How 'bout that Talansky?

[54ny77]

Awesome for him.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/06/news/wins-criterium-du-dauphine_331972

Classy: "Asked if he considered himself among the favorites for the Tour de France, rhe 25-year-old demurred.

“No, I’m not a favorite,” he said. “This is the Dauphiné. The Tour de France is a different race. But I hope to do a good ride.”

[soulspinner]

They call him pit bull?

[pbarry]

On the road.. Being humble in an interview has nothing to do with getting the job done in a race. ;)

[eippo1]

Good ride, I will have to find some legacy feeds to watch it.

[bcroslin]

Miami represent!

[54ny77]

He's from Miami?

Damn, that kid must've done some serious "hill" repeats on intercoastal bridges.

;)

[Lewis Moon]

He's from Miami?

Damn, that kid must've done some serious "hill" repeats on intercoastal bridges.

;)

Isn't the highest point in Florida a highway overpass?

[MattTuck]

Damn... I missed this. What happened with Froome?

[mcteague]

Damn... I missed this. What happened with Froome?

He crashed, badly, and then lost a lot of time.

Tim

[chengher87]

Awesome for him.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/06/news/wins-criterium-du-dauphine_331972

Classy: "Asked if he considered himself among the favorites for the Tour de France, rhe 25-year-old demurred.

“No, I’m not a favorite,” he said. “This is the Dauphiné. The Tour de France is a different race. But I hope to do a good ride.”

Completely true. While I am a fan of Talansky and happy he won the Dauphine, if that had been the Tour, Contador AND Froome wouldn't have argued who had to chase him down and let him go up the road. They would have simply shut it down.

What it does however, is shorten his leash significantly. He'll be marked for sure in the Tour. Unless he is down by ten minutes or so, they won't take him lightly.

[54ny77]

It would be awesome to see him get a podium position.

[tiretrax]

Completely true. While I am a fan of Talansky and happy he won the Dauphine, if that had been the Tour, Contador AND Froome wouldn't have argued who had to chase him down and let him go up the road. They would have simply shut it down.

What it does however, is shorten his leash significantly. He'll be marked for sure in the Tour. Unless he is down by ten minutes or so, they won't take him lightly.

Agreed. If Contador had dumped Froome 5k earlier, he would have won. I found it ludicrous that he was marking Froome when they were riding along at my top speed, not pro speed.

[soulspinner]

Agreed. If Contador had dumped Froome 5k earlier, he would have won. I found it ludicrous that he was marking Froome when they were riding along at my top speed, not pro speed.

Even my wife said as Contador chased, "why didnt he go earlier?"

[bikingshearer]

Even my wife said as Contador chased, "why didnt he go earlier?"

Several possibilities suggest themselves. It is possible that he gauged that he couldn't keep up the effort for longer than he did. As it was, Contador did pretty much all of his cutting into Talansky's lead on the penultimate climb and ended up gaining little if any further time back on the last climb.

It is also possible that Contador could confirm to his satisfaction just how off his game Froome any earlier. Remember, Froome had multiple teammates to help him and Contador had none. It turned out it didn't matter because Froome was still smarting from the crash, but that is not always obvious to an opponent right away.

Probably most important, Contador's goal was not to win the Dauphine, although I'm sure he would have been delighted to do so, as his effort Saturday showed. More than anything, he wanted to get some serious mountain racing against top competition in his legs (check) and show Froome and everyone else (including himself) he is on top form for the tour (check). Turning himself inside out to win the Dauphine simply was not a smart thing to do, as it could seriously harm his Tour form. After all, it takes longer to recover from an all-out "into the red" effort than it does to recover from a merely hard effort.

Had this been the final mountain stage in the Tour, "why didn't he go earlier/harder" would be a legitmate question. For a lesser rider in the Dauphine, it might be a legitimate question. But not for Contador in the Dauphine.

It's also possible that Talansky just had a great day, better than anyone (maybe even himself) expected. It happens.

My guess is that it was a combination of some or all of these factors. I'd almost guarantee the "don't kill your self in the Dauphine" factor was involved.

[victoryfactory]

The last 2 stages of that race were great.
Super competitive
No standard leadouts/sprints
successful breaks
Unfortunate crash for Froome
Sky hanging tough, Port comeback after a bad day.
AC fighting and fading without much support
Talansky prevailing

Riveting stuff

VF

PS to bikingshearer:
"don't kill your self in the Dauphine" factor was involved."
Probably true also but some guys were competing for a spot on their tour team too.

