Of course, Tinkoff-Saxo boys were terrible today. They have done nothing throughout the race in the past week, and when it mattered today, even then they didn't do anything. Still, it is what is and it's alright.
Everybody knew Contador had a weak team and wasn't able to defend it on his own, so as a result, there was the greatest assault on a leader's jersey we have seen in a very long time. As a Contador-Fan and Fan of Cycling, I loved today's racing, and we wouldn't have got it with a strong Tinkoff team.
Another thought: Maybe this speaks to reduce team size in the peloton from 8 to 6 riders at max, 7 in GT?
Yes, they were indeed horrible today not even 1 guy could sit and help Contador, i am truly at a loss of words on how big a tactical error Riis made by choosing these guys, and why are they even on a team like Saxobank-Tinkov? is even more puzzling, they cant do anything and are just baggage in the peleton.
Hmm, that might be a good idea to limit the total team riders to 6 or in the main GT races.
Edited by Jacdk on 15-06-2014 16:19
Only got home in time for the last 20 k's but WOW! What a stage and what a ballsy way to win a race
Hells 500 Crew and 6 x Everester
Don Rd Launching Place
Melbourne Hill Rd Warrandyte
Colby Drive Belgrave South
William Rd The Patch
David Hill Rd Monbulk
Lakeside Drive Emerald https://www.everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/
Nin1388 wrote:
Contador can be proud of that. He had no teammates and others were not helping him either.
Truth be told Contador cant be proud of this today, he should have controlled the race and gone on the attack long before when someone so close like Talansky goes on the attack.
A Nibali in form would also have been a huge threat.
Contador slept today but also his team, what a disaster, how can Riis send such a poor team with Contador to fight for Contador.
Jacdk wrote:
Contador has a shot i will grant you that, but i am 100% sure that Team Sky´s doctors will make "sure" Froome and Porte is 100% fit for Tour De France and when the race is over and Contador is 2nd or 3rd.
Just having 100% rider is not enough. Last year Froome was dominant but this year he has been matched by few riders.
TDF in not a back door Tour of Britain. you have to perform 3 weeks to win. Froome usually fades in 3rd week and this year we can see old Contador who can take a long out attack alone. Which I have never seen from Froome or other Sky rider to win a GC.
Of course, Tinkoff-Saxo boys were terrible today. They have done nothing throughout the race in the past week, and when it mattered today, even then they didn't do anything. Still, it is what is and it's alright.
Everybody knew Contador had a weak team and wasn't able to defend it on his own, so as a result, there was the greatest assault on a leader's jersey we have seen in a very long time. As a Contador-Fan and Fan of Cycling, I loved today's racing, and we wouldn't have got it with a strong Tinkoff team.
Another thought: Maybe this speaks to reduce team size in the peloton from 8 to 6 riders at max, 7 in GT?
Yes, they were indeed horrible today not even 1 guy could sit and help Contador, i am truly at a loss of words on how big a tactical error Riis made by choosing these guys, and why are they even on a team like Saxobank-Tinkov? is even more puzzling, they cant do anything and are just baggage in the peleton.
To be fair, Valgren and Beltan are Neopros, and I read that Sörensen is ill. Sutherland had a great early season but pays for it now. This leaves Pires and Hernandez. Not sure about Pires but Hernandez has done some occassional work now and then this week (And guy is one of Contador's best buddies). I think Rijs would have sent a way better team if it'd knew that Contador would get the leader's jersey. To remind everyone, they were happy on stage 2 when Contador hang on to Froome.
Still, this all-out attack by the peloton was way too big for the boys to handle. The peloton knew they are weak and they took full advantage of it. SKY also made the racing very, very hard for Tinkoff-Saxo. Basically, it was Tinkoff - Saxo for a while against the peloton, then it was SKY/Contador against peloton and it ended up as Contador against rest.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Stop criticizing Tinkoff Saxo team. If whole peleton is against you then one team cant win cycling race.
We saw that last year at TdF when Froome was isolated despite of having strong team. Same here with Contador.
Only difference was that moment Belkin(Mollema), TST (Conta/Kruez) and Movistar (Quintana/Valverde) were also marking each other as they thought Froome was out of reach.
Nin1388 wrote:
Stop criticizing Tinkoff Saxo team. If whole peleton is against you then one team cant win cycling race.
We saw that last year at TdF when Froome was isolated despite of having strong team. Same here with Contador.
Only difference was that moment Belkin(Mollema), TST (Conta/Kruez) and Movistar (Quintana/Valverde) were also marking each other as they thought Froome was out of reach.
It's not the same. The previous stage Sky rode very fast and they couldn't recover. Here they haven't even tried to help him so that they could exhaust themselves.
jsh312mufc wrote:
Just got in, did Talansky really win the Dauphine?
