Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[kwikki]

Most attacks fail. Attacks are costly. There are no more tour days to gain back time lost through a failed costly attack.

#nottheworsttourever

 

[Benotti69]

TeamSky finish with 5 in a group of 20 GC riders on a big mountain penultimate day of a 3 week tour where speeds have been high all race and people think that team programs are a thing of the past!!!!

 

[thehog]

Re:

I think we might have been wrong when it comes to to sky "outdpoing" their competitors.
Watching todays stage i do feel like they resorted to a way better strategy as in mixing sleeping pills in the bottles of other teams.
Just unreal how a bunch of GC guys within 20 seconds of each other won't launch a single attack on the last mountain stage.
#worstTourever

I sense a truce was arranged prior to today's stage. A few days back Bardet and Quintana wouldn't have expected to finish 2nd & 3rd. There was little point in them attacking to lose those places.

On a dry day it might have been a better stage. Alas the Tour was suffocated in the first and second weeks by a very powerful Team Sky.

 

[kwikki]

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

 

[ontheroad]

Another boring stage in terms of GC totally befitting of the tour overall. There was the sum total of one big bash up yesterday on the mountains for the minor placings. Worst tour in memory ruined as a spectacle by the total dominance of one team and its long grinding train. Thomas pulling the select group of GC riders with 4 team mates the whole way up the Joux Plane on the penultimate day of the tour just summed the 3 weeks up.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

But they had 5 or 6 riders (Froome Landa Poels Henao Thomas Nieve) capable of finishing in the top 10, who sacrificed themselves for Froome's yellow

Guess that's what having the highest budget in the peloton and spending a large chunk on a Tour team gets you, but Poels in particular was very suspicious

 

[elduggo]

Re: Re:

I think we might have been wrong when it comes to to sky "outdpoing" their competitors.
Watching todays stage i do feel like they resorted to a way better strategy as in mixing sleeping pills in the bottles of other teams.
Just unreal how a bunch of GC guys within 20 seconds of each other won't launch a single attack on the last mountain stage.
#worstTourever

I sense a truce was arranged prior to today's stage. A few days back Bardet and Quintana wouldn't have expected to finish 2nd & 3rd. There was little point in them attacking to lose those places.

The tour was so boring I think even the riders got bored. They just wanted to get the f**kin thing over with.

 

[beowulf]

Re:

Most attacks fail. Attacks are costly. There are no more tour days to gain back time lost through a failed costly attack.

#nottheworsttourever

I guess Puerito did not get your message....or Kreuziger.

It has been pretty dull this year as far as the GC goes, but other parts of the tour have not been so bad. However there really was very little attacking of note and it is just a bit dull.

 

[BYOP88]

Re:

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

Still going with this? So Astana/LottoNL/Trek didn't send a GC guy to the tour, because they didn't have a rider in the top 10?

 

[kwikki]

Re: Re:

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

But they had 5 or 6 riders (Froome Landa Poels Henao Thomas Nieve) capable of finishing in the top 10, who sacrificed themselves for Froome's yellow

Guess that's what having the highest budget in the peloton and spending a large chunk on a Tour team gets you, but Poels in particular was very suspicious

Absolutely agree, but the point is sacrificing themselves meant they didn't finish consistently high up the GC, only Froome did.

 

[SeriousSam]

Another Tour, another ridiculous Sky performance.

But the real challenge will be to do it 4 more times.

 

[kwikki]

Re: Re:

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

Still going with this? So Astana/LottoNL/Trek didn't send a GC guy to the tour, because they didn't have a rider in the top 10?

They failed. You are making a different point.

Are you really going to persist with your argument that "GC rider" means anyone in the race?

 

[BYOP88]

Re: Re:

Sky were neither here nor there when it came to second and third places.

Sky had one rider in the top ten, unlike Movistar who had two in the top 6. Apart from Froome, Sky didn't have a rider within nearly 8 minutes of top ten.

(I'm saying top ten because fans new to the sport don't seem to understand what 'GC rider means')

Still going with this? So Astana/LottoNL/Trek didn't send a GC guy to the tour, because they didn't have a rider in the top 10?

They failed. You are making a different point.

