Critérium du Dauphiné 2014

[tombeej]

Stage winner Mikel Nieve also praised the team's efforts and explained the decision to put him in the breakaway.

 

 

He said: "The plan had always been to send me up the road with the intention that I would work for Froomey if and when the breakaway came back.

 

"When David and Richie dropped back to support him, I was told to hold my position, and then I got the go-ahead to attack on the last climb of the day when we knew that Chris wasn’t feeling great.

 

"I got my chance and I'm happy I took it. haven't won much in my career but I’ve been proud to win in some of the sport’s biggest races.

[Maniax]

 

 

After the stage Froome was able to shed some light on his below-par performance and insisted the team could take plenty of positives from this year's race.

 

He said: "I've felt completely blocked up through my front of quads since the crash and I’ve not been able to engage the same types of muscles that I used in the earlier stages.

 

"That definitely affected me today, and while it's frustrating, we can take a lot of things away from this race. We’ve had three stage wins, taken the points jersey, and produced a dominant team performance."

 

 

 

----------------------

 

A direct hit to the hip is very often a big issue for a cyclist. Depending on how bad the bruising and the misalignments that result, it's often difficult to generate full power in the pedal stroke afterwards. I had a feeling he was going to have problems when I saw the images of his scrapes after his crash.

 

Hopefully it's not too serious for the lad, considering what others have gone through (John-Lee, Andy, etc) in the past with more serious hip injuries.

 

I've heard from other guys who've landed on their hips that it can take weeks - sometimes months - of physio, chiro and strength training to get full power back. Let's see if he can bounce back in time for the TDF.

 

For me, I wish for all the big GC guys to be in top condition going into the Tour, including Chris. There are clearly a lot of people with a pretty negative attitude towards him at the moment for whatever reason, but I wish him nothing but the best to get back to 100% fitness. It seemed to me that Chris and Alberto were both on very similar levels early in the Dauphine. It was shaping up for a seriously hot battle between two equals until this crash. I'm really hoping that will still be the case for the Tour.

 

I agree. He wasnt the same after the crash if you compare it to the performance ealier in the tour.

I hope he will be back to form for the TDF.

[Harryn]

 

Your post confused me, because I've certainly been watching it on TV.

Then after a little bit I thought maybe it was only shown on the HD channels, so people who don't have an HD PVR or Explora decoder wouldn't see it. Is that maybe what happened?

 

No. I have a standard decoder. It was on.

[X-Man]

 

For me, I wish for all the big GC guys to be in top condition going into the Tour, including Chris. There are clearly a lot of people with a pretty negative attitude towards him at the moment for whatever reason, but I wish him nothing but the best to get back to 100% fitness. It seemed to me that Chris and Alberto were both on very similar levels early in the Dauphine. It was shaping up for a seriously hot battle between two equals until this crash. I'm really hoping that will still be the case for the Tour.

 

Don't take it personal.. We don't dislike Froome.. We just support Contador (nothing wrong with that)

 

But, he should whine less. Contador is a racer, doesn't depend on his useless teammates do the work for him. He gets up when his down and fights his own battles. And when he's beaten on the uphill he tries to break the opponent on the downhill. Very few riders would do that.

Now, that's racing and that's why I support Conatdor. Because he's a ballsy, gutsy rider that makes cycling worth watching.

You probably enjoy boring races like Tour of California where sky grind up the front with that boring tactic!

 

Not me! EAch to their own I guess!

[Delgado]

Don't take it personal.. We don't dislike Froome.. We just support Contador (nothing wrong with that)

 

But, he should whine less. Contador is a racer, doesn't depend on his useless teammates do the work for him. He gets up when his down and fights his own battles. And when he's beaten on the uphill he tries to break the opponent on the downhill. Very few riders would do that.

Now, that's racing and that's why I support Conatdor. Because he's a ballsy, gutsy rider that makes cycling worth watching.

You probably enjoy boring races like Tour of California where sky grind up the front with that boring tactic!

 

Not me! EAch to their own I guess!

Couldn't agree more! When I think Contador I don't think sterile.....like some of the recent Tours have been .....especially Wiggins's one.

[Meezo]

Couldn't agree more! When I think Contador I don't think sterile.....like some of the recent Tours have been .....especially Wiggins's one.

 

Froome and Wiggins are exciting to watch...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the ITT ????

[urbanroyal]

Don't take it personal.. We don't dislike Froome..

But, he should whine less.

 

Contador is a racer, doesn't depend on his useless teammates do the work for him. He gets up when his down and fights his own battles. And when he's beaten on the uphill he tries to break the opponent on the downhill. Very few riders would do that.

