79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/25/2019 12:11 PM |
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Valverde does the work to pave the way, Quintana is right there following. A scenario we've seen how many times? Quintana gets off with the leaders. Still according to the well worn script. Then, with 3k to go, Quintana attacks. Others hesitate. And Quintana goes for it!
Now let's see how this plays out. Quintana has one of the best teams in the race, Movistar, probably the best team captain, Valverde, this is a race well suited for him. I hope that Valverde can tell him "Go!" at the key moments and he does just that.
Don't break my heart!
Ben
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/26/2019 06:46 AM |
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I’ll give Quintana major props for his move yesterday...both on the climb and in the final 3k. But it also pisses me off because I look back at what he has squandered over the last few years...if he had raced aggressively like this in previous years in July, he may well have been the first Colombian to win a maillot jaune.
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/26/2019 07:57 AM |
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I'd like to think that instead of not trying Quintana simply didn't have it these past years for whatever physical or mental reason. The focus on being first Columbian tour winner may simply have been too much pressure from himself team or the nation. Or he was too tired from all the echelon riding before they hit hills. That's less so in Giro and Vuelta.
Anyway let's see if he can make it stick. Roglic looks determined. |
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 08/26/2019 11:38 AM |
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| Just happy they are showing the Vuelta on tv this year. I miss Paul Sherwen. Bob Roll is o.k. Am I wrong but does he sound like Mr. Rogers on steroids? |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/26/2019 11:52 AM |
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NBCSports Gold is worth every single penny...I never have to hear Phil & Bob.
I regularly drop $50 on dumber stuff....this is a no-brained subscription. Plus, no commercials....just the full race, start to finish. And you can watch it whenever you want. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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6ix
Posts:485
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| 08/26/2019 12:12 PM |
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| I was really disappointed last year when I realized that the NBC Sports Gold app doesn't hold a library of content. I'd been planning to watch all the races from last season in their entirety while slaving away on the trainer. No dice. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/26/2019 01:00 PM |
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That seems like a fair criticism...have no idea how long they keep individual races available.
Then again, isn’t indoor training why they invented Netflix?  |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 08/26/2019 01:27 PM |
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| I don't have NBC Sports Gold. They are showing it for free on NBCSports. |
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6ix
Posts:485
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| 08/26/2019 03:16 PM |
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| Maybe NBC Sports is listening (doubtful!) But please consider making all of your races available on-demand. I'd gladly fork over $50-60 for that. Think about it...we no longer have the lovely WCP group to provide VHS and DVD coverage of the Tour. I really miss that. Now if I miss watching the race, I never go to Youtube to search for each stage and then try to find the highlights, etc. Having a nice 4-hour or extended 12-hour version put the whole race into a nice, neat package that I enjoyed watching. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/26/2019 04:34 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 08/26/2019 07:57 AM
I'd like to think that instead of not trying Quintana simply didn't have it these past years for whatever physical or mental reason. The focus on being first Columbian tour winner may simply have been too much pressure from himself team or the nation. Or he was too tired from all the echelon riding before they hit hills. That's less so in Giro and Vuelta.
Anyway let's see if he can make it stick. Roglic looks determined.
I read years ago that Quntana's other passion was better conditions for the women of his country, that it took up a lot of his time and energy when he was on home soil. I wonder if that has been a drain on his racing ambitions. (But the real big picture, the issue of women in 3rd world countries is far bigger than anything any of us do on bicycles.)
On echelon riding - I remember seeing him riding the front in southern France on a very windy day, hanging with the big boys all race and holding his own around riders who dwarfed him. That was a another Sky dominated Tour but seeing that pint-size guy doing that forever impressed me. (He was staying out of the wind like a smart rider, but stayed about 3 row the whole time. That never went to a full rotating echelon; more of a headwind but he stood out as the only non power rider up there.)
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/27/2019 12:12 PM |
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Spoiler alert!
Well, that was fun. Deceuninck-QuickStep outsmarted Bora-Hansgrohe. Sent a rider up the road 5.5 km from the finish, then got to sit back and let Bora-H work to close it down. Sam Bennett pulls a big "oops!" and takes the long route at a roundabout. Makes a massive effort to make up ground and loses by an inch to D-QS' Fabio Jakobsen.
D-QS; probably the best road smarts out there. Fun to watch! |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 08/27/2019 08:05 PM |
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| Good analysis, thanks. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/27/2019 09:47 PM |
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| DQS has excellent road smarts but they are also often sore losers. The TTT being yet another case in point. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 08/28/2019 05:14 AM |
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| According to The Cycling Podcast, that move @ 5.5km was a mistake...he went to the front, came up too fast and just went by everyone...once he got to 100m, QS told him to keep going. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/28/2019 11:33 AM |
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Yeah, that was a mistake, but still, great on the fly race management.
And as mistakes go - coming out of a round-a-bout too fast on the short line is a far better mistake than taking the long way around! D-QS seems to regularly have riders in the right place and in good numbers. It isn't often they get caught going the wrong way or trapped. I've never sat at one of their team meetings but I'm guessing that they spend more time teaching race tactics and dynamics than many teams (and probably also look at rider "smarts" as a criteria for who they hire, not just the engine though good engines go a long way to offset lack of smarts. Yesterday's miscue as an example.) |
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