If you really want one of the young rider you have to go with Artime. Zamudio is really young, of course, but it'll take him years to get to a level where he might be of any use.
Ripley wrote:
If you really want one of the young rider you have to go with Artime. Zamudio is really young, of course, but it'll take him years to get to a level where he might be of any use.
Yes we're looking to take one of these two for sure. Partly in the hope of discovering another gem like Eustaquio Sanchez, him of the Stagiare GP de Quebec winning fame (although his stats at the time of signing were higher) and partly because we are a couple of riders short for next season and in danger of crossing the indicative budget if we sign higher profile riders to fill up all the spots.
A tiny transfer sneak-peek...
The transfer window is open and we're now actively looking at riders available to replace the ones we're letting go. A total of five riders are moving on from the team. A couple of our best riders over the past few years will be leaving us, mostly because of their declining abilities. Another couple are leaving us in the hope of better roles in other teams. A youngster is also being released.
In terms of signings, we are looking to strengthen the domestique department extensively as Nairo targets all 3 GTs, either next season or definitely in the season after that. We have tied up the services of a high profile free agent, who we think should do very well for us in the classics. The other two spots will be filled up by youngsters, continuing the trend of the team giving youth a chance every season.
As has almost become the norm in GTs, the TTT starts us off. The teams will be looking to put their leaders in a good place to begin with.
Stage 2
The first flat stage comes with a couple of climbs, but nothing that should bother the sprinters to a great extent.
Stage 3
The slight uphill finish will surely favour a punchy srinter over a traditional one. The undulations present throughout the stage should not be very tricky otherwise.
Stage 4
A flatter stage and another straight fight among the best sprinters is expected.
Stage 5
The small uphil section near the finish could open this stage up for late attacks. The sprinters' teams would do everything they can to avoid that though.
Stage 6
The flats keep coming. The sprinters won't be complaining though.
Stage 7
Although classified as a flat stage, the four successive climbs might see the first reduced bunch sprint of this race. A tough stage to call, with a breakaway win also a possibility.
Stage 8
The sharp climb to the finish line is sure to see the GC contenders come out to play for the first time. Although big time gaps are not expected, this stage might serve as an indication of things to come.
Stage 9
Another hilly stage, but this profile is a little kinder. It will be tough to get a time gap at the end of this stage, but there will surely be some risk takers who'll try to.
Stage 10
Perhaps the flattest stage of this race barring the last one. Another sprinter showdown would be the way this stage will be decided.
Stage 11
The first mountain stage and it ends on top of the climb to Valmorel. This is where the first major time gaps are expected.
Stage 12
The climbs on this stage will most likely be neutralized by the long downhill finish. A sprint finish might decide this.
Stage 13
The Mountain Time Trial would further separate the contenders from the also-rans. Uphill from the first metre, only a strong climber will have some joy on this stage.
Stage 14
A series of climbs leads to the final downhill finish. This is an ideal stage for a puncher to grab a win, as the GC leaders might not be able to take a lot of time of each other.
Stage 15
The uphill finish after the relatively docile stage should see the sparks that light up this stage. Again, given the short nature of the final climb, time gaps won't be big.
Stage 16
It's up, up and up in one of the most attritional stages of this year's Tour. A lot of opportunities for the leaders to attack each other makes this a stage to watch out for.
Stage 17
Another stage involving a lot of tough climbing. The pack is expected to keep reducing on each climb. Expect a massive battle on the last climb for GC supremacy.
Stage 18
The last mountain stage of this year's TDF will see the riders finish on top of a mountain at Hautacam. This will be another vital stage in determining the final standings.
Stage 19
A lot of climbing on this stage too but the ultimate profile might not allow any real battles for the GC. There is a high chance of a breakaway surviving on this stage.
Stage 20
The all important ITT will surely decide the GC. Not as long as the ITT in the Giro earlier in the year, but still long enough to allow for consequential time gaps. This will be test of stamina and recovery as the riders arrive here tired from tough climbs.
Stage 21
After a flurry of early flat stages, the ceremonial ride to Paris will be a welcome sight for all the sprinters who would've survived through the mountains. The last dash to the line on the Champs Elysees never disappoints as a spectacle.
