nochain

As we enter the two hour mark in today's race let's take a look at one of the main favorites ???? #InnsbruckTirol2018 ???? @alafpolak ???????? ???? Height: 1m73 ⏲ Weight: 62kg ???? #Bergen2017 Result: 10th https://t.co/1mDNKODyG6

You think Sagan might go early? I think if he has got any chance then its from 50km out..so he can climb at his own pace and hope the teams screw up the tactics.Will be nice to see someone take on the punchy climbers from far out.

Mens Dutch team also packed with climbing power...going to be a propper fight!! But France...Alla..Bardet..Pinot. Brits crazy strong also..Spanish team monster talent and then Columbia. Won't want to put money on this one!

Alaphillipe is definitely showing he has the form right now..BUT with that climb at the end I would be surprised if the pure climber allow him to stay with them..its crazy steep and long enough to make a difference.He can climb but he can't match the small guys if they are there and strong at the end.What is Bardett up to? I would think that climb would suit him perfectly and he loves to go fast downhill... The Colombians will also be hard to beat and then Yates has the legs now and he loves those crazy gradients. LL Sanchez also goes downhills pretty fast!!

I dont know..I dont get Movistar tactics...or if they have any control over what the riders do.Was not able to watch stage but I get the feeling from your comments thst Nairo was pushing the pace early on in the stage..yet Valverde stating that he was feeling really bad all day. Then Nairo attack and proceed to collaborate with a podium rival?? Second day in a row that his attack ended up putting Valverde on the back foot..surely if they wanted to protect the podium they should have approached it differently..Valverde knew he was not strong enough to take Yates..thats clear so why not try and save the podium.

Valverde sits at 176cm and 62kg...pure climber territory...

I did not see stage but I do think he is testing mostly and potentially very cautious to burn matches like he did in the Giro.The TT will be interesting as its a case of the useless taking on the more useless..???? On a normal day I think Valverde might end up in Red after the TT...who else is marginally less useless??Kruiswijk? Pinot?

Sold my house finally..not an easy thing to do from this side. Ended up with about a -4% real growth. Was a bad pill to swallow but no choice and rather just take it as part of confirmation that we doing the right thing!

Ok great news..just saw the results and he was 1min10 down..but see now Gc is still 1min50.I think he can be in the game still...

Really #$%t luck..he has now lost too much time to be in the race and I think he is definitely one of the strongest riders at this tour.Big opportunity for a podium lost.

Love this tweet!!

Think this race is setup for Quintana to win..he must be favourite at this stage. I am hoping Kruijswijk can pull it off..LottoNLJ slowly but surely becoming my favorite team!

In my opinion Valverde is the best bike rider of this generation..his abilty to win on any type of terain is incredible!!There is no one that comes close to his results in Grand tours, classics, weeklong tours..and world champ medals. Not loved by all mainly because of his doping denial but I just love what he can do on a bike!! If he wins worlds this year it will be the cherry on the cake!

One of the better looking climbers I have seen for a while!!Almost perfect style...even does a bit of a Pantani by climbing out of saddle in the drops.Lotto has a really strong climbing lineup now.With the right focus they can really take on Sky...no problem with talent in that team thats for sure.

Great result!!! The man is going places..

Yes and he was the big mover in the 3rd week after losing time in the first week. He is not just a 1 week racer...he just needs some luck and some guidance.

They will most probably go that way..along with salary caps.Problem with just cutting riders is then they just pay the 6 much more and they have even stronger riders and then gap remains.What irritate me to the extreme is that people use their budget as an indicator of why they dominating and people always focus on the team that is dominating and want to bring them down to the rest. No one is saying why the F#$k is a top team like Movistar allowing a top rider like Landa to get FAT!!!!Or why the hell are they still stuck in the middle ages...Movistar has always been the team that paid top money for their riders and have a very big budget.They are packed with potencial but they dont convert??? As a side note...much respect for how Lotto appoached the race.Proof of what can be done with 2 or 3 strong climbers and the right tactics and mindset!!

