Vuelta stage 20 *spoiler*

ugo.santalucia

Mad_Malx wrote:

Decent stage that.
So is Froome that much worse than at the tour, or is it just Nairo better (plus stage 15)?

Froome is marginally worse, Nairo a bit better, but the big difference is Movistar is stronger than Sky at the Vuelta.

I have seen Poels's win yesterday at the ToB... mountain finish and he wasn't even breathing heavy... as domestiques go, he is a bit like Froome was for Wiggins

Pross

Mad_Malx wrote:

Decent stage that.
So is Froome that much worse than at the tour, or is it just Nairo better (plus stage 15)?

Overall gap is significantly less than that Stage 15 blunder but Nairo has looked by far the stronger and it felt like he could gain on the climbs if necessary.

The_Boy

My maaaaaaaaaaannnnn!!!!!?

bobmcstuff

Pross wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

Decent stage that.
So is Froome that much worse than at the tour, or is it just Nairo better (plus stage 15)?

Overall gap is significantly less than that Stage 15 blunder but Nairo has looked by far the stronger and it felt like he could gain on the climbs if necessary.

I think if Froome hadn't lost all that time on stage 15 he probably would have won on the strength of the time trial.

Moister just had a stronger team than Sky for that sort of thing.

RichN95.

bobmcstuff wrote:

Pross wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

Decent stage that.
So is Froome that much worse than at the tour, or is it just Nairo better (plus stage 15)?

Overall gap is significantly less than that Stage 15 blunder but Nairo has looked by far the stronger and it felt like he could gain on the climbs if necessary.

I think if Froome hadn't lost all that time on stage 15 he probably would have won on the strength of the time trial.

We will never know. I think it would have been no more than about 30 seconds gap either way.

ic.

I thought unnecessary for Nairo to mug Froome like that but kudos to Froome for clapping him over the line.

RichN95.

IC. wrote:

I thought unnecessary for Nairo to mug Froome like that but kudos to Froome for clapping him over the line.

Froome's done it to him before (Mende 2015). It's just showing you had something left in the tank (although usually it's very little). It's not like the stage was up for grabs.

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

IC. wrote:

I thought unnecessary for Nairo to mug Froome like that but kudos to Froome for clapping him over the line.

Froome's done it to him before (Mende 2015). It's just showing you had something left in the tank (although usually it's very little). It's not like the stage was up for grabs.

Although that was when every second counted in the GC. Today it didn't.
I was hoping for a sort of Badger/Lemond finish, only with feeling.
Instead, we got what was a rather pointless, cheap shot.
Grandisimo not.

iainf72

I enjoyed that Quintana didn't do anything at all, as it made the Chicken (hero to us all, truth speaker, never really once brought the TdF to it's knees and made it a joke) look foolish

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

I enjoyed that Quintana didn't do anything at all, as it made the Chicken (hero to us all, truth speaker, never really once brought the TdF to it's knees and made it a joke) look foolish

The funny thing with Rasmussen is he behaves as though, drugs aside, he was some great champion. Even with the drugs his palmares are those of a Poundshop Voeckler.

Richmond Racer 2

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

I enjoyed that Quintana didn't do anything at all, as it made the Chicken (hero to us all, truth speaker, never really once brought the TdF to it's knees and made it a joke) look foolish

The funny thing with Rasmussen is he behaves as though, drugs aside, he was some great champion. Even with the drugs his palmares are those of a Poundshop Voeckler.

A fraud in many senses. Never could abide him, still can't

larkim

Kudos to Froome applauding Quintana on the line. THink Froome gave everything today, recognized a good win by his rival in the end. Hat.

above_the_cows

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

I enjoyed that Quintana didn't do anything at all, as it made the Chicken (hero to us all, truth speaker, never really once brought the TdF to it's knees and made it a joke) look foolish

The funny thing with Rasmussen is he behaves as though, drugs aside, he was some great champion. Even with the drugs his palmares are those of a Poundshop Voeckler.

A fraud in many senses. Never could abide him, still can't

God, I'd never really bothered to check Rasmussen's palmares. :shock:

DeVlaeminck

IC. wrote:

I thought unnecessary for Nairo to mug Froome like that but kudos to Froome for clapping him over the line.

Yeah I thought that too - maybe ride up alongside him but riding off for a couple of seconds seemed to lack class - maybe we are reading something into it that wasn't there though and Quintana has taken enough beatings from Froome he may just have wanted to prove he was stronger on the climbs in this race and that it wasn't just down to stage 15.

smithy21

I didn't really think there was anything in it. I think Quintana wanted to cross the line as champion and Froome just let him have his moment and applauded as he came over the line.

joelsim

Yep. You can't criticise Quintana, he was the strongest climber in the race and he deserves to win. Having been beaten by Froome several times and heavily criticised by all after the Tour there's nothing in this, he just wanted to show he deserved it.

Chapeau to him.

