Quintana....TDF loser...or future winner?

[Rocket-Boy]

Quintana was only exciting in the first tour he rode where he attacked a lot and did very well as a result.

This boring game Movistar have been playing for Froome's last two wins does not work, having to rely on taking the tour in the last week is a gamble that has failed twice already.

[Lexx]

Special Message to Quintana and Moviestar

[Andrew Steer]

Pretty sure he wasn't at 100% this year... for whatever reason. Wouldn't write him off though... bloody talented climber, and still has nearly a decade left to find his feet and self belief. It's a bit rough saying a guy standing on the podium had a shocker 

 

It's also not like this Sky team makes life easy for attacks, the motor pacing they do at the front pretty much destroys the peloton, mentally and physically. In fact the only guy who seemed to be able to handle it was Porte (because he knows how they work and would have been prepared for it). Lessons will be learnt from this year, Movistar aren't clowns, but they also don't have anything near the budget Sky do.

 

It's professional sport, money talks... well done to Sky, it's not always riveting stuff, but the results don't lie

[Bateleur1]

Pretty sure he wasn't at 100% this year... for whatever reason. Wouldn't write him off though... bloody talented climber, and still has nearly a decade left to find his feet and self belief. It's a bit rough saying a guy standing on the podium had a shocker 

 

It's also not like this Sky team makes life easy for attacks, the motor pacing they do at the front pretty much destroys the peloton, mentally and physically. In fact the only guy who seemed to be able to handle it was Porte (because he knows how they work and would have been prepared for it). Lessons will be learnt from this year, Movistar aren't clowns, but they also don't have anything near the budget Sky do.

 

It's professional sport, money talks... well done to Sky, it's not always riveting stuff, but the results don't lie

 

Think Porte could have been a threat.  Had BMC had better team tactics (like support Porte when he had a puncture), they could have been a threat to Sky.

[EmptyB]

Special Message to Quintana and Moviestar

 

This should be a message to everyone except Sky....now get back to work!!

[Gen]

This should be a message to everyone except Sky....now get back to work!! [emoji317]

Until sky have a major budget cut they will continue to dominate.. not just about getting the right guys but being able to use that money for the best infrastructure etc

. some teams and I think Lampre are one of them out there with €/ £.5/6m while Sky have a budget of €35m

 

It is what it is.. considering the difference in budget the smaller teams are doing exceptionally well.

[EmptyB]

Until sky have a major budget cut they will continue to dominate.. not just about getting the right guys but being able to use that money for the best infrastructure etc

. some teams and I think Lampre are one of them out there with €/ £.5/6m while Sky have a budget of €35m

 

It is what it is.. considering the difference in budget the smaller teams are doing exceptionally well.

 

Spot on....as in so many sports, budget, budget, budget.

 

I heard one of the commentators say that the Sky team have basically been told, "Tell us what you need and we'll provide it for you"

 

Very difficult to compete with that

[Andrew Steer]

Think Porte could have been a threat.  Had BMC had better team tactics (like support Porte when he had a puncture), they could have been a threat to Sky.

 

This dual captain stuff has never worked... if your own team do not 100% believe in you and back you 100%, then how are you supposed to believe in yourself?

 

Tejay will be a support rider next year or be on another team. Porte although he still seems to come up a little short, doesn't lack belief or ability - essential ingredients for the GC battle. It's not always about talent, it's about ticking those many boxes

[madbradd]

That's not just a Movistar issue. No team what so ever in the WT has come close to rivalling Sky in any of the recent TdF editions. You'd have to say Movistar & Quintana have been the best as he's been in 2nd place a couple of time. What team would be better at the moment? 

 

But Movistar won the team category. So I don't believe this at all.

 

The difference between Sky and Movistar (between Sky and most teams actually) is that when it comes to the Tour, Sky have 1 goal and 1 goal only, and they act as a team. Everybody else seems to try and go for a bit of everything.

 

BMC with 2 leaders (we saw this with Tony Martin and Jan Ulrich some time ago as well in the Deutsche Telekom team if I remember correctly)

Etixx with Kittle, but Alaphilippe and the Martins always on their own missions.

I don't think there was ever a Tinkoff leadout for Sagan, and the early departure of Contador maybe messed up their plans, but again, you never see Sky (or if you think back to the old OS Postal team) competing for anything other then yellow.