No, you've been saying the last 2 weeks that a GC rider finishes in the Top10. Therefore using your "logic" anyone who finishes outside the top 10 is not a GC rider. So why do races bother with standimngs from 11th on GC to last man on GC?

 

[kwikki]

Nope. I've not been saying that. You've misunderstood.

It's about potential, intent and previous success.

 

[BYOP88]

Re:

Nope. I've not been saying that. You've misunderstood.

It's about potential, intent and previous success.

Ok so Aru finished outside the Top 10 in this race, does that mean he's not a GC guy for this race? If he finishes Top10 in the next stage race he enters is he back to being a GC guy?

 

[kwikki]

Re: Re:

Nope. I've not been saying that. You've misunderstood.

It's about potential, intent and previous success.

Ok so Aru finished outside the Top 10 in this race, does that mean he's not a GC guy for this race? If he finishes Top10 in the next stage race he enters is he back to being a GC guy?

Jeez, BYOP, I love you man. But go and have a beer or something.

 

[BYOP88]

Re: Re:

Nope. I've not been saying that. You've misunderstood.

It's about potential, intent and previous success.

Ok so Aru finished outside the Top 10 in this race, does that mean he's not a GC guy for this race? If he finishes Top10 in the next stage race he enters is he back to being a GC guy?

Jeez, BYOP, I love you man. But go and have a beer or something.

Back at you, I'd love too , but I'm one of those weird straight edge people.

 

[Benotti69]

Re:

Another Tour, another ridiculous Sky performance.

But the real challenge will be to do it 4 more times.

Nope. I guess 5 will be all that is allowed. After that it'll have to be Giros and Vueltas if he wants to continue racing.

 

[BYOP88]

Re: Re:

Another Tour, another ridiculous Sky performance.

But the real challenge will be to do it 4 more times.

Nope. I guess 5 will be all that is allowed. After that it'll have to be Giros and Vueltas if he wants to continue racing.

Not sure if he could get to 7. After all he'll be 32 next year, aside from Armstrong, Sastre, Evans and Horner I can't think of any others who've won a GT after the age of 32.

 

[Lyon]

Let's not forget that Indurain was at his most dominant they year before his fall. We need a new Riis in the peloton, so that even Sky fans can see professional cycling for what it is.

 

[kwikki]

It all depends on whether Sky maintain funding, nothing 'untoward' happens, and he still wants to ride.

Somebody might be willing to fund a strong team to put behind Bardet or Porte. That might give him something to think about.

 

[Irondan]

I was just thinking, Sky didn't really need Landa for this Tour...

Poels, Thomas and Henao suffocated the peloton without much help from the marquee signing of last year.

And now I heard that Diego Rosa has reached an agreement with Sky....

 

[the delgados]

Re:

Let's not forget that Indurain was at his most dominant they year before his fall. We need a new Riis in the peloton, so that even Sky fans can see professional cycling for what it is.

Froome is the new Riis, but way smarter.
He doesn't make it look so obvious. He attacks on descents and gets into flat-stage breaks but refuses to attack in the mountains, when he could easily drop his competition in a heart-beat.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Let's not forget that Indurain was at his most dominant they year before his fall. We need a new Riis in the peloton, so that even Sky fans can see professional cycling for what it is.

Froome is the new Riis, but way smarter.
He doesn't make it look so obvious. He attacks on descents and gets into flat-stage breaks but refuses to attack in the mountains, when he could easily drop his competition in a heart-beat.

But that's a new development this year. In his previous to wins he was every bit as ridiculous and obvious as Riis - perhaps even more so. The only differene is Riis churned the big ring up HC climbs, while Froome has a cadence of about 130rpm.

 

[the delgados]

Re: Re:

Let's not forget that Indurain was at his most dominant they year before his fall. We need a new Riis in the peloton, so that even Sky fans can see professional cycling for what it is.

Froome is the new Riis, but way smarter.
He doesn't make it look so obvious. He attacks on descents and gets into flat-stage breaks but refuses to attack in the mountains, when he could easily drop his competition in a heart-beat.

But that's a new development this year. In his previous to wins he was every bit as ridiculous and obvious as Riis - perhaps even more so. The only differene is Riis churned the big ring up HC climbs, while Froome has a cadence of about 130rpm.

In other words, "marginal gains" means: "How can we make this look more believable?"
I look forward to what Sky has in store next year.