Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[Velolover2]

Re:

You would expect so. But Aru also has shown frailty in the middle of a GT. See his bad days in the Giro.'

For me Rodriguez is the favorite, even with the ITT

I hope for very bad weather for remaining stages. If it's raining all the time, then I'd say he has a good chance of winning and limit loses in the ITT.

 

[rafaelalencar]

Dumoulin is not a super hero. Some people are waiting him to lose very little time to Aru and others in the mountains and then he should still have the legs to put 4 minutes over Aru in the third week? I don't know. I'm cheering for him but I'm very worried... Aru looks very good. Let's see...

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Alpe D'Huez is going to be an orange madhouse next year, if he displays this form in July

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Dumoulin is not a super hero. Some people are waiting him to lose very little time to Aru and others in the mountains and then he should still have the legs to put 4 minutes over Aru in the third week? I don't know. I'm cheering for him but I'm very worried... Aru looks very good. Let's see...

I agree Aru looks strong, but he always seems to drop off mid-race, only to re-appear in the end.

Will he have the legs on stage 16 I wonder?

But then, will Dumolin?

The TT is after a rest day, which should benefit Dumolin, but it all depends how deep he has to go on stage 16, if he can take significant time on the TT.

 

[sir fly]

I'm wondering if Dumoulin can chip a bigger chunk of time than Contador did in the Giro.
Pretty similar relation, considering the circumstances, I'd say.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin is not a super hero. Some people are waiting him to lose very little time to Aru and others in the mountains and then he should still have the legs to put 4 minutes over Aru in the third week? I don't know. I'm cheering for him but I'm very worried... Aru looks very good. Let's see...

I agree Aru looks strong, but he always seems to drop off mid-race, only to re-appear in the end.

Will he have the legs on stage 16 I wonder?

But then, will Dumolin?

The TT is after a rest day, which should benefit Dumolin, but it all depends how deep he has to go on stage 16, if he can take significant time on the TT.

That's really the wrong argument to say about Aru, he has only ever fallen apart mid race once, and that was from stage 11-19, so probably about illness or something. In te Giro this year he fell apart for most the race- it is worth remembering he was dropped on the Finestre by Hesjedal, before fighting back to beat him again. I think it is better to say that he may have peaked too early and may be less strong. The best thing about Aru is that he is a real fighter. I hadn't really liked him that much before the Mortirolo stage but then he showed real strength to lose just a couple of minutes when it could have been 7 or 8 minutes. He may fall apart again but it will be just the second time in his career. I'm pretty sure that he was just ill

 

[staubsauger]

He even only peaked too early, because he ain't gotten the physical condition to hold it after his illness.

He really savored the pain to stay in contention afterwards. That was impressive.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Think today was the beginning of the end. He looks worse. Even though he limited the damage. Monday especially will be a real test

 

[Carols]

Re:

Think today was the beginning of the end. He looks worse. Even though he limited the damage. Monday especially will be a real test

I agree. He may have held it at 19 seconds but he had to dig deep and didn't look all that good. We'll see how he looks tomorrow.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Aru went much too early, he blew himself up. That is what will make Dumoulin win this Vuelta. Dumoulin will gain more than 2.5 minutes at the TT.

 

[staubsauger]

Actually I tend to believe that Majka may have something left to show.

 

[SeriousSam]

Someone's always better than Majka.

 

[Red Rick]

Except for breakaways in TdF mountain stages, then Majka is always the strongest

 

[sir fly]

I'm wholeheartedly behind Dumoulin now.

 

[Red Rick]

So am I, but I think he's losing just a bit too much on these finishes

 

[jsem94]

Tomorrow is even harder. He has lost time for two days straight now, and I can't see anything but the same happening tomorrow. If he is within 2 ½ minutes he still has a chance at the overall victory though. So, limit the losses to about a minute tomorrow, and anything is still possible.

 

[TomLPC]

Said it on the race thread, huge bummer that he doesn't have any decent climbers helping him out a bit, but then maybe big John Hincakolb will suprise us all on tomorrows stage

 

[sir fly]

Re:

So am I, but I think he's losing just a bit too much on these finishes

I'm sure everybody, including him, would prefer lesser gaps, but I wouldn't say it's too much. He sounds satisfied.
Looks like he knows what he has to do. I'd say he can afford to himself another minute behind Aru.

 

[SeriousSam]

Regardless of whether he ends up winning the Vuelta, if he can deliver at the ITT as everyone expects him to, he should seriously consider becoming a GT contender. Just lose 3-5kg without any loss in power.

 

[Carols]

Even if he manages to not lose to much tomorrow and takes red back on the ITT there are still stages with climbs afterwards. He will need a decent buffer and right now each day he is leaking more time. If he ends up on the podium he should be one very happy guy!

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Regardless of whether he ends up winning the Vuelta, if he can deliver at the ITT as everyone expects him to, he should seriously consider becoming a GT contender. Just lose 3-5kg without any loss in power.

Why not 10kg? Although he needs to go to Sky for that

 

[Andy262]

Great effort by Tom today. Riding his own race is all he can do. I can't see him winning because after the effort I can't see him optimising his ITT but if he gets onto the podium that'll be a great achievement.

 

[StannisBaratheon]

With a legendary ITT performance he will win the Vuelta, I can actually see him do that.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Still hanging in there, but its getting really tough.

Go Dumoulin ffs.

 

[Rollthedice]

What if he is not suffering too much, just going at his own pace, conserving energy for the TT? Until now the others have made his life easy, nobody blew the race apart. He looked fresh at the short interview after the stage. If the others will again leave things for the end of the stage tomorrow which is entirely plausible and he hangs on to loose around a minute he will have a good chance. Given how he rides like the lone ranger up the mountains it will be mucho interesting.