Tour de Yorkshire, May 2 - May 5 (2.HC)

[Danskebjerge]

Re: Re:

Riwal did many things right yesterday - and many things wrong today. Disappointing, but of course good to see the riders in good shape.

I'm not really sure what they did right, to be honest. They should have let Ineos close down the gap to the break, where one of the riders was a potential danger to the GC. In the end, they burned themselves by reeling in the break leaving Kamp isolated for the finale, where he spent too much energy pulling. But that being said, I don't think Kamp would have had the legs to win it today, even if the team had been there for him. GVA was clearly the strongest rider of the day and I am not sure if Kamp could have followed him, had Kamp been on his wheel instead of Froome's on that last ramp.

Immature tactics, in many ways. Riwal had said that they wanted to make the stage tough, but bringing the entire team to the front with 50 kilometers to go - that's almost suicide if you're not sure you have the strongest team in the race. With so small gaps between the riders in the classification, you can't really handle it in the US Postal manner by pushing in the front of the peloton. Not in terrain like this.

 

[vedrafjord]

Great racing today and, as pointed out upthread, interesting to see Ineos trying more of a Quickstep numbers approach in the finale, although not holding out much hope of seeing it in bigger races. Good show by Dunbar but he still needs to learn more race craft. This isn't Minane Bridge, he can't just solo away.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Riwal did many things right yesterday - and many things wrong today. Disappointing, but of course good to see the riders in good shape.

I'm not really sure what they did right, to be honest. They should have let Ineos close down the gap to the break, where one of the riders was a potential danger to the GC. In the end, they burned themselves by reeling in the break leaving Kamp isolated for the finale, where he spent too much energy pulling. But that being said, I don't think Kamp would have had the legs to win it today, even if the team had been there for him. GVA was clearly the strongest rider of the day and I am not sure if Kamp could have followed him, had Kamp been on his wheel instead of Froome's on that last ramp.

Immature tactics, in many ways. Riwal had said that they wanted to make the stage tough, but bringing the entire team to the front with 50 kilometers to go - that's almost suicide if you're not sure you have the strongest team in the race. With so small gaps between the riders in the classification, you can't really handle it in the US Postal manner by pushing in the front of the peloton. Not in terrain like this.

So they should have just sat on Ineos wheel to the line?

Kamp needed to be able to either take bonus seconds or drop anyone else in contention to win.... and he is not winning a bunch sprint with half the peloton.

 

[armchairclimber]

Re:

Great racing today and, as pointed out upthread, interesting to see Ineos trying more of a Quickstep numbers approach in the finale, although not holding out much hope of seeing it in bigger races. Good show by Dunbar but he still needs to learn more race craft. This isn't Minane Bridge, he can't just solo away.

He pretty much did.
He did a great job for the team and was suitably rewarded. He's going to be entertaining to follow.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Riwal did many things right yesterday - and many things wrong today. Disappointing, but of course good to see the riders in good shape.

I'm not really sure what they did right, to be honest. They should have let Ineos close down the gap to the break, where one of the riders was a potential danger to the GC. In the end, they burned themselves by reeling in the break leaving Kamp isolated for the finale, where he spent too much energy pulling. But that being said, I don't think Kamp would have had the legs to win it today, even if the team had been there for him. GVA was clearly the strongest rider of the day and I am not sure if Kamp could have followed him, had Kamp been on his wheel instead of Froome's on that last ramp.

Immature tactics, in many ways. Riwal had said that they wanted to make the stage tough, but bringing the entire team to the front with 50 kilometers to go - that's almost suicide if you're not sure you have the strongest team in the race. With so small gaps between the riders in the classification, you can't really handle it in the US Postal manner by pushing in the front of the peloton. Not in terrain like this.

So they should have just sat on Ineos wheel to the line?

Kamp needed to be able to either take bonus seconds or drop anyone else in contention to win.... and he is not winning a bunch sprint with half the peloton.

That's what it boils down to, isn't it? They wanted to take the fight to Ineos, and they did.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Re: Re:

Riwal did many things right yesterday - and many things wrong today. Disappointing, but of course good to see the riders in good shape.

I'm not really sure what they did right, to be honest. They should have let Ineos close down the gap to the break, where one of the riders was a potential danger to the GC. In the end, they burned themselves by reeling in the break leaving Kamp isolated for the finale, where he spent too much energy pulling. But that being said, I don't think Kamp would have had the legs to win it today, even if the team had been there for him. GVA was clearly the strongest rider of the day and I am not sure if Kamp could have followed him, had Kamp been on his wheel instead of Froome's on that last ramp.

Immature tactics, in many ways. Riwal had said that they wanted to make the stage tough, but bringing the entire team to the front with 50 kilometers to go - that's almost suicide if you're not sure you have the strongest team in the race. With so small gaps between the riders in the classification, you can't really handle it in the US Postal manner by pushing in the front of the peloton. Not in terrain like this.

So they should have just sat on Ineos wheel to the line?

Kamp needed to be able to either take bonus seconds or drop anyone else in contention to win.... and he is not winning a bunch sprint with half the peloton.

Kamp beat Lawless and Van Avermaet the day before. They couldn't be certain he would do it again, I know. But going into the final kilometers with four or five team mates around him, Kamp would have had a really, REALLY good chance of at least making it to the podium. Instead, Riwal opened too many opportunities for the other teams by riding themselves to death so far away from the finish line. They even failed to take the bonus seconds in the last bonus sprint.