What went wrong with Zubeldia and Kloden today? They might be planning something big for one of the Alps stages.
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It was a joke. Because of the way the stage was ridden.sulgpallur said:doping control was done yesterday too as he was stage winner
The Hitch said:They didnt try to dislodge him at any point. They rode tempo (as if they were the yellow jersey) the whole stage. Basically did Skys job for them giving sky extra strengh for the next week.
Jelantik said:At least we learned one thing about today. The tour isn't just about one day. Froome still reign supreme today. But his faithful lieutenant toppel so hard in on one swoop. But Paris is still along way. The hardest stage hasn't come yet. Also the revelation of Quintana form. It's just too bad he went too early yesterday..
here's porte comment after dauphine:
"We are not at the top of our game just yet," he said. "I'd be a little worried if I was Contador or Rodríguez. As quiet as they are, I think they're a little bit stressed."
The Dauphiné wasn't an easy race and we were one-two. That's the goal. The other guys say they are chasing form, but I don't see how they can recover from two and a half minutes or whatever they're down in a dead flat 30K time trial. That's a lot of time to pull back in three weeks."
Boy how wrong he was today. Not only he lost his position, he coughed almost 18 minutes. Top form ey Porte? How come you cough so much time with rider who you called chasing his form?
If only Froome could follow then Quintana waits up for Valverde to catchup and then either tries again or lets Valverde have a go. Rince and repeat. If Saxo threw in Roman as well they would have almost certainly broken Froome at some point.Sasquatch said:Exactly! You are only as strong as your leader and Quintana is unproven over 3 weeks. They have secured a high placing, and they will try again in the third week. At some stage they will let Quintana loose if he has the legs in the Alps. But not on stage 9. It was too early for them to hurt Valverde.
If Quintana was let go, only Froome would have followed him and they probably would have put 2 minutes onto Valverde. At least now they have Quintana 2:02 behind and Valverde 1:25 behind rather than Quintana 2:02 behind and Valverde 3 or 4 minutes behind which would have happened if Quintana maintained his attack. At least they have 2 riders closer to Froome so they have options in the third week to make him panic when Froome gets isolated again.
Fact is they tried to do something, and that is a positive sign for the Alps.
Sasquatch said:They tried when Quintana attacked but each time Froome responded.
Froome will be isolated again in the Alps, there's no doubt about that. His team is ****, and there are harder stages over consecutive days where they can try to do damage.
burning said:Brailsford is super happy about last 3 hours
Libertine Seguros said:2nd and 3rd is a better hand to play tactically than 2nd and 7th.
Jelantik said:At least we learned one thing about today. The tour isn't just about one day. Froome still reign supreme today. But his faithful lieutenant toppel so hard in on one swoop. But Paris is still along way. The hardest stage hasn't come yet. Also the revelation of Quintana form. It's just too bad he went too early yesterday..
here's porte comment after dauphine:
"We are not at the top of our game just yet," he said. "I'd be a little worried if I was Contador or Rodríguez. As quiet as they are, I think they're a little bit stressed."
The Dauphiné wasn't an easy race and we were one-two. That's the goal. The other guys say they are chasing form, but I don't see how they can recover from two and a half minutes or whatever they're down in a dead flat 30K time trial. That's a lot of time to pull back in three weeks."
Boy how wrong he was after today. Not only he lost his position, he coughed almost 11 minutes. Top form ey Porte? How come you cough so much time with rider who you called chasing his form?
The Hitch said:They didnt try to dislodge him at any point. They rode tempo (as if they were the yellow jersey) the whole stage. Basically did Skys job for them giving sky extra strengh for the next week.
That would depend on the time gaps.Libertine Seguros said:2nd and 3rd is a better hand to play tactically than 2nd and 7th.
Dekker_Tifosi said:Uhm, Porte lost 17 minutes. He lost his entire lead to guys as Wout Poels and Robert gesink lol
Dekker_Tifosi said:Uhm, Porte lost 17 minutes. He lost his entire lead to guys as Wout Poels and Robert gesink lol
They were more than half that at the start of the second climb. Only lost about 12-14 mins in 4 cat1 climbs.Bavarianrider said:Grupetto only 25 minutes back.
benzwire said:Dan Martin, please take your prize money and pay for some orthodontic work. Jesus, the guy's a walking stereotype.
burning said:The only proper multi mountain stage is last Friday. They completely blew their biggest chance with no gain
bolingbroke said:What do you expect he was receiving no help and was literally on his own and eventually gave up. He lost that amount of time through circumstance not because those riders are that much better than him.
Dazed and Confused said:lol,
Movistar effectively removed a strong tactical weapon from Sky.
Solid and a well executed plan by Movistar today.