Tony Gallopin

[hrotha]

Oh, I wasn't talking about the old buddy collusion in that post, but about the whole "riding for a Top 75/First Andorran in the GC" thing.

 

[carton]

Re:

Oh, I wasn't talking about the old buddy collusion in that post, but about the whole "riding for a Top 75/First Andorran in the GC" thing.

Oh, misread that then. Still, top ten in a stage race seems valid enough. YMMV. Also, what else was he going to do? Try to gap them on the descent? Just suck wheels all the way into Nice? He only took a couple of turns, got to the next group as backup and was fresh enough to win the sprint.

The best national rider thing seems like a very strange French/American quirk. What's particularly funny about it is that most other compatriots tend to make an effort to seem more friendly than competitive, even when they clearly hate each other (yes, I'm talking about the Spaniards).

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

People do post some rubbish. By helping Thomas and Henao back into the chasing group, Gallopin actually ensured that the chasing group had far less chance of catching the leaders. As soon as they made contact, everybody else stopped riding and left Thomas and Henao alone to work to bridge the gap. Prior to that, the group had been working well together and looked likely to catch the Contador group.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

People do post some rubbish. By helping Thomas and Henao back into the chasing group, Gallopin actually ensured that the chasing group had far less chance of catching the leaders. As soon as they made contact, everybody else stopped riding and left Thomas and Henao alone to work to bridge the gap. Prior to that, the group had been working well together and looked likely to catch the Contador group.

They were 10 seconds behind when they bridged and then gained an additional 5 seconds in the following 3 km.

They weren't working together that well considering they hadn't gained much time in the previous 10 km.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Tony is back at his best!

 

[Laplaz]

Is he going for GC? Someone knows?

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Is he going for GC? Someone knows?

I guess he tries. Otherwise, why hang on on stage 4? He has tried it before in the Tour and cracked because of it, but he has his stage now, so I don't see a good reason not to give it a shot.

Also, a mighty return to form after a horrible year.

 

[Alexandre B.]

He will try.
It would be foolish not to try with this form.

It's also the first time in his career that he's treated as a leader in GTs. He enjoyed freedom as a stage hunter for Lotto but had to work for his teammates in stages suited to Greipel.

 

[staubsauger]

We're talking about the Vuelta a Espana,where Tiralongo got a top 10 and Montfort got a top 5 finish on the general classification. Hence why the Tour of Spain isn't a proper grand tour. Gallopin very well might be able to reach a top 10 spot as well.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

We're talking about the Vuelta a Espana,where Tiralongo got a top 10 and Montfort got a top 5 finish on the general classification. Hence why the Tour of Spain isn't a proper grand tour. Gallopin very well might be able to reach a top 10 spot as well.

Come on, it's not the 80s anymore and while the Vuelta may still be the runt of the GC litter, it's pretty much established its position as one for many years now. While the Vuelta does still have the highest incidence of shock winners, there's plenty of similarly out there results in the other GTs that show that surprising results like that are not exclusive to the Vuelta.

Pello Bilbao, Andrey Amador, Evgeni Petrov, Paolo Bettini, Dario Cioni, Yuri Trofimov and Bradley McGee have all top 10ed the Giro. Thomas de Gendt and Yaroslav Popovych have podiumed it. Are they all really such highly-rated GC threats that they are a clear cut above the kind of rider we're talking about at the Vuelta?

Admittedly in recent years the Tour is less fertile ground for outsiders, Thomas Voeckler, Cyril Dessel, Kim Kirchen, Christophe Le Mevel, Matthias Fränk, Laurens Ten Dam are examples you can point to but they tend to divide into two groups: Frenchmen who gained time in a breakaway and then defended an unexpected high GC position, and people who follow the "fall backwards as slowly as possible" modus operandi that Tiralongo did in the Vuelta, it's just that the preponderance of riders like Meintjes, Zubeldia, Valjavec and others for whom this has been their entire career and who are strong enough to defend a top 10 has meant fewer of the surprise riders staying in the top 10 by the end of the race.

Now, one factor at the Vuelta is that, especially in years where the World Championships is on a tough course, like 2009, 2013 and this year, preparation for the World Championships gives riders an easy 'out' for if they're not on form, so they will drop time and test their legs in other ways, such as Damiano Cunego being dropped in the Sierra Nevada stage in 2009, to go in the break the next day, when ordinarily he would probably have tried to defend his GC position, or Richie Porte dropping all manner of time for a week and then going in a break this week. And sure, Cobo and Horner are surprise winners, but that field Monfort was 5th in included Rodríguez, Scarponi, Antón and Nibali, it's just they all botched it completely; because of how important a top 10 at the Tour can be to a team's sponsors and budget, riders will probably be asked to protect that even if their form isn't right whereas in other races they'll drop time and hunt stages or secondary jerseys.

The abundance of riders protecting a top 10 at the Tour isn't so strong at the Giro or Vuelta and so you can find a few unexpected top 10s like Tiralongo's that emerge out of riders who just happen to be among the next group that comes in behind the GC contenders in each stage, but there is less sponsorship demand on the lower end of the top 10 in the Vuelta and owing to its place in the calendar, more erratic form among riders. After all, Tiralongo was 8th in 2009 but the 7 riders ahead of him were Valverde, Sánchez, Evans, Mosquera, Basso, Gesink, Rodríguez - quality riders all (that was also the best Gesink we ever saw and he would probably have podiumed without a crash on stage 19).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

He will try.
It would be foolish not to try with this form.