Overall Assessment
Like last year, the TDF is not at all heavy in climbing. Only three mountain classified stages and a couple of hilly stages finishing on top of climbs is a less number as compared to most other years. The two ITTs will play an important role in deciding the GC, which might favour some riders much more than others. All in all, there are chances of a few surprises in the top 10, and there might even be a Zakarin like performer this time too.
Movistar Starting List
Nairo Quintana
Roman Kreuziger
Bryan Coquard
Adriano Malori
Tiejs Benoot
Jasha Sutterlin
Mikel Nieve
Rafel Valls
Eduard Korniets
On the back of a very good month in June, Movistar come into the TDF high on confidence. Fresh off his win in Switzerland, Nairo will look to lead the team to victory. This would be his fifth GT since he last won the Vuelta in the 2017 season. He had a strong domestique group to back him, with Kreuziger likely to act as the super-dom in the last week. Movistar had brought a fairly solid sprinting team too, with Sutterlin, Malori and Benoot all capable of forming a strong lead-out train. Coquard would be going for the sprint points. The best of the best were out on show with Froome, Aru, van Garderen, Kelderman, Zakarin and more all starting. This race has the possibility of becoming one for the ages, given the start list and the good form of most of the favourites. Let's find out what happens.
The following is a summary of important stages...
Part 1: Topsy Turvy
Stage 1 - Team Time Trial - Flat - 26.5 km
The team trial saw two teams finish with identical times, milliseconds finally deciding the winner. Astana won, putting Lars Boom in yellow, while Orange settled for second.
Stage winners - Astana (Chris Froome, Fabio Aru) Movistar - 6th, losing 32" Other important results - Orange 2nd, same time, Sky (Tejay van Garderen) 3rd, losing 12", AG2R (Rigoberto Uran) 4th, losing 23", Giant-Alpecin (Wilco kelderman) 5th, losing 24" Aeroflot (Ilnur Zakarin) lost 44"
Stage 2 - Flat
The first of six consecutive flat stages saw three of the big names - Uran, Porte and Geraint Thomas fall with 30 km to go. Coquard lost his lead-out traing with about 5 km to go, but managed to catch the wheel of Kristoff. In fact, he powered past Kristoff and the others in the sprint, taking the stage win. Only 60 riders finished with the same time.
Stage winner - Bryan Coquard
Stage 7 - Flat with 4 minor intermediate climbs
The last of the six consecutive flat stages was not ideal for the sprinters. Kristoff had won all four stages preceding this one! The stage itself was devoid of much action. The climbs did not affect the sprinters as they took victory once again. And it was Kristoff taking his fifth win on the trot!
Stage winner - Alexander Kristoff Movistar - Bryan Coquard 2nd
Stage 8 - Hilly with hill top finish, including 4 minor intermediate climbs
The early breakaway managed a decent lead but were never allowed to build up a big one. They were caught with 18 km left as the pack reduced to about 50 riders going over the last intermediate climb. Rui Costa and Sergio Henao were the fist to launch attacks with 5 km left. They were followed first by Kelderman and then by the Movistar pairing of Nairo and Kreuziger. The former duo were never caught but Kelderman faded. Costa picked up the win.
Stage winner - Rui Costa Movistar - Nairo Quintana 3rd, 26" behind, Roman Kreuziger 4th, 35" behind. Nairo took the lead in the GC. Movistar now also held a 1-2 with Benoot and Korniets in the Young Ruders; standings. Other important results - Sergio Henao 2nd, 18" behind, Rafal Majka 5th, 53" behind, Chris Froome 6th, Wilco Kelderman 7th, 1'15" behind
Here's a first look at the GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 11 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 2 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
The breakaway was spread across four groups with a total of eight riders constituting them. The front group built up a lead of over 18 minutes at one stage. On the final intermediate climb, Froome, Costa, Mollema and Zakarin attacked but were caught a little while later. Froome, Mollema and this time Majka attacked again on the climb to the finish. The breakaway was caught at this stage. Froome and Majka were too strong and were not caught again. Froome took his first win of the race and claimed the GC in the process.