The natural answer is to be able to have multiple attacking options..but not easy to do.Movistar gave it a bit of a go and did force to chase early on..but then their leaders end up falling apart.And those are highly paid and extremely strong riders.I dont think more money for the other going to change much right now.Sky has got a very strong grip on things and there is more to come. Teams will need to get smarter and race organisers more inventive.. I think with the right route TD can beat Sky. But he is never going to be a Contador and people will end up calling him boring as well. In all sports you get these guys like Contador and Froome..they come along and change the game.

No doubt..but I still sit here and think..if I am TD and I am on Alpe final climb...sky driving everybody to pieces what would I do with more riders around me? How will that change the outcome of that stage..Thomas in the end got up and rode away..

Not as simple as that by a long mile..not in GT's anyway.Classics yes..like the wolfpack the more cards you have to play the more likely you can get the job done.But thats 1 day..tomorrow they have a different rider that win and so on. GT's you have one guy that needs to be there for the whole of the 3 weeks.Extremely leader dependent.. So what happens if your leader runs out of legs? You can have 5 Bernals it is not going to make a difference. For example..Thomas did not need Bernal when the push was on..Froome did ..big time. But in the end the strongest support climber in the world could not help him beat TD. Where I believe budget makes a big difference is the opportunity for them to get GC leaders on early and then grow them..so they can keep on winning over long periods of time.

I think this is part of the thing for me..team strength obviously is relevant..but to what extend.There is a point that stronger support is not going to make much of a difference in Grand Tours..the leader always will have to be the strongest..or at least very close to the strongest.Good support is essential especially when things go wrong..like when Tom had that mechanical.But when you going up a mountain it boils down to can you follow or not. Quintana can have the strongest support in the world but with his unique attributes is it actually going to help him beat Sky?I dont think so.. I believe Tom will win because he is a top class Gc leader and he has the guns to take on the rest...and he needs a strong team but certainly dont have to match Sky on budget to get the job done.

????????No maybe not with DDD but I was more refering to other Gc teams that had leaders in the game.I agree that in the buildup it makes a difference..but like I said everybody seem to think that Sunweb is already doing all of the same things.They all have top coaches and doctors..there is very little in training and nutrition that is not public knowledge. The question is really that all is saying if they had money they can buy stronger riders..

I agree with you on the psychological effects.But Sunweb is not a weak team...as stated by the way they protected their leader Gc hopes in the TTT. Hopefully everybody on here already know this is a team game. What I am asking is give me an example in THIS race..how would stronger riders for Tom would have changed the outcome. Anybody can make general statements like the team makes the difference..

Yes but that just shifts the power to another team..so you still have dominance?Bernal is the only rider in that lineup that I think is exceptional..the rest was made into what they are over time. These riders are good at what they do because they train like that..they train for a job.Surely Sunweb can do the same? But then again what will more pacesetters change? Drafting up a climb is drafting..the color of the jersey in front of you make no difference. Good example of making a difference is Bernal when Froome dropped..that probably kept him on the podium.But Thomas did not have the need for t3ge in this tour..same goes fir Roglic and Tom.

Lots of talk around budget..so was thinking about this a bit.What would money change right now? The answer most will give is buy more riders? Consensus is that they all doing the same things all ready..marginal gains is nonsense because its nothing new and information is available to all. Sunweb already has one of the strongest riders in the world as leader..I see only 13 seconds between him and Froome if you combine Giro and tour times. They already one of the strongest TTT squads in the world..current world champs. So buy more riders..?? What will that change..you can't out control the controller?? Attack more..send more riders up the road? Have more leaders? All sound like things already done..Lotto tried it..Movistar tried it. Take just this race as an example..how would more money have changed the outcome? Interested in some views on this? Thomas was the strongest rider in the tour..in my view he would have won this race even if he was on a different team.