MS has done a good job of doing very little work as a team thus far, but yesterday Yates needed to just ride his ride. Made no sense to look to Quintana. Given the tt nature of the race at that point I'm always wondering a little bit about the whole do the work thing. I think if a rider at that point with 1-2-3 k uphill to go just puts his head down and rides, he probably saves time. These jumps and follows and attacks don't really add up to much unless the stage itself is at stake. Pinot is already up the road, so get to the line as fast as possible and stop worrying about who you drag with you. They either hang or they don't. I guess I'm underestimating the benefit of following, even at 13%. In those situations I was always just thinking survival and don't fall over sideways.

MS has done a good job of doing very little work as a team thus far, but yesterday Yates needed to just ride his ride. Made no sense to look to Quintana. Given the tt nature of the race at that point I'm always wondering a little bit about the whole do the work thing. I think if a rider at that point with 1-2-3 k uphill to go just puts his head down and rides, he probably saves time. These jumps and follows and attacks don't really add up to much unless the stage itself is at stake. Pinot is already up the road, so get to the line as fast as possible and stop worrying about who you drag with you. They either hang or they don't. I guess I'm underestimating the benefit of following, even at 13%. In those situations I was always just thinking survival and don't fall over sideways.

When you really think about it though, it was brilliant by Yates the way it worked out. Pinot up the road is the least of his worries compared to how he, Lopez, Quintana, and Valverde would finish at the line. They are by far the most immediate threat to him. The stage win was already out of the question, but there are still 4 and 6 second time bonuses available between the 4 of them. 2 people are going to lose out if they all ride hard tempo to the line. So Yates makes a decision to see if Movistar will work, and eventually Valverde comes through to the front on the flatter section. This allows Yates to jump both Valverde and Quintana at the line and take the 4 second bonus, plus small time gaps at the line. If Yates just TT's to the finish, Lopez and Valverde probably out kick him and he loses more time to his closest rivals.

At the end of the day, if you told Yates with 3 km to go while they were all together (Yates, Quintana, Valverde, Lopez) that he would gain 6 seconds on Valverde and 8 seconds on Quintana while losing 4 seconds to Lopez...he would probably take that all day.

Had Valverde not come through, Pinot gains more time...Lopez gains more time, then Yates is forced to chase while Valverde jumps him for 3rd and Yates/Quintana come across ST...then yeah...that would have been a disaster. You could call him a bone head if that happened...but what actually unfolded worked pretty well all things considered.

yeah it worked out well for him and i don't mind the tactics, just the constant complaining that movistar aren't riding the way he wants them to