TDF Stage 13 - Spoilers

[jlwdm]

Interesting that Sky has Landa up the road after yesterday's questions about him supporting the team.

It is a great move though. Put some pressure on other teams.

Jeff

[ultraman6970]

It is interesting that they are putting such and obvious strategy, the only thing is if Froome can do his fast grinder technique to catch, they arent that far ahead tho. I was landa I would go for the stage and the podium, f.... with the english... as contador did with LA years back because clearly he is taking a ride in the park right now, he needs like 3 minutes and how he is riding those 3 minutes are nothing.

[oldpotatoe]

Interesting that Sky has Landa up the road after yesterday's questions about him supporting the team.

It is a great move though. Put some pressure on other teams.

Jeff

Very strange..55 more seconds and Landa in the 'virtual' yellow..he's riding like he wants to make it stick..stick it to Froomie? Rumored to go the Moviestar next year and got chewed out by Sky DS..so maybe he's just pissed off. :confused:

[Mzilliox]

Very strange..55 more seconds and Landa in the 'virtual' yellow..he's riding like he wants to make it stick..stick it to Froomie? Rumored to go the Moviestar next year and got chewed out by Sky DS..so maybe he's just pissed off. :confused:

Maybe he feels like hes just as boring as froome so why not?

[GregL]

I think putting Landa out front is ideal for Sky. Froome gets a free ride behind and Astana is forced to burn a lot of matches in the chase. It's win-win for Sky; Astana/Aru have to chase or Landa will be handed the yellow jersey. Best tactics I've seen yet from the British robots.

Greg

[jlwdm]

I think putting Landa out front is ideal for Sky. Froome gets a free ride behind and Astana is forced to burn a lot of matches in the chase. It's win-win for Sky; Astana/Aru have to chase or Landa will be handed the yellow jersey. Best tactics I've seen yet from the British robots.

Greg

First time in years that Sky has been in position to use tactics.

Kwiatkowksi trying to bridge up to Landa is great also.

Jeff

[MattTuck]

Kwiatkowski has to be considered the most complete rider out there today. Great rider.

[GregL]

Kwiatkowski has to be considered the most complete rider out there today. Great rider.
Definitely agree. Former elite world champion, winner of multiple classics (Amstel, MSR), 2X Strade Bianche wins, and domestique deluxe! Talented across all types of road races.

Greg

[hokoman]

Froome looks like he is really struggling up this climb.. and just as I type that he launches an attack!

[Michael Maddox]

Looks like someone put RACING on the agenda, today!

[justindcady]

Looks like someone put RACING on the agenda, today!

YES!!! :hello::hello::hello::banana::beer:

[Mzilliox]

Looks like someone put RACING on the agenda, today!

complete with contador and quintana up front. what year is it? 2008?

[justindcady]

complete with contador and quintana up front. what year is it? 2008?

I think Alberto has accepted that his GC race is done...so why not go for a stage win or two?

[Mzilliox]

interesting finish, who does it help?

[GregL]

interesting finish, who does it help?
Sky. They now have two riders within seconds of the lead. They can launch multiple attacks to keep Astana/Aru on the ropes. That's IF team management can keep Froome and Landa working together...

Greg

[KJMUNC]

What a great, animated stage....need more like this!

[ultraman6970]

Clearly KWIATKOWSKI is racing to pull the princess all over the place or both could have not done anything today, if you guys notice Landa did not sprint either. Landa is not riding even to get into a podium position, today could have happen if he wanted it, I was him I would have carried contador and F... the english! :P

The other thing ithat puzzles me is that Aru is never a the wheel of Froome, he needs to be at his wheel all the time. The other thing is that Aru was calling the bluffs of sky and responding the other guys attacks, He had to bluff too and just sit and let the other guys go and have sky to pull and do the chasing, actually Froome is not going to let Landa win S...t! so why aru had to chase when he did, sky is the one that has to chase all the time... thats the reason Aru got into like 3 scary situations.... and if the others get time back, sky wont like it and they will chase.

Did not get rain here, and missed my time for a ride for watching the stage... damm it! :/

[tctyres]

Aru has no support. He's supported by Sky.

Then again, Rigoberto has no support, and he seems to be doing just fine. There was a comment during the last 10km that people just aren't seeing him. I don't know as that's true, but it is interesting how he is pacing with that lead group consistently.

[MattTuck]

Also, just saw this...

After initially saying that it would not go back on the decision to punish Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), the UCI has done just that. Uran and Bennett were handed 20-second penalties for taking bidons in the final 20 kilometres of stage 12 of the Tour de France. However, stage winner Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) escaped any punishment for the same offence. Rather than handing a further penalty to Bardet, the UCI has decided not to punish anybody.

What an absolute joke.

[holliscx]

What about Tour de France 2017 - Spoilers vs a separate thread for each stage?

[shovelhd]

Now THAT was GREAT RACING.

[ntb1001]

Now THAT was GREAT RACING.have to agree...finally a good race.
I still think though that the wanna be contenders like Dan Martin should be attacking more, and earlier.

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[wc1934]

Very strange..55 more seconds and Landa in the 'virtual' yellow..he's riding like he wants to make it stick..stick it to Froomie? Rumored to go the Moviestar next year and got chewed out by Sky DS..so maybe he's just pissed off. :confused:
Curious why Froome kept attacking - all he did as to pull Aru with him. Why not sit back and force Aru to chase Landa and burn himself out.

[dm0n3y]

^^ I couldn't understand that either! why not put the pressure onto Aru and stop chasing down his own team mate.

[gianni]

Heavens...

Froome attacks from the front --high rev-- Paul and Phil love it.

