TDF Stage 13: St Etiennie - Chamrousse *spoiler*

RichN95.

Did Armstrong, Indurain, Hinault, Anquetil and Merckx have Plan Bs?

tailwindhome

Funny how when a top GC rider blows up like Porte did, that the domestique pacing them, going up the same mountain at the same speed but in front can look at if they are just out on the Sunday Café run

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

Funny how when a top GC rider blows up like Porte did, that the domestique pacing them, going up the same mountain at the same speed but in front can look at if they are just out on the Sunday Café run

But then look where that domestique comes on the stage:

Gadret +6' 51
Kangert +10' 51

Different role. One that Porte is probably more suited to.

Coachb

Good to see Nibs destroy Sky again. Someone mentioned Wiggins and again Nibs already beat him into submission at the Giro
Was it only me who saw Valverde attack ...are you lot blind as well? Yes you are. At least Valverde was in a position to make a challenge. If that was ex doper Millar riding like that none of you would have a problem :roll:
Bunch of haters.

Contador was in such good form and it would have been exciting to see if he could have chased down Nibs.
Froome lost time in a couple of stages last year. He would have got another beating just like the one Contador and Talansky gave him at the Dauphine.
Brillaint stuff from Nibs and I hope Valverde gets a podium.

Very enjoyable apart from no Bertie.

Porte and Thomas were rubbish. Podium

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Giro 2014:
Runner up: Aru (Plan A: Scarponi)

TailWindHome wrote:

Giro 2013
Runner up: Uran
Plan A Wiggins Plan B Henao

As the cliche says - the Giro's the Giro, but the Tour is the Tour. (The Giro is mostly Plan Bs to begin with).

Pah! You would say that.
OK.
TDF 2014
Ag2r:- Bardet and Peraud.
A pair of Plan Bs.

cornerblock

It's safe to say that we're unlikely to run out of expletives to describe Valverde. ******* **** ** ****** ** *********! ****!

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Pah! You would say that.
OK.
TDF 2014
Ag2r:- Bardet and Peraud.
A pair of Plan Bs.

That's not my argument. There's plenty of examples like that - Wiggins and Froome, Kreuziger and Contador etc. It's readjusting when Plan A tits up that is the key.

Coachb

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Pah! You would say that.
OK.
TDF 2014
Ag2r:- Bardet and Peraud.
A pair of Plan Bs.

That's not my argument. There's plenty of examples like that - Wiggins and Froome, Kreuziger and Contador etc. It's readjusting when Plan A tits up that is the key.

like Porte

RichN95.

Coachb wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Pah! You would say that.
OK.
TDF 2014
Ag2r:- Bardet and Peraud.
A pair of Plan Bs.

That's not my argument. There's plenty of examples like that - Wiggins and Froome, Kreuziger and Contador etc. It's readjusting when Plan A tits up that is the key.

like Porte

Yes, that's my f-ing point. Do keep up.

Anonymous

Coachb wrote:

Good to see Nibs destroy Sky again. Someone mentioned Wiggins and again Nibs already beat him into submission at the Giro
Was it only me who saw Valverde attack ...are you lot blind as well? Yes you are. At least Valverde was in a position to make a challenge. If that was ex doper Millar riding like that none of you would have a problem :roll:
Bunch of haters.

Contador was in such good form and it would have been exciting to see if he could have chased down Nibs.
Froome lost time in a couple of stages last year. He would have got another beating just like the one Contador and Talansky gave him at the Dauphine.
Brillaint stuff from Nibs and I hope Valverde gets a podium.

Very enjoyable apart from no Bertie.

Porte and Thomas were rubbish. Podium

Is coachb an anagram of rayjay?

Bakunin

RichN95 wrote:

Coachb wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Pah! You would say that.
OK.
TDF 2014
Ag2r:- Bardet and Peraud.
A pair of Plan Bs.

That's not my argument. There's plenty of examples like that - Wiggins and Froome, Kreuziger and Contador etc. It's readjusting when Plan A tits up that is the key.

like Porte

Yes, that's my f-ing point. Do keep up.

In 2007, was Contador plan B to Levi?

RichN95.

Bakunin wrote:

In 2007, was Contador plan B to Levi?

Yes, but that's not what I'm talking about. That's a failing leader, not someone who crashed out.

montyburns56b

RichN95 wrote:

Did Armstrong, Indurain, Hinault, Anquetil and Merckx have Plan Bs?

It's hard to know as they didn't test for it in those days.

gattocattivo

iainf72 wrote:

A motivated Wiggins with 2012 form, maybe. But also with the team working for him, maybe. Didn't Wiggins crap himself everytime he was left alone on a climb in 2012?

