Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181 km

[Koronin]

If Valverde actually had some help with positioning instead of having to do it all himself he very well could have won this stage. Oh well, he did what he could on his own and still got a 3rd out of it.

 

[willbick]

Re: Re:

anyone else get the feeling Thomas is the Sky no.1 for this race? Froome finishing behind TJVG on any kind of hilltop finish is not a great sign imo

I don’t think losing 8 seconds to a Martin who goes berserk on a Mur tells us anything about Froome. If it had been a 4 km climb and he’d been dropped that would be another thing but today was an anaerobic charge.

There's no way an on form froome is off the back of that lead group

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

anyone else get the feeling Thomas is the Sky no.1 for this race? Froome finishing behind TJVG on any kind of hilltop finish is not a great sign imo

I don’t think losing 8 seconds to a Martin who goes berserk on a Mur tells us anything about Froome. If it had been a 4 km climb and he’d been dropped that would be another thing but today was an anaerobic charge.

There's no way an on form froome is off the back of that lead group

Actually I agree with this, esp because Quintana was still in that group. This type of climb doesn't suit either of them very well, but if Quintana can still hang on, then an on form Froome should have been able to.

 

[dacooley]

Froome is expectedly undercooked after gruelling giro and 5 week racing-free period. Only time will tell if he'll manage strike back, as race progresses. G was obviously instructed "OK boy, do your own race".

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

anyone else get the feeling Thomas is the Sky no.1 for this race? Froome finishing behind TJVG on any kind of hilltop finish is not a great sign imo

I don’t think losing 8 seconds to a Martin who goes berserk on a Mur tells us anything about Froome. If it had been a 4 km climb and he’d been dropped that would be another thing but today was an anaerobic charge.

There's no way an on form froome is off the back of that lead group

Froome was worse in the first hilltop finish of the Giro. That finish was steeper, so gaps were bigger, but he was like 30th there. On the other hand, now we're about one week away from mountains where you can lose it all in one stages, while the Giro only really had like 2 of those stages. And you can't really afford a bad day on the cobbles either.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Honestly thought Bernal would finish higher today.

Has he shown anything on a Mur before? I can’t remember.

Tirreno Adriatico 2017, stage to Fermo.

 

[slosada]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Hey, what do you think about teams not waiting slightly more for TD? Sky, bora & quickstep seemed to up the pace after his puncture from what I saw.

Sky did the same just after the incident that left Zakarin and Uran behind... French commentators mentioned something like "it would not help Sky's image".

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

Froome is expectedly undercooked after gruelling giro and 5 week racing-free period. Only time will tell if he'll manage strike back, as race progresses. G was obviously instructed "OK boy, do your own race".

Yes, and what would be really worrying if Froome had been in great shape today. Everything under control so far, let's wait to 9th stage, and next Tuesday.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Hey, what do you think about teams not waiting slightly more for TD? Sky, bora & quickstep seemed to up the pace after his puncture from what I saw.

Sky did the same just after the incident that left Zakarin and Uran behind... French commentators mentioned something like "it would not help Sky's image".

Yeah, Bora was piling it on too. So were many teams.
Honestly what do you expect 10 Kms from the finish at the Tour? Sky always bring their GC guys to the front at the point end just like anyone would do.
Just because some guy has a mechanical they should stop protecting their GC ambitions?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Hey, what do you think about teams not waiting slightly more for TD? Sky, bora & quickstep seemed to up the pace after his puncture from what I saw.

Sky did the same just after the incident that left Zakarin and Uran behind... French commentators mentioned something like "it would not help Sky's image".

There were 6 km to go. Whatever your views on taking advantage of mechanicals in other circumstances, the racing was on at that point. No team would wait.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Froome is expectedly undercooked after gruelling giro and 5 week racing-free period. Only time will tell if he'll manage strike back, as race progresses. G was obviously instructed "OK boy, do your own race".

Yes, and what would be really worrying if Froome had been in great shape today. Everything under control so far, let's wait to 9th stage, and next Tuesday.

Yeah, great news that Froome is undercooked. He's building upto the 2nd and 3rd weeks. Hoping for no more crashed tbh.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

Froome is expectedly undercooked after gruelling giro and 5 week racing-free period. Only time will tell if he'll manage strike back, as race progresses. G was obviously instructed "OK boy, do your own race".

Yes, and what would be really worrying if Froome had been in great shape today. Everything under control so far, let's wait to 9th stage, and next Tuesday.

Yeah, great news that Froome is undercooked. He's building upto the 2nd and 3rd weeks. Hoping for no more crashed tbh.

Happy, to see you after vacation :razz:

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Honestly thought Bernal would finish higher today.

Has he shown anything on a Mur before? I can’t remember.

