TDF Winge

sharky1029
sharky1029 Posts: 188
edited August 2013 in The cake stop
Well there are other people in the race so maybe they should attack. Look at quintana during this years tour especially towards the end.

Comments

  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    cyd190468 wrote:
    Is it just me or does it annoy everyone when they TT before they hit the first proper climbs. If anyone has any pull with the UCI (and I'm sure you do) next year can we have it so the first HC climb happens when everyone is still even on time. It just seems like the last couple of tours have been all about defending a lead rather than attacking in the hills.

    Did you watch the tour this year at all? Because apparently you missed the likes of Froome, Quintana, and Rodriguez attacking on climbs :roll:

    ...and the first ITT was after the first proper mountain stage.

    Stage 8 - Castres -> Ax3 domaines - mountain top finish stage with a HC followed by a Cat 1

    Stage 11 - Flat Time Trial

    Don't see what you're complaining about to be honest.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    ALIHISGREAT wrote:
    cyd190468 wrote:
    Is it just me or does it annoy everyone when they TT before they hit the first proper climbs. If anyone has any pull with the UCI (and I'm sure you do) next year can we have it so the first HC climb happens when everyone is still even on time. It just seems like the last couple of tours have been all about defending a lead rather than attacking in the hills.

    Did you watch the tour this year at all? Because apparently you missed the likes of Froome, Quintana, and Rodriguez attacking on climbs :roll:

    +1. What happened this year - there was nothing in it for a whole week until on stage 8 Froome blitzed the opposition on Ax 3 Domaines. So we had a whole week of racing with no big gaps until a proper climb. I'm not sure how I'm meant to be annoyed that the gap opened on a mere 1st cat rather than an HC! :lol:
    Faster than a tent.......
  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    After the stage four team time trail, Froome only had 6 seconds lead on Contador. I don't call that defendable; anything could have happened. If Froome had suffered the mechanical that Valverde did when Saxo-Tinkoff were already active in the echelons, do you thing they would have neutralised the attack?
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    cyd190468 wrote:
    Stage four guys. TTT gives froome a defendable gap over everyone but Bertie before there was a hill in sight. A 20sec gap isn't much but it means you only jump off the front if you think you can make a decent chunk of time because hurting yourself grabbing 15sec is less appealing if you don't get the yellow.

    :lol: If that's how you want to interpret it then go ahead.. but 20 seconds definitely isn't a defensible gap!
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    cyd190468 wrote:
    It just takes the tension out of it. If there is no leader up the first big climb then everyone has to mark everyone else as any slight gap will decide yellow. Regarding what is defensible, I would say that any gap that allows me to follow everyone else to the line and still take yellow is definitely a good thing. Not that Froome did that in this case but if I'm one of the other guys I'm thinking there's no point attacking unless I'm sure I can drop Froome cause he can just sit on my wheel.

    :lol:

    Here is how your race would have gone in reality: (not the strange version you've dreamt up)

    -> A week of flat sprinter stages where Kittel kept yellow. Then the Ax3 domaines stage where Froome drops all the other contenders taking loads of time.

    wow.. sounds so much more exciting to me! I mean who cares about the first 5 stages anyway?

    By keeping the time gaps small with the parcours you aren't making the riders' abilities closer.. so Contador/Rodriguez/Quintana/Valverde weren't going to magically ride faster up Ax3 just because they were between 8 and 20 seconds closer to the yellow jersey.

    Just think about how you're trying to justify it.. it makes no sense! (Just like posting this thread in the cake stop?! try posting it in Pro Race and see what response you get..)
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    cyd190468 wrote:
    Did it ever occur to you that Froome might not have been so confident up the domaines stage if he didn't already have time on his side?
    So the other contenders just thought - "He has a lead so I will just let him go"?
    Don't think so.
    Anyone that could compete would have tried to drop him. They couldn't so they didn't.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    cyd190468 wrote:
    He might have decided not to go. That way we wouldn't have had to sit through two weeks of racing already knowing who the likely winner is. Just reminded me of the bad old days when US postal or team discovery would win the TTT by 30 seconds and we'd spend the rest of the race hoping Lance would have a mechanical so some one else at least had a chance.


    Did you see the pre-stage interview on the Ax3 stage? Just look at Froome and his body language.. there was no way he wasn't going to attack.

    He'd waited a year to be able to prove himself and he was going to do that whether he had 0, 8, or 20 seconds.

Categories