Pro Cycling Discussion Thread 2015

Apparently Froome finished 11s ahead of Nibali and 18s ahead of Contador, so with a few bonus seconds he's gained a bit of ground there. Nibali was way back yesterday so that's a good result, and Froome had... 4s on Contador yesterday I think? so he might be close to half a minute up which is a good start, but nothing to get excited about just yet as Contador could take that and more with one strong mountain finish when the time comes.

How far back were Movistar? Be interesting to see whether Quintana and Valverde have recovered any of their deficit from yesterday.
 
Vonhelmet said:
How far back were Movistar? Be interesting to see whether Quintana and Valverde have recovered any of their deficit from yesterday.
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Quintana was in the Nibali group. TJ in there too, he had a good TT as well so I think he'll be closest of the GC guys to froome.
 
touch said:
Quintana was in the Nibali group. TJ in there too, he had a good TT as well so I think he'll be closest of the GC guys to froome.
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Yep, per the BBC TJ is 13s back on Froome on GC.

Tony Martin is 1s off the yellow... Tomorrow is a longass stage at 223.5km, but it's flat, with the exception of 1 cat 4 climb. The fly in the ointment is of course the 7 cobbled sections, but he handled them OK last year. Maybe he can stick with the pack until the last section of cobbles at 210km and then blitz the last 13km on his own. His team leader has expressed frustration at him failing to get the yellow yesterday, and this could be his last chance, so he might go all out tomorrow. It could be a hell of a stage if he goes for it.

Weather forecast says the cobbles will be dry tomorrow. Good news for Froome!
 
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Quite an eventful and exciting stage, not really hilly but the final slopes and the crashes early on made it very interesting to watch!

Well done Froomey!

(had it on in the background on my laptop at work - handed my notice in so am pushing the boundaries a little now! :) )
 
Tom Dumoulin, Simon Gerrans, William Bonnet, Laurens ten Dam and Dmitry Kozontchuk have all abandoned after today's incidents. I guess more may follow overnight depending on how things go.
 
I've just caught the highlights. Horrible crash. Great finish by Rodriguez and well done to Froome for sticking with him. Interesting difference in styles with Rodriguez and Contador just grinding it out and Froome's legs going like the clappers.
 
Question for you guys re Sky strategy.
Criticised last year for no plan B after Froome crashed out. This year its all going well after three stages but I noticed that Porte is already more than 5 minutes down. Suggests he is there in pure support. Konig is more than 2 minutes adrift in GC with Thomas still in the top ten but surely not suited to being a GC rider in a grand tour. Both Konig and Porte rode the Giro but would it not have made some sense to try and keep one of them a bit handier. Discuss
 
Blimey, that was a lot of action for one stage, the crash was horrendous, especially at full speed, good work by the commisaires to bring it to a halt. Very sensible decision. Fantastic final climb, surprised by some of the gaps, didn't think there would be that much. Devastated for Martin! The bloke can't catch a break!

Sky have got to be happy with that, just heard interview with Brailsford saying tomorrow will be the best day to be in yellow as your car will be first in the train!


Calpol said:
Question for you guys re Sky strategy.
Criticised last year for no plan B after Froome crashed out. This year its all going well after three stages but I noticed that Porte is already more than 5 minutes down. Suggests he is there in pure support. Konig is more than 2 minutes adrift in GC with Thomas still in the top ten but surely not suited to being a GC rider in a grand tour. Both Konig and Porte rode the Giro but would it not have made some sense to try and keep one of them a bit handier. Discuss
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I think with yesterdays stage blowing everything apart they're back up whoever that may be (Poels perhaps?) has gone, so they will be focussing everything on froome staying up.

Don't know if anyone else saw, but Froome was getting very fighty at a number of points, chopped/elbowed someone on the second last climb, and same again on the second to last corner on the Muy! Definitely very racy this year!
 
Vonhelmet said:
I've just caught the highlights. Horrible crash. Great finish by Rodriguez and well done to Froome for sticking with him. Interesting difference in styles with Rodriguez and Contador just grinding it out and Froome's legs going like the clappers.
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Spin to win :)
 
I'm not convinced by the plan B argument. Can you really afford to divide your resources supporting two riders? How many of the other teams have 2 strong contenders? Maybe Movistar with Valverde and Quintana, but even then it's clear from the talk that Quintana is the main man. Any others? I've not studied the team rosters so I can't say myself. Maybe I'll take a look.
 
Tomorrow's stage should be good. I really think EQS are going to be pushing hard to get Tony Martin in yellow. They got smacked down at Het-Nieuwsblad when Stannard held them off, and they had the bad result yesterday. Tomorrow is the opportunity to take revenge on Sky and get Martin in yellow. They'll keep him near the front and then as soon as the cobbles are done he'll be off on his own.
 
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