Tour de France 2018 Rumours

[pastronef]

Re: Re:

speaking seriously quintana is really doomed if the pave stage will have rain , but problems could happen to everybody , is it a matter of our position at the start of the pave section , if Movistar is leading quintana will have less problems

Erviti 100% in the TdF team.

same as Moscon for Sky

 

[Kyllingen86]

Okay, thanks a lot!

Disappointed about that stage 5, but this hilly stage we got instead should provide us with some kind of selected sprint by the end.

La Rosiere is a lot longer and "flatter" than I thought. With only three MTF's it is a shame to let it go to a waste but with next day to Alpe d'Huez I can understand peoples ideas that it will only contain very little GC-action. If a few GC-riders already lost time for an instance on the cobbles it is a brilliant stage to bounce back. I prefer to stay optimistic on this one.

I guess that stage to Carcasonne will be a regular transit-stage. I had hoped there was a setup for a surprise downhill-attack from either Nibali or Bardet to turn up the fire but I guess with 40 km to go it is very unlikely.

The stage to Mende will be all about the last 3 km rather than a proper medium mountain stage. It suits puncheurs better than break-away riders.

 

[Escarabajo]

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Its not tho, it has a nice stretch midways. Anyways, I do not think such gradients are underrated, it makes for pretty poor racing unless you have something like Mortirolo (aka the best climb known to mankind in professional cycling) beforehand. Speaking of which, Iød like to see that Gileres in the finale. Thats brutal stuff.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Did you see the Sierra Nevada stage this year?

That was harder, later in the race, and as the last of 3 mountain stages.

 

[Escarabajo]

Just you wait!!!

The run into the finale is very hard (I mean the previous 3 mountains before the La Rosiere, Bisanne, Pre and Roseland).

 

[Breh]

El Angliru was pretty hard. And boring as hell.

 

[Robert5091]

So how are RCS going to tempt Sky to send Froome to the Giro? Apart from stage 9's difficulties, Froome can wheelsuck until the ITT.

 

[b.broadhurst]

No way Froome does the Giro over the Tour.

The organisers have played into the hands of Sky here totally, they have the strongest team for the pave and TTT plus they’ve been great in the wind recently. No really really high mountain days and a good length TT on the penultimate day.

Froome Thomas Poels Kwiatkowski Moscon Castroviejo Van Baarle Stannard

 

[Red Rick]

There are probably 3 riders in the peloton who can win cobbled classics and be one of the best 15 climbers in a GT peloton.

Sky is gonna bring all 3 of them to the Tour.

Unless 2 Sky riders crash out in the first week, Sky are gonna be able to control all the mountains easily.



And yeah, Froome's already been confirmed to focus on the Tour. I wonder what makes people look at Quintana this year and go 'yeah Froome can do that, no problem'

 

[Tonton]

Nibali proved in '14 that he can, if not win a stage like this, at least gap everybody that matters. But I don't see him doing the Tour.

Anything can happen on that stage.

Sky is strong, will gain time on most everybody in the TTT, but with few MTF, it looks different. The train won't be as important.

But again, MdB suits Froome.

I'm doing the yo-yo here, I know.

IMO, only Major Tom can defeat the evil empire.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Reasonably happy with the course. The Alps look good, though could still be longer in length. Not sure about the 65 km stage in the Pyrenees. Why not just have an epic mountain ITT?

If the Giro offers at least 50 kms of ITT and not too many crazy mountains then Tom should defend his title IMO. I think Nibali will do the Tour.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re: Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Did you see the Sierra Nevada stage this year?

That was harder, later in the race, and as the last of 3 mountain stages.

Contador dropped Schleck on Arcalis at very low gradients. That stage was soft as hell, too.

Even though La Rosiere is (only) the 2nd of 3 alpine stages in a row, I think we may see some action from the likes of Barguil and Martin. Don't think this will be a procession until the final k. Gaps will be made.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Did you see the Sierra Nevada stage this year?

That was harder, later in the race, and as the last of 3 mountain stages.

Contador dropped Schleck on Arcalis at very low gradients. That stage was soft as hell, too.

Even though La Rosiere is (only) the 2nd of 3 alpine stages in a row, I think we may see some action from the likes of Barguil and Martin. Don't think this will be a procession until the final k. Gaps will be made.

Everyone hates the damn climb, but Arcalis main body is 7%. 4% isn't raceable

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re: Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Did you see the Sierra Nevada stage this year?

That was harder, later in the race, and as the last of 3 mountain stages.

