fabs Posted May 16, 2017 Posted May 16, 2017 With Nairo Quintana in pink the race is far from over. Tommy D and Thibault Pinot close, Bauke Molema and Nibali are outsiders. With 4 guys needing to go long I think we are in for 11 stages where MoviStar will have to control everything that is thrown at them. Or Nairo can attack on the next big hill and then revert to being the wheelsucker the most knowledgeable hubbers have deemed him to be. The race has come alive on the Blockhaus. PS: The moto accident is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. The sheep shagger is not in the class of the 5 mentioned above. And Landa? He needs Vino, marginal gains have destroyed his plentiful talent. Funniest I've seen so far... Nibali is the defending champion - everyone else is an outsider
nochain Posted May 16, 2017 Posted May 16, 2017 Very good comment. This is why I can't understand why he and the likes of Alberto attack more and earlier on a climb. Team Sky and the riders you mentioned are happy with a climb at a high, constant pace but the moment you hit them with fast and furious attacks, they blow up. A case in point is how Andy and Frank attack in tandem in the 2011 TDF- I think it was the final Mountain stage before the ITT where Andy lost yellow to Cadel. I know I'm pro-Schleck, but that was probably the best tactical race I've seen. So much better than this boring high tempo racing up the mountains.Unfortunately I missed Sunday's race due to a power failure.Mentioning the schleck's here is dangerous...and I am probably the biggest Andy fan on the Hub..???? The bottom line is that this is what makes cycling so amazing...you have Science (Absolute power,Absolute weight, power to weight, speed and frontal drag,Energy) and then you have Team Tactics.Tactics are there to screw with Science That's why I love the classics more than tours..I think Tactics play a much bigger role in the results where tours are more about the science...or at least these days. Back to the Giro...If Nibali goes fast in the TT today I would also not bet against him.He was the only rider other than a little bit from Pinot that was willing to burn matches to keep Quintana close.He paid for it Yes but he was still able to follow 3 out of the 4 attacks.
GrumpyOldGuy Posted May 16, 2017 Posted May 16, 2017 Yeah 100%I think he would have expected to see Nibali closer but not the 2 strongest TT GC riders.With over 60km of TT riding left in this race it adds up to way more than the hilltop finish climbs.I think he is going to be stretched more than he would want to be in that final week.I hope both Pinot and Tommy have a perfect day today...then it's race on!!Also hope Thomas goes very fast today..Would be good if he kept at it to see where he ends up as a GC riderYah, he should gain a little today, I think Thomas is still good enough for a top 10, its not all over, but SKY will need to change their tactics and disrupt the Movistar train in the mountains, isolating Quintana or forcing him to extend himself early, this wont be easy as Movistar are a strong team. Unless they can disrupt the Movistar line the best they can hope for is he has a wobbly one day and loses time, otherwise, bar a miracle, I think its game over for Sky and Thomas.
GrumpyOldGuy Posted May 16, 2017 Posted May 16, 2017 Mentioning the schleck's here is dangerous...and I am probably the biggest Andy fan on the Hub.. The bottom line is that this is what makes cycling so amazing...you have Science (Absolute power,Absolute weight, power to weight, speed and frontal drag,Energy) and then you have Team Tactics.Tactics are there to screw with Science That's why I love the classics more than tours..I think Tactics play a much bigger role in the results where tours are more about the science...or at least these days. Back to the Giro...If Nibali goes fast in the TT today I would also not bet against him.He was the only rider other than a little bit from Pinot that was willing to burn matches to keep Quintana close.He paid for it Yes but he was still able to follow 3 out of the 4 attacks.Yah, I am not sure he can make top step again, but he was unusually good on Sunday, considering he takes a while to warm up and is usually better in the third week,.. his race on Sunday was very good.
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