Team Sky: Where did it all go wrong?

Sky certainly panicked when things didn't go to plan. The Antman never had the cleverest mind#

Froome just follows team instructions and it's not too difficult to remember because it's the same every day of the year

Plan A: Ride on the front
Plan B: There is no Plan B

Froome had everything under controll after following the Valverde attack, they were unable to put him under pressure with 7 MOV and about 5 STT

Clay i know most of what you put is tongue in cheek and a wind up, but you are having a laugh!

Yesterday was just a freak stage, one i have not seen the like of before and one which sky hadn't planned on. Everything that could go wrong did, but it was just that a freak.

In the many years i have been watching i have never seen so many of the Gc contenders attack so early in a mountain stage. Froome was on his own before Hesjedal made his final attack, probably the strongest attack was from Valverde on the second climb, who really blew the race open. at one point Valverde had Froome fighting to get back on and Contador had been distanced by a good couple of hundred metres.

There is only Ventoux this week so Kennaugh and Thomas will boh be fully fit by the time they hit the alps next week.

If anything my conclussion from the weekend would be that Contador really is out of form, he struggled on saturday and was clearly dropped at one point yesterday. Looks like Movistar have a really strong in form team and s it promises to be a really good battle between Froome and Valverde. but with 2 timetrials before we get to the alps, froome is just going to be to far clear for Valverde to catch him.

No mention of Richie Porte HB? Or Kiryienka being eliminated? Sky were awful. Tactics all over the place.
Contador is getting better and better and will be Froome's biggest challenger

rest day today Clay, so expect Porte to be back to his superhuman best very shortly

Clay -- you've actually watched the race this year and saw Contador "getting better and better"?

When? Which stage? Which moves? Please furnish this thread the proof?

I would say that the only one who showed some form improvement is Schleck, however it wasn't enough to stimulate confidence in the upswing continuing into anything worthwhile on GC, or stage glory.

Cheers,
SP

Froome, best climber and time trialler, says it all really

SP - I'm disappointed in you as you are usually far more reasoned than this.
They interviewed Schleck (no fan of Contador) after Stage 9 and he was saying that Movistar really messed up blah blah and he said he was surprised Contador didn't attack. Interviewer asked him if Contador has the legs to attack and Schleck said Contador rode very strong today.
Also Rogers said after the Stage that had to keep telling Contador to calm it up the final climb and that this was not the day to attack with a 30lm descent.
I can buy that from Rogers because I counted three times on the final climb where Contador pulled to the outside looking as if he wanted to go.

Clay -- I'm sorry you are disappointed, but since I know you are having a laugh with this Contador business I am not disappointed at all.

You've just stated it yourself, Schleck was surprised that Contador didn't attack. Okay, he listened to Rogers to not do so because it wasn't the right time... but my question, my request to you was for proof of him "getting better and better".  Just because he has the legs to stick with a large group which wasn't doing anything, doesn't mean he is getting better.

To be judged getting better, is to provide one of his now infamous pseudo-attacks -- "looking as if he wanted to go" is NOT proof!

Cheers,
SP

If that wasn't the day to attack-when is?

eh how about the big 4 mountain stages around the corner!! That is when to attack.

Bertie struggled in the Vuelta early on last year and got better and better. He traditional gets stronger as a grand tour continues. The real bertie will turn up in the Alps

So he isn't getting better and better, but will be getting better and better in the Alps...

Where do you figure he'll be in the ITT, tomorrow, Clay?

Cheers,
SP

8th, 9th or 10th would be my guess. urs?

Mate, if he's just scratching the top-10 than he's losing even more time to Froome, whom in yellow, has a genuine chance to win the stage. Wrong answer mate, but for once you're being honest about his chances. SP.

Froome has no chance of winning this Stage. If he beats Martin in this TT then I will be really asking questions

"No chance" is a pretty big call, Clay. Nevertheless, how much more time can Bertie afford to lose to Froome? It seems you think that Contador can take back over 2mins in the Alps? SP.

Yes I do

you do realise there are 2 TT's before the alps Clay?? i would imagine Contador (already nearly 2 mins down) is going to lose at least another 2 mins over the two TT's, putting him 4 mins + down on Froome! You really believe he can pull that back over the alps??

mont ventoux before 2nd time trial - I reckon he could make up the time he loses tomorrow (I'm hoping he ain't much) before 2nd TT

game over. cant see much going wrong

Loads can go wrong, serious amount of miles to cycle yet, plenty of climbing and plenty descending to be done.
Looks good for Froome of course, but not over yet.

And a lot of that Froome will be without a team mate, going by what ive seen so far.

buddeliea -- I think you'll find that geoff is inferring the situation on paper. Of course many things can go wrong, but who wants to sit there hoping for a crash or illness to a fellow human being, let alone a top class athlete!? And when was the last time a dominant performance was lost in such a manner? I mean, if you really wanted to raise the level of inquiry, you might want to assist in answering such a legitimate question?

Cheers,
SP

he said he cant see much going wrong,i just pointed out that plenty CAN go wrong.none of us want anything happening to Froome,i never implied anyone would, although of course risk is there in this sport as we see all the time.
To me Froome looked a tad vulnerable in the last mountain stage,and with many climbs to come and the probability of tackling those climbs without a team mate for much of them,i think we still have a genuine race on our hands,although I do accept his time difference will be hard to peg back.

cheers

I don't expect to see Froome so isolated that early in a stage again, the fall of Kennaugh and the very poor daxy of Porte came together unfortunately

Clay, Froome has shown that he can put minutes into all of his rivals on the first MTF stage and the first TT. He has a 3.25 lead over his nearest rival, which means that he can just do an Indurain for the rest of the Tour. So, I can see him giving up some of his lead in the mountains. It would be smart for him to do that rather than dominate each mountain stage as his performances are starting to raise eyebrows amongst more and more people. Altho that hasn't stopped him yet.

