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UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb
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42.5K with a 12 percent climb with ~12K to go. This should be really interesting since you have to wait for your 4th athlete. Men and Women on the same course (which is nice for a change):



Sky is coming with a stacked group of guys who can get over these climbs together. Froome is off his Vuelta win and hopes to also fight for the ITT. Quickstep and BMC should be strong. BMC just won the flat Vuelta TTT last month
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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If I were betting with my own money I would have to pick Sky. They won't lose much on the flats and they should easily put climb the roullers on BMC and QS.

I would like to see Sunweb or Orica pull off the upset though.
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Welcome to Norway and Bergen
Bergen is the city the Blummenfelt is from. I guess you now know why he is a strong cyclist.
It is also the sister city of Seattle, rain can be expected during the week ;-)

Nice to see a lot of people out there. The pictures from the bridge is amazing.

I am watching the pictures from the olympic channel, and is streaming commentators over Internet
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Will be interesting to watch as I don't really like flat TTs. My money is on the Sky train.

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Sunweb has finished strong
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Halvard wrote:
Sunweb has finished strong

After today's race, does Sunweb have the confidence to put a fully stacked team to help Dumoulin beat Froome. If you have Kelderman as Dumoulin's helper in the mountains it could be a really close race based on how Dumoulin was climbing and TTing at the Giro. Awesome race today.
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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A very interesting question. I see Dumoulin as the number one threat for Froome at the Tour in the future. Maybe a TT powerhouse turned into a climber is a better point to start with than a mountain goat that needs to survive ITTs. Maybe not in a race like this years Vuelta with tons of climbing but certainly in the Tour (with not that many really hard mountain stages).

Dumoulin has shown that he can battle it out in the mountains with the besteht. Especially nowadays, where the Sky train usually sets a steady tempo pace and does not tend to react to moved immidiately. So you don't need to be able to kick like Contador does.
What is more, Dumoulin now knows how to win a Grande Tour and how to handle pressure. And next July the pressure is on Froome.

Would be exciting it he went to France in 2018.

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [ToBeasy] [ In reply to ]
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ToBeasy wrote:
A very interesting question. I see Dumoulin as the number one threat for Froome at the Tour in the future. Maybe a TT powerhouse turned into a climber is a better point to start with than a mountain goat that needs to survive ITTs. Maybe not in a race like this years Vuelta with tons of climbing but certainly in the Tour (with not that many really hard mountain stages).

Dumoulin has shown that he can battle it out in the mountains with the besteht. Especially nowadays, where the Sky train usually sets a steady tempo pace and does not tend to react to moved immidiately. So you don't need to be able to kick like Contador does.
What is more, Dumoulin now knows how to win a Grande Tour and how to handle pressure. And next July the pressure is on Froome.

Would be exciting it he went to France in 2018.

Dumoulin and Kelderman can just sit around and shadow Froome and Sky for the entire TdF and let the 130 lbs guys self detonate and then Dumoulin can just race Froome head to head in the ITT. They could just cancel the entire TdF and just have these two show up for the ITT and the delta is likely identical!!! Quintana should just race the Giro and the Vuelta. He has no chance against these two If they stay upright.
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
ToBeasy wrote:
A very interesting question. I see Dumoulin as the number one threat for Froome at the Tour in the future. Maybe a TT powerhouse turned into a climber is a better point to start with than a mountain goat that needs to survive ITTs. Maybe not in a race like this years Vuelta with tons of climbing but certainly in the Tour (with not that many really hard mountain stages).

Dumoulin has shown that he can battle it out in the mountains with the besteht. Especially nowadays, where the Sky train usually sets a steady tempo pace and does not tend to react to moved immidiately. So you don't need to be able to kick like Contador does.
What is more, Dumoulin now knows how to win a Grande Tour and how to handle pressure. And next July the pressure is on Froome.

Would be exciting it he went to France in 2018.


Dumoulin and Kelderman can just sit around and shadow Froome and Sky for the entire TdF and let the 130 lbs guys self detonate and then Dumoulin can just race Froome head to head in the ITT. They could just cancel the entire TdF and just have these two show up for the ITT and the delta is likely identical!!! Quintana should just race the Giro and the Vuelta. He has no chance against these two If they stay upright.

yes, this TTT confirms that sunweb have the team strength to support dumoulin. i think he can beat froome at his own game. the question is whether froome can adapt again - he can potentially out climb dumoulin if he focuses on it but that means giving up more time in the TT.

will be interesting to see what the course profile is like, for once the anti-froome course could be maximising the TT kms!
of course any deliberate bias aso put on the course is in the favour of the french riders who are all much more climbing focussed
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [pk1] [ In reply to ]
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pk1 wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
ToBeasy wrote:
A very interesting question. I see Dumoulin as the number one threat for Froome at the Tour in the future. Maybe a TT powerhouse turned into a climber is a better point to start with than a mountain goat that needs to survive ITTs. Maybe not in a race like this years Vuelta with tons of climbing but certainly in the Tour (with not that many really hard mountain stages).

