The 100th Edition Of The Tour de France: Chirps, Opinions, News, Updates.

[dracs]

Of course he can climb, the guy weighs 58kg. Watch him get eaten alive in the TT.

Are you SURE about that?

 

17 second off Tony Martin and 30 seconds up on Porte is not all that shabby...

 

http://pelotoncafe.com.au/quintana-shows-his-skills-by-winning-vuelta-al-pais-vasco/

 

Nairo continued his good feelings throughout the race and put on a better time through the intermediate check point than the other GC favourites – race leader Sergio Henao^W (SKY), team-mate Richie Porte^W, Alberto Contador^W (TST) and Simon Spilak^W (KAT). He backed up his time at the first check in the second part of the race, with a constant ride through the Alto de Olaberria and a great final descent that saw him come across the finish line in 35.22, just 17 seconds behind Martin and almost half a minute over Porte – 2nd overall, with Henao in 3rd. - See more at: http://pelotoncafe.com.au/quintana-shows-his-skills-by-winning-vuelta-al-pais-vasco/#sthash.VrKF61Eg.dpuf

[X-Man]

Of course he can climb, the guy weighs 58kg. Watch him get eaten alive in the TT.

 

And watch how he blows those who beat him in the ITT again in the Alps!!

['Dale]

I've done a quick comparison with a few local races and a training ride with Saturday's stage 8. I simply plotted the elevation from the gpx files with no editing. Thank you for the help jcza. The left hand scale is the elevation.

 

Excellent study, Andydude.

 

Respect, PROs

[Wez-O]

Are you SURE about that?

 

17 second off Tony Martin and 30 seconds up on Porte is not all that shabby...

I'm positively sure about that since we haven't had an individual time trail yet

 

And watch how he blows those who beat him in the ITT again in the Alps!!

To win a Grand Tour you have to be able to climb mountains and time trial. Fact!

Contador is a lightweight rider who can do both, let's see if Quintana is worth the hype come Paris.

 

Excuse me if I sound scheptical, it's just that everyone is going on as though this guy is the best cycling prospect to emerge in 40 years after an impressive showing on one stage and a decent showing on another.

Any seasoned TDF fan will know that he most certainly isn't the first and won't be the last Columbian mountain goat to dominate a French mountain. However, generally they are only good at that. Hence the fact I rate Kwiatkowski as a better long term prospect.

[dracs]

Yeah, I think maybe SKY made a tactical error on Saturday by going all out to get the leaders jersey. All it has done is put the team under severe pressure and actually lost one very, very good climber.

 

Armstrong, for whatever he was, was a master tactician, he would never have done that, and if by default he got the leaders jersey so early, he was quick to dump it at the soonest possible opportunity. Personally I think SKY will try and keep the jersey now, but frankly I think it would be better if they gave it up for the week at least.

 

A bit like Bruce Fordyce and his formula for winning Comrades, which is still used and considered standard running lore, No one has really improved on LA's formula for winning the tour, and frankly SKY has been following this formula to perfection all the way up to Saturday, so I dont know, maybe they just got over excited by the day as it unfolded, but I doubt they will make that mistake again.

 

I agree that Sky's tactics weren't great on Saturday - mainly in that the plan probably foresaw that their climbers would all be firing on all cylinders. However with only Kennaugh and Porte coming to the party they should have re-assessed. That said, perhaps Movistar should take more credit for Saturday (as well as Sunday) since Quintana's early attack forced Sky to go much harder earlier on the HC climb than they probably would otherwise have done... Without that attack, its likely Kennaugh would have released Porte with only about 3km to go which is more the standard Sky formula.

 

I disagree on tactics wrt the yellow jersey though. I don't think that Armstrong or anyone else would give away a 1m30 advantage after the Pyrenees. With the individual TT just 1 stage away why wouldn't Froome want what is likely to be a 2minute+ buffer before getting to the Alps! Sky should be able to rely on OPQ, Lotto and Cannendale to control much of the racing on the flat stages until they get to the Alps on Saturday.

Edited July 8, 2013 by dracs

['Dale]

I recon Michal Kwiatkowski might take the white jersey back in the time trail. I see Kwiatkowski as a future GC superstar, the youngster has shown he can climb and sprint AND apparently he is a pretty good time trailist as well.

For me, Quintana is a little too one dimensional to be a current or future GC threat (unless they place a cat 1 mountain in a TT).

 

It's a great tussle though, isn't it, Wez-O.

