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

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Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
29,400
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Re:

Poursuivant said:
Not sure Froome is as weak as people think. Yes he cracked at the end with those insane gradients, but on Mont du Chat he was one of the strongest on the climbs, at one point his attack dropped Bardet and Aru. He has been stronger in previous Tours definitely, but he isn't as bad as people are making out I think. If I was Sky, I would do everything to put Landa in the break, give him Kwiatkowski to help him.
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But Froome isn't the type that improves as the race gets on. He only gets (slightly) worse...
 
B

Bolder

Jun 25, 2015
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Anything could happen -- from Froome finding his legs are pretty good and keeping Aru/Bardet on a short leash, to a complete implosion on the last climb (god that looks brutal). Here's what I think -- Sky will mark Aru/Bardet, but Uran or someone else will take a suicide shot and try to steal a minute or two as Sky/Astana/AGR2 try to decide what to do. Alternatively Quintana may throw caution to the winds and try a long-range attack, but I think he's cooked. I watched the end of today's stage a few times and I think Froome was really surprised that he didn't have more juice. You can see that he gets out of the saddle for 50 meters then just sits down and spins it out.
 
carton

carton

Aug 4, 2014
2,370
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Re:

red_flanders said:
No one is going to be able to stay away unless Froome cracks completely. Not seeing that. Run in way too long.
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If Landa's dropped, maybe. If it's just the heads of state then Uran, Aru and Bardet could gain some time on the dawg.

Anyway, I hope that someone blows this stage to hell. I don't know who could that be with Quintana and Contador off their game. Bardet, maybe?
 
JosephK

JosephK

Jul 24, 2016
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Re: Re:

carton said:
red_flanders said:
No one is going to be able to stay away unless Froome cracks completely. Not seeing that. Run in way too long.
Click to expand...
If Landa's dropped, maybe. If it's just the heads of state then Uran, Aru and Bardet could gain some time on the dawg.

Anyway, I hope that someone blows this stage to hell. I don't know who could that be with Quintana and Contador off their game. Bardet, maybe?
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Yes, I am desperately hoping for carnage in the opening kilometers. Without a good break, that long run-in will penalize any solo efforts from the final climb.
 
A

arvc40

Jul 1, 2013
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Nobody doing anything to stop Froome winning Tour Tmoz. Sky will control anything that looks dangerous.
 
B

Brullnux

Mar 31, 2015
9,451
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Re: Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
Poursuivant said:
Not sure Froome is as weak as people think. Yes he cracked at the end with those insane gradients, but on Mont du Chat he was one of the strongest on the climbs, at one point his attack dropped Bardet and Aru. He has been stronger in previous Tours definitely, but he isn't as bad as people are making out I think. If I was Sky, I would do everything to put Landa in the break, give him Kwiatkowski to help him.
Click to expand...

But Froome isn't the type that improves as the race gets on. He only gets (slightly) worse...
Click to expand...
He improved towards the end of the Vuelta last year, although there were only two or three mountain tests in the final week so it is hard to say (excluding Formigal of course, as that was more tactics than form).
 
S

Son of Amsterhammer

Jun 29, 2015
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Re:

Escarabajo said:
So Sky can put Landa on the break and make the other teams work. Would that work? or would it be too much risk for Sky that Landa gets out of control?

That would be am unlikely scenario anyway!
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Imagine the headlines after Landa solos and takes 3 mins out of everyone as they can't decide who should actually go after him!
 
F

frisenfruitig

Jul 28, 2010
952
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Pretty hard to gauge how strong Froome is. He didn't have an answer for that explosion in the final 400 metres but it might be a different story on the longer climbs. Hopefully the weakness he showed today inspires the other contenders to attack him.

Tomorrow might be a crazy stage; only 100 km, some contenders already at a considerable distance in the GC might go all or nothing. If they don't try to finish off Froome tomorrow they should be ashamed of themselves.
 
red_flanders

red_flanders

Apr 3, 2009
12,069
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Re: Re:

carton said:
red_flanders said:
No one is going to be able to stay away unless Froome cracks completely. Not seeing that. Run in way too long.
Click to expand...
If Landa's dropped, maybe. If it's just the heads of state then Uran, Aru and Bardet could gain some time on the dawg.

Anyway, I hope that someone blows this stage to hell. I don't know who could that be with Quintana and Contador off their game. Bardet, maybe?
Click to expand...

Agree. If Landa had opened his mouth to breathe at all in any of the last 100k today I might be concerned he'd crack. As is, don't see it.
 
jsem94

jsem94

Oct 5, 2010
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Aru/Bardet etc sense weakness in Froome and go mental early, Landa goes with them and doesn't have to work. Froome relies on his team to bring the break back but they fail miserably giving two-three minutes to the strong break. Landa, having rested while Astana and AG2R waste their doms and their leaders also do pulls at the front goes on the last climb and solos the last 30km putting two minutes into Aru and Bardet and three minutes into Froome.

Cue the Dumoulin/Landa battles for the next five years.
 
C

cipurian

Jul 19, 2015
136
0
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Re:

jsem94 said:
Aru/Bardet etc sense weakness in Froome and go mental early, Landa goes with them and doesn't have to work. Froome relies on his team to bring the break back but they fail miserably giving two-three minutes to the strong break. Landa, having rested while Astana and AG2R waste their doms and their leaders also do pulls at the front goes on the last climb and solos the last 30km putting two minutes into Aru and Bardet and three minutes into Froome.

Cue the Dumoulin/Landa battles for the next five years.
Click to expand...

I think it's more probable for Aru to crash and Bardet get technical on descent with Froominator getting back in yellow.
 
Escarabajo

Escarabajo

Apr 16, 2009
17,458
6,603
28,180
Re:

jsem94 said:
Aru/Bardet etc sense weakness in Froome and go mental early, Landa goes with them and doesn't have to work. Froome relies on his team to bring the break back but they fail miserably giving two-three minutes to the strong break. Landa, having rested while Astana and AG2R waste their doms and their leaders also do pulls at the front goes on the last climb and solos the last 30km putting two minutes into Aru and Bardet and three minutes into Froome.

Cue the Dumoulin/Landa battles for the next five years.
Click to expand...
I don't think they'll try anything early. They have the perfect ramp where they have been successful in this Tour. That is the 3 km steep portion of the Mur the Peguere. That is even perfect if a few go together. It would be interesting if they have someone ahead of them to help.
 
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