Tour de France 2015 stage 20: Modane - Alpe d'Huez

[TMP402]

Simplistic though it sounds, the person who beats Froome just needs to stay within 1 minute of Froome in the first week on the flat and peak in the third week. He faded in the third week in both 2013 and 2015 but there was no-one left within good time.

 

[jaylew]

Obviously there's no guarantee Nairo would have won if he hadn't lost that time in the crosswinds but I sure would like to have seen how the race would have unfolded in that scenario. We could have conceivably seen Nairo taking or losing the yellow jersey by a couple of seconds on this stage.

 

[Punkan]

Emotional Froomy. Clearly today was hellish for him.

 

[Springveldt]

Re:

Another sad day for cycling. Good on Nairo for trying, and great ride by Pinot!

Why?

Today's stage was fantastic, Movistar threw everything they had at Sky and very nearly broke them. Froome was clearly in trouble all the way up the Alpe.

Actually, I've just watched Froome's interview and it's clear he has some sort of cold. He's all bunged up, you can hear it in his voice.

Amazing ride if he isn't 100%. Chapeau.

 

[willbick]

Re:

Phenomenal stage!

And on top of that Pinot gets a stage win and Froome yellow + Polka-Dot.
Couldn't have been better under those circumstances.

Chapeau to Froome. Held yellow for pretty much entire race, Won a stage, showed that he is great on all terrains, and won the Tour, making history in the process (KOTM). All of that while being spat,, pissed on and booed by fans, having journos, ex-dopers against him........simply amazing.
You seriously must be messed up not to be able to appreciate that.
Best rider won- it is as simple as that. Tour is not for one-trick ponies (well, the route designers tried their best).

Well said. Most of the ******** ******** here who rarely go outside have no comprehension of what Froome has had to deal with this tour. Its a hard enough sport when you've got the support of the media and the fans

 

[cadence]

Re: Re:

The post-charteau era in the KoM has worked.

All years but Voeckler it was one of the three strongest climbers that won the KoM

What happens tomorrow. Seems a bit harsh to let the 2nd placed rider wear it into Paris and then take it away1

Last year Quintana won White and KOM. He wore KOM and nobody wore white.

If you are talking about 2013, I am sure Talansky was in white in Paris. My guess is either Bardet or Quintana will be in Polkadot and the other in white

 

[Irondan]

Shame for Nibali. Was really hoping to see a repeat of yesterdays stage. He and Quintana would have made one heck of a partnership. I'm just glad he didn't give up after the troubles of week 1. He could have lost all impetus and disappeared from the race and just spun his wheels. He didn't. He got better as the days wore on, got a stage win and a commendable 4th place overall. I think without the mechanical, he would have gotten 3rd. It's funny, I remember Vande Velde and Roll saying that Nibali might abandon the tour after a few stages due to his standing and his apparent lack of effort/interest. Glad he proved them wrong.

Great post, thanks!

 

[Gigs_98]

I dont understand why many people write stuff like "froome was just the strongest this year"
As it was already written, without the 2nd stage NQ would have been in front of froome. Of course you can argue that Froome would have gotten more time in the pyrenees if he had to but I wouldn't say quintana was stronger too anywasys. I think its fair to say that they were even.

Froome has been the strongest this year. He and his team were great in the crosswinds, he rode a good starting TT and was amazing in the TTT, brilliant on the cobbles (if it had rained or been harder, Nairo would have lost buckets of time to Froome and Nibali), fastest GC man on the mur de Huy, best climber in the pyrnees and although Nairo was stronger in the alps, Froome covered him for all but the last two stages.

1.) His team was strong in the crosswind not froome himself
2.) the starting TT was actually only okay
3.) hard to compare two riders in a TTT but you are probably right. However as I said it I think they were even and there were other situations where quintana was actually also better than froome
4.) he didnt gain a second on quintana on the cobbles although NQ had hardly any team mates. Moreover it didnt rain, so you are talking about circumstances that didnt exist. If it had rained in la pierre saint martin froome probably also hadn't gotten so much time there.
5.) Huy is hardly worth mentioning. The climb is just better for froome. I think you wouldn't argue that purito was the better climber in the first week because of the mur de huy too.
6.) Froome was only the strongest in the first pyrenees stage. On the other ones they were pretty even I think.

moreover if movistar wouldn't have had the worst tactics of the tour he probably would have gained more time on froome in the alps.

 

[Squirbos_19]

Didn't Txurruka wear the white jersey in 2007 because Contador had yellow and Soler had the polka-dots?
Did they change the ruling on this, I can't remember other times when this has happened since

 

[dacooley]

sad day for cycling = sad day for froome detractors, in one's interpretation... froome won the tour against logics in a way as the parcours on paper suited him badly. some forum members even stated he would dnf. fabulous ride by nairito. the future belongs to him.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Another sad day for cycling. Good on Nairo for trying, and great ride by Pinot!

Why?

Today's stage was fantastic, Movistar threw everything they had at Sky and very nearly broke them. Froome was clearly in trouble all the way up the Alpe.

Actually, I've just watched Froome's interview and it's clear he has some sort of cold. He's all bunged up, you can hear it in his voice.

Amazing ride if he isn't 100%. Chapeau.

And a few pages back someone said they saw him sneeze several times up the final climb.

 

[samhocking]

The only thing sad about it was the booing from entire corners up Alpe d'Huez.

