Calibandar Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I think we will definitely see differences today and tomorrow, the attacks will come. Whether they will be fruiftful is a big question though, but I'm not a point yet where I would say it's close to a done deal. They haven't started yet to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 A little bit of excitement so far, with Valverde making a move and riding into virtual yellow. Still, Froome has six Sky teammates around him. They're like an impenetrable fortress. At the snap of his fingers they will tear themselves apart like lemmings and facilitate Froome gliding on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 And Sky have emphatically won the day again. Geraint Thomas with the stage win but Froome looks in very good nick as well. After this stage, they have basically eliminated half a dozen GC competitors. Valverde is clearly not going for GC now, Adam Yates, Fuglsang, Zakarin and Uran are all gone. Very good outcome for Sky. Thomas and Froome are 1 and 2 in the standings. The only credible threats remaining are Dumoulin (who doesn't have a strong team) and Nibali (who only just hung on today and was very defensive). If Dumoulin can hang on in the toughest of the mountains, his TT skills might give them a bit of a scare. But I'm hoping Dumoulin and Nibali can keep it interesting and disrupt what would be yet another long Sky coronation. Landa, Bardet, Quintana, Dan Martin are all 3 minutes out or so and have only a tiny sliver of hope, though they'll fight for the podium. Roglic looking good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog-days Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I love Quintana, and wish he'd attack more aggressively and confidently in the mountains - sadly, every year my hopes come to nothing. : ( I'm sure I saw him launch a few great attacks a when he was just coming to prominence. And when you look at Froome and Quintana riding side by side, you just think that Quintana should easily be the stronger of the two when the going gets vertical - he doesn't have "pure climber" tattooed on his face, but his whole build seems to announce it anyway. He just hardly ever seems to want to dare beyond just keeping up with the GC crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 2 hours ago, dog-days said: I love Quintana, and wish he'd attack more aggressively and confidently in the mountains - sadly, every year my hopes come to nothing. : ( I'm sure I saw him launch a few great attacks a when he was just coming to prominence. And when you look at Froome and Quintana riding side by side, you just think that Quintana should easily be the stronger of the two when the going gets vertical - he doesn't have "pure climber" tattooed on his face, but his whole build seems to announce it anyway. He just hardly ever seems to want to dare beyond just keeping up with the GC crowd. I also remember Quintana seemed to be more aggressive earlier in his career - probably when he could be a bit more carefree and when he was just chasing the young rider classification. He does seem to ride a lot more defensively now, not many times where he has launched attacks. I wonder if it's just that he doesn't really have the legs for it anymore, he's had a few instances where he's struggled to hold the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I've long held that he really struggles with warmer weather and is only outstanding in the cold. Not sure if it still stands up but I dont think I've seen him do an outstanding ride when its hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 Froome is normally the complete opposite. Best Alpe d'Huez time of all time - Pantani - 36.40 1995 Best time in last 10 years - Quintana - 39.22 (23rd fastest of all time) 2015 Shows when the worst problems with PEDs was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 Go on SK. The Dutch are the only ones trying to stick it to sky this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 God the spectators shit me up the wall. What bunch of fuckwits think filling the air with flare smoke is a good idea for the cyclists riding up mountains for 170km. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog-days Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 18 hours ago, Jeor said: I also remember Quintana seemed to be more aggressive earlier in his career - probably when he could be a bit more carefree and when he was just chasing the young rider classification. He does seem to ride a lot more defensively now, not many times where he has launched attacks. I wonder if it's just that he doesn't really have the legs for it anymore, he's had a few instances where he's struggled to hold the wheel. It would be funny if he didn't have the legs because despite his face, I think he's still pretty young - 28. Unless he's been lying to us about his age, of course, and he's really just a well-preserved sixty year old. I can't remember him being involved in any serious accidents either, unlike another Colombian favourite of mine, Esteban Chaves. He might just react badly to the psychological pressure of being team leader/anointed GC rider/Colombian hero. It's hard to tell with Nairo. When I see his expression on the mountains, I can't tell if he's being stoic and secretly tortured, or if he's just imagining having a big bowl of bandeja paisa and a bottle of chilled white wine at the team hotel in Paris. But I'm sure it doesn't help that he's never really had a completely solid team