Mad_Malx

^agree with this. Froome was still trying to show he could win a one-to-one right into the last few metres, Nairo had every right to say 'not today'.

kleinstroker

Must write in diary.. "Today Quintana looked strong"

ocdupalais

I've realised that with lazy racism I was patronising Quintana by doing my best to like him.
Turns out I'm really struggling to warm to the "plucky Colombian" and actually find him generally a bit dull, uptight and so overwhelmingly worried about how he comes across that he interviews like there's a gun at his head at all times, just off camera.
He's even scotched the idea that he comes from a poor background - so I haven't even got that old cliche to fall back on...

ic.

Mad_Malx wrote:

^agree with this. Froome was still trying to show he could win a one-to-one right into the last few metres, Nairo had every right to say 'not today'.

It's not like it was man to man all the way up the climb though. He stuck to his wheel for the last 10k. I know he had to respond to Froomes moves but doing so and sitting in the wheel is far easier than making the moves himself. He did nothing for 10k then mugged him, not classy at all. Not the first time he's lacked class.

Richmond Racer 2

EDIT: I'm tranquilo myself. Whats the clutching of pearls about? Froome has done that to Quintana on a number of occasions, and no one has been arsed enough to comment then

Anyway hopefully this will give Quintana more belief for next Jul. Tbf he and Movistar were pretty damn good in this Vuelta

blazing_saddles

IC. wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

^agree with this. Froome was still trying to show he could win a one-to-one right into the last few metres, Nairo had every right to say 'not today'.

It's not like it was man to man all the way up the climb though. He stuck to his wheel for the last 10k. I know he had to respond to Froomes moves but doing so and sitting in the wheel is far easier than making the moves himself. He did nothing for 10k then mugged him, not classy at all. Not the first time he's lacked class.

I suppose in a way it was quite apt, since it's what he has tried to do all season.

andyp

Contador's unhappy with Movistar for not chasing Chaves yesterday, as he felt they owed him for the advantage he helped them gain on stage 15.

Is he new to this game?

Richmond Racer 2

andyp wrote:

Contador's unhappy with Movistar for not chasing Chaves yesterday, as he felt they owed him for the advantage he helped them gain on stage 15.

Is he new to this game?

Bert thinks he can win another Tour. The awareness game is not strong in this one, however great a racer he is

dabber

OCDuPalais wrote:

I've realised that with lazy racism I was patronising Quintana by doing my best to like him.
Turns out I'm really struggling to warm to the "plucky Colombian" and actually find him generally a bit dull, uptight and so overwhelmingly worried about how he comes across that he interviews like there's a gun at his head at all times, just off camera.
He's even scotched the idea that he comes from a poor background - so I haven't even got that old cliche to fall back on...

You've pretty much summed up my feelings as well. I've tried to feel positive about him but I just can't.

And to give Froome his due credit.... he kept trying all the way to the line. A hopeless case pretty much with the time deficit and Quintana's form but at least he gave it a go.

kingstongraham

Dabber wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

I've realised that with lazy racism I was patronising Quintana by doing my best to like him.
Turns out I'm really struggling to warm to the "plucky Colombian" and actually find him generally a bit dull, uptight and so overwhelmingly worried about how he comes across that he interviews like there's a gun at his head at all times, just off camera.
He's even scotched the idea that he comes from a poor background - so I haven't even got that old cliche to fall back on...

You've pretty much summed up my feelings as well. I've tried to feel positive about him but I just can't.

And to give Froome his due credit.... he kept trying all the way to the line. A hopeless case pretty much with the time deficit and Quintana's form but at least he gave it a go.

To me it looked almost the same as the end of stage 14 but in reverse. They're just both very very good.

No_Ta_Doctor

Th Orica backstage pass for this stage is really good - especially if you were having race tactics on the day commentated by Carlton... A lot of insight into how executing a strategy looks from the inside.

Rolf Sørensen on DK TV was spot on, of course :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOQ2Dc9wIds

tim000

Quintana said he had no problem keeping up with froome :-( no class .

slim_boy_fat

tim000 wrote:

Quintana said he had no problem keeping up with froome :-( no class .

He's only saying what we could all see though. Think too much is being made of all this. Seems to me there is a great deal of respect between the two of them and they seem to get on well. People seeing what isn't there?

Pross

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

EDIT: I'm tranquilo myself. Whats the clutching of pearls about? Froome has done that to Quintana on a number of occasions, and no one has been arsed enough to comment then

Anyway hopefully this will give Quintana more belief for next Jul. Tbf he and Movistar were pretty damn good in this Vuelta

I think you'll find a combative French person moaned like fark about it at the time along with a few others. Personally I like seeing riders put the boot in and try to get that psychological victory and all this whinging about 'lack of class' suggest spectators who have forgotten it's a professional sport. I did wonder at first if Froome's applause was genuine for a deserved victory or sarcastic at Quintana mugging him. Oddly I used to prefer Nairo to Froome but over the last 12 months that has changed.