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:Quintana back to big four times exposed the rather weak climbing level of the contenders. No wonder Alaph hangs on.
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:All in all, I think Movistar chasing after Quintana is overblown. The favorite group suffered a lot from the Izoard like 3 minutes faster when they were climbing the Galibier.
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:All in all, I think Movistar chasing after Quintana is overblown. The favorite group suffered a lot from the Izoard like 3 minutes faster when they were climbing the Galibier.
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: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.
Kruijswijk does not have a winning mentality.Cance > TheRest said: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: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.
Red Rick said: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:Quintana back to big four times exposed the rather weak climbing level of the contenders. No wonder Alaph hangs on.
He said that or is it your fairy tale?hrotha said:Kruijswijk is riding for 4th and by god I hope he gets it.
jaylew said: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.
Dutch commentators saying today was a good day for Kruijswijk was the funniest thing I've heard all monthhrotha said:Kruijswijk is riding for 4th and by god I hope he gets it.
Red Rick said: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
He's ridden much more aggressively in the past when he had less to lose. He's just a coward.Red Rick said: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
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: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
Red Rick said: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
Red Rick said: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