First time this year that Romain shows something. He looked good. Being out-kicked by Valverde was to be expected. The wheel is turning hopefully. Good for morale. Whatever happens now, Bardet finally has something to feel good about.
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Late reply but Contador rode the rest of the stage much harder than in 2016. This year he was about 20s faster on Cote de Peille and had to work much more in the valley, last year he had two teammates. He also did all the work on Col d'Eze while last year he started the climb in a group.hammerthaim said:
On topic, there is no way Bardet defends the podium IMO, unless something happens to Izagirre, Valverde or Contador. They are better TTers and the gaps are really small.
Bardet is like Purito. Kind of one trick pony that can only succeed on one type of parcour. Its pretty much guaranteed that he will never win any GT.
I've seen worse time trials of people who turned it around in less than a year.
Gesink, horrible Tour ITT, won an ITT some time later in Oman and did pretty well in most others.
Mollema, who doesn't remember that horrendous Tour ITT. Few years later he was the second best GT-er after Froome TT-wise in the Tour again.
It's not all lost. Bardet has time to improve
Gesink, horrible Tour ITT, won an ITT some time later in Oman and did pretty well in most others.
Mollema, who doesn't remember that horrendous Tour ITT. Few years later he was the second best GT-er after Froome TT-wise in the Tour again.
It's not all lost. Bardet has time to improve
Not bad for the second best French GC rider 
...
With no real improvement in ITT, Romain Bardet may become slightly better than Pierre Rolland...but never a true GC threat. A post-ban Virenque kinda rider. That's not bad though...it's a matter of re-defining objectives.
I'm super disappointed...
...With no real improvement in ITT, Romain Bardet may become slightly better than Pierre Rolland...but never a true GC threat. A post-ban Virenque kinda rider. That's not bad though...it's a matter of re-defining objectives.
I'm super disappointed...
I remember him doing an excellent ITT in TdRomandie 2015 and thought at the time that he was going to drastically improve his TT. But since then he has never done a similar performance. Ok only in last year's TdF but it was basically a MTT.
Re:
You can never bet on someone who has never won a GT to win a GT. You can say this about any promising rider because it's the same way; GT winners are rare and it takes a good combination of tremendous ability, good team, and/or a nice bit of fortune.
But to make this kind of statement because a 26 year old climber is not good at ITTs at the moment is kind of baffling.
These kind of statements are always perplexing. He was literally a Froome crash from winning the biggest GT last year. If Andy Shleck can win a GT, I fail to see why Bardet couldn't.Jancouver said:
You can never bet on someone who has never won a GT to win a GT. You can say this about any promising rider because it's the same way; GT winners are rare and it takes a good combination of tremendous ability, good team, and/or a nice bit of fortune.
But to make this kind of statement because a 26 year old climber is not good at ITTs at the moment is kind of baffling.
Do you really think pinot is better?Tonton said:Not bad for the second best French GC rider
With no real improvement in ITT, Romain Bardet may become slightly better than Pierre Rolland...but never a true GC threat. A post-ban Virenque kinda rider. That's not bad though...it's a matter of re-defining objectives.
I'm super disappointed...
I think that it's time to resurrect the Romain Bardet thread. It fell down to page 6, so the answer to "what have you done for me lately" is: not much.
The '17 campaign really starts now: Romain was the runner-up last year. IMO, more than the placing at the Dauphine, it's how he mixes up with the likes of Froome, Porte, and Contador that will set the stage for Le Tour: a good Dauphine would boost morale heading into the TdF.
After last year's second place, what do you think Romain and AG2R's objective are for the Tour? Podium? Top-5? Where do you set the bar between a success and a set-back?
The '17 campaign really starts now: Romain was the runner-up last year. IMO, more than the placing at the Dauphine, it's how he mixes up with the likes of Froome, Porte, and Contador that will set the stage for Le Tour: a good Dauphine would boost morale heading into the TdF.
After last year's second place, what do you think Romain and AG2R's objective are for the Tour? Podium? Top-5? Where do you set the bar between a success and a set-back?
Imo, top-5 (well, not higher than 4th place) is achievable. Below that would be a subpar performance. All this, obviously, assuming the favorites won't have accidents, mechanicals, etc.
I see him, however, having a bigger role in the TDF than his final place might suggest. I can really see him attacking and attacking (though not that much, since there won't be many opportunities for climbers to attack) and screwing with some other riders, such as Contador, who is becoming less and less able to deal with sudden changes of pace.
Anyway, I'm honestly eager to know what can he do along with Chaves and Aru. They are very young and very fearless riders.
I see him, however, having a bigger role in the TDF than his final place might suggest. I can really see him attacking and attacking (though not that much, since there won't be many opportunities for climbers to attack) and screwing with some other riders, such as Contador, who is becoming less and less able to deal with sudden changes of pace.
Anyway, I'm honestly eager to know what can he do along with Chaves and Aru. They are very young and very fearless riders.
He's about to hit his prime, so I wouldn't be surprised if he steps up and challenges the very best of the sport uphill.
The good news is that he already achieved 2nd place, so if he's to be believed he will fight for victory from now on (if the legs are there). The loss of Mikaël Cherel is huge though.
What I thought of his season so far:
+good showing in the Ardennes classics (13th on Huy and 6th on Ans)
+strong performance in the queen stage of Pais Vasco
+looked good on that hill in Paris-Nice
-holding onto cars is not allowed
-average in Middle East early season races
-Lo Port was not good enough
-that awful TT in Pais Vasco
What I thought of his season so far:
+good showing in the Ardennes classics (13th on Huy and 6th on Ans)
+strong performance in the queen stage of Pais Vasco
+looked good on that hill in Paris-Nice
-holding onto cars is not allowed
-average in Middle East early season races
-Lo Port was not good enough
-that awful TT in Pais Vasco
Re:
We'll see how he'll go at the Dauphiné , but with last year's form he's a serious podium contender, even with no one crashing out - so I don't get the "not higher than 4th place" at this point. Too early to tell, IMOlenric said:
Re: Re:
The itt this year will effect his GC run. He could climb great in the mountains, but the TT is gonna shoot him down several spots.
18-Valve. (pithy) said:
The itt this year will effect his GC run. He could climb great in the mountains, but the TT is gonna shoot him down several spots.
I think he goes for polka dot and a stage win this Tour. Let's see what happens later this year at the Vuelta and at the Dauphine now already.
His climbing ability is strong enough to challenge for a gt but his time trialing ability... he will lose 3 minutes in le tour
Horrible, just completely and utterly horrible to lose almost 2 minutes on a decently hilly course at 23 km.
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