Paris-Nice 2015 *spoilers"

[tug benson]

all aboard the sky train...

 

[The Couch]

Today no tactics from Sky, just pulling up the final climb... letting the others drop

 

[tug benson]

all going off now

 

[tug benson]

offt porte and G

 

[tug benson]

Porte takes the stage with G second...Sky got it spot on

 

[tug benson]

Kwiatkowski in yellow

 

[The Couch]

Impressive work by Sky (it hurted GT a lot, but he managed to hold the wheel of Porte )
Also, impressive from Gallopin to stay with all the more renowned climbers around him

 

[smutchin]

Has the Clinic gone into meltdown yet?

 

[Crackle]

Has the Clinic gone into meltdown yet?

Years ago.

I missed the damn end due to having to take son2 to the docs. I saw up until wotisname ride into someone's back wheel and crash. I shall have to scour the highlights later.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

That was tactically very impressive. A bit more subtle than simply the old Sky train technique, although that was part of it. To be honest, I think Thomas is looking like a stronger rider than Porte and could have ridden away to the stage and to yellow, but he's disciplined and he stuck to his job.

 

[iLB]

That was tactically very impressive. A bit more subtle than simply the old Sky train technique, although that was part of it. To be honest, I think Thomas is looking like a stronger rider than Porte and could have ridden away to the stage and to yellow, but he's disciplined and he stuck to his job.

I wondered that but GT did seem to lose his form on the bike in final 500m, really chewing the stem compared to Porte. Incredible ride.

 

[TissoT]

Thought Roche did a strong turn at the front on the hill approaching the finish line ... It gave Porte the strength to ride to the line in the way he did .
It was a good stage win for sky.

 

[400bhp]

That was tactically very impressive. A bit more subtle than simply the old Sky train technique, although that was part of it. To be honest, I think Thomas is looking like a stronger rider than Porte and could have ridden away to the stage and to yellow, but he's disciplined and he stuck to his job.

Actually, if you look in the last KM, Thomas appears to be struggling to hang on and it looks like Porte was holding back. That holding back may have cost him the lead. But, if he knew that, then that shows he is very confident in is ability.

If Thomas is the stronger, and the team knew it, then he should have taken the win to take the GC lead.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

The way I saw it, once Thomas had made his attack and got far enough ahead, he was holding back and waiting for Porte to catch up and then make the planned second attack. Certainly, Thomas found it hard to stay on Porte's wheel once he did (although he still managed it), but what I'm saying is that he could have continued his original attack and gone on to win it and take the yellow. Perhaps there would have been more uncertainty about the stage given the two other riders with him. However, the plan was to put Porte in the perfect position and they managed it.

With the final stage favouring Porte and the lumpy stages in between being just hard, Kwiatkowski and EQS are going to have to fight for every second now, the idea being, I think, that any mistake will be pounced on. Think of it like an attenuated version of a track sprint...

 

[Spartak]

View: http://youtu.be/vhslz16n3u4


Final few kms from today's stage