Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[Kwibus]

I think the itt might end up as a dissapointment. He's digging really deep for 2 weeks now and that's all new for him.
That might cost him too much for that final ITT. Sure he'll do good, but not smacking Aru with 2-3 minutes. I can't see that happening.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

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.

That's just not possible. Conserving energy would mean dropping minutes extra. He's focused on not cracking and riding within himself. He's not gonna burn up anytime soon, but I think he overdid the 'riding your own pace' today. He was too far back, so then it broke he was chasing alone on the flatter part of the climb without losing time, that energy he could've saved if he had just dug a little deeper before the last flatish part.

Anyway, I actually think he could limit his losses tomorrow. It is steep for a long time, riding your own good pace is very important, and Aru and Purito are not gonna be able to sprint for away for that long, they'll have to manage their efforts as well.

I think he may be able to limit his losses just enough to make the podium

 

[Pentacycle]

If Dumo's positioning is better tomorrow, he might end up much closer to the climbers. The mountain stages will tire him out a little more than the climbers, as he has 10 kgs extra weight. However, his superior TT postion is crucial to convert the extra watts into time gained. Has he actually been able to do much training on his aero bike?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

If Dumo's positioning is better tomorrow, he might end up much closer to the climbers. The mountain stages will tire him out a little more than the climbers, as he has 10 kgs extra weight. However, his superior TT postion is crucial to convert the extra watts into time gained. Has he actually been able to do much training on his aero bike?

I don't think he touched his tt bike since the TdF prologue

 

[webvan]

Make or break for him today...

 

[MatParker117]

Think he might just do it. If Froome hadn't crashed maybe another story.

 

[sir fly]

Normally, he should be able to snatch the jersey in the time trial, but the question is how much everything this has taken out from him.
Chapeau for all the efforts!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Well, Tom is setting himself up for a great chance to win the Vuelta.
But can his team control the race when he wears the leader's jersey?

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Well, Tom is setting himself up for a great chance to win the Vuelta.
But can his team control the race when he wears the leader's jersey?

He'll do it by himself, when they fail. Just like he did all these days.

 

[hrotha]

Cycling needs Dumoulin to win. I still don't think he's quite the top favourite yet, but it's absolutely necessary that he wins.

 

[Red Rick]

Definitely, show these coward little *** how it's done. You need time on a tt'ist, you don't wait for the final 500m of a 7climb stage

 

[roundabout]

Re:

Cycling needs Dumoulin to win. I still don't think he's quite the top favourite yet, but it's absolutely necessary that he wins.

It may be the end of flat time trials in the Vuelta though

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Cycling needs Dumoulin to win. I still don't think he's quite the top favourite yet, but it's absolutely necessary that he wins.

WTF do we need another Melcior Mauri?

 

[hrotha]

Mauri won because [REDACTED-CLINIC] and because the queen stage was cancelled, not because everybody held hands for 3 weeks [2 so far] instead of putting time on him when they obviously could.

 

[Carols]

Who would have thought coming into this race??? But Dumoulins chances at a win are looking better day by day. For the first time I truly believe he can do it!!! He still has to though, but darned he's looking good right about now!

 

[Arked]

Re:

Mauri won because [REDACTED-CLINIC] and because the queen stage was cancelled, not because everybody held hands for 3 weeks [2 so far] instead of putting time on him when they obviously could.

Are you sure they could? Because it really looks like the top climbers in this Vuelta aren't capable of long range attacks which are not suicidal at the same time. Plain simple as that.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

Mauri won because [REDACTED-CLINIC] and because the queen stage was cancelled, not because everybody held hands for 3 weeks [2 so far] instead of putting time on him when they obviously could.

Are you sure they could? Because it really looks like the top climbers in this Vuelta aren't capable of long range attacks which are not suicidal at the same time. Plain simple as that.

Yes, I'm sure they could. I disagree with your premise.

How many times did you see them try, incidentally?

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Mauri won because [REDACTED-CLINIC] and because the queen stage was cancelled, not because everybody held hands for 3 weeks [2 so far] instead of putting time on him when they obviously could.

ROTFL. They couldn't crack him in Covadonga and they expected to do it in Pla de Beret? There is little apparent diference between holding hands and not being able to crack your opponents in a race of attrition.

 

[hrotha]

Fine, have it your way. Then I'll just say that there is a world of a difference between trying and not trying (=holding hands) even if the end result is the same.

 

[classicomano]

We have Tinkov in our corner.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Riis is also a believer

Riis: It doesn't matter if they start with 2min between them or 7min on the TT. Dumoulin will smash them all.

 

[jsem94]

He will definitely be in red after the TT. The question is, can anyone do anything about it on Stage 20?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Normally the navaccerada amounts to nothing. It's simply too easy

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Riis is also a believer

Riis: It doesn't matter if they start with 2min between them or 7min on the TT. Dumoulin will smash them all.

I was a believer after the Saturday stage. He was riding smart and the others are too weak or hesitant. It is surreal what's happening but I had the best fun in years in that stage he won outsprinting Froome so now he just has to complete the job.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

He will definitely be in red after the TT. The question is, can anyone do anything about it on Stage 20?

Why is that? He hasn't shown to be fading yet.