Yep Talansky took the overall win by simply having more riders to help him then Contador
It wasn´t Team Tinkov-Saxobank today, it was Team Contador because he had absolute zero teammates.
I think Talansky won because he had the right nose, the instinct and went for it with his team. Hesjedal and others worked extremely well, yes. But he lead himself to victory too on those last climbs, where only VDB was helping. Contador needed Tiralongo's help on Fuente De too when Purito was alone and didn't have the legs.
Talansky had a bunch of brutes all around him, ready to backstab him for overall victory, while he worked his butt off. They were all within a couple of seconds, yet Talansky prevailed. This was impressive riding by him and Contador. Stuff for legends by both sides, and general the peloton & cycling at its best this week I think. Like a true drama, where so many riders played leading role for a while (Nibali, Froome), but it ended up with Contador vs. Talansky in some epic finale.
I'm totally fanboying all over this stage, I know.
Edited by Shonak on 15-06-2014 16:29
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Nin1388 wrote:
Stop criticizing Tinkoff Saxo team. If whole peleton is against you then one team cant win cycling race.
We saw that last year at TdF when Froome was isolated despite of having strong team. Same here with Contador.
Only difference was that moment Belkin(Mollema), TST (Conta/Kruez) and Movistar (Quintana/Valverde) were also marking each other as they thought Froome was out of reach.
The whole peloton wasn´t against Contador, he is not Froome or BMC who have a few dodgy races in their bags where there might be some "hate"
And again if Contador had a team, they would have controlled the race and noone particular not Talansky, Nibali, Kelderman, Fuglsang would have been allowed to even be 20sec´s ahead on the last climb, they would have set such a huge tempo that it would have neutralized most attacks.
So its only fair to criticize the riders on Saxobank, because they are disgrace.
Jacdk wrote:
The whole peloton wasn´t against Contador, he is not Froome or BMC who have a few dodgy races in their bags where there might be some "hate"
I think you misunderstood the point... they were against him because he was the race leader so they were trying to attack him, not because they had some sort of a vendetta against him.
And again if Contador had a team, they would have controlled the race and noone particular not Talansky, Nibali, Kelderman, Fuglsang would have been allowed to even be 20sec´s ahead on the last climb, they would have set such a huge tempo that it would have neutralized most attacks.
So its only fair to criticize the riders on Saxobank, because they are disgrace.
Bit harsh... disgrace =/= failure. They probably just weren't up to the job today.
Great to see Talansky overturn the weeks Froome versus Contador theme. Sounds like a great stage, looking forward to digging out some extended highlights of this one - any such links showing more than the last 10km appreciated
Jacdk wrote:
The whole peloton wasn´t against Contador, he is not Froome or BMC who have a few dodgy races in their bags where there might be some "hate"
I think you misunderstood the point... they were against him because he was the race leader so they were trying to attack him, not because they had some sort of a vendetta against him.
And again if Contador had a team, they would have controlled the race and noone particular not Talansky, Nibali, Kelderman, Fuglsang would have been allowed to even be 20sec´s ahead on the last climb, they would have set such a huge tempo that it would have neutralized most attacks.
So its only fair to criticize the riders on Saxobank, because they are disgrace.
Bit harsh... disgrace =/= failure. They probably just weren't up to the job today.
Good to finally see some common sense in this discussion.
Of course as the race leader Contador had to mostly focus on Froome. But as the Mentheour saying goes : an intelligent cyclist is an aberration. Froome was the runner up, but there were other riders in the race.
If Riis oh-so-praised tactical sense was half acute, with the ear speakers and the rest of the means at his disposal, TST could have realised earlier that other riders were a threat to Contador's jersey.
It's not only Contador or his (lack of) team mates that are to blame, it's their tactics today, in a broad sense.
Jacdk wrote:
The whole peloton wasn´t against Contador, he is not Froome or BMC who have a few dodgy races in their bags where there might be some "hate"
I think you misunderstood the point... they were against him because he was the race leader so they were trying to attack him, not because they had some sort of a vendetta against him.
And again if Contador had a team, they would have controlled the race and noone particular not Talansky, Nibali, Kelderman, Fuglsang would have been allowed to even be 20sec´s ahead on the last climb, they would have set such a huge tempo that it would have neutralized most attacks.
So its only fair to criticize the riders on Saxobank, because they are disgrace.
Bit harsh... disgrace =/= failure. They probably just weren't up to the job today.
Oh come on, how can you deffend a jersey with only two 3rd-4th tier climbers as teammates. It was pre-race tactics when Contador lost. And it's logical to be attacked when you're alone with no teammates.
