TdF 2016 Stage 9 *Contains spoilers*

madden2011

It was set up for Quintana to have a go and claw back some seconds but just wheelsucks all the way.

Lanterne_Rogue

Hard to tell, what with signals being dropped and the director's unerring ability to cut away the second anything interesting happened, but it didn't seem that Froome was particularly attacking today - more reacting to moves (or the moves not sticking) and being a little more conservative. Although not as conservative as Nairo, who is showing every sign of having noticed something odd about Froome's seatpost that has rendered him unable to concentrate on trying to race him until he's worked out what it is.

above_the_cows

underlayunderlay wrote:

Hard to tell, what with signals being dropped and the director's unerring ability to cut away the second anything interesting happened, but it didn't seem that Froome was particularly attacking today - more reacting to moves (or the moves not sticking) and being a little more conservative. Although not as conservative as Nairo, who is showing every sign of having noticed something odd about Froome's seatpost that has rendered him unable to concentrate on trying to race him until he's worked out what it is.

Nairo's powermeter is in Chris' seat post.

pottssteve

underlayunderlay wrote:

Hard to tell, what with signals being dropped and the director's unerring ability to cut away the second anything interesting happened, but it didn't seem that Froome was particularly attacking today - more reacting to moves (or the moves not sticking) and being a little more conservative. Although not as conservative as Nairo, who is showing every sign of having noticed something odd about Froome's seatpost that has rendered him unable to concentrate on trying to race him until he's worked out what it is.

Rumour is that Froome has sticky-taped this photo of Miss Colombia to his seat post:

Lanterne_Rogue

Rumour has it that Nairo's going to be given his own custom frame for the next stage:

bobmcstuff

Unconventional team-work by Richie Porte today. A bit like volunteering to put the chamois cream in Tejay’s shorts & using Deep Heat instead
@lionelbirnie Sun, 10th Jul 2016 15:30:48

above_the_cows

It should have a little flag surely?

pottssteve

Rumour has it Froome has a tiny TV on his seat post playing a message from this guy to Nairo:

rick_chasey

milton50

RichN95 wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Froome definitely not as strong as last year.

Alcalis isn't very steep. It's hard to make a significant move.

Hmm not buying that. Against Quintana and Porte possibly but not dropping Dan Martin and Adam Yates on the hardest stage in the Pyrenees? His condition must be down on where it was last year. Whether it is a deliberate effort to peak for weeks two and three I guess we'll find out.

Richmond Racer 2

Blazing Saddles wrote:

What was the wetter?
The weather or Nairo Quintana.
Rapidly becoming Colombia's Cadel Evans.

Arcalis confirms it's status as the GTs least selective finish.

Il sigh...

Stage retrieved for me by Tom D's win and Yates, A

Also 'mused by Richie Porte

Richmond Racer 2

pottssteve wrote:

Yates passes his arch rival

Hat

cruff

pottssteve wrote:

Yates passes his arch rival

Very, very good

hypster

pottssteve wrote:

Yates passes his arch rival

As that dickhead Ned Boulting never misses an opportunity to remind us.

Sun Dodger

underlayunderlay wrote:

Although not as conservative as Nairo, who is showing every sign of having noticed something odd about Froome's seatpost that has rendered him unable to concentrate on trying to race him until he's worked out what it is.

LOL at this...

iainf72

I didn't think that was a terrible stage in the end.

A lot of fantasists out there expecting Quintana to launch an attack from 40km out (probably wanting a sepia lens filter installed for it too), but that was never really going to happen.

A few times on the final climb Quintana did look a bit rough I thought. His face usually gives nothing away but he looked like he wasn't having much fun.

Yates and Martin making for a different dynamic which is nice. And I'm also enjoying the way Heneo launches little attacks.

bobmcstuff

Yeah I enjoyed the final climb at least.

Quintana never seemed to struggle to hold the wheel - I think he's holding back for one of the later climbs. Kinda boring though.

