Tour de France Stage 8 Tomblaine - Gerardmer *Spoilers*

frenchfighter

dsoutar wrote:

mike6 wrote:

Just watched the highlights as I was working all day. Contador has an ugly, energy wasting, too much upper body movement, climbing style. Nibs looks much neater and controlled.

Porte seems to be riding himself into good form though, roll on the big climbs.

I was watching it yesterday with my missus who enjoys watching the uphill bits of the Tour but isn't a cyclist and doesn't exhibit that much interest tbh. She also commented on how bad his cycling style was compared to Nibali (in fact she said she thought he cycled just like Froome which I thought was a quite revealing comment from someone with a relatively detached opinion)

Froome and Contador have totally different styles. Google images Nibali climbing...he actually puts his arms out slightly like Froome.

Nibali is more of a grinder although he is out the saddle fairly often, Contador is a dancer and looks absolutely fabulous.

inseine

dsoutar wrote:

mike6 wrote:

Just watched the highlights as I was working all day. Contador has an ugly, energy wasting, too much upper body movement, climbing style. Nibs looks much neater and controlled.

Porte seems to be riding himself into good form though, roll on the big climbs.

I was watching it yesterday with my missus who enjoys watching the uphill bits of the Tour but isn't a cyclist and doesn't exhibit that much interest tbh. She also commented on how bad his cycling style was compared to Nibali (in fact she said she thought he cycled just like Froome which I thought was a quite revealing comment from someone with a relatively detached opinion)

I think it was quite revealing and why I thought he and his team put a lot in for not much reward. The thing is that Froome always looks a mess whereas Contador is a model of style. If he looks like Froome you have to suppose he was trying?

OPQS

Yellow Peril wrote:

Can't see how my interpretation of Porte trying hard can be considered Tosh? was he not trying hard? Did I discredit him in some way? Did I say he made a mistake?

There's a nice piece about him in today's Sunday Times. Walsh is quite positive about him.

dsoutar

frenchfighter wrote:

dsoutar wrote:

mike6 wrote:

Just watched the highlights as I was working all day. Contador has an ugly, energy wasting, too much upper body movement, climbing style. Nibs looks much neater and controlled.

Porte seems to be riding himself into good form though, roll on the big climbs.

I was watching it yesterday with my missus who enjoys watching the uphill bits of the Tour but isn't a cyclist and doesn't exhibit that much interest tbh. She also commented on how bad his cycling style was compared to Nibali (in fact she said she thought he cycled just like Froome which I thought was a quite revealing comment from someone with a relatively detached opinion)

Froome and Contador have totally different styles. Google images Nibali climbing...he actually puts his arms out slightly like Froome.

Nibali is more of a grinder although he is out the saddle fairly often, Contador is a dancer and looks absolutely fabulous.

I guess she just called it like she saw it at that time. Her exact-ish comments were (she doesn't know who most of these guys are) "why is that one all in yellow jumping around all over the place with his elbows everywhere when the one in blue is just sitting pedaling calmly". I just told her that people have different styles for going up hills. I wasn't going to enter into anything further than that; she's only recently grasped the fact that the stage winner can be totally out of contention for the GC ! She might enjoy watching it but her eyes glaze over if I start expounding on the niceties of stage racing

frenchfighter

Chavanel:
“I am both disappointed and satisfied. Blel Kadri deserved to win. He was stronger than me on the hardest gradients of the climbs. I had reconed this stage. I wanted to put myself in the front. That I succeeded to end up in 10th place after this stage is not terrible.

"I was glad, however to work with Niki Terpstra. During the first forty minutes, we were doing about 60 km/h on average. I spent a lot of energy during that part, but that’s how the sport works.

"I am not depressed and I’ll try my luck another time. Why not tomorrow if I recover well? I am willing to do my best and hope that once the success will be on my side.”

Kadri:
“We fought a lot to catch that breakaway," he said. "It was a 40-km long effort to make it. On the way, I mostly feared Chavanel and Terpstra. I knew they would attack. So when Chavanel accelerated, I immediately went behind him. I was ready for that.

"I've realized that he wasn't that strong, so I rode away solo because I wanted to avoid the return of Simon Yates as he's a much better climber than me. I also knew that, had I stayed with Chavanel, he would have dropped me off in the downhill as this is his strong point.

--

Note how Tangert waited for Fugslang. Nibali didn't explicitly say what he thought of it but reading between lines he was not very happy.

frenchfighter

andyp

frenchfighter wrote:

Chapeau to Kadri. Didn't think he was that type of rider even after his Roma Maxima performance showed he knows how to suffer. Congratulations to Adam Yates as well. I really want Chavanel to do something of note.

Simon Yates is riding the Tour, not Adam.

Although Geraint Thomas was suggesting yesterday that they could both be there and taking it in turns to race each day as no-one can tell them apart.

frenchfighter

Luca Paolini was given a warning by the UCI on stage eight after the Katusha rider was spotted using his mobile phone during the race. After each stage the organisers issue a document with all the sanctions given, from disposing of food wrappers in the wrong way to taking bidons at the wrong time.

At the bottom of the stage eight document, there was a small caution to all riders: “The use of mobile phones during the race by riders is not authorised in reference to article nine of the event and article 2.2.024 of the UCI regulations.”

An Italian paper reported that Paolini may have been receiving sensitive information on the phone. Paolini responded by saying that the reporter should “put more tobacco” in what he was smoking, and explained that he had not been sending text messages at 50kph as one photograph may have implied.

“I forgot that my phone was in my pocket and I was switching it off and bringing it back to the team car,” Paolini tweeted, followed by a truly Pozzato-esque array of emoticons to express his embarrassment.

tailwindhome

Just caught up with this stage now.

Nice bit of sparring.

TInkoff obv want to assert some authority over the race. Contador knows enough to know that today wasn't the day to burn matches - either he wasn't strong enough, Nibs wasn't weakened enough or a combination of both. It just wasn't the time.

They're very strong for a team who've lost 2 key men.....


Long range prediction - Nibali to take time out of Contador in the TT