 

[SergeDeM]

Re: Re:

The post-charteau era in the KoM has worked.

All years but Voeckler it was one of the three strongest climbers that won the KoM

What happens tomorrow. Seems a bit harsh to let the 2nd placed rider wear it into Paris and then take it away1

Last year Quintana won White and KOM. He wore KOM and nobody wore white.

If you are talking about 2013, I am sure Talansky was in white in Paris. My guess is either Bardet or Quintana will be in Polkadot and the other in white

Really? I suppose that shows you how much I care about Talansky

 

[Inquitus]

Re:

sad day for cycling = sad day for froome detractors, in one's interpretation... froome won the tour against logics in a way as the parcours on paper suited him badly. some forum members even stated he would dnf. fabulous ride by nairito. the future belongs to him.

Not sure the future is Nairo's he will always lose a ton of time in a normal Tour parcours with a good amount of ITT, this was his best opportunity likely for the next few editions, he certainly is the best climber of the current generations, but Pantani was as well and it never delivered more than the one epic victory with the freak show of Galibier / Les Deux Alpes.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Dutch tv just showed a video of another fan spitting on Froome today up the Alpe, pathetic.

So was Froome actually ill? He didn't sound too good in the interview

 

[malakassis]

GG sky, chapeau froome. i thought he was sick since lacets it was visible. thats the price you pay with 3% bodyfat.
froome best rider, nairo best climber. i hope next years tour will learn and offer longer&higher mountain stages. and for compensation a long flat TT just before paris.

 

[TMJ]

Phil Liggett the ITV commentator declared Nairo Quintana the winner of the King of the Mountains jersey after today's result.

During the stage he was also convinced Pinot was second on the climb for much of his ascent.

When's someone gonna give this guy the hook? He definitely is not going to retire himself.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

The post-charteau era in the KoM has worked.

All years but Voeckler it was one of the three strongest climbers that won the KoM

Only problem is that most years it has been won almost accidentally. Only Samu and Voeckler really targeted it.

I think they need some kind of compromise, because they were giving way too many points away in the 2000-2010 era which meant once the era of the KOM points-gathering specialists like Rasmussen and Virenque was over we got a few weak ones, but giving 50pts for an HC summit and only 5 for a cat.2 is really an egregious difference that makes it hard to really target, because the GC guys will always have the huge advantage due to current parcours trends, especially if ASO continues the policy of Unipuerto stages like the PSM one. There really need to be more difficult climbs mid-stage for the current points to really work, so that people like Bardet and Purito might actually believe they can beat the GC guys for the jersey today.

If the GC leader had won the GPM due to an epic raid along the lines of Schleck's odyssey in 2011 or Floyd's comeback tale in 2006 that's one thing, but Froome hasn't needed to pick up points anywhere really; he held the jersey for a week based almost entirely on that PSM stage win. I don't resent that Froome won the GPM, since he was the strongest climber in the race until the last two days, which you might have expected from the GC winner in a race which had very few time trial kilometres. I do resent that he won it only scoring points on a small number of climbs.

ASO like to tilt things towards the favourites though, their reform of the points jersey was to make it easier for sprinters, and the reform of the KOM makes it too easy for GC guys to luck into without trying for it. It's generally wound up on good shoulders for it, but we've lost out on any kind of battle for the jersey. At least with Voeckler you had him properly fighting to keep it.

 

[TMP402]

What was the most injured or ill anyone ever finished on the champs elysees? I'm sure even if Froome developed a fever he'd still do it, but has anyone finished with a broken leg or something, not including injuries sustained in the sprint finish itself?

 

[bigcog]

Another tw*t spitting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m0aDfTXUrY

 

[samhocking]

Sounded full of cold in his main interview yesterday. Hard to tell at altitude with the riders who suffer asthma though. He certainly coughs his guts up at the end of each stage which is classic EIA.
To be honest if you're being spat at in the face continually you'll likely pick up a cold within 48 hours.

 

[Irondan]

Phil Liggett the ITV commentator declared Nairo Quintana the winner of the King of the Mountains jersey after today's result.

During the stage he was also convinced Pinot was second on the climb for much of his ascent.

When's someone gonna give this guy the hook? He definitely is not going to retire himself.

Sadly, you're (our) opinion is in the minority...

 

[fungusbear]

Re:

Phenomenal stage!

And on top of that Pinot gets a stage win and Froome yellow + Polka-Dot.
Couldn't have been better under those circumstances.

Chapeau to Froome. Held yellow for pretty much entire race, Won a stage, showed that he is great on all terrains, and won the Tour, making history in the process (KOTM). All of that while being spat,, pissed on and booed by fans, having journos, ex-dopers against him........simply amazing.
You seriously must be messed up not to be able to appreciate that.
Best rider won- it is as simple as that. Tour is not for one-trick ponies (well, the route designers tried their best).

Could not have said it better myself. (although I wwas hoping Nairo would catch Pinot and win the stage)

 

[Fernandez]

One of the best stages I´ve seen for the past years. Movistar went all for it.

 

[fungusbear]

Re:

What was the most injured or ill anyone ever finished on the champs elysees? I'm sure even if Froome developed a fever he'd still do it, but has anyone finished with a broken leg or something, not including injuries sustained in the sprint finish itself?

Didn't G finish the 2013 tour with a cracked pelvis or something crazy!?