

 

[Alexandre B.]

Another "yep, I was agonizing the whole race" face

 

[lenric]

No point matching Froome (or even gaining time on him) in the mountains, when you can't even match a poor Quintana and Betancur in the ITTs.

 

[jmdirt]

CAUTION! armchair observation here: when the camera was directly behind RB, did it seem like his seat was too high? That just seemed like too much rocking early on...not to be confused with the exhausted, do what he could rocking later in the TT.

 

[Red Rick]

Everything seems wrong about Bardet's TT position honestly.

 

[jmdirt]

I just read his post race comments and one of the things he said: "I made a choice not to focus on the time trial because it’s not the way I like to ride. Going out to train on my time trial bike is a little bit boring for me." IMO, that's unprofessional.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

He won't improve from second to first if he continues to TT like Purito, that's for sure.

The most disappointing thing is what I read in l'Equipe today: Romain stating that he doesn't focus on improving his ITT; that bad ITT and time losses gives opportunities for future attacks. The Ninja approach may be OK if a top-5 is the objective, but as you mention, he'll never win a GT like that.

Regardless, let's see what RB does in the mountains. If he destroys everybody, then with so little ITT in the Tour, Bardet still has a shot at a very high placing in the GC.

June 7 in this very thread.

 

[jsem94]

Re:

I just read his post race comments and one of the things he said: "I made a choice not to focus on the time trial because it’s not the way I like to ride. Going out to train on my time trial bike is a little bit boring for me." IMO, that's unprofessional.

Wow. That's just sad.

 

[Red Rick]

It's boring. I'm gonna use that one when I hand in my thesis a few weeks late. Sure the prof will understand.

 

[Sestriere]

Re:

It's boring. I'm gonna use that one when I hand in my thesis a few weeks late. Sure the prof will understand.

And you don't even get money from your prof.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think he also said he was feeling bad since yesterday (after Izoard). Probably gotten ill. Often happens when riders are empty or have gone past their limit. Mollema got ill a couple of times at the end of a GT because he went into the red too much