around him - nothing like Froome and his cataphracts. He could benefit a lot by having a solid team to drag him through the flat stages and give him support on the climbs. Shocked that he broke on the Alpe d'Huez, but this Tour has at least showed that he's able to give positive surprises too. Everyone seemed to think the marshals'd be scraping him off the paved roads to Roubaix, but he held his own. Also, Vincenzo Nibali. Dear God, the man's made of steel. When I watched the highlights, and heard him announced in seventh position at the finish, I thought there must be some other Nibali competing, one who hadn't just been in clear agony after colliding with a motorbike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog-days Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 3 hours ago, karaddin said: God the spectators shit me up the wall. What bunch of fuckwits think filling the air with flare smoke is a good idea for the cyclists riding up mountains for 170km. Yeah, it was as if they'd decided to do a tribute to hundredth anniversary of the allied advances in 1918 by attempting to recreate the conditions. It was awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Nibali is a monster he rode back up with a fractured vertebrae but has had to pull out Big shame as apart from Dumoulin it seemed he was probably the most comfortable and most likely to cause sky issues. Was very impressed with Bernal setting the tempo for so long on the final climb. Kruiswijk made an epic mive but unfortunately ran out of legs at the end was really hoping he could stay away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Gah, a big shame that Nibali had to withdraw. As noted he is one of the few guys that could have given Froome a run for his money. It seems pretty clear Dumoulin is the only guy who could potentially unseat the Sky duo. Interesting to see Geraint Thomas take another stage. Are stage wins compensation for surrendering the yellow to Froome eventually? Probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loge Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 4 hours ago, Jeor said: Gah, a big shame that Nibali had to withdraw. As noted he is one of the few guys that could have given Froome a run for his money. It seems pretty clear Dumoulin is the only guy who could potentially unseat the Sky duo. Interesting to see Geraint Thomas take another stage. Are stage wins compensation for surrendering the yellow to Froome eventually? Probably. Has been a long time since I last watched a Tour. Froome maybe No 1 at Sky but he still has to do something to earn that yellow jersey. Thomas can't openly go against Froome but I don't think Thomas will go out of his way to avoid winning the Tour either. The stage to Alpe d'Huez was an opportunity for Froome. He tried and failed. There aren't that many opportunities left to gain that minute and a half. Is he that much better at time trials? The whole Tour could just end like yesterday's stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 If they stay close, it could well come down to the time trial (which is anyone's game, though Froome is better than Thomas). But I don't think it will get that close. My bet is that in the next set of high mountains, Thomas will expend his energy chasing down attacks and then Froome will sail on through over the top and gain the time back. Thomas can't openly attack Froome and he will be expected to be the first one to close down attacks to leave Froome fresh. If Dumoulin was on a better team he might have a chance, but with the 1/2 punch of Thomas/Froome it's going to get really tricky to gain time on them. In a three-person group where two of them are ganging up on you it's virtually hopeless. They can make twice the number of attacks that you have to chase down yourself and they can alternate chasing you back when you go on the offensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Sagan takes the sprint ahead of Kristoff, Demare and Degenkolb. All of the guys who would have beaten him in a straight sprint (Gaviria, Groenewegan, and then if Kittel, Greipel and Cavendish had been on form they would have been threats) have left the Tour now so Sagan has the opportunity to fill his boots with two remaining sprints against a second-class sprinting remnants. He could get five stages overall, including what will probably be his best chance at the Champs Elysees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Yep hopefully Sagan can get a win in green in Paris as this year is probably his best chance. Dumoulin would have benefited from Porte and Nibali being in the tour when we get to the Pyranees. Hopefully Bardet comes on strong and makes a nuisance of himself like on Alpe D'huez. For some reason if its sky that are going to win I want it to be Froome but would rather it be neither. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Yes, there aren't many GC contenders that Dumoulin can work with now. He will have to hope a few of the second-tier candidates come on strong and can help him out by attacking the Sky guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 The stream I'm watching at work is terrible. I hope it's sorted by the time the gc riders arrive at the finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 The weekend stages this year have been utterly awful. Other than the roubaix stage there has been nothing to get remotely excited about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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