Stage winner - Chris Froome Movistar - Nairo Quintana 6th, 1'19" behind, Roman Kreuziger 8th, 1'28" behind Other important results - Rafal Majka 2nd, same time, Bauke Mollema 5th, 46" behind, Wilco Kelderman 7th, 1'28" behind, Carlos Betancur 9th, Ilnur Zakarin 10th, 1'44" behind
Stage 13 - Individual Time Trial - Mountain - 16.1 km
Nairo continued his dominance of MTTs, winning here to follow up the win in the Giro. He managed to take around half a minute off both Froome and Majka, which meant the top 3 now differed by less than a minute in the GC. Kreuziger did not have the best day, moving down in the GC, after being overtaken on the road by Nairo, who started just after the former.
(Nairo overtaking Kreuziger, who must've been having mixed feelings at that time!)
Stage winner - Nairo Quintana Movistar - Roman Kreuziger 12th, losing 1'37" Other important results - Chris Froome 2nd, losing 23", Rafal Majka 3rd, losing 32", Wilco Kelderman 4th, losing 51"
The GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 14 - Hilly with 5 major intermediate climbs
A 7 man breakaway took advantage of a defensive peloton to grab the stage win. Carlos Verona was strongest among them. The leaders attacked near the top of the last climb. Nairo went away from the front, with no one able to respond. Kreuziger also tried the same but was not successful. Nairo gained vital seconds over his rivals, as the others finished together.
Stage winner - Carlos Verona Movistar - Nairo Quintana 5th, 1'2" behind, Krueziger finished in pack Other important results - All leaders finished 1'36" behind
The GC after yet another change...
Spoiler
Stage 15 - Hilly with hill top finish, including 4 minor intermediate climbs
The 8 man early breakaway built up a lead of 15 minutes, and although that was reduced, they were never in any danger of being caught. Francis de Greef won from the break. Behind him, the fourth intermediate climb saw the first attacks from the leaders. The first of these was unsuccessful. In the next one, Nairo, Kreuziger, Rui Costa and Majka attacked, but Nairo could not hold on to the others and finished with the pack of leaders. Costa built up a gap, while Majka and Kreuziger finished together. Majka's time gap over Froome was large enough to now put him into yellow.
Stage winner - Francis de Greef from breakaway Movistar - Roman Kreuziger 10th, 10'22" behind, Nairo Quintana 10"59" behind Other important results - All other leaders finished 10'59" behind
The new GC standings...
Spoiler
Stage 16 - Hilly with mountain top finish, including 1 major and 2 minor intermediate climbs
A very strong breakaway involving Porte, Frank, Amador and Stetina, among others stayed ahead of the peloton for the duration of the stage. Porte won, making up some of his lost time. Movistar set the pace on the last climb, skilfully making the pack smaller. Carlos Betancur attacked with 5 km to go, followed by Nairo a km later. Nairo overtook his compatriot and also gained some more over his rivals. Majka dropped Froome in the closing stages. Nairo overtook Froome into 2nd on the GC.
Stage winner - Richie Porte from breakaway Movistar - Nairo Quintana 4th, 5'58" behind Other important results - Carlos Betancur 5th, Rafal Majka 7th, 6'10" behind, Bauke Mollema 8th, 6'22" behind, Ilnur Zakarin 9th, Chris Froome 10th, 6'35" behind
Stage 17 - Mountain with 3 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
Another strong 10 man breakaway formed with Sebastien Henao, Amador, Stetina, Simon Yates and Frank, among other. They built up a lead of more than 20 minutes at one stage! Froome and Sergio Henao attacked on the third climb while Majka got dropped by the other GC leaders. Movistar set a fast pace and caught the duo at the base of the last climb. Froome attacked again, this time with Costa in tow. The former was caught and then left behind by Nairo, who then caught Costa. He attacked with 2.5 km to go, gaining some time over his rivals at the finish. Nairo was back in yellow. Majka fell to 3rd in the GC! Kreuziger too had a tough day, falling out of the top 10.
