It's possible he is out of power in the last week, but he's Froome so I doubt it. He has the best team to back him which helps greatly.
2018 Tour de France - Page 4
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HolydaKing
21224 Posts
It's possible he is out of power in the last week, but he's Froome so I doubt it. He has the best team to back him which helps greatly. | ||
Gjhc
Portugal161 Posts
Quintana did indeed look really good, but Movistar as a team was phenomenal. Just compare them to EF: At one point Landa and Uran groups were 10s apart, Landa had 2 teammates (Erviti and Amador) while Uran had 4. In the end Landa lost 7s (could have lost none but let a gap open to the rider in front) while Uran lost 1:25. I don't understand why people are saying Sagan doesn't seems to be at 100%. The guy has won 2 stages, 3 second places and one third place behind only behind Gaviria, Groenewegen and once Greipel, and his worst result in 8 stages was a 8th place on mur de Bretagne which is a really though hill absolutely not suited for Sagan. Today he missed the winning move although he attacked/followed moves quite a few times before and had 0 team. To me he's exceptional so far. As far as GC goes, everyone is really close together, and the mountains are yet to come so can't really read anything yet. Too bad Porte is out (again, seriously) but it looks like the GC is going to be exciting. | ||
L_Master
United States7946 Posts
On July 16 2018 02:47 Gjhc wrote: It was a nice and intense stage, although I'd have liked if there'd been some more gaps. Quintana did indeed look really good, but Movistar as a team was phenomenal. Just compare them to EF: At one point Landa and Uran groups were 10s apart, Landa had 2 teammates (Erviti and Amador) while Uran had 4. In the end Landa lost 7s (could have lost none but let a gap open to the rider in front) while Uran lost 1:25. I don't understand why people are saying Sagan doesn't seems to be at 100%. The guy has won 2 stages, 3 second places and one third place behind only behind Gaviria, Groenewegen and once Greipel, and his worst result in 8 stages was a 8th place on mur de Bretagne which is a really though hill absolutely not suited for Sagan. Today he missed the winning move although he attacked/followed moves quite a few times before and had 0 team. To me he's exceptional so far. As far as GC goes, everyone is really close together, and the mountains are yet to come so can't really read anything yet. Too bad Porte is out (again, seriously) but it looks like the GC is going to be exciting. His results are good. His form is a little suspect. If you look at the stages he won they were just flat stages. Sit in the peleton and sprint at the end. Doesn't take any form to do that. Any good bike handling Cat1 or Cat2 rider could sit in and be around in the bunch of a sprint like that. He was terrible on TTT stage. Sagan never gets dropped from stuff like that, and was struggling from the start. Bretagne is a smidge long for Sagan, but vintage Sagan has won harder finishes than that. He wasn't weak, but he wasn't top form. Then today he made a few tentative attacks (Avermaet did much more on that front) and was absolutely gassed when the key move came, despite no bike problems and generally sitting in most of the day. For most any other rider named Sagan, this would be great form. But no way top Sagan gets dropped from a lumpy TT, is too gassed to follow key move, and is struggling to stay in on a finish like Mur de Bretagne. It's just a testament to how damn good Sagan is that "B game" Sagan wins too stages and is at least in the picture in others. | ||
L_Master
United States7946 Posts
On July 16 2018 02:17 HolydaKing wrote: Well today again it seemed to me the Sky team including Froome was ahead of the rest. Maybe you misunderstood, I'm just doubting Froome can be bested this year but it will happen eventually, maybe even this year. I have some hopes in Adam Yates, but we'll see how good he is in the mountains this time around. It's possible he is out of power in the last week, but he's Froome so I doubt it. He has the best team to back him which helps greatly. Dumoulin looked as good. Which we would expect. Froome will always look good on these stages because he is a larger, more powerhouse TT esque rider. A guy like Quintana today looked definitively better than form given expectations. Froome on point should be just fine with a stage like this. A Quintana rider just doesn't have the power needed for these flat aggressive stages. No doubt Froome has still looked good though. So has Sky. They always have the best team, and their classics specialists are exceptional. This all matters less in the mountains as the speeds drop and drafting becomes less relevant. It will help Froome, but if Froome begins to struggle his teammates can only help a small amount in the mountains, especially on the long hard days. When you remember that Froome is a bigger rider that climbs well, him looking MUCH better than other GC guys on flat stages is expected. If he didn't, that would be concerning. Moreover, given the Giro we would expect Froome to look strong at the start and weaken over the course of the tour. We won't really know form though until we get to stage 11 or 12 though. We've just had some hints to go off. To me, no one looks amazing (except maybe Quintana), and nobody looks terrible. | ||
Elmonti
Spain299 Posts