[Elefantino]

The Pitbull is 25.

Repeat. He is 25.

That's the answer to all the questions.

[tiretrax]

I don't care how much Contador said he didn't want to win the race, he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have attacked at any time in the race, especially on Saturday or Sunday. Once he got the Maillot Jaune, there is no way he wanted to lose it - ergo, his attack on the final two climbs. It was easy for him to be gracious afterwards because of his earlier position that he was only there to get fitness.

Things came together for Talansky. He showed a lot of maturity in his humble remarks about his chances in the TdF.

[nathanong87]

sounds like an attempt at kidology

[laupsi]

Have to keep in mind during a grand tour the leaders are nullified quite a bit w/out a strong team. Wouldn't classify the Dauphine as a grand tour but lack luster teammates for Contador show'd just how important a good team is for overall GC.

Give AT a really good team, (questionable w/GS) and his curret form, I would bet money he'd make the podium.

[bikingshearer]

PS to bikingshearer:
"don't kill your self in the Dauphine" factor was involved."
Probably true also but some guys were competing for a spot on their tour team too.

Absolutely true. But none of them were named "Contador" or, for that matter, "Froome." Rumor has it their rides in the Tour are pretty safe . . . .

[tiretrax]

sounds like an attempt at kidology

No, I think he knows how he ranks against the others and how he benefitted from the cirumstances of the race. Contador's huge mistake in marking Froome cost him the top step of the podium, to Talansky's benefit.

[pbarry]

The Pitbull is 25.

Repeat. He is 25.

That's the answer to all the questions.

Exactly. Same age as GL was in '86.

[MattTuck]

The Pitbull is 25.

Repeat. He is 25.

That's the answer to all the questions.

Quintana is 24. And as Lemond says, "the natural talent is there at 18-19" - yeah, lately folks have been winning older, but I would want to see a statistical analysis of 'first time winners' over 26 or 27. I think most of the riders that are winning in their late 20s are winning second and third tours.

Here's a list of riders that won a tour while they were 25 or younger in the post war era.
A. Schleck 2010
Contador 2007
Ullrich 1997
Lemond 1986
Fignon 83 and 84
Hinault 78 and 79
Merckx 69 and 70
Aimar 66
Gimondi 65
Anquetil 57

So, of the 67 tours run since 1947, racers who won before they turned 26 accounted for 27 victories. (I included Bartali in my count even though his first win was before the war, at age 24). The numbers look more convincing if you subtract the Indurain and Armstrong tours, you'd be down to 56 total tours. So young winners (and their subsequent victories) account for almost half of tour victories.

Now, if we look at it another way, we can ask how many repeat winners (the creme de la creme, if you will) started winning after they turned 26? Again, if we remove Armstrong and Indurain....

Louison Bobet, who won 3 times starting in 1958 when he was 28. And that's it.


Yes, training methods are different now, yes the field is more competitive now, etc. etc. My only point here is that great champions seem to win early in their career and often. I'm not counting him out, and I'll be cheering for him. If he has champion potential, we should see it in the next 13 months.

[1centaur]

Letting a #3 go up the road would be unthinkable if the #1 goal was to win the race. I think Contador showed that he came into the race so focused on (afraid of?) Froome that nothing else mattered until it was clear that Froome did not have it even with his team to chase Talansky. At that point AC could have sat there and said "whatever" but some combination of pride and Riis/Tinkoff said "let's try." If he had actually succeeded it would have been incredible, but he learned plenty about his form and learned plenty about how to read Froome in both strong and weak form. No windmill legs from Froome this year; no explosive Contador of old. The Tour could go either way - let's hope the cobbles don't spoil that duel.

[roydyates]

Several possibilities suggest themselves...

It is also possible that Contador could confirm to his satisfaction just how off his game Froome any earlier. Remember, Froome had multiple teammates to help him and Contador had none. It turned out it didn't matter because Froome was still smarting from the crash, but that is not always obvious to an opponent right away.

This is the possibility I would bet on. It seemed like Contador's strategy was to follow Froome and let Sky reel in the break. Sky let him down because they had to wait for Froome.

It sure makes the Tour more interesting.