Quintana back to big four times exposed the rather weak climbing level of the contenders. No wonder Alaph hangs on.
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Climbing times should be interesting. Most flags indicated tailwind today, and I already saw claims Quintana climbed way faster than Frank Schleck in 2011, which should be no surprise.Rollthedice said:
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This, he'd be closer on the gc, but he'll probably pay for it tomorrow. Movistar were able to blow pretty much all the Ineos doms away on the Izoard and made life miserable for everyone. People will feel the effort tomorrow, teams will be weaker and therefore long range attacks will also have a better chance. By making the race hard they also increased the chance that a few top 5 guys could blow up on the final 2 mountain stages.Red Rick said:
Very nice win for Quintana but not convinced he will stay where he is on GC, same for Valverde. Surprised they didn't pressure Alaphillipe much earlier. They are playing a dangerous game but there must be some confidence that the next two stages will finish him off. The way he descends it was probably more sensible to test his legs and wait for the next stages. Race is still there for the taking.
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Agree. They only took a minute and a half from Quintana on the Izoard (they mostly took time from Bernard/van Avermaet), and after the summit it took a while for INEOS to regain the tempo again. By then the difference was 6"30 again. Movistar did well today.Red Rick said:
The end of the stage was pretty entertaining but as I feared the attacks from the gc guys started very late. Still, I do think the riders will feel this stage in their legs tomorrow and the stage will end up having quite a big impact. Alaphilippe again limited his losses and only lost time to Bernal but you can see how he struggles to stay with the favorites more and more with every mountain stage. From 2nd on the tourmalet to blowing up after originally following Pinot's attack on stage 15 to basically getting dropped as soon as the favorites put the hammer down this stage. I fear tomorrow will be his last day in yellow.
I have no clue what the other teams were doing today, FDJ, Lotto Jumbo.... were they actually just content with Van Baarle, and then when Bernal attacked, a somewhat weak Mas to pull the peloton? They were bleeding time and obviously werent going as fast as they could when Bernal had attacked - that was pretty clear when they answered Thomas' attack.
I think Egan would have gained more and I think it was a mistake by Thomas, most definitely. But I kinda undertand him - he also wants to win, but maybe more importantly, he had good reasons to think the others werent able to answer that one after just letting Bernal sail away.
I think Egan would have gained more and I think it was a mistake by Thomas, most definitely. But I kinda undertand him - he also wants to win, but maybe more importantly, he had good reasons to think the others werent able to answer that one after just letting Bernal sail away.
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Kruijswijk is obviously content with a podium spot, so his only aim was to defend his position today - now he lost it, but he was also not exactly flying either. And FDJ was not really as strong as we'd seen earlier in the Pyrenees, so they maybe lacked the firepower to do something. That said, I do not understand how any of them (Pinot and Landa in particular) can be content with not even trying to follow Bernal on his attack, as Enric Mas was clearly not driving the pace fast enough.Valv.Piti said:
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How much of the climbing time difference could also be explained by the easier stage than 2011? Vars much easier than Angello
Red Rick said:
How much of the climbing time difference could also be explained by the easier stage than 2011? Vars much easier than Angello
Don't think SK is going to get a podium. He barely hung on today. I think the podium will be between the Ineos guys, Pinot and Alaphilippe.
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Ala seems to be reaching the end of his powers, I think its between the 2 Ineos riders and Pinot, with one of the former 2 favourite.
jaylew said:
Ala seems to be reaching the end of his powers, I think its between the 2 Ineos riders and Pinot, with one of the former 2 favourite.
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Dutch commentators saying today was a good day for Kruijswijk was the funniest thing I've heard all monthhrotha said:
He really adds nothing, absolutely nothing, to the race. If he does, its just tempo grinding with his team. A rider like Buchmann is much more excused since he is young and have no team.
High level Meintjes really.
Very consistent but he's just not good enough to do more so I never understand any hype we have about him
Very consistent but he's just not good enough to do more so I never understand any hype we have about him
I love these stage threads. They often get me to go and re-watch the stage to pick out all the moments i some how missed.
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Two wins at 32 years of age. Some were thinking his third can be this small race in France during July.
Red Rick said:
Two wins at 32 years of age. Some were thinking his third can be this small race in France during July.
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Par for the course, though.
He's ridden much more aggressively in the past when he had less to lose. He's just a coward.Red Rick said:
Par for the course, though.
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For me he is an 800m runner who can sustain constant tempo trough whole distance and it looks like he is accelerating on last 100m. Hopefully.Red Rick said:
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Well, he did have a four-minute lead in the Giro with two stages remaining, so obviously he deserves some hype.
And last year's Alpe d'Huez foray with a solo attack 100 kilometres from the finish was Michael Rasmussen-level, so I don't really know why you compare him to Meintjes.
Red Rick said:
Well, he did have a four-minute lead in the Giro with two stages remaining, so obviously he deserves some hype.
And last year's Alpe d'Huez foray with a solo attack 100 kilometres from the finish was Michael Rasmussen-level, so I don't really know why you compare him to Meintjes.
36 Big Photos from Stage 18 (descriptions to come) — aso/corvos/bettini
http://www.steephill.tv/2019/tour-de-france/photos/stage-18/
http://www.steephill.tv/2019/tour-de-france/photos/stage-18/
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The most decisive move from him so far was to tell Bennett to slow down but maybe he is riding on his limit. He never regained his 2016 Giro form, that was a magic time for him until it went wrong and Nibali probably knows he was lucky.
Red Rick said:
The most decisive move from him so far was to tell Bennett to slow down but maybe he is riding on his limit. He never regained his 2016 Giro form, that was a magic time for him until it went wrong and Nibali probably knows he was lucky.
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