Now, that's racing and that's why I support Conatdor. Because he's a ballsy, gutsy rider that makes cycling worth watching.

You probably enjoy boring races like Tour of California where sky grind up the front with that boring tactic!

 

Not me! EAch to their own I guess!

 

Maybe he is a Saffa after all....

[Bonus]

We don't have DSTV or anything, so we download each days stage over night and watch it the next day.

 

Not normally a problem to know the result before we watch how it unfolded but for this last stage we wanted to watch it without knowing the outcome. So no internet access for us for the last 24 hrs . . . ;-o

 

We downloaded it last night and now we've just watched it.

 

What a cliff hanger for overall win! right up until it was clear Bertie wouldn't quite make it.

 

Can't help but think that despite saying that he didn't care whether he won overall or not, Bertie would still like to have won, and will be kicking himself in private for miscalculating. He certainly rode strongly once he got going.

 

The Eurosport commentators where saying at one point that Froome said to Bertie "let's work together" and Bertie told him with an expletive to "go away" . . . . Not cool, but anyway, it's over and now we have three weeks until the Big One.

 

Looking forward to a battle of a race between the top GC contendors. Hope that Froome bounces back from whatever is stalling him at the moment and that Bertie isn't peaking too soon . . . :-)

[Chro Mo]

I like Talansky - a hard worker and someone who may turn into a TdF challenger one day.

 

I've a soft spot for the American racers, so good on him for the effort!

[Thor Buttox]

Best cycle race ever! What a brilliant event and I pray the Tour goes off like that...

 

I support Froome, but gees, I'll never begrudge Alberto for the way he attacked on the downhill, and like it even more if he tells Froome to "go away". Love the attacking mind set... but at the same time you just have to admire the way the Skyborgs sit on the front of the peloton for hour after hour, and the way Chris took off on Day 2 was fantastic.

 

Cycling as a sport looks healthy at the moment (with or without what may be going on in the background).

 

May the Tour be as fun to watch!

[McD23]

Froome and Wiggins are exciting to watch...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the ITT

Worst thing to happen to cycling...unless British.

Watching paint dry is on par with their and Sky's tactic's in the Tour.

Of course this is only my opinion, but then we all entitled to our own opinion.

[tombeej]

Don't take it personal.. We don't dislike Froome.. We just support Contador (nothing wrong with that)

 

But, he should whine less. Contador is a racer, doesn't depend on his useless teammates do the work for him. He gets up when his down and fights his own battles. And when he's beaten on the uphill he tries to break the opponent on the downhill. Very few riders would do that.

Now, that's racing and that's why I support Conatdor. Because he's a ballsy, gutsy rider that makes cycling worth watching.

You probably enjoy boring races like Tour of California where sky grind up the front with that boring tactic!

 

Not me! EAch to their own I guess!

 

1. Explain where I was taking things personal.

 

2. FYI I'm a Contador supporter, and have been for years - since when he was still a lighty learning his trade. I supported him when the every self-righteous know-it-all was trying to cut him down with rumour, innuendo and lies because he was the guy on top. Just like what is happening to Froome right now. All of a sudden Contador is flavour of the month? It wasn't long ago that he was one who was being kicked around like a township dog. We've got some seriously short memories.

 

3. I've been watching and supporting grand tours for over 20 years. By the 'quality' of your post, that sounds like longer than you've been alive.

 

4. You've clearly got a lot to learn about the sport of road racing because you think this is an individual sport. As you grow up, you'll figure out that cycling is not an individual sport and Contador will be the first to tell you this as well. He will not win the TDF without a strong team to protect him all the way. All pro stage race GC winners have strong teams behind them. Right now, I can tell you Tinkoff-Saxo are asking questions about the lack of support Contador got at the Dauphine. Things will have to change pronto if he wants to win the TDF. Don't for a second think they are happy with the teams performance as things stand right now. This is a team sport. Every single person on the team at the TDF will have a specific role to play. There will be designated riders responsible for looking after Contador in the flats and on the cobbles, there will be a specific order of rotation of who will be his lead-out lieutenants in the mountains, etc. The same applies to Valverde in Movistar, to Purito in Katusha, to Van Garderen at BMC, and naturally to Froome at Sky. Time you got a clue.

 

5. Last thing, kid. I was just posting my observations as one of the established regulars of these pages. Those of us who are regulars all generally have one thing in common: we all try and contribute positively in various ways on these threads. And we've all got to appreciate and enjoy each others contributions over the years. But your juvenile chirp at me was completely unnecessary and you're lucky you're hiding behind you're little avatar because I would love to have a 'chat' with you face to face to discuss how we work on your manners.

