Rascal said:
Watching the highlights and it looks like Froome is riding in the Movistar train
Looks as comfy as if it was the Skytrain
Dont understand that guys? anyone help me out why?
Movistar's tactics today were, to me at least, somewhat puzzling. I put a lot of that down to Valverde who I don't think is particularly astute and is also suprisingly quite a conservative rider in his own right.
They had a chance early on to really work Froome over. When Valverde and his teamate attacked on the flat before the Peyresourde (after a word and nod from Contador) the other riders in that group quite rightly looked around and said 'Go on Chris it's up to you to close it' which he then had to do. Once Froome got on their wheel they could of knocked off the pace and let the group come back together and then had Qunitana attack and make Froome close it again, then repeat the process with Kreuziger, then Contador etc. Instead there was just that one attack and then Valverde pulled all the way up to the next group where Froome could get some respite.
The reason for the train, according to Movistar, was that they wanted to make sure they distanced Porte so that he's out of GC contention which is better for Valverde's podium hopes and stops Sky being able to play a 1-2 punch later in the tour (i.e if Porte now attacks there's no need to chase him). That make sense if you believe Porte stood a chance of getting back on to the lead group, personally I don't think he did.
I'm not saying they would have taken time out of Froome today but I do think they could have made it much harder for him by playing about with the tempo and making him shut down more gaps; the type of efforts that could catch up with his legs come week three. As it is he did very well which is great for him, not so much for the tour as a competitive spectacle.
Sky confused me today. I didn't understand right from the off why they seemed to want to shut down potential breaks that didn't seem that threatening GC wise. They chased down everything in those first 20k and they paid for it big style.