Totally pointless, tow the group around. Then we see real bike racing when Rigoberto attacks and Martin on a separate attacks --from behind, with momentum and surprise. The move has a chance let's cheer bike racing. Venga.

This is comical watching sky in the break with two riders talking on the radio trying to figure out what to do. Awesome. Can we go go back to strategy where bike racers know what to do? Sky with 2 riders in a group of 7 should not need to strategize over their radios. Example, sky rider on the back telling Froome to attack at the front on a descent. Comical. boring. Dumb.

Call me a hater.

[colbyh]

Curious why Froome kept attacking - all he did as to pull Aru with him. Why not sit back and force Aru to chase Landa and burn himself out.

Froome saw a chance to be back in yellow, probably. he only needed 6 seconds so it's possible that given a little distance on the descent (a la Martin today) he could have taken back the jersey.

that being said, I think it makes way more sense to let Aru wear it for a little while and put the pressure on Astana to ride tempo. really short stage today though so who knows, maybe he just wanted to have some fun?

[pdmtong]

This stage was so great to watch. Short enough to force immediate and sustained animation and then add real climbing and descending and drag racing...PLUS...it was one you could actually make time to watch in it's entirety instead of tuning in with 100k to go...

Anyone else notice that chubby fans have no self consciousness about wearing tight bike jerseys? lesson in there I think...

[ultraman6970]

Sky sold a kool-aid to everybody about less pressure and that they are in a good position having landa there. The problem is that landa cant even wear the yellow for a day. Today he did not contest the sprint, and clearly from looking at him he had legs to drop contador and get maybe 4 minutes ahead. The plan is have froome to be the princess and nobody steals her shine, Landa is like 2 minutes down now... he wont be allowed to win, the question is what do you do with him now? Sky is in a interesting situation you know, remember what happened with wiggo when froome tried to shine? This is the same situation.

IMO, Astana its done as a team you can't even consider them so Borat now needs to be at Froome's wheel 24/7, somebody attacks? Stay there...Froome's domestiques gonna have to go for it, they are forced to chase any of the top 10, because if they get time back the race later will get way too complicated to control.

"Hey borat!!, you will lose the tour, you have to chase.... - So do you! banana-man!"... I assure that after 2 seconds Froome will call base and ask what to do, then MK or Nieve will start chasing...

Either way, hope Aru doesnt have any mechanical, and hope this troop of geniuses dont stop no more to wait if Froome have a mechanical or an accident. I totally see the top ten f-waiting for him, for a 3rd time... ridiculous. He wont wait for Aru if the has a puncture :D


Froome saw a chance to be back in yellow, probably. he only needed 6 seconds so it's possible that given a little distance on the descent (a la Martin today) he could have taken back the jersey.

that being said, I think it makes way more sense to let Aru wear it for a little while and put the pressure on Astana to ride tempo. really short stage today though so who knows, maybe he just wanted to have some fun?

[KonaSS]

Good race, and good tactics by Sky, but as others have pointed out, they didn't fully commit to the tactics. If so, they wouldn't have put any sort of leash on Landa.

But (and they discussed this on the NBC commentary), the Sky machine is so committed to Froome-Dog, that the Landa move is half hearted bluff, and everyone knows it. As soon as Kwiat came back and Froome started attacking, everyone could see the writing on the wall.

If Sky really wants to shake up the race, they quit worrying about which of their riders wins, pulls that same move, and tells Landa to go all out.

[ntb1001]

Sky sold a kool-aid to everybody about less pressure and that they are in a good position having landa there. The problem is that landa cant even wear the yellow for a day. Today he did not contest the sprint, and clearly from looking at him he had legs to drop contador and get maybe 4 minutes ahead. The plan is have froome to be the princess and nobody steals her shine, Landa is like 2 minutes down now... he wont be allowed to win, the question is what do you do with him now? Sky is in a interesting situation you know, remember what happened with wiggo when froome tried to shine? This is the same situation.

IMO, Astana its done as a team you can't even consider them so Borat now needs to be at Froome's wheel 24/7, somebody attacks? Stay there...Froome's domestiques gonna have to go for it, they are forced to chase any of the top 10, because if they get time back the race later will get way too complicated to control.

"Hey borat!!, you will lose the tour, you have to chase.... - So do you! banana-man!"... I assure that after 2 seconds Froome will call base and ask what to do, then MK or Nieve will start chasing...

Either way, hope Aru doesnt have any mechanical, and hope this troop of geniuses dont stop no more to wait if Froome have a mechanical or an accident. I totally see the top ten f-waiting for him, for a 3rd time... ridiculous. He wont wait for Aru if the has a puncture :Dyeah...this waiting for Froome kind if drives me nuts.
Dan Martin crashed because of Porte and nobody waited for him...the time he lost would have had him in yellow or top 2 right now.

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[jlwdm]

I don't think Sky held Landa back except at the very beginning. At first I wondered why Sky was working to bring back Landa, but after further thought I think they had to because of Quintana. You don't want to put him back in contention.

Jeff

[ultraman6970]

I think part of the plan was to have landa to wait for Froome but that plan backfired because froome couldnt drop them. That's part of the reason Landa did not pull full gas in that stage, if sky tactics were more as they say in the interviews (makes sense to lie tho, the problem is to believe them) they would have released Landa when had like 3 minutes off and Landa would be using the Yellow, at some point Landa was like 6 seconds behind the yellow, if sky and froome were cool about Landa, he could be in yellow.

As for quintana, well... sky wont be worry about Quintana until he is like a minute behind. The nice about quintana is that he is not dumb as Aru is :P

[jlwdm]

...

As for quintana, well... sky wont be worry about Quintana until he is like a minute behind. The nice about quintana is that he is not dumb as Aru is :P

If Sky had not worked to pull him back he would have been within a minute.

Jeff