Stage winner - Sebastien Henao from breakaway Movistar - Nairo 11th, 11'2" behind Other important results - Carlos Betancur, Ilnur Zakarin, Robert Fuglsang, Wilco Kelderman 11'24" behind, Chris Froome 12'28" behind, Rafal Majka 13'22" behind
The look of the GC wherein this was the sixth lead change of this race!
Stage 18 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 4 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
The nine man early break had Aru, van Garderen, Frank, Dumoulin and Wellens. Wellens was 14 minutes behind Nairo in the GC, and so Movistar did not allow them to build up a sizeable lead. The leaders stayed together till the last intermediate climb, where Majka was dropped. The group of seven leaders attacked each other a few times without any luck. They caught the breakaway together with 5 km to go. Nairo then launched an attack with 4 km to go. He built up a lead of around half a minute but could not sustain it till the end. Froome was too strong for him, catching and then leaving him behind to win the stage and shave a few seconds off Nairo's time.
Stage winner - Chris Froome Movistar - Nairo Quintana 2nd, 15" behind Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 3rd, 15" behind, Bauke Mollema 4th, 51" behind, Ilnur Zakarin 5th, Carlos Betancur 6th, Louis Meintjes 7th, all 1'20" behind
The GC after stage 18...
Spoiler
(Majka's poor stage dropped him from 3rd to 9th in the GC)
Stage 20 - Individual Time Trial - Flat - 33.6 km
Having finished in the same group on the previous stage, Nairo went into the ITT with a 1'32" lead of Froome. It was clear that this stage would favour the latter. What remained to be seen was whether Nairo could hang on to his tantalizing lead.
Froome set the fastest intermediate time on the first checkpoint. Nairo did not have Froome's pace, but his rhythm was good. However, his time at the first marker was 1'18" behind Froome. He had just 14 seconds at that point. In the latter sections, Nairo improved while Froome slowed down a bit. Froome crossed the line, comfortably setting the best time of the day. As Nairo raced for the line, everyone's heart skipped a bit. As the time came up on the display, Movistar hearts sank! He'd lost 1'48" on the stage, and was now 2nd in the GC by a mere 16"! Barring something spectacular, it was another case of the flat ITT spoiling Nairo's race.
Stage 21 - Flat
The ride into Paris surprisingly saw the peloton allow a 12 man breakaway to form. They were kept in check throughout though, finally being reeled in with 10 km to go. A little before that, with about 20 km left, Movistar formed their sprint train but it was not Coquard at the end of the queue. Coquard was holding Kristoff's tail, while the team was positioning Nairo for one final gamble. They set the pace, getting to the breakaway first. Nairo launched a strong attack with 7 km left, building up 15 seconds on the pack. But alas, the teams of sprinters were too fast, and caught him at the final turn to the Champs Elyses, with just 2 km to go. The stage would end in a sprint with Cavendish extending his stage win record to 35 at the TDF. Bryan Coquard finished 4th for Movistar. Froome carefully negotiated the stage to claim his narrowest victory in any Grand Tour.
Stage winner - Mark Cavendish Movistar - Bryan Coquard. Propelled him to 3rd in the Green Jersey classification
Team Classification
1)Astana
2)Orange
3)Orica GreenEdge
First things first, that was the best and most competitive Tour since the new management took over at Movistar. There a total of six lead changes, with four different wearers of the jersey. At the end, the winning margin came down to a handful of seconds! The long awaited head to head battle between Froome and Nairo was witnessed on the slopes of France this year. For Nairo, it was another was case of 'so near, yet so far'. The climbing team did exceptionally well to put him into great positions stage after stage. Kreuziger sacrificed his own top 10 chances by adapting his role as Nairo's super-dom in the final week. A good second place in the U25s from Benoot, losing his white jersey on stage 19 when Dumez put himself into a break which gained more than 8 minutes on the peloton and 11 minutes over Benoot's group. A podium for Coquard in the Points classification, and a lot of promise for the future. At the end of the day, the team is left to rue what could've been. Nairo's run of 2nd places in the GTs seems to be chronic.
. We'll do everything we can to get it back!