Tirreno Adriatico 2017, stage to Fermo.

Just looking it up now. He lost 6 seconds on the lead group then and 9 today. The group was stronger and the climb harder today. Pretty similar level, no?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Okay upon rewatching, Bala actually did an amazing sprint but was absolutely horribly positioned when Martin attacked. So he probably couldn't have gotten more out of it than that.

He actually made the competition look very mediocre. 500 metres to go he is behind Fuglsang in about 20th position, then he sprints past everybody, almost creating a big enough gap to gain a second.

Yeah I was too harsh on him, I didnt notice where he was coming from. Its just that sometimes he just seems on another level in these sprints and can gap people.

Too bad. Would have loved a stage win, but legs seem great.

Part of the issue with Valverde is that he makes it look easy when he sprints. So people jump to the conclusion that he had plenty in the tank to attack earlier when he couldn't.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Hey, what do you think about teams not waiting slightly more for TD? Sky, bora & quickstep seemed to up the pace after his puncture from what I saw.

Nobody waits in the final 5km.

There’s a sliding scale on these things, and Sky have tipped around the envelope for some of Froome’s mechanicals in the past, but 5km from the line is definitely in the “I didn’t know it happened, and even if it did I’m not waiting” realm.

Bardet’s own teammate attacked for 2nd place.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Okay upon rewatching, Bala actually did an amazing sprint but was absolutely horribly positioned when Martin attacked. So he probably couldn't have gotten more out of it than that.

He actually made the competition look very mediocre. 500 metres to go he is behind Fuglsang in about 20th position, then he sprints past everybody, almost creating a big enough gap to gain a second.

Yeah I was too harsh on him, I didnt notice where he was coming from. Its just that sometimes he just seems on another level in these sprints and can gap people.

Too bad. Would have loved a stage win, but legs seem great.

Part of the issue with Valverde is that he makes it look easy when he sprints. So people jump to the conclusion that he had plenty in the tank to attack earlier when he couldn't.

He probably could have (it's not like he gets an injection of creatine kinase into his thighs 250 metres from the line, so of course people are thinking that and are right - it would impair his sprint, though) but not today since he was way out of position.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Okay upon rewatching, Bala actually did an amazing sprint but was absolutely horribly positioned when Martin attacked. So he probably couldn't have gotten more out of it than that.

He actually made the competition look very mediocre. 500 metres to go he is behind Fuglsang in about 20th position, then he sprints past everybody, almost creating a big enough gap to gain a second.

Yeah I was too harsh on him, I didnt notice where he was coming from. Its just that sometimes he just seems on another level in these sprints and can gap people.

Too bad. Would have loved a stage win, but legs seem great.

Part of the issue with Valverde is that he makes it look easy when he sprints. So people jump to the conclusion that he had plenty in the tank to attack earlier when he couldn't.

He probably could have (it's not like he gets an injection of creatine kinase into his thighs 250 metres from the line, so of course people are thinking that and are right - it would impair his sprint, though) but not today since he was way out of position.

Today was very much a he was way too far out of position and some of that is on his team.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Honestly thought Bernal would finish higher today.

aye and I'm sure you expect him to win the cobble stage as well

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Froome is expectedly undercooked after gruelling giro and 5 week racing-free period. Only time will tell if he'll manage strike back, as race progresses. G was obviously instructed "OK boy, do your own race".

Yes, and what would be really worrying if Froome had been in great shape today. Everything under control so far, let's wait to 9th stage, and next Tuesday.

Yeah, great news that Froome is undercooked. He's building upto the 2nd and 3rd weeks. Hoping for no more crashed tbh.

Happy, to see you after vacation :razz:

its the rules around here, one Froome fan a week must spend a week in the clink

 

[MartinGT]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Thomas went for the bonus seconds sprint. Why was that? Just to mop up before he crashes soon?

 

[macbindle]

There is a good chance he'll be in yellow this time next week

 

[rick james]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Thomas went for the bonus seconds sprint. Why was that? Just to mop up before he crashes soon?

you got all of that from listening to it...amazing stuff

really, stick to your guns...don't watch, you'll just get angry

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Watching it again, the attacks by Martin and Latour were both extremely impressive.

 

[MartinGT]

Re: Tour de France 2018 stage 6: Brest > Mûr de Bretagne 181

Thomas went for the bonus seconds sprint. Why was that? Just to mop up before he crashes soon?

you got all of that from listening to it...amazing stuff

really, stick to your guns...don't watch, you'll just get angry

Now now rick lad. Don't get angry. There's things called commentators on these shows they tell you when people attack etc. :lol:

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau Dan Martin - bet the team are really glad too. Bad luck for Tommy D & Bardet, Valverde? Grandpa showing the kids a thing or two