Dumoulin has shown that he can battle it out in the mountains with the besteht. Especially nowadays, where the Sky train usually sets a steady tempo pace and does not tend to react to moved immidiately. So you don't need to be able to kick like Contador does.
What is more, Dumoulin now knows how to win a Grande Tour and how to handle pressure. And next July the pressure is on Froome.

Would be exciting it he went to France in 2018.


Dumoulin and Kelderman can just sit around and shadow Froome and Sky for the entire TdF and let the 130 lbs guys self detonate and then Dumoulin can just race Froome head to head in the ITT. They could just cancel the entire TdF and just have these two show up for the ITT and the delta is likely identical!!! Quintana should just race the Giro and the Vuelta. He has no chance against these two If they stay upright.


yes, this TTT confirms that sunweb have the team strength to support dumoulin. i think he can beat froome at his own game. the question is whether froome can adapt again - he can potentially out climb dumoulin if he focuses on it but that means giving up more time in the TT.

will be interesting to see what the course profile is like, for once the anti-froome course could be maximising the TT kms!
of course any deliberate bias aso put on the course is in the favour of the french riders who are all much more climbing focussed

They will make the course Bardet favourable until the last TT. I really liked how the Vuelta put the TT early in week three and then you had three mid or hard mountain stages after that, leaving the outcome in mild suspense if Froome was to crack on any given day with Nibali ~ 1 min back. I really hope the TdF does the Mont Ventoux TT like back ~1991. They had 15K of rollers/flats and then the final 19K of climbing. I bet you see something like that. On paper this is as anti Froome as you could make it, in the sense that Froome and Dumoulin have less of a gap, but I bet these guys can beat Nibali and Quintana on a such a TT. They will just hunker down and ride a consistent high watts per kilo number and match the climbers over the long haul. I think the only guy who can beat Froome is Dumoulin. Dumoulin just needs to go on the Bradley Wiggins diet and he'll be unstoppable all over. He's still 'soft' for the climbs....look at Dumoulin vs Froome in terms of body composition....and yet Dumoulin was almost matching Quintana on watts per kilo
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [pk1] [ In reply to ]
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IMHO I don't see the TTT result as evidence of Sunweb new found strength. Kelderman rode well at the Vuelta but the team has struggled to protect Doumolin at the Giro and last year's Vuelta and it takes more than one climbing domestique to really control a race.

The advantage Sunweb has is the similar riding styles of TD and Froome. They both have that steady relentless climbing style. This works great as long as Sky is controlling the race and TD can just sit there and get sucked along when the true climbers launch an attack.
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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re: Sunweb, it will be interesting to see the 2018 Tour route when ASO unveils in later this fall (I read the other day that it will return to cobbles! Didn't suite Froomey that well previously) and if they have the crew to support it.

In my "way too early to predict" challengers to Froome in 2018, i've got: Landa, TD, Rigo, Nibali.

I think Aru, Zakarian, and Nairo are on the Giro + Vuelta program for the next 2 years
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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I think you're focusing too much on the Froome we saw this year who was trying to eke out his form to win consecutive Grand Tours, and forgetting about the Froome we've seen in previous Tours who has typically gone out and crushed all opposition on the first big summit finish of the race.

Froome IS one of the true climbers, in fact he's arguably the best true climber in the peloton when he's fresh and not holding back. He is a bit vulnerable on really steep gradients, but I think he could put some serious time into Dumoulin on a long climb.
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Re: UCI Worlds Team Time Trial: BMC/Quickstep/Sky/Sunweb [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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grumpier.mike wrote:
IMHO I don't see the TTT result as evidence of Sunweb new found strength. Kelderman rode well at the Vuelta but the team has struggled to protect Doumolin at the Giro and last year's Vuelta and it takes more than one climbing domestique to really control a race.

The advantage Sunweb has is the similar riding styles of TD and Froome. They both have that steady relentless climbing style. This works great as long as Sky is controlling the race and TD can just sit there and get sucked along when the true climbers launch an attack.

I tend to agree that if TD can sit with Froome and Sky along with Kelderman for help, then it really does not matter what the climbers on other teams try to do. It will boil down to a Froome vs Dumoulin ITT race.
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