Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Well done Mr Froome, had me shouting at the telly when you attacked. Can't wait for TDF now.
Critérium du Dauphiné 2015, June 7-14 2015 **** Spoilers ****
- Thread starter Shaun
- Start date
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smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Dunno. Doesn't Quintana still qualify?
Yes he does. 26 isn't it, I thought it was a year younger. Unless of course he ends up wearing a different jersey but in fact Yates has has got some fairly stiff opposition for the white, so it would be a long shot.
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
Once again the Dauphiné proves to be one of the best races of the season. Who needs the borefest that is Le Tour? 
More seriously, I agree with all the praise for Froome and Simon Yates (and his brother did pretty well too considering he's still on his way back from injury). It was also fabulous to see the very talented Daniel Teklehaimanot taking his and MTN-Qhubeka's first World Tour jersey, for the Mountains competition. He was on the attack most days and he really deserved it.
More seriously, I agree with all the praise for Froome and Simon Yates (and his brother did pretty well too considering he's still on his way back from injury). It was also fabulous to see the very talented Daniel Teklehaimanot taking his and MTN-Qhubeka's first World Tour jersey, for the Mountains competition. He was on the attack most days and he really deserved it.
Froome looked so strong in these last two days. Seems to peak at exactly the right time... gonna be difficult for Alberto. Pleased for Rui Costa. Great Dauphine for him.Though Nibali has been disapponting. The way he dropped out more often than not without a fight... probably need to get in touch with Landa and ask for some advice how to make the most dramatic improvement until the tour start...
400bhp
Guru
Isn't their also some odd rule where it can also depend upon time since becoming a pro? So, you could have a 30 year old classified as a "young rider".
Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
Is he still alive?
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Apparently he's doing the Route du Sud this week, as is Contador.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
I was just perusing the final GC standings and it's interesting to see how the teams have done overall...
FDJ had an absolute shocker. Again. Highest placed rider was Arnaud Corteille in 44th, nearly 53 minutes off the pace. Meanwhile, Nacer Bouhanni, who they deemed surplus to requirements last year, took two stage wins and the points jersey. They'd better hope Pinot does well in Switzerland to rescue some credibility. After Cofidis, AG2R were the next best French team - slightly disappointing overall result for them, perhaps, but a brilliant stage win for Bardet saved the day for them somewhat. (And on a side note, it's great to see Pozzovivo back in action in Switzerland, which bodes well for the Tour, assuming they take him.) Europcar had a pretty dreadful time too - Rolland looked well off the pace and will need to improve a lot over the next three weeks. I don't remember seeing Tommy V even once. Considering they're no longer a WT team, they really can't afford to be so anonymous in races like this.
IAM, who are supposed to be a WT team, hardly did any better than FDJ - their top rider, Wyss, finished just a few places ahead of Courteiile.
Etixx finished with only one rider left standing - David de la Cruz, but he ended the race in a fairly creditable 13th place. Three of them pulled out today, including Tony Martin, but at least he got his sponsor's logo in front of the camera a fair bit. And to be fair, most of their A team is in Switzerland.
Wilco Kelderman is another who needs to do some hard work over the next three weeks. Guess LottoNL will see how Gesink does in Switzerland before deciding who will be their team leader in the Tour. Disappointed with the other Lotto too - Wellens didn't even start today.
Movistar, on the other hand, finished with five riders in the top 24 places. Valverde and Intxausti were always at or near the front, and they had a good performance in the TTT... but ultimately finished with nothing to show for their efforts except the team classification, as if anyone cares about that. Lampre and MTN can be reasonably happy with a stage win and the well earned mountains jersey respectively. Astana, Cannondale, Tinkoff and Katusha were prominently visible in the race without really achieving much, but Giant and Trek were far too inconspicuous - Cancellara seems to be the only Trek rider with a chance of actually winning anything, so I don't know why they bother turning up when he's otherwise engaged. Giant have some race winners, obviously, but seem to have sent them all to Switzerland instead.
Sky, BMC and Orica should be pretty happy with how it all went for them though.
Apparently, Bora-Argon were in the race too - in fact, I think I saw one of their riders on the front of the peloton for a brief spell today...
FDJ had an absolute shocker. Again. Highest placed rider was Arnaud Corteille in 44th, nearly 53 minutes off the pace. Meanwhile, Nacer Bouhanni, who they deemed surplus to requirements last year, took two stage wins and the points jersey. They'd better hope Pinot does well in Switzerland to rescue some credibility. After Cofidis, AG2R were the next best French team - slightly disappointing overall result for them, perhaps, but a brilliant stage win for Bardet saved the day for them somewhat. (And on a side note, it's great to see Pozzovivo back in action in Switzerland, which bodes well for the Tour, assuming they take him.) Europcar had a pretty dreadful time too - Rolland looked well off the pace and will need to improve a lot over the next three weeks. I don't remember seeing Tommy V even once. Considering they're no longer a WT team, they really can't afford to be so anonymous in races like this.
IAM, who are supposed to be a WT team, hardly did any better than FDJ - their top rider, Wyss, finished just a few places ahead of Courteiile.
Etixx finished with only one rider left standing - David de la Cruz, but he ended the race in a fairly creditable 13th place. Three of them pulled out today, including Tony Martin, but at least he got his sponsor's logo in front of the camera a fair bit. And to be fair, most of their A team is in Switzerland.
Wilco Kelderman is another who needs to do some hard work over the next three weeks. Guess LottoNL will see how Gesink does in Switzerland before deciding who will be their team leader in the Tour. Disappointed with the other Lotto too - Wellens didn't even start today.
Movistar, on the other hand, finished with five riders in the top 24 places. Valverde and Intxausti were always at or near the front, and they had a good performance in the TTT... but ultimately finished with nothing to show for their efforts except the team classification, as if anyone cares about that. Lampre and MTN can be reasonably happy with a stage win and the well earned mountains jersey respectively. Astana, Cannondale, Tinkoff and Katusha were prominently visible in the race without really achieving much, but Giant and Trek were far too inconspicuous - Cancellara seems to be the only Trek rider with a chance of actually winning anything, so I don't know why they bother turning up when he's otherwise engaged. Giant have some race winners, obviously, but seem to have sent them all to Switzerland instead.
Sky, BMC and Orica should be pretty happy with how it all went for them though.
Apparently, Bora-Argon were in the race too - in fact, I think I saw one of their riders on the front of the peloton for a brief spell today...
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
Won't IAM be focussing on the Tour de Suisse? Home interest and all that.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Yes, looking at the team line-ups, it seems Switzerland was their priority but they did send Matthias Frank to the Dauphiné and he is arguably their strongest prospect in the Tour. Might have expected a better showing from him but he withdrew yesterday. Put him in the Kelderman/Rolland camp as another who needs to do some hard work over the next three weeks.
Did Martin pull out today after that lone break? On the last stage? Crikey. That's....weird.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Yeah, bonkers. Maybe he was using today's stage as a training exercise for some planned lone breakaway madness in the Tour.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
One more interesting point to note...
Yates's time difference over Bardet in the final GC: 32 seconds
OGE's time difference over AG2R in the TTT: 47 seconds
Yates's time difference over Bardet in the final GC: 32 seconds
OGE's time difference over AG2R in the TTT: 47 seconds
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
I agree that we didn't see much of them, but for an invisible (and non-WT) team, they did pretty well to have Paul Voss finish in 23rd, have 5 riders finish and be 13th overall in the team competition ahead of many more visible teams.