DeVlaeminck

Quite enjoyed that - bit of interest when Contador and Valverde went off just a shame Contador was ill or that could really have put Sky under pressure. Good final climb with plenty of attacking. Quintana may be working on the premise that Sky and Froome are going to expend energy holding the jersey and that the Alps will offer better opportunities than the relatively shallow climb we had today with plenty of other riders there who might have combined with Froome anyway.

Pross

When are people going to realise that this is how stages are generally going to be if we want clean cycling? Even the best riders have only got one or two really big efforts in them and with the race being loaded heavily to the back end they are keeping their powder dry. They aren't exactly soft pedalling, 20kph consistently up climbs that are pushing 2000m. There's not a lot of oxygen at that level to support the sustained monster efforts so it's a case of picking the time and place for it. As for those saying Quintana only ever follows Froome, have they forgotten the last week of last year's Tour? I reckon Thursday will be the day where there's fireworks - a brutal climb at the end of a slightly easier day and not quite at the highest altitudes. A repeat of 2013?

gweeds

Finally. Someone says it.

You only have to look at the film posted of Ullrich belting up Arcalis to see how it was.

salsiccia1

Pross wrote:

When are people going to realise that this is how stages are generally going to be if we want clean cycling? Even the best riders have only got one or two really big efforts in them and with the race being loaded heavily to the back end they are keeping their powder dry. They aren't exactly soft pedalling, 20kph consistently up climbs that are pushing 2000m. There's not a lot of oxygen at that level to support the sustained monster efforts so it's a case of picking the time and place for it. As for those saying Quintana only ever follows Froome, have they forgotten the last week of last year's Tour? I reckon Thursday will be the day where there's fireworks - a brutal climb at the end of a slightly easier day and not quite at the highest altitudes. A repeat of 2013?

Totally on the money for me. Hat.

rick_chasey

Ah I disagree Pross.

Racing was even duller in most of the '90s, and the Armstrong races were hardly scintillating. Between 2007 and 2011 was a decent run.

The '80s were dope* free and the racing was no more or less dull than it was during doping.


*well, EPO free anyway.

gweeds

The 80's might have been EPO free but they sure as shit weren't dope free.

Damn your fast editing skillz

ridgerider

Just had a thought...do you link that Yates would be riding so aggressively if his brother was riding and was perhaps being left down the road?

DeVlaeminck

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ah I disagree Pross.

Racing was even duller in most of the '90s, and the Armstrong races were hardly scintillating. Between 2007 and 2011 was a decent run.

The '80s were dope* free and the racing was no more or less dull than it was during doping.


*well, EPO free anyway.

Agree with Rick on this - EPO didn't make racing more exciting it just made it faster.

Amphetamines are a different matter of course - I reckon we'd see a lot more aggressive racing if everyone was speeding out their boxes.

Lanterne_Rogue

Despite joking about Quintana (it's the obsessive way he glues himself to Froome's wheel that amuses me), I have no problem with stages not being end to end attacking. I think there's a problem of perception going on, to be honest - people remember the odd super-exciting stage and forget the dull ones, so they simply forget how rare it is for anyone to really tear the race apart.

rick_chasey

Yes.

We should introduce audience controlled amphetamines.

Race organiser puts up 3 riders who have little machines on them that administer amphetamines and the crowd vote with an app on their phone.

That would actually be mechanical doping too...!

bobmcstuff

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yes.

We should introduce audience controlled amphetamines.

Race organiser puts up 3 riders who have little machines on them that administer amphetamines and the crowd vote with an app on their phone.

That would actually be mechanical doping too...!

Great idea.

Or use these hidden motors like DRS in Formula One except the audience votes for when they are allowed to be used.

RichN95.

Ridgerider wrote:

Just had a thought...do you link that Yates would be riding so aggressively if his brother was riding and was perhaps being left down the road?

He'd be just the same. They're no Schlecks.

There's a story from the Tour of Turkey a couple of years ago. Simon crashed and broke his collarbone on a key stag. The Orica DS drove up to him (no radios) to tell Adam and he just told the DS to focus on the race (Adam came second on that stage and won GC)

rick_chasey

TBH that's what you'd expect.

The whole Schleck thing was a little odd.

And crushingly disappointing for a fan of such immense talent...