Tour de France 2015, Stage 10. **Contains unmasked spoilers** mod warning post 225

DonegalBay

MPFG wrote: »

Today Rui Costa , Purito , Baret , Pinot , Peraud, Uran were off the front on the Tourmulet and SKY weren't even at the front

Lots of riders are not in top form

Nibali was dropped when Gallopin attacked ...that statement in itself show that things are not well with lots of top riders and its not just a matter of SKY dominance

Contador looks very tired

Movistar are fine and Quintana will improve as the race goes on


But at this Tour the racing has been mental while the first 9 stages have been like serious of 9 day classics
The climbing has been a shock to the system

but like Dan Martin today many riders will improve while others will get 'ill' and abandon

SKY's riders have the fitness edge and are better prepared

These margins are very small at this level

Are you seriously suggesting SKY are the only team who know how to prepare riders for major races? There has been ample evidence in the past of that not being the case. We could look at the Giro and say Astana B team were the only team who had a fitness edge and were better prepared so why couldn't they do it for the Tour?

MPFG

Barguil

DonegalBay wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting SKY are the only team who know how to prepare riders for major races? There has been ample evidence in the past of that not being the case. We could look at the Giro and say Astana B team were the only team who had a fitness edge and were better prepared so why couldn't they do it for the Tour?

I am talking about this specific Tour and its not just preparation its everything at this time. Just like Astana were great in the Giro and not great now

and if SKY were so bad in the past like the Giro how does that fit with the dodgy label


Anyway that is me done on this argument

DonegalBay

MPFG wrote: »

I am talking about this specific Tour and its not just preparation its everything at this time. Just like Astana were great in the Giro and not great now

and if SKY were so bad in the past like the Giro how does that fit with the dodgy label


Anyway that is me done on this argument

Well thats the mystery with SKY, they make all these claims about being more this or that than other teams but then mess up regularly but when it goes right, it is because of their more advanced whatever. SKY more or less make me feel like I should just forget whatever I thought I learned about the sport over 25 years because it makes so little sense. Riders going flat out at the front, dropping off then recovering and beating all the other riders is just something never witnessed before. If someone has witnessed it before, then please enlighten me.

Pudsy33

Contador

DonegalBay wrote: »

Personally I feel a minute gap to Quintana is huge as imo Quintana is the best current climber of his generation(besides Froome). Regardless, I don't think we will ever see a logical explanation for the Froome mystery transformation, in contrast Quintana has shown a steady natural progress from a young age and is still under 25.

The issue is more the fact that Thomas outclimbed everybody bar Quintana and he is the SKY third string who had never shown this level of climbing before 2014. Yes the likes of Nibali, Contador, the French under performed but the likes of Valverde, Van Garderen finished as expected but Thomas was still better than them. Another Brit Adam Yates went really well but has shown the promise to do so and was further back today.

On SKY being built for the Tour, whilst that is true they had Porte lined up to win the Giro and he flopped badly unless you believe SKY deliberately sabotaged Porte's Giro attempt. He couldn't stick with lead group in his main target of the year, yet is now climbing with the best again.

I don't believe for one second that SKY could have been the ONLY team to get things right when they have screwed up so often in the past.

Agree with all of this, bar the Porte thing. He was riding well in the Giro until the penalty came through and then the head dropped.

ThisRegard

Contador

DonegalBay wrote: »

I don't believe for one second that SKY could have been the ONLY team to get things right when they have screwed up so often in the past.

Like all professional athletes and teams, you learn from yours, and others, mistakes and experience.

petethedrummer

http://sportsscientists.com/2015/07/close-your-eyes-really-tightly/

DonegalBay

ThisRegard wrote: »

Like all professional athletes and teams, you learn from yours, and others, mistakes and experience.

Well apparently only SKY know how to do this.

CramCycle

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