I think some of the top riders find his performances unbelievable, and whether he is clean or not, some of them from different teams might actually work together in the mountains to put some time into him. I don't think that will bother Froome once he retains the majority of his time advantage and he knows that he can do it all again in the other TTs if he needs to.

Unless he has a crash or finds himself isolated in the mountains and gets a mechanical, I can't see him losing that much time. I can't see him being isolated tho, I think Porte will be as strong as most for the majority of the remaining MTF stages.

I thought Tony Martin's interview yesterday was very revealing

what did it reveal?

buddeliea -- fair enough, I accept your comment.

In regard to Froome, I haven't seen any vunerability whatsoever. I did see the potential of an all-out, tag-team, bar-room brawl against him in that last mountain stage to which you refer -- and that would've been interesting to see, however no one was willing to make personal sacrifices to beat him down. Nevertheless, this scenario still exists for the Alps, but I think Sky are planning for it and devising a suitable defence.

Cheers,
SP

bb66 - he was just saying that he was in shock watching Froome as he felt he had no chance of beating his time. He said course really suited him and not Froome. He said for half an hour he was in real shock

SP - what would their defence be? bet they wish they have Uran on the team now

Still working on it Clay, but I disagree with the inference that they'll sitting around the table hoping for things that they can't change. Nevertheless, I've made my thoughts known about the whole Wiggins and Uran in the Giro scenario, earlier. SP.

No worries SP,
Perhaps its just wishful thinking on my part wanting a real race to develop, and hoping for some real attacks on the yellow jersey in the Alps that will make it closer overall.
I aint that bothered who wins the race, just don't want to see the race over with this early. I think I have a chance of that, albeit a fairly slim one. For sure Froomes challengers have to try and break him in the Alps somehow, whether they can is the question.

It's a fair point really, I would hope we all want to see that. My strong antepost positions have allowed me some freedom to enjoy the racing and look for these supplementary movements at the margins, and if we can draw-out a promising thread than there's still plenty of fun to be had. SP.

The problem is that movistar seem content with 2nd place. They have the tools to hit Froome with a one-two punch but they will now ride defensively and that is sad. When Bertie attacks, Movistar will work to reel him in instead of leaving it to Sky and Froome.

A scenario where I can see Froome under pressure is if he is isolated on a climb. And a Valverde/Contador attack him near the summit and they go for it on the descent and the rest of the group say to Froome "You are going to have to chase him on the descent, we ain't doing it".....I can see Froome being under severe pressure on a technical descent under those circumstances

every team bar sky is content with second place

There is always the chance that Movistar and Saxo have hit the tour aiming for that 3rd week and if they get it right this race is far from over.I have always felt that Skys tactics can be pretty poor when things aren`t going to plan and i can see them put to the test in the Alps.I don`t see Contador losing much time in next weeks time trial due to it being a lot tougher than this weeks.Roll on next Thurs/Fri/Sat and lets hope for an epic 3 days.

Sky's tactics are never great for a team that is supposedly meticulous about every minute detail, they seem to only be able to race one way. Stare at the power meter and don't allow rivals to break.

I am not convinced about today tho, I think Froome has to look human/fallible again after his mutant performances. He was able to cope on his own for 60km on stage 9, so isolation alone will not be enough if he is as strong as he has been in the mountains previously. I would be surprised to see him badly dropped in the mountains.

If Froome was going well he would have been able to jump across a 6 second gap.To me he is now in big trouble,his team has collapsed and plan A is falling apart and there is no plan B.

yes it's true the team aren't performing as they would have liked at the start, but i think there is 2 things to remember here -
1. They have lost 2 team members and have one carrying an injury so are effectively a 6 man team.
2. Not a criticism of Froome as a rider because he is pure quality, but he is just not a natural team leader like Wiggins is or Evans is,and that makes a hell of difference in galvanizing a big team effort.

However despite this I don't really think it will effect Froome too much because he is such strong rider, in such great form, and if anything thrives doing his own thing. And he won't be the first rider to win the tour when his team hasnt performed to it's best.

Chris looked a very worried man at the end of today

Well a minute plus taken out of Froome on a flat stage, bodes well for my wishes of a close race as they head towards the Alps. Nice to see this race is far from over.

And sky certainly are vulnerable, no doubt.

Yes Budd but i think the gap will be quite a bit bigger before we get to the alps, as we have ventoux and a TT before then. And i expect Froome to pick up more time on both of them.

Yeh,of course that's possible,but their are a few climbers that could well work together tmrw that could upset Froome,and the TT is a climbers TT and possible that it wont affect the times too much, especially if Froome has been without teammates on Ventoux which certainly looks likely.
Also,will Froome go for it that much tmrw, knowing what is ahead towards the end of the week??

I do take yer point though Happyb.

still game over guys

I couldn`t have been more wrong....Brilliant ride Chris

Yeh,looks that way Geoff,but still some tough stages ahead, and it could still change. but the way Froome is riding its hard to see that happening.

To be honest it looks more likely that he will increase his lead!!