Edited June 16, 2014 by tombeej

[canadonis]

Hi

 

It was disapp that the race started so late on dstv we only got to see the last 25km. I was happy for talansky esp when he. Burst into tears when it was confirmed he was the winner, was sad for conto but was very impressed with his form pity he left the chase to that late point. Yes it appeared to be tactical by team sky to slow down the peleton to sabotage conto chance of winning the race I think they knew froome was broken and wouldn't be able to mk any challenge for the title.

 

Thru out the race I hv never seen an organized saxo tinkoff support team for conto..he was shadowing froome, the entire dauphine was controlled by team sky and this led to him losing the title.

 

I must say I am now Looking forward to the TDF it's going to be a cracker, yes will be great if other teams had some really good GC contenders.

 

Nibili hasn't impressed me he seems to lose steam early on climbs.

 

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Oi!

 

Now to read through some forums, other than this, about Sky's strategy and tactics today...

 

There'll be some flaming going on with them Skyborg fans.

 

Been too busy to visit the Hub before.

 

Sky as usual in my opinion raced their usual negative tactics, Froome was not up to the task and so they were more intent on preventing 'Berto from winning than looking after their own interests in Froome. Disgraceful tactics.

 

As for Froome's crash,...well I dont believe its an issue, he looked pale and worn out after the first day and the attack, in my opinion he had one good attack in him and he used it up on the first day. Five riders went with so it wasnt that strong anyway.

 

Crash's happen, lets not forget ;Berto crashed at the 2013 TDF as well, twice, if memory serves me well, but did we ever hear from 'Berto the crash ruined my chances, No, did we ever hear from the media or the pundits that the crash could have been an issue in his race, No, all we heard was the usual verbose garbage of "He didnt have his steak", or "maybe he didnt get a blood bag", or "maybe he is just average without Bruneel and his doctors" and so on.

 

Well, how do you like them apples.!

 

Froome complains too much, I am not sure who issued the teams race orders but in my opinion SKY exhibited the worst kind of professional sportsmanship I have personally ever seen in a grand tour, they didn't race their own race, they did everything possible to keep 'Berto off the top step, thats not professional sportsmanship, but, never the less, even with the full SKY team and 'Berto on his own, they failed to isolated him, his own shabby team isolated him, he responded to everything they threw at him.

As you rightly say and I agree, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, there was no way he could have got into the break and he had no team, so had to rely on the other teams to chase the break. He did what he could under the circumstances and attacked on the climbs to get away.

 

I'll put my cards down now, failing something catastrophic like a serious crash, or illness, or like, 'Berto will clean up at the TDF.

[rouxtjie]

Been too busy to visit the Hub before.

 

Sky as usual in my opinion raced their usual negative tactics, Froome was not up to the task and so they were more intent on preventing 'Berto from winning than looking after their own interests in Froome. Disgraceful tactics.

 

As for Froome's crash,...well I dont believe its an issue, he looked pale and worn out after the first day and the attack, in my opinion he had one good attack in him and he used it up on the first day. Five riders went with so it wasnt that strong anyway.

 

Crash's happen, lets not forget ;Berto crashed at the 2013 TDF as well, twice, if memory serves me well, but did we ever hear from 'Berto the crash ruined my chances, No, did we ever hear from the media or the pundits that the crash could have been an issue in his race, No, all we heard was the usual verbose garbage of "He didnt have his steak", or "maybe he didnt get a blood bag", or "maybe he is just average without Bruneel and his doctors" and so on.

 

Well, how do you like them apples.!

 

Froome complains too much, I am not sure who issued the teams race orders but in my opinion SKY exhibited the worst kind of professional sportsmanship I have personally ever seen in a grand tour, they didn't race their own race, they did everything possible to keep 'Berto off the top step, thats not professional sportsmanship, but, never the less, even with the full SKY team and 'Berto on his own, they failed to isolated him, his own shabby team isolated him, he responded to everything they threw at him.

As you rightly say and I agree, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, there was no way he could have got into the break and he had no team, so had to rely on the other teams to chase the break. He did what he could under the circumstances and attacked on the climbs to get away.

 

I'll put my cards down now, failing something catastrophic like a serious crash, or illness, or like, 'Berto will clean up at the TDF.

Also rooting for bertie....he has spirit.

[jcza]

I recon Contador could get into that break but chose to stay with Sky hoping that they would catch the break. The fact that he didn't have any team mates limited his options.

 

Rolled the dice and lost but made for great racing.

 

Can't wait for the Tour to start. I predict we will see a surprise or 2.