Criterium du Dauphine 2017 - **official thread

dastardly00

12:30pm Start for coverage tomorrow on ES 2

Lusk_Doyle

First ever world tour win for Fuglsang. That's surprising given that he is always up there in breaks and relavively close to the business end of things a lot on GTs.

velo.2010

Great performance by Oliver Naesen today, finishing in the top ten alongside Contador. After a fine classics season, he's proving himself as an excellent all-rounder. I'd say he will be top of many teams transfer lists.

dastardly00

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

First ever world tour win for Fuglsang. That's surprising given that he is always up there in breaks and relavively close to the business end of things a lot on GTs.

It just goes to show that you can be a top class GC/super domestique type rider but yet not win many races.

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

It just goes to show that you can be a top class GC/super domestique type rider but yet not win many races.

Happens all the time... but maybe because you can be very very good on alot of terrain but if not the out and out best you just don't win ....big problem for all rounders

Birdsong is a very good all rounder on rolling terrain, cobbles and mountain but not the best

Still a bit of cycling to be done between now and the tour after this race. Swiss tour kicking off tomorrow. Then Route du Sud, I think Quintana is riding that one again this year?

Mark Cavendish is back in the saddle for the slovenia tour next week I think but unlikely to make the tour.

Think Alaphilippe is still out with his knee.

Kaisr Sose

Finally some racing between the GC guys...was a bit of a yawn up to today's last climb and then the descent...wow! Extremely good bike handling on a road surface that was not perfect!

Was a hide behind the sofa descent wasn't it :pac:

Almost didn't want to look at times.

MPFGLB

Quintana is not a Rut de Sud....too tired it seems
Lots of SKY favourites there though ...Thoma,Poels & Henao....

Very little top SKY presence at Suisse ....Nieve is there and Deignan who may get a chance to go in a break or something

Thought Nico Roche looked good today for Porte ...but still needs to get a bit better ...top form comes late for him...He will definitely be needed at the Tour to give Richie a chance against Froome and the elite SKY guys ..but today climb possible the hardest in the Dauphine & Tour so not bad

Final climb tomorrow suits Dan Martin better

ThisRegard

dastardly00 wrote: »

That was awesome descending by Froome

His handing skills improve year upon year.


I've managed to miss most of thr the race this week. Sky's series link seems a bit dodgy and won't create one for the evening highlights.

velo.2010

Turned on Eurosport at 2pm and it was all over! I'll catch up later.

Have to make sure to be home early for it tomorrow.

Yeah the explanation for the earlier start was french TV didn't want it to clash with the tennis.

pelevin

I see Porte is now joint favourite with Froome on PP for the Tour. Might make reasonable sense on form given he's flying in tt's and in the mountains but from a certain angle quite bizarre. He's 32 & in his Grand Tour palmares his best finishes are 5th, 7th, 19th, 23rd & 48th. Strange career.

Inquitus

pelevin wrote: »

I see Porte is now joint favourite with Froome on PP for the Tour. Might make reasonable sense on form given he's flying in tt's and in the mountains but from a certain angle quite bizarre. He's 32 & in his Grand Tour palmares his best finishes are 5th, 7th, 19th, 23rd & 48th. Strange career.

It would seem to me, and I may well be wrong, that Porte is almost at peak form, and Froome is yet to peak, he looks a bit heavy by his standards. I wouldn't read too much into things, and I think Froome is still the favourite for the Tour, though Porte is certainly the 2nd favourite. Sky's team at the Tour will also be far stronger than Portes leaving them in a much better position to exploit any weakness.

I think it will be a ding dong battle between the 2, and Stage 5 at Froome's favoured hunting ground of La Planche de Belles Filles will answer a lot of early questions!

Great result for Kennaugh today but what does that say about Froome? Surely if Sky thought he and had a shout at this Kennaugh would have been called back to help, even the fact Kennaugh was allowed into a stage winning position is telling I think. Kennaugh was up the road to do his thing from the off and not to help Froome.

Looking at Froome this year over all in what 4 events? plus some back issues in Romandy and then at Porte who is in the best shape of his career and being consistent for months, I know were my TFD money is going.

