TdF 2016 Stage 13 *Contains spoilers*

above_the_cows

Rick Chasey wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

You hate wind?? You live in Holland!

Platte bergen!!

Ja ja ik woon in Nederland maar ik ben 48kg.

Ja Cambridgeshire was net zo plat en ik ben 55 kilo, dus geen excuses!

Jij woont vlakbij Maastricht toch? Er zijn wel wat heuvels daar.

Nee ik woon in Amsterdam heb ik alleen de duinen als heuvels. Geen van hen is hooger dan 38m.

tailwindhome

Julian Alaphilippe ‏@alafpolak · 2m2 minutes ago
View translation

Tout est OK!. Merci à tous pour les messages. Everything's OK thanks for your messages !

Anonymous

Pretty hurty thumb tho. Thank god for electronic shifting

hanshotfirst

Pretty alarming all the flack Quintana is taking in this thread and this coming from a Froome fan by the way.

Its one thing to say he's having a shocker but saying the boy is now an 'also ran' or 'the next Basso' because he's having a bad tour is ridiculous.

He's won the Giro - which many of you claim to be the harder race btw - and he's still young. Anyone writing him off after a single bad grand tour campaign is off his/her rocker!

RichN95.

hanshotfirst wrote:

Pretty alarming all the flack Quintana is taking in this thread and this coming from a Froome fan by the way.

Its one thing to say he's having a shocker but saying the boy is now an 'also ran' or 'the next Basso' because he's having a bad tour is ridiculous.

He's won the Giro - which many of you claim to be the harder race btw - and he's still young. Anyone writing him off after a single bad grand tour campaign is off his/her rocker!

There are some (not me) who have never particularly rated him. They just see him as a one dimensional diesel in contrast to much media hype. They're probably right. Basso won two Giros, it's not an insult, but he was always kept in place by Armstrong mentally as mch as physically.

Garry H

I think you're confusing harder route with harder race

pottssteve

Above The Cows wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

You hate wind?? You live in Holland!

Platte bergen!!

Ja ja ik woon in Nederland maar ik ben 48kg.

Ja Cambridgeshire was net zo plat en ik ben 55 kilo, dus geen excuses!

Jij woont vlakbij Maastricht toch? Er zijn wel wat heuvels daar.

Nee ik woon in Amsterdam heb ik alleen de duinen als heuvels. Geen van hen is hooger dan 38m.

I used to live in Maastricht and I'm 78kg - we should have house-swapped! I can roll but I can't climb

pottssteve

Above The Cows wrote:

Tom Dumoulin looks like a superhero in that TT get up.

While Alaphilippe auditions for the next Spiderman movie...

DeVlaeminck

hanshotfirst wrote:

Pretty alarming all the flack Quintana is taking in this thread and this coming from a Froome fan by the way.

Its one thing to say he's having a shocker but saying the boy is now an 'also ran' or 'the next Basso' because he's having a bad tour is ridiculous.

He's won the Giro - which many of you claim to be the harder race btw - and he's still young. Anyone writing him off after a single bad grand tour campaign is off his/her rocker!

I tend to agree with you, if I had to pick a winner of the 2017 Tour now other than Froome I can't see who has a stronger case than Quintana. Perhaps some of us were guilty of thinking he was on the same level as the Sky leader already, I had Froome as the narrow favourite but he's making it look like he's a class apart so far so yes to that extent Quintana is not doing what some expected but not being as good as Chris Froome is something he has in common with a few others.

Pross

Brought back happy memories today, just as beautiful as I remember it 27 years ago! Jumped into the Ardeche from Pont D'Arc.

Very respectful and unusually classy tribute to yesterday's atrocity.

Dumoulin on another level and looks highly unlikely Froome will take TT gold in Rio. Bad day out for Nairo but Yates must be quite happy.

gsk82

DeVlaeminck wrote:

hanshotfirst wrote:

Pretty alarming all the flack Quintana is taking in this thread and this coming from a Froome fan by the way.

Its one thing to say he's having a shocker but saying the boy is now an 'also ran' or 'the next Basso' because he's having a bad tour is ridiculous.