I don't think it's that wild a claim to say that if Wiggins was in this Tour he would be a safe bet for 2nd place given who's left now, but I don't think he would win it. As for 'crapping himself' when left alone on a climb - the only time it looked like all his team mates had been burnt out and dropped was on the infamous La Toussuire stage and he reacted by going to the front. But Froome hadn't actually been dropped, he'd just dropped to the back of the group to recover. Wiggins 'crapped himself' a few minutes later when his team mate then attacked him. But in this hypothetical 2014 Tour featuring Wiggins, with Froome out injured I can't really see anyone left on the Sky team who would be capable of attacking and dropping him on mountain top finish or any reason why they would want to.

tailwindhome

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Funny how when a top GC rider blows up like Porte did, that the domestique pacing them, going up the same mountain at the same speed but in front can look at if they are just out on the Sunday Café run

But then look where that domestique comes on the stage:

Gadret +6' 51
Kangert +10' 51

Different role. One that Porte is probably more suited to.

Thinking more of the guys who carry him home and finish with him.

25 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:08:48
26 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team Sky
27 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky

joelsim

sjmclean wrote:

Coachb wrote:

Good to see Nibs destroy Sky again. Someone mentioned Wiggins and again Nibs already beat him into submission at the Giro
Was it only me who saw Valverde attack ...are you lot blind as well? Yes you are. At least Valverde was in a position to make a challenge. If that was ex doper Millar riding like that none of you would have a problem :roll:
Bunch of haters.

Contador was in such good form and it would have been exciting to see if he could have chased down Nibs.
Froome lost time in a couple of stages last year. He would have got another beating just like the one Contador and Talansky gave him at the Dauphine.
Brillaint stuff from Nibs and I hope Valverde gets a podium.

Very enjoyable apart from no Bertie.

Porte and Thomas were rubbish. Podium

Is coachb an anagram of rayjay?

There aren't any apostrophes in the plurals so possibly not. He would have written bunch of hater's

joelsim

To be fair to Porte he hasn't been in condition all year, so quite why people expected too much of him is beyond me.

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

Thinking more of the guys who carry him home and finish with him.

25 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:08:48
26 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team Sky
27 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky

Yeah, I see what you mean. I could explain it but I've got some Pinot Grigio on the go. I think Thibault Pinot's domestiques should be called Grigios like the Italian Gregorios

RichN95.

Joelsim wrote:

To be fair to Porte he hasn't been in condition all year, so quite why people expected too much of him is beyond me.

Heart ruling the head. I'm as guilty as anyone.

Macaloon

durhamwasp wrote:

Didn't think I would say it again, having fully believed cycling to be past the old times, but Nibali's performances this Tour are making me think again... He was being dropped every time the road went up at Romandie and Dauphine.

Most boring tour since Armstrongs wins.

Do yourself a favour and listen to Daniel Friebe talk about Nibali's background on the Cycling Podcast. Nibali has prepared perfectly for this tour, just as he did for the 2013 Giro. There's every reason to be comfortable with Nibali as a great champion.

Lanterne_Rogue

RichN95 wrote:

Did Armstrong, Indurain, Hinault, Anquetil and Merckx have Plan Bs?

Mercx's plan B was to attack again, wasn't it?

nevman

I dont think too much was expected but to crack up 12k from the finish was-can we hypothesise how that would have worked for Froome as his #1 domestique?

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

durhamwasp wrote:

Didn't think I would say it again, having fully believed cycling to be past the old times, but Nibali's performances this Tour are making me think again... He was being dropped every time the road went up at Romandie and Dauphine.

Most boring tour since Armstrongs wins.

Do yourself a favour and listen to Daniel Friebe talk about Nibali's background on the Cycling Podcast. Nibali has prepared perfectly for this tour, just as he did for the 2013 Giro. There's every reason to be comfortable with Nibali as a great champion.

Everyone Nibali is racing against he has consistently been better than. At the beginning of the Tour people talked about Contador, Froome and Nibali. Others were a distant consideration.

(And mischievously I'd point out that Contador and Froome have been consistently better than him. But to finish first, first you must finish).

Macaloon

Truly scummy moves by Majka on König, and Douchebag on Pinot. Nice acknowledgement from Bardet to TJ for the tow.

tailwindhome

Hehe

RichN95.

If Nibali wins this as we all expect, he will be the third consecutive winner to have been in the top four of the previous year's Vuelta. Coicidence? Who knows?

iainf72

RichN95 wrote:

If Nibali wins this as we all expect, he will be the third consecutive winner to have been in the top four of the previous year's Vuelta. Coicidence? Who knows?

Previous year Vuelta as prep for next years Tour.

Interesting

alihisgreat

iainf72 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

If Nibali wins this as we all expect, he will be the third consecutive winner to have been in the top four of the previous year's Vuelta. Coicidence? Who knows?

Previous year Vuelta as prep for next years Tour.

Interesting

Previous year's Vuelta shows potential and motivates the winter training...?

Macaloon

iainf72 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

If Nibali wins this as we all expect, he will be the third consecutive winner to have been in the top four of the previous year's Vuelta. Coicidence? Who knows?

Previous year Vuelta as prep for next years Tour.

Interesting

Major factor is not winning the previous year's Tour. Nobody survives it. Although Nibali looks like he will. Not being stretched.

woody1545

TailWindHome wrote:

Hehe

Sorry for being a thicko but is this photo genuine? His hands look f ing massive!

Sir Dave before the hair loss….