Tour de France 2017 Stage 13: Saint-Girons > Foix 101 km

[hfer07]

It was a beautiful stage - Thank you Contador, Thank you Landa, Thank you Quintana and Allez Barguil!!!! a well earned & deserved stage victory!!!

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

Landa is a maverick, if they unleash him up the road again I can't imagine that Froome will be a happy camper. The dynamic between those 2 will be interesting to watch. Who will the team favour, Froome or landa?

With the remaining 20k TT of course Froome. Landa is just a card to play in Froomes favour.

But with Landa you never know what you get until you use that card. He might completely go rogue on one of the last mountain stages.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Up until today this has been a bad edition of the Tour so far, but even so there's something great about it: Following on from the Giro we now have confirmation that the "Big 4" era of GC dominance is over.

Froome is still the favourite to win this race. Quintana, Nibali and Contador are still excellent riders. But there is now no longer a gulf between these guys and a field of also rans. We are in a genuinely open period when up to a dozen riders can legitimately enter a GT thinking that winning overall is a possibility, no matter who else shows up.

 

[Forever The Best]

Meintjes is one of my least favourite cyclists. I hope he loses 15 minutes on Galibier.

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

I disliked him today because he rode pathetically for a 10th place or so. And yeah he is much stronger in the 3rd week as he showed last year.

I see the 'stage win' attempt went really well for Lotto and Bennett. Only four minutes or so out

Indeed. Glad that he cracked. Teams and riders riding pathetically for a 7-9th place etc. should have no place in cycling.

 

[Fergoose]

Well played by Aru if he read Froome was on a better day. Froome and Kwiat were as bad a duo as Aru and Fuglsang in a previous stage. When Kwiat had the gap on the descent Froome should have let him get much further ahead and try an aggressive bridge over instead of just slowly pulling everyone over to Kwiat's wheel. Good day for Uran also.

A little baffled by both Martin and Bardet. Bardet by really trying nothing and Martin by using up so much energy for so little potential upside.

Big gratitude to Contador for being willing to instigate a long range attack when nobody else in the top 15 is willing to instigate even a medium range effort. I won't be unhappy if he is rewarded with a stage later in the race.

Happy for Barguil too, he has put in some effort this tour. Notable that he was the match of his three companions today. Quite illustrious company even if none of them are on peak form.

 

[Blanco]

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

 

[Forever The Best]

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

He already finished 8th last year...

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

Landa - ignoring captains since 2015

??? Seems clearly to be the Sky plan...

The plan was to chase Landa? No way José. Me thinks Landa was doing Landa and riding for himself which clearly pissed Froome who chased his own teammate. This might piss Landa off doing something animalistic further down.

If it was a plan it was the worst i've ever seen.

As much as I'd like to believe Landa was Landa'ing it up for the lulz... I don't think Froome was chasing him. Froome was trying to drop his rivals and go up the road with Kwiatkowski, at a time when it was obvious that Landa wasn't going to get in yellow anyway. The objective of getting Landa back in the GC race to put extra pressure on Aru and Bardet was already going to be achieved no matter what.

Exactly.

This race is still wide open, even Quintana has brought himself back into the argument.

 

[Bolder]

Re:

Up until today this has been a bad edition of the Tour so far, but even so there's something great about it: Following on from the Giro we now have confirmation that the "Big 4" era of GC dominance is over.

Froome is still the favourite to win this race. Quintana, Nibali and Contador are still excellent riders. But there is now no longer a gulf between these guys and a field of also rans. We are in a genuinely open period when up to a dozen riders can legitimately enter a GT thinking that winning overall is a possibility, no matter who else shows up.

I certainly hope you're right. Would like to see Dumoulin at peak form in Tour next year and Landa riding for GC. H

 

[movingtarget]

Weird stage tactically. Glad Barguil got his stage win. Good comeback by Contador and Quintana and Landa is making things interesting. Froome didn't look that great on the steep part of the final climb but then he attacked. You can never tell with him. Good to see Dan Martin work hard and pick up some time.

 

[hrotha]

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

It's not just about today, it's about the way Meintjes has been racing for 2 Tours now. He adds nothing to the race.

 

[Frankschleck]

great ride by warren, came back from being dropped by landa and contador to win the stage, while also being the first rider to attack on the stage.

 

[Blanco]

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

He already finished 8th last year...

So? Why would he sit in the group with 2 teammates, doing nothing, allowing Contador to take his spot? Why not fight?

 

[Forever The Best]

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

He already finished 8th last year...

So? Why would he sit in the group with 2 teammates, doing nothing, allowing Contador to take his spot? Why not fight?

You know, he could've attacked with Contador or Quintana earlier in the stage and gain real time. He could've also attacked in the end with Martin or Yates to gain 10-15 seconds.

 

[guncha]

This stage exceeded my zero expectations despite top 4 (Aru, Froome, Bardet, Uran) finishing together.
However, Contador and Quitana should fade in Alpes. I don't think they are top 3 contenders.
Neverthelss, I am not a big fan of such designs and I hope it will not be a pattern. Peregue, Chat, Grand Colombier should be MTFs.

 

[starlord]

Re:

Has there ever been a climber with less upper body movement than Landa?

Rolland.

 

[No_Balls]

Re:

SeriousSam wrote:
Has there ever been a climber with less upper body movement than Landa?

Frank Vandenbroucke.

 

[BigShoes]

Three hunches confirmed today.

1. Mentijes adds nothing to GC races. Talented enough to tag along with a bunch of GC favourites but so so so so conservative. He is the ultimate 'backbencher' of a cycling elite.

2. Landa is riding for himself and himself only. Froome knows it hence his chase after the final peak and Sky know it. Watch this space for further developments.

3. Martin's crash has lost him his 'kick'. He went to the front today on Peguere to maintain a high a pace as possible as he knows that he is not fit enough for 'out of the seat' accelerations.

 

[movingtarget]

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

It's not just about today, it's about the way Meintjes has been racing for 2 Tours now. He adds nothing to the race.

It's not as if he's the only one and maybe sitting at the back is the best he can do.

 

[perico]

Re:

This has to be one of the weirdest stages I've seen. Great entertaining though. But god Meintjes is the most boring rider in history.

This guy says hi

 

[carton]

Gratz to Barguil. Finally got that win.

Chapeau to Contador and Quintana. Once more onto the breach.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Louis tends to get better in the third week. Don't get the hate.

You don't need to hate Meintjes yourself but surely it's super easy to understand why people dislike him.

No, it's not easy to understand. Top 10 at Le Tour means much to him, he had 2 teammates in the main group, of course he's going to use them to protect his spot. What he should've done? Let his teammates to go back and ride at the back of the group? Guy rode his own race, I'm ok with that.

How about, you know, attacking one time in his career? He already finished in the top 10 last year.

 

[benzwire]

Re:

1. Mentijes adds nothing to GC races. Talented enough to tag along with a bunch of GC favourites but so so so so conservative. He is the ultimate 'backbencher' of a cycling elite.

Perico beat me to it, but yes, this was also known as Leipheimering

 

[spalco]

***, seems like I missed one hell of a stage...

Crazy GC right now, 8 within (nearly) 2 minutes...

 

[Arked]

Re:

2. Landa is riding for himself and himself only. Froome knows it hence his chase after the final peak and Sky know it. Watch this space for further developments.

Landa was up the road for other GC contenders to chase and wear themselves down. It kinda worked. Froome tried to attack few times and shake off Aru but he didn't succeed. They also did some weak pulls after Martin attacked but I wouldn't call it chasing Landa. That's not what happened. Landa higher in GC is very strong card for Sky to play and they know it.