The Tour this year is far more suitable to the climber type. This favours the Quintana man to step onto the podium in Paris.

[dracs]

I'm positively sure about that since we haven't had an individual time trail yet

 

 

To win a Grand Tour you have to be able to climb mountains and time trial. Fact!

Contador is a lightweight rider who can do both, let's see if Quintana is worth the hype come Paris.

 

Excuse me if I sound scheptical, it's just that everyone is going on as though this guy is the best cycling prospect to emerge in 40 years after an impressive showing on one stage and a decent showing on another.

Any seasoned TDF fan will know that he most certainly isn't the first and won't be the last Columbian mountain goat to dominate a French mountain. However, generally they are only good at that. Hence the fact I rate Kwiatkowski as a better long term prospect.

hehe lets revisit on Wednesday evening. He is going to lose time to Froome, but I reckon he will take time out of other "pure" climbers such as J Rod, Valverde AND most likely Contador (based on his recent TT showings)...

 

Re "everyone going on about him" based on 2 good stages in the tour, pls note that SOME of us have been going on about him for months...

['Dale]

Wazzup with surfer dude?

 

http://inrng.com/medias/img/ryderhesjedaltour.jpg

[jcza]

I think we shouldn't say Lance tactics but rather Bruyneel tactics.

 

I'm quite sure Quintana will be white jersey, undecided if he will ever be grand tour winner but we will surely know in 2 weeks time.

 

I hate rest days

[andydude]

How I'd like to see them finish overall..

 

What... Froome in yellow?

[dracs]

You can see from the numbers that Sunday was not at the same intensity as final climb on Sat when Froome broke clear. What it did achieve was to get rid of the BMC challenge and all the other contenders lost time. The tactics yesterday did not seem to work out from Sky. Did they bring the right team? I think they are missing guys like Uran and Henao. However Froome wasn't in any difficulty but the alps are still come.

Short answer is No.

 

Long answer is, although Froome is credited with hand picking his team, the reality is he had sloppy seconds to choose from. Other than Porte who was always going to be his wing man, the Columbians were spent in the cause of Wiggo's ill fated assault on the Giro. Substitute a fresh Uran and Henao for the MIA Siutsou and Lopez and the team would have had a very different look about it...

[jcza]

Short answer is No.

 

Long answer is, although Froome is credited with hand picking his team, the reality is he had sloppy seconds to choose from. Other than Porte who was always going to be his wing man, the Columbians were spent in the cause of Wiggo's ill fated assault on the Giro. Substitute a fresh Uran and Henao for the MIA Siutsou and Lopez and the team would have had a very different look about it...

 

dracs do you think the fact that Uran is jumping ship at the end of the season contributed to the decision to leave him out?

[JGR]

Of course he can climb, the guy weighs 58kg. Watch him get eaten alive in the TT.

and the decents ...

[dracs]

I think we shouldn't say Lance tactics but rather Bruyneel tactics.

 

I'm quite sure Quintana will be white jersey, undecided if he will ever be grand tour winner but we will surely know in 2 weeks time.

 

I hate rest days

remember he's only 23.... He will win GT's for sure - most Vueltas and Giros will suit him to a tee. Tour De France may be more of a challenge for him - but a course like this would could be good for him in a few years time...

[dracs]

dracs do you think the fact that Uran is jumping ship at the end of the season contributed to the decision to leave him out?

That was my first reaction when their tour team was announced, but on thinking about it I think its more because the team had to throw weight behind Wiggo as an equal priority to Froome's tour ambitions. He had a very full program leading into the Giro as well so sure they didn't want to bring him in fatigued.

 

Their attitude to him leaving will more likely be reflected by whether he makes the Vuelta team or not (and in what role). All things equal, he should probabaly lead Sky there...

Edited July 8, 2013 by dracs

[JGR]

I'm positively sure about that since we haven't had an individual time trail yet

 

 

To win a Grand Tour you have to be able to climb mountains and time trial. Fact!

Contador is a lightweight rider who can do both, let's see if Quintana is worth the hype come Paris.

 

Excuse me if I sound scheptical, it's just that everyone is going on as though this guy is the best cycling prospect to emerge in 40 years after an impressive showing on one stage and a decent showing on another.

Any seasoned TDF fan will know that he most certainly isn't the first and won't be the last Columbian mountain goat to dominate a French mountain. However, generally they are only good at that. Hence the fact I rate Kwiatkowski as a better long term prospect.

Depends which you consider is harder to improve - the climber or the ITT/flats/springs