Contador dropped Schleck on Arcalis at very low gradients. That stage was soft as hell, too.

Even though La Rosiere is (only) the 2nd of 3 alpine stages in a row, I think we may see some action from the likes of Barguil and Martin. Don't think this will be a procession until the final k. Gaps will be made.

Everyone hates the damn climb, but Arcalis main body is 7%.

The final 4 kms aren't

4% isn't raceable

The final 10 km of La Rosiere are like 6.6 - 6.7% per the profile Netserk posted above. Attacks will need to happen before the 4.5- 5 % part of the last 4 or so kms. The 8%+ part is plenty hard to attack.

Someone has to be stronger than Froome, though. That is the issue.

 

[dacooley]

I don't know guys after toussouire in 2015 when quintana puts 30 sec into froome and about 2 mins into valverde and contador, everything is possible on rosiere. it's all down to a proper attacking initiative coming to the fore at the right moment.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Reasonably happy with the course. The Alps look good, though could still be longer in length. Not sure about the 65 km stage in the Pyrenees. Why not just have an epic mountain ITT?

If the Giro offers at least 50 kms of ITT and not too many crazy mountains then Tom should defend his title IMO. I think Nibali will do the Tour.

Exactly. Tom should go to Giro if they have ITT similar to last year.

This route in the Tour looks good on paper for him, but I feel like its gonna be a set up if he goes there. People are already thinking Tom is only one that can beat Froome on this route and that it should suit him well etc. I think it will be a mistake to go though.

I think Nibali will be Froomes biggest competitor on this route, if on same form as during this fall and if he can stay injury free. Nibali dont got a strong team for TTT but he should be able to match Froome on the rest of the stages and hopefully he gain time before final ITT. I think Riche Porte got a big chance on this route also if he dont make mistakes or have bad luck. He got a strong team for TTT also.

 

[May0maniac]

BMC's master tactician Piva is already crying about the fact that the first week and the cobbles are too hard for the climbers. Of course they'll still put all their eggs in the Tour basket, but he's still complaining about the delayed Giro presentation.
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/10/...il-non-convince-bmc-giro-d-talia-tuttobiciweb

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

If anybody thinks that La Rosiere will be a waste because is a gradual gradient they will be surprised next year. Steep gradients are sometimes overrated.

Did you see the Sierra Nevada stage this year?

That was harder, later in the race, and as the last of 3 mountain stages.

Contador dropped Schleck on Arcalis at very low gradients. That stage was soft as hell, too.

Even though La Rosiere is (only) the 2nd of 3 alpine stages in a row, I think we may see some action from the likes of Barguil and Martin. Don't think this will be a procession until the final k. Gaps will be made.

Everyone hates the damn climb, but Arcalis main body is 7%.

The final 4 kms aren't

4% isn't raceable

The final 10 km of La Rosiere are like 6.6 - 6.7% per the profile Netserk posted above. Attacks will need to happen before the 4.5- 5 % part of the last 4 or so kms. The 8%+ part is plenty hard to attack.

Someone has to be stronger than Froome, though. That is the issue.

Agreed, they are more like 6.5%...

 

[Red Rick]

Misread the Rosiere profile. They'll try and fail very predictably, instead of not even trying. Very marginally less shitty

 

[telencefalus]

well many ds are now protesting for the demanding fisrt 9 stages , wind cobbles so also Piva for LTR , that is too much pave , and the poor lightweight will suffer , Frumi to destory people also here GOAT

 

[Escarabajo]

All those gradients are plenty hard for attack. The problems is always the same. Whether there is someone strong enough to attack Froome. Porte crashed out too early last year and Quintana was way subpar. So everything else looked bad after that.

 

[portugal11]

Please, someone tell me that the 65 km stage is a MTT...

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Please, someone tell me that the 65 km stage is a MTT...

It is a MTT.

In 1985 Roche used TT lycra for the short stage because that was the way he was treating it.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

BMC's master tactician Piva is already crying about the fact that the first week and the cobbles are too hard for the climbers. Of course they'll still put all their eggs in the Tour basket but he's still complaining about the delayed Giro presentation.,
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/10/...il-non-convince-bmc-giro-d-talia-tuttobiciweb

Porte has no business being at the Giro, either, so I can certainly understand BMC's choice from a commercial perspective.

From a sports perspective it would be better if he'd focus on the Vuelta instead, but I'm sure prefers another TDF top 5 over a possible Vuelta win...