Tour de France 2016 **SPOILERS**

[perplexed]

I'm not too sure that Quintana has done anything except stare at Froome's backside for the first week.

Ok, Froome's obviously been well protected by Sky, but he has attacked a number of times on his own and indeed won a stage with that spectacular descent. But there's no wonder Quintana wakes up in week 3 as he's effectively done bugger-all work, sheltered for the first two by Movistar and Sky!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I'm not too sure that Quintana has done anything except stare at Froome's backside for the first week.

Ok, Froome's obviously been well protected by Sky, but he has attacked a number of times on his own and indeed won a stage with that spectacular descent. But there's no wonder Quintana wakes up in week 3 as he's effectively done bugger-all work, sheltered for the first two by Movistar and Sky!

Isn't that referred to as 'tactics'?

 

[perplexed]

Isn't that referred to as 'tactics'?

 

[smutchin]

Looks like the future of British cycling is secure for many years to come.

And Irish cycling!

The grupetto have arrived, within time limit

Even better, Cav is still in green - just! The next few days could be interesting. No doubt Sagan will be on the hunt for intermediate sprint points but is there a chance of another Cav win on stage 11, perhaps?

 

[smutchin]

There are still two weeks to go, two tt's, Ventoux and a host of climbs, I don't think we've seen either Froome or Quintana give everything yet and Quintana on past form has been strongest in the third week, as jerry Anderson said, anything can happen in the next two weeks.

Indeed. Froome looks incredibly strong but it's far too soon to write off Quintana.

Besides which, there's still plenty of opportunity for either or both to crash out yet. The fat lady hasn't even cleared her throat yet.

 

[roadrash]

Agreed its too early to write off quintana, but after seeing him interviewed before the start of the tour and him claiming he was more tactically aware this year, then you wouldnt expect to see what happened on friday.
when froome went at the top of the last climb, quintana looked like a 7 year old in the school playground whos best friend hadnt turned up for school that day, instead of chasing froome down , he just looked around for valverde, ..... not what i would call tactically aware.
That said im still looking forward to (hoping) quintana putting in some sort of attack.

 

[coffeejo]

Even better, Cav is still in green - just! The next few days could be interesting. No doubt Sagan will be on the hunt for intermediate sprint points but is there a chance of another Cav win on stage 11, perhaps?

I had been thinking that Cav's form in the TdF had been jinxed since I went to see him win on the Champs-Élysées for the 100th Tour (Kittel won) but yesterday I was reminded that Cav hasn't won on the Champs-Élysées since Wiggo was his lead out man in 2012. Personally, I'm blaming Sir Bradley.

 

[HF2300]

... Cav has clearly sacrified a bit of road stamina for track speed this year. It's Cav who will most likely not make it to Paris of these three

Even better, Cav is still in green - just! The next few days could be interesting. No doubt Sagan will be on the hunt for intermediate sprint points but is there a chance of another Cav win on stage 11, perhaps?

Let me throw something else into the Cav mix - and I might be barking up completely the wrong tree. He's said he was cooked and didn't expect to do so badly on Saturday; and he clearly was struggling badly. Yesterday he yo-yoed a bit, but on the whole kept in the grupetto. He's also referred to knowing what they need to do to stay inside the cut, knowing what output they need to maintain, and so on. He's also referred to struggling with heat, rather than condition.

For sure, he had a bad day Saturday - but I wonder if, with half an eye on the Olympics, he is generally just doing the minimum he needs to stay in the race on the stages he's not going to compete on, and not perhaps quite as bad as he seems?

If he is struggling, with the Souvenir Henri Desgranges tomorrow and a bit of a lumpy stage on Wednesday Stage 11 will depend on how bushed he is coming out of the Pyrennees - but you'd think on current sprint form he must be targeting it.

 

[Dogtrousers]

For sure, he had a bad day Saturday - but I wonder if, with half an eye on the Olympics, he is generally just doing the minimum he needs to stay in the race on the stages he's not going to compete on, and not perhaps quite as bad as he seems?

I thought that was what all sprinters did, all the time. And all riders except the top contenders do, some of the time (when not called on to be supporting their leader).

 

[Booyaa]

I had been thinking that Cav's form in the TdF had been jinxed since I went to see him win on the Champs-Élysées for the 100th Tour (Kittel won) but yesterday I was reminded that Cav hasn't won on the Champs-Élysées since Wiggo was his lead out man in 2012. Personally, I'm blaming Sir Bradley.

Funny that, Sir Bradley defo blames you. Not sure what Cav thinks though.

 

[mjr]

when froome went at the top of the last climb, quintana looked like a 7 year old in the school playground whos best friend hadnt turned up for school that day, instead of chasing froome down , he just looked around for valverde, ..... not what i would call tactically aware.

Was he looking around for Valverde or was it a general looking around to see if ANYONE else in that group (Bardet, Aru, Mollema, the BMCs...) was interested in trying to win the race? Most of the others will find it harder to take back 23s from Froome on the later uphill finishes but it seemed like nope, none of them really see themselves as contenders.

When the USA's eventual-loser was dominating the race, such looking back to see if anyone else would take up the chase was portrayed by P+P as some great sign of confidence in his later strength (and we know why now!), but now it's reported as weakness or laziness - is that because this time it's a South American and that's the stereotype?

 

[400bhp]

Agreed its too early to write off quintana, but after seeing him interviewed before the start of the tour and him claiming he was more tactically aware this year, then you wouldnt expect to see what happened on friday.
when froome went at the top of the last climb, quintana looked like a 7 year old in the school playground whos best friend hadnt turned up for school that day, instead of chasing froome down , he just looked around for valverde, ..... not what i would call tactically aware.
That said im still looking forward to (hoping) quintana putting in some sort of attack.

But what Froome did was completely unexpected. Have any of the riders outside Sky actually seen his descenting skills? I can't remember one time I have seen him descending on the front.

Don't forget Porte is his mate and was his number 2 and he missed it.

I suspect it went like this:

Quintana: thinking..."hmm, long descent, what's the fecker doing. Bit odd.
Valpiti comes along Qunitana..
Valpiti: "don't worry Nairo, we'll pull him back before the end"
Meanwhile, Porte and TJ in conversation: "ach, don't worry, Valpiti is on the front & he can pull back anyone"

5 minutes later...Porte: "WTF, WTF, come on TJ let's get on the front"

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Indeed. Froome looks incredibly strong but it's far too soon to write off Quintana.

Besides which, there's still plenty of opportunity for either or both to crash out yet. The fat lady hasn't even cleared her throat yet.

I did not pick Froomedawg in punditry as I reckon he will crash out.

 

[perplexed]

Agreed its too early to write off quintana, but after seeing him interviewed before the start of the tour and him claiming he was more tactically aware this year, then you wouldnt expect to see what happened on friday.
when froome went at the top of the last climb, quintana looked like a 7 year old in the school playground whos best friend hadnt turned up for school that day, instead of chasing froome down , he just looked around for valverde, ..... not what i would call tactically aware.
That said im still looking forward to (hoping) quintana putting in some sort of attack.

Quintana was born looking 50. Nobody ever in the history of the universe has said he looks 7 until now...

 

[brommers]

Should be a 'charge' up the mountain Tuesday as there is a prize on offer at the top.