Dauphine *spoilers*

Turfle

The TJVG went backwards quickly today too. Lost even more time than Kwiatkowski.

Paulie W

Leaving aside the Frrom-Contador battle, it was interesting to see no team had more than one rider at the sharp end of this. If you throw Valverde into the equation alongside Anton does this change the dynamic at all? Porte 10 minutes + down - maybe the race is about him riding into better form but you have to think he is less and less likely to be in the Tour squad now.

Macaloon

Above The Cows wrote:

What happened to either of their teams?

Contador was left alone very early and then Froome only had Nieve, with Porte dropping off before Thomas. Will be keeping a beady eye on Porte this race, his form still seems bobbins.

I mentioned wheelsucking in tribute to FF who hates that kind of riding, but wasn't around to lodge his pov.

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

tuneskyline

okgo wrote:

Pipe down you're making yourself look stupid, tunedskyline

I go out and ride my bike. I ride up big mountains and to call Contador a wheel sucker, a rider who does attack a lot
and his trying to stay on the wheel of the tour champion is stupid and shows a complete lack of knowledge.
If you don't like my point the shove it up your pipe ...I don't smoke.

above_the_cows

Turfle wrote:

The TJVG went backwards quickly today too. Lost even more time than Kwiatkowski.

The TJVG needs to be a little more TGV. He's really not shown much since 2012 when he eclipsed Evans. I think we can discount him (barring accidents) from troubling the big boys come July.

inseine

It's true that all this Wiggins talk has masked the real question about Porte. Froomes most loyal lieutenant looks very dodgy for the Tour (sorry, very off-Topic).

RichN95.

Paulie W wrote:

Leaving aside the Frrom-Contador battle, it was interesting to see no team had more than one rider at the sharp end of this. If you throw Valverde into the equation alongside Anton does this change the dynamic at all? Porte 10 minutes + down - maybe the race is about him riding into better form but you have to think he is less and less likely to be in the Tour squad now.

It's notable that Contador has a fairly weak team in this race. No Kreuziger and plenty of good riders did the Giro - some may double up.

above_the_cows

Macaloon wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

What happened to either of their teams?

Contador was left alone very early and then Froome only had Nieve, with Porte dropping off before Thomas. Will be keeping a beady eye on Porte this race, his form still seems bobbins.

I mentioned wheelsucking in tribute to FF who hates that kind of riding, but wasn't around to lodge his pov.

Ah it was you... :evil: :P

Macaloon wrote:

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

Yes that is a good observation. He is a little lone ranger eh? He should play up to that it would make him more interesting, although the politics of that were all a little off and I'm not sure Porte really wants the Tonto role, didn't go too well for Johnny Depp. The cat would make a good Silver though.

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

Because they have worked out that he is most effective with 15-20 minute efforts - train repeatedly to do them and use the team to remove as many of the other team's domestiques as possible.

tuneskyline

feltkuota wrote:

tuneskyline wrote:

Stop the wheel sucking bullsH%%. I doubt anyone here could suck the wheel of the guy finishing last never mind trying to keep with Froome. Go ride a few mountains instead of sitting on your fat ar%e and making stupid remarks and see how you get on. Idiots.

On this showing Froome looked very strong and in my view Contador did awesome to stay with him. I have to say this and it will make FF cry but Froome looks to good on that performance. One thing about Contador is that he does get better so things could yet turn around. Very disappointed in Nib's. He never has been able to compete with climbers at the highest level and he has been found out again. I really thought he would step up.

Jeez, you sound angry.. Having a bad day?

I am having a good day actually and thought the racing was the best this year. Lets hope we see some more like this
.Froome looks very good though and it will take a lot to beat him on that showing. great stuff.

Turfle

inseine wrote:

It's true that all this Wiggins talk has masked the real question about Porte. Froomes most loyal lieutenant looks very dodgy for the Tour (sorry, very off-Topic).

I think they gave him too big a job today. Expecting him to come in after Nieve was probably too big an ask considering his season. I wonder if he'll swap roles with G until he shows he can do a later one.

above_the_cows

inseine wrote:

It's true that all this Wiggins talk has masked the real question about Porte. Froomes most loyal lieutenant looks very dodgy for the Tour (sorry, very off-Topic).

He really looks poor. Before we got the fireworks at the end I thought his sitting up only a wee way up the climb was going to be the most interesting thing about this stage.

above_the_cows

Did anyone else keep wondering when Reichenbach was repeatedly mentioned about whether or not if/when he has a crash the commentator will say...

"Reichenbach falls."

Yes? No? Just me?

Macaloon

RichN95 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

Because they have worked out that he is most effective with 15-20 minute efforts - train repeatedly to do them and use the team to remove as many of the other team's domestiques as possible.

Plausible. If only there was a long-distance merchant on the scene with the swingers to counter such predictable tactics.

blazing_saddles

I see some of you have rattled Rayjoy's cage.
It not called wheel sucking.
When one man marks out another, doesn't take a turn on the front,
and doesn't try to attack until the final 150 metres, it's called panache.:P
At least when Valverde does it, he manages mostly to win.

Much more action than I expected.
I thought it would be the train all the way to the final km.
Certainly it's game on for Le Tour between the big two..
Nibali continues to struggle.
BMC swap an old failure for a young one.
VDB always goes well here.