He's won the Giro - which many of you claim to be the harder race btw - and he's still young. Anyone writing him off after a single bad grand tour campaign is off his/her rocker!

I tend to agree with you, if I had to pick a winner of the 2017 Tour now other than Froome I can't see who has a stronger case than Quintana. Perhaps some of us were guilty of thinking he was on the same level as the Sky leader already, I had Froome as the narrow favourite but he's making it look like he's a class apart so far so yes to that extent Quintana is not doing what some expected but not being as good as Chris Froome is something he has in common with a few others.

I think there's a large element of gloating in the posts. There's be so much hype from some around Quintana that simply hasn't been justified.

smithy21

Froome and more importantly his team are a class apart.

Quintana could have his usual strong week 3 but he has too much ground to make up- and if we are honest last year was only close because Froome was ill at the end. It did make it exciting though.

Of more concern is that I can't see where the next genuine challenge to Froome/Sky is coming from. The Yates's?

Richmond Racer 2

smithy21 wrote:

Froome and more importantly his team are a class apart.

Quintana could have his usual strong week 3 but he has too much ground to make up- and if we are honest last year was only close because Froome was ill at the end. It did make it exciting though.

Of more concern is that I can't see where the next genuine challenge to Froome/Sky is coming from. The Yates's?

Teams rise and it's their time at the top of the heap, but then they fall and its someone else's turn. Same with riders.

Richmond Racer 2

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

smithy21 wrote:

Froome and more importantly his team are a class apart.

Quintana could have his usual strong week 3 but he has too much ground to make up- and if we are honest last year was only close because Froome was ill at the end. It did make it exciting though.

Of more concern is that I can't see where the next genuine challenge to Froome/Sky is coming from. The Yates's?

Teams rise and it's their time at the top of the heap, but then they fall and its someone else's turn. Same with riders.

Meanwhile, having stood on a fair few mountains to watch and photograph riders and races (inc Ventoux on Thu), may I just say that some roadside spectators are TOTAL DICKS

Thank you, I feel better now.

milton50

Rick Chasey wrote:

andyp wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Mollema's in the form of his life.

He was in exactly this position at the end of the second week of the 2013 Tour, although he was over 4 minutes back on Froome then. He lost 4 places in the final week then, it'll be interesting if he can hold on better this year.

He did have an absolute shocker in the TT that year IIRC

Exactly. He lost 7 minutes to Nibali in a very similar rolling TT in 2014. In fact he managed to lose 5 minutes to Romain Bardet which is saying something.

Shows how much better he is this year.

rick_chasey

Milton50 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

andyp wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Mollema's in the form of his life.

He was in exactly this position at the end of the second week of the 2013 Tour, although he was over 4 minutes back on Froome then. He lost 4 places in the final week then, it'll be interesting if he can hold on better this year.

He did have an absolute shocker in the TT that year IIRC

Exactly. He lost 7 minutes to Nibali in a very similar rolling TT in 2014. In fact he managed to lose 5 minutes to Romain Bardet which is saying something.

Shows how much better he is this year.

He famously rode the final TT on a bike he'd never sat on before... He literally got arse cramps 1/3 of the way in.

Lanterne_Rogue

Rick Chasey wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

andyp wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Mollema's in the form of his life.

He was in exactly this position at the end of the second week of the 2013 Tour, although he was over 4 minutes back on Froome then. He lost 4 places in the final week then, it'll be interesting if he can hold on better this year.

He did have an absolute shocker in the TT that year IIRC

Exactly. He lost 7 minutes to Nibali in a very similar rolling TT in 2014. In fact he managed to lose 5 minutes to Romain Bardet which is saying something.

Shows how much better he is this year.

He famously rode the final TT on a bike he'd never sat on before... He literally got ars* cramps 1/3 of the way in.

To summarise, he's probably just as bad at time trialling this year, but at least he packed a better saddle this time?

I think the ragging on Quintana is mostly because he's been talked up as the major rival to Froome and has failed to live up to that billing so far. I don't think he was necessarily over-hyped - but he's not lived up to it for whatever reason. I also think that he's made some errors that make it easier to see and talk about it as naivety or a personal failing rather than simply not having the legs. And yes, he might still come good in the final week, but it doesn't feel likely at the moment.