It's also the first time in his career that he's treated as a leader in GTs. He enjoyed freedom as a stage hunter for Lotto but had to work for his teammates in stages suited to Greipel.

That's just the team dynamic at Lotto. They even left Vandenbrouck alone with a puncture, right before Planche de Belles Filles, who then had to chase down the peloton on his own, and start the climb... meaning he was cooked on the climb and lost minutes in GC which cost him a podium that year (he was 4th in GC). GC guys still have to work for the sprinter, and the entire team is built around him. Also, lets not pretend like Gallopin never got a chance to do his own thing. As a GC contender, he's just not good enough imo. I don't think we'll see him ride top 5 in the tour, just because he 's the GC leader of his team now. And that's the thing, nobody cares if you are 15th or 25th in the TDF, neither do your teambosses (or at least in teams like Lotto). It's top 10 or stagewins. Else they will see you as baggage. Benoot finished his first TDF 20th in GC, 23 years old. Many teams would see that as a sign of potential, but at Lotto, that means you no longer do GC, regardless of your age. It's a bit of a depressing team as well, with a lot of potential being held back by team management.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

He will try.
It would be foolish not to try with this form.

It's also the first time in his career that he's treated as a leader in GTs. He enjoyed freedom as a stage hunter for Lotto but had to work for his teammates in stages suited to Greipel.

That's just the team dynamic at Lotto. They even left Vandenbrouck alone with a puncture, right before Planche de Belles Filles, who then had to chase down the peloton on his own, and start the climb... meaning he was cooked on the climb and lost minutes in GC which cost him a podium that year (he was 4th in GC). GC guys still have to work for the sprinter, and the entire team is built around him. Also, lets not pretend like Gallopin never got a chance to do his own thing. As a GC contender, he's just not good enough imo. I don't think we'll see him ride top 5 in the tour, just because he 's the GC leader of his team now. And that's the thing, nobody cares if you are 15th or 25th in the TDF, neither do your teambosses (or at least in teams like Lotto). It's top 10 or stagewins. Else they will see you as baggage. Benoot finished his first TDF 20th in GC, 23 years old. Many teams would see that as a sign of potential, but at Lotto, that means you no longer do GC, regardless of your age. It's a bit of a depressing team as well, with a lot of potential being held back by team management.

I do not expect him to reach those heights.

I quite like Lotto's philosophy, to be honest, fighting almost every day for the stage, and illuminating one-day races.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

We're talking about the Vuelta a Espana,where Tiralongo got a top 10 and Montfort got a top 5 finish on the general classification. Hence why the Tour of Spain isn't a proper grand tour. Gallopin very well might be able to reach a top 10 spot as well.

No kidding
Does names of Oscar Pereiro, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thomas Voeckler ring any bells?
Or Hesjedal, Gadret and De Gendt?

 

[ciranda]

Re: Re:

And that's the thing, nobody cares if you are 15th or 25th in the TDF, neither do your teambosses (or at least in teams like Lotto). It's top 10 or stagewins. Else they will see you as baggage.

Please don't tell Maxime that.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

And that's the thing, nobody cares if you are 15th or 25th in the TDF, neither do your teambosses (or at least in teams like Lotto). It's top 10 or stagewins. Else they will see you as baggage.

Please don't tell Maxime that.

We (Belgians) care about the first compatriot in the GC. That's why Pauwels is so loved over here

 

[Alexandre B.]

The most difficult stage is ahead but Gallopin sits 10th.
9th today on Rabassa, 10th from the GC group on Balcón de Bizkaia.

He got 1'33" on Buchmann (fading form) and 2'58" on Kelderman (ascending form).
That should be enough to hold on.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Why on earth does the guy hold on to a 10th place......

Stage wins please.....

 

[Anderis]

Re:

Why on earth does the guy hold on to a 10th place......

Stage wins please.....

He's already won a stage this Vuelta. And it was not his first GT stage win.

It doesn't hurt to go for GC once to find his limitations.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Like Libertine said, every year in a GT there is a surprise person in the top 10 and sometimes it is multiple GT's that year.

 

[IndianCyclist]

He is not new to GC. He was sitting 8th in the TDF in 2015 i believe before cracking

 

[Tonton]

Re:

The most difficult stage is ahead but Gallopin sits 10th.
9th today on Rabassa, 10th from the GC group on Balcón de Bizkaia.

He got 1'33" on Buchmann (fading form) and 2'58" on Kelderman (ascending form).
That should be enough to hold on.

Agree 100%.

He can do it. And although it may not seem like much, a top-10 in a GT puts a rider at a different level. The GT level. I so hope that he hangs in there tomorrow. Not just for Tony, but all the Gallopins, who have done so much for cycling in clubs, including at the Cadet/Junior level (Bonjour Alain!) for a long, long time. Allez Tony!

 

[Alexandre B.]

Of course I had to jinx him.

Kelderman was too good today to handle.

 

[movingtarget]

Nice performance.