 

The only other team that seemed to have a plan was Dimension Data - and that was to help Cav get some early stages. They never really got a great leadout train but they did get results.

 

I don't think that it's a matter of teams not being strong enough to contend, more that you have such a strong focus from Sky on 1 specific goal: Yellow.

[Gen]

Spot on....as in so many sports, budget, budget, budget.

 

I heard one of the commentators say that the Sky team have basically been told, "Tell us what you need and we'll provide it for you"

 

Very difficult to compete with that

 

 

Actually I would go as far as to say that considering Sky's enormous budget that they in fact aren't performing as well as what they should be... now yes the TDF is massive.. BUT with that budget they should be able to dominate every GT and also all the classics..it has taken them until this year to win a monument (Wout Poels won Liege-Bastogne-Liege)    

[NotSoBigBen]

But Movistar won the team category. So I don't believe this at all.

 

The difference between Sky and Movistar (between Sky and most teams actually) is that when it comes to the Tour, Sky have 1 goal and 1 goal only, and they act as a team. Everybody else seems to try and go for a bit of everything.

 

snip snip

 

One could argue that is exactly the strategy he who didn't win 7 Tours de France Tour de Frances TdF's used to great effect ... OK that and some pharmaceutical assistance

[lechatnoir]

Actually I would go as far as to say that considering Sky's enormous budget that they in fact aren't performing as well as what they should be... now yes the TDF is massive.. BUT with that budget they should be able to dominate every GT and also all the classics..it has taken them until this year to win a monument (Wout Poels won Liege-Bastogne-Liege)    

 

So basically the Man City of cycling? How long before everyone starts hating them too? 

 

The only other team that seemed to have a plan was Dimension Data - and that was to help Cav get some early stages. They never really got a great leadout train but they did get results.

 

Pity that goal also got them last in the team classification 

[Gen]

So basically the Man City of cycling? How long before everyone starts hating them too?

 

 

Pity that goal also got them last in the team classification

DD walk out of the tour as winners.. the pile of points Cav and Cummings got them (provided both stay next year) will help a whole lot considering the reforms coming.

[Shebeen]

Yates: 23 yrs old

Main cheese: 24 yrs old

Quintana: 26 yrs old

 

Froome: 31

 

Spot the one that won the Giro 2 years ago... when he was 24. 

 

Quintana has been talked about as a GC rider (and has been a GC winner) since he was 23 and Yates / Louis / Bardet are all 'future' talents. 

 

Don't worry, he'll win and he'll win big. 

Yates has shot the lights out this tour. but he's got competiton at OGE OBE, once his brother starts taking the right pills and Chavez goes well at Vuelta again then there's some serious bunfight for GC rider at the 2017 tour

 

don't forget that NQ has got two second place finishes as a young rider, Yates has none so far!

[Gen]

Yates has shot the lights out this tour. but he's got competiton at OGE OBE, once his brother starts taking the right pills and Chavez goes well at Vuelta again then there's some serious bunfight for GC rider at the 2017 tour

Or one GT for each of them[emoji6]

[pe3nguin]

Actually I would go as far as to say that considering Sky's enormous budget that they in fact aren't performing as well as what they should be... now yes the TDF is massive.. BUT with that budget they should be able to dominate every GT and also all the classics..it has taken them until this year to win a monument (Wout Poels won Liege-Bastogne-Liege)    

 

I think this is by design. When Team Sky was announced in 2009, Brailsford explicity stated that the goal was domination over the Tour, everything else would be secondary.

 

This conformed to the US Postal model of TdF before all else. The reason for that? The sheer popularity of the Tour, the manner in which the Tour has marketed itself, and the fact that winning a stage on the Tour can and has catapulted careers. I previously thought this was simply because English speaking nations didnt know much about cycling and therefore their gaze was fixated on the publicly accessible Tour.

 

Then, much to my amazement through discussion with friends in central Europe, i discovered that road cycling is a fringe sport. Sure, everyone rides a bike and the the most fanatical fans in the world can be found in these parts, but they are the vocal minority. In reality, your average European thinks the road racing calendar is built around the Tour. You race for 3 weeks, chasing fame and glory, and then spend 51 weeks preparing for the Tour.

 

This mentality is probably what drove Postal and what drives Team Sky. Hit your main target every year (TdF) and everything else can be treated as a little bonus  beyond the mainstream spectrum of the sport (LBL).

 

At least thats my understanding.