They all look pretty even so far... Dumo and Froome should suffer given they rode the Giro, but Froome doesn't follow normal human physiological rules, so who knows. Quintana should be the strongest in the mountain... let's see if Movistar use the brain or if they wait until the last day to take back all the time Quintana is gonna lose in the ITT. Also, they have 4 domestiques to support 3 leaders (2 real ones).... | ||
KobraKay
Portugal4005 Posts
I feel I haven't seen much of him during this year, thus he still is a wild-card in my eyes. Since there is no velogames this year Im playing the oficial fantasy game and it is fun. THe ability to swap riders during rest days is very helpful….although with my usual luck having Matthews and Porte I can only replace one of them today T_T | ||
L_Master
United States7946 Posts
On July 16 2018 17:13 Elmonti wrote: All went as expected: the bunch riding easy with a couple of attacks from GvA, also a couple of serious crashes, and another missed opportunity for Movistar. GC teams trying to save the day instead of pulling hard after Bardet, Froome and Landa's crashes. They all look pretty even so far... Dumo and Froome should suffer given they rode the Giro, but Froome doesn't follow normal human physiological rules, so who knows. Quintana should be the strongest in the mountain... let's see if Movistar use the brain or if they wait until the last day to take back all the time Quintana is gonna lose in the ITT. Also, they have 4 domestiques to support 3 leaders (2 real ones).... Hmm....they did 28mph/47kph from first cobble secteur to finish into a headwind. That's some pretty hard riding. Lots of guys over 300w NP. This stage was not raced easily. | ||
Gjhc
Portugal161 Posts
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L_Master
United States7946 Posts
Watching Avermaet smash it and Alaphillipe get his first Tour win was fun though. As predicted at least two or three GC guys had bad days. With all the crashed Sunday and then the rest say you knew it would happen. Expecting at least one or two more GC guys to have bad days and lose 2+ min tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow...should be interesting with the shortened stage. Unfortunately final climb is easy averaging just 5.5%. Is long though at I think 25km. Hopefully fresh legs from short stage = action | ||
Gjhc
Portugal161 Posts
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darthfoley
United States7999 Posts
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darthfoley
United States7999 Posts
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Gjhc
Portugal161 Posts
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darthfoley
United States7999 Posts
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Skynx
Turkey7150 Posts
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L_Master
United States7946 Posts
On July 19 2018 00:43 darthfoley wrote: Geraint Thomas aka Mikel Landa 2.0 Except Landa never had the lead. And was allegedly never a co leader. I don't think G looked better than Froome today, but he looked damn good. Better than the rest, even if his initial gain was due in part to some looking around. Going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Looks like our three guys in play at the top should win. They have the gaps and looked to be the best. Big question mark for Froome and Dumoulin is Giro fatigue and the last week. They may falter in the Pyrenees, but I think tomorrow Froome and Thomas will gain time on most of the others. Dumoulin might cede a bit to those two. Sets up a good battle. I think Froome will continue to chip away at G's time but we shall see. If G is able to take time on Froome tomorrow then he becomes the mega favorite. If Froome takes back 20-30s I'd say it still looks like Froome's Tour to lose. Tomorrow will be interesting, but given who we have in play it's really all going to be down to who falters in the final week. | ||
L_Master
United States7946 Posts
Landa looked a little rough as expected, but better than I thought he would. He's still in it for a podium. Still keeping my eye on Bernal, not for a high finish, but just in general. Looked shaky today, but he had a hard crash on cobble day just like Landa. Will be interesting to see if they turn him lose to hunt a stage or not. Excited for the Alps battle tomorrow! | ||
stilt
France2632 Posts
Too bad for the race, only Dumoulin seems to be a potential threat but still, I might be the only frenchman who will cheer for Froomey's victory :D | ||
darthfoley
United States7999 Posts
On July 19 2018 03:43 stilt wrote: The quintana from 2015 seems so far away. Too bad for the race, only Dumoulin seems to be a potential threat but still, I might be the only frenchman who will cheer for Froomey's victory :D Yea Quintana never even tries to attack at this point. Also is Uran's super disappointing for just cuz of his crash? Cuz yikes... | ||
Elmonti
Spain299 Posts
Well, lets see the fight for the second/third place, maybe (hopefully) in a few years he will become champion. Nice strat from Movistar, but Nairo just wasn't strong enough, it looks like he isn't that good in mountains anymore. Dumoulin so brave, did a fantastic ride. Roglic holding with the best climbers yet again. But well, what can you do when the cobblestone specialist Kiatkowski climbs as good as the best climbers... Fun/Sad stage at the same time. Alpe d'Huez tomorrow. | ||
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