I don't want to see a second rate Froome at the tour though, I'd rather a fully fit in form one being challenged and beaten by Porte.

Also this year we have a contender and team mate that know Froome and Sky inside out.

EDIT: Hopefully this makes for a tour that will be the best one for a while !!!! but Inquitus is right the Sky Team will be a massive factor in this.

pelevin

I htink last year's Tdf was by a long way the worst gt I've seen, with Froome so much the strongest - which is fair enough - but then his team so powerful & riding in such a scientific, organised way as to strangle all life out of the mountain stages. I think for it to be worth watching depends on Froome not being dominant. Otherwise presumably it'd be the same non-spectacle again. I really found it horrible viewing. The worst thing anyone trying for a high overall finish could do - like Dan Martin - was attack, as they'd basically be reeled in by the Sky machine having expended vital energy in trying futiley to break things up.

If Froome isn't in such form again, & he's looking well away from it & after a very quiet year, then that way of riding would hopefully be bankrupt & we'll see what I'd call actual racing. I doubt very much any other team is remotely able to dominate in such a way regardless of how well the team leader is doing.

I'd also say fair enough to have Froome favourite, obviously given past achievements & Porte still is very much unproven in winning a GT & even really competing for one which I don't think he's done yet properly. Aside at all from the physical demands of 3 weeks, the mental side of dealing with that pressure may be his biggest question mark. He doesn't come across to me as a natural champion, as shown by taking so long to branch out as a GT leader in his career. People used to say how great it was to see him so selfless in his devotion to the team cause. I'd feel very differently on that front from someone who's gonna be a long time retired & should have been finding out how he could go trying to win those things himself.

To add, after the year of controversy Sky have had, if the Tour were a carbon copy of last year's strangling of it by their strength, methodology & dominant team leader, I'd say things in terms of crowd, media, etc could get incredibly toxic so maybe it's as well even for Sky themselves that it's perhaps not looking like a repeat performance.

You are right in saying Porte is unproven over 3 weeks Pelevin and given the sky train ....

We're forgetting Movistar though aren't we? Quintana and Valverde both heading to tdf I think? Quintana to sit on froomes wheel like last year and keep him busy, Valverde to do a number :pac:

ednwireland

I was just thinking has porte ever lasted a 3 week tour without fading in the last week. Maybe bmc can do something about that.

pelevin

ednwireland wrote: »

I was just thinking has porte ever lasted a 3 week tour without fading in the last week. Maybe bmc can do something about that.

Though last year after some mechanical issue apparently early on where he lost time - can't remember it & am presuming it was significant time - he did come back to finish 5th, so presumably that was a strong overall 3 week performance. Still though it wouldn't have been in the heat of competing for the overall so that's still pretty much a total unknown on the pressure front.

pelevin

Deleted User wrote: »

You are right in saying Porte is unproven over 3 weeks Pelevin and given the sky train ....

We're forgetting Movistar though aren't we? Quintana and Valverde both heading to tdf I think? Quintana to sit on froomes wheel like last year and keep him busy, Valverde to do a number :pac:

Hopefully Quintana will be strong like he seemed much better in the Vuelta than the Tour last year & so maybe the Giro will act as training! He'd have to be seen as an outsider for me though having ridden that very tough race already. Far far harder to do the Giro Tour than the Tour Vuelta where the big guns tend to be in the same boat of having ridden the Tour already.

All My Stars Aligned

Fkucing Eurosport. Showing football highlight rather then the cycling

Wish it was live now , some action taking place.

Sky have Kwiatkowski in a break and Lopez has just joined him, looking for a stage or setting up for Froome ????

neris

wonder will get to see any racing today, race seems to well on and going at a good pace

Starting now on player, hope the highlights aren't just a reshowing of the live coverage. I'd like see some of the moves made there in last 20-30 minutes.

neris

its on player now on the channel without commentary.

Good man Dan!!

Is it clark and lopez still up the road? It's Valverde and Aru

neris

froomes just covering porte

Ha what went on there Froome gesturing at the Movistar car

neris

Deleted User wrote: »

Ha what went on there Froome gesturing at the Movistar car

think the movistar car was going a bit heavy on the horn n froome was telling him to f off