For Sky Porte remains a big concern.
Still well off the pace.

frenchfighter

Interesting stuff. Froome likes to give it some doesnt he. Much better to watch and happy he didnt just sit and defend his lead. Wouldnt expect it though.

Contador just played him nicely and wasn't on his limit. Froome looked like he was going 110%. If he wants to hop like a randy chicken then Contador is wise not to play with the ego. Contador may well take him out later this week.

Really like Contador's green jersey - have very few photos with him in a green jersey so that's good news.

Top ten only separated by 45 secs...
1 Chris Froome (GBr) Sky
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo
3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin 00:00:04
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 00:00:10
5 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp 00:00:12
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana 00:00:27
7 Igor Anton (Spa) Movistar 00:00:40
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 00:00:42
9 Sebastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 00:00:44
10 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis 00:00:45

General classification:
1 Chris Froome (GBr) Sky
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:12
3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin 00:00:21
4 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp 00:00:33
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 00:00:35
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana 00:00:50
7 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 00:01:22
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana
9 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 00:01:31
10 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana 00:01:35

Last 5km:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRXcCOip7Dk

Glad you guys enjoyed it. Contador did that pretty much every race he was in. Imagine supporting a guy all in who gives joy to the fans like that. Real cycling.

No_Ta_Doctor

Macaloon wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

Because they have worked out that he is most effective with 15-20 minute efforts - train repeatedly to do them and use the team to remove as many of the other team's domestiques as possible.

Plausible. If only there was a long-distance merchant on the scene with the swingers to counter such predictable tactics.

:-D

I still think 5-7 km is a long way out to be isolated. It's a risky tactic. Froome had to cover a lot of attacks today and was towing Contador most of the way. That could have backfired quite badly.

frenchfighter

This parcours is mouthwatering. Check this final one out...the 28% at the end is a bit much though:


Rewatching the race...Contador looks so cool especially when looking at Froome.

frenchfighter

I wonder how sad Froome is that he did not drop Contador. Top marks to trying though.

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Froome seems to like the last man to peel off 5-7km out. Who knows why, but there's a definite pattern, except when Porte's on song.

Because they have worked out that he is most effective with 15-20 minute efforts - train repeatedly to do them and use the team to remove as many of the other team's domestiques as possible.

Plausible. If only there was a long-distance merchant on the scene with the swingers to counter such predictable tactics.

There is. But he did the Giro this year.

Paulie W

I too thought that Contador wasnt at his limit as he stayed with Froome but the fact he couldnt go round Froome in the final 100-200m - and it looked to me like he tried - when he had done a fair bit less 'work' suggests he was working every bit as hard. But this is the first real exchange in their contest - longer harder stages later in the week could easily mean things are reversed and Alberto will have a stronger team at the Tour whilst Chris probably has his best team here (an out-of-sorts Porte being the exception). So it's very much game on.

No_Ta_Doctor

frenchfighter wrote:

I wonder how sad Froome is that he did not drop Contador. Top marks to trying though.

probably not quite as sad as Contador is that he couldn't get past him at any point having been towed to the line.

Turfle

He's a 3rd tier Gerrans.

adr82

frenchfighter wrote:

Contador just played him nicely and wasn't on his limit. Froome looked like he was going 110%. If he wants to hop like a randy chicken then Contador is wise not to play with the ego. Contador may well take him out later this week.

You might want to watch the final few hundred metres again and keep an eye on Contador's face... if that was him "just playing" Froome he was doing a bloody good impression of someone barely hanging on...

Edit: and in fact just before the 200m point it looked like Froome was about to pull out a gap. Have to congratulate Contador for sticking with him to the line but let's not pretend he didn't want to win that. Aren't you always telling us he's a pure racer and so forth?

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

This parcours is mouthwatering. Check this final one out...the 28% at the end is a bit much though:

Apparently the 28% is an error - it's nothing like that at the end.

frenchfighter

To be honest all that effort for 4 seconds on second is poor show. The guys behind giving it some real nice legs. Wilco and Anton showing their Giro form, Yates continues to impress and I cant believe JVB...recently they were talking about him not going to the Tour due to lack of form.

frenchfighter

No tA Doctor wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I wonder how sad Froome is that he did not drop Contador. Top marks to trying though.

probably not quite as sad as Contador is that he couldn't get past him at any point having been towed to the line.

As you would know if you had watch him race...he cannot sprint for toffee...possibly the worst GC sprinter of all...gets dropped on almost every MT sprint.

Turfle

frenchfighter wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I wonder how sad Froome is that he did not drop Contador. Top marks to trying though.

probably not quite as sad as Contador is that he couldn't get past him at any point having been towed to the line.

As you would know if you had watch him race...he cannot sprint for toffee...possibly the worst GC sprinter of all...gets dropped on almost every MT sprint.

He should have tried attacking then.

adr82

frenchfighter wrote:

This parcours is mouthwatering. Check this final one out...the 28% at the end is a bit much though:

According to the inrng preview it's nowhere near that steep:

However your correspondent has visited and unless they’ve built a special ramp on scaffolding for the hell of it there is no road with a 28% gradient on this stage. Instead it’s 10% all the way to the line. If this has deflated your hopes don’t worry because it’s still a hard climb and if the sun is shining it’ll offer spectacular views.

Percy Vera

Contador was definitely on the limit, he couldn't go round Froome when he tried and his face was a face of pain. Froom even got a gap on him, but obviously it was less than a second