Kevin De Weert did make the interesting point that the importance of the podium at the tour probably hampered Movistar, since they found it important enough to protect their two podium places as opposed to using a more aggressive approach. I do think the fact that Valverde ended in third place shows that they perhaps did not use all of their "bullets" in the best possible way. Tactically I was also confused by some of their choices, e.g. sending Valverde after Contador when they really should have left the job to Sky. I don't believe they would have remained so "passive" if the same scenario unfolds in the Giro or the Vuelta (where a podium place is not so highly regarded). I also suspect that they will regret not doing more in this tour to win it, since it is unlikely that the race will be as tailor-made for a pure climber like Quintana next year.
I wonder what Quintana could have gotten if Valverde had lived up to his part of the plan on the Croix de Fer. Valverde was supposed to lead Qunitana over the top and help him descend but instead Nairo had to hold up and wait for him near the top, then Valverde got left behind by both Quintana and Froome on the decent. If they go over without having to hold up and bomb the decent does that put Frrome into enough difficulty that Nairo cracks him earlier on the Alpe?
You raise some good points, but at the end of the day, Quintana may have been a better high-mountain climber than Froome. We'll never know, though, because he waited too long to make a move. I don't think Contador would have waited that long. In any event, chapeau to Froome. He managed to keep his focus despite a lot of distractions swirling around him. And chapeau to everyone who made this thread one of the longest and mostinteresting Tour threads we've had in some time. I hope y'all stick around for the Vuelta and Lombardia and come back for next year's spring classics!
Looking forward already to seeing next years route. It has to favour the all rounder, well I'd hope so anyway. This last one really favoured the climbers. I know it's popular to many to see riders busting their guts going up vertical walls but I for one would like to see the playing field "leveled a bit" so to speak. Somewhere between that monster Greipel and Quintana. Perhaps it's just because I like the style of Sagan and his like. Prolly my favourite rider of the tour. We'll find out come October.
Well having said all that, I've just looked at the pre race summary of the Vuelta. Holy crap that one is going to be a vertical race. It doesn't even mention going down at all.
I do wonder how many of these top ten riders will still be unblemished in five years time. I have my opinion about who might be the first to have his bubble pierced. And no, it's not who you might think it is, but I'm not going to suggest things I have no proof for.
Matthias Frank? Quintana waited because of Valverde. Valverde wanted to reach the podium, for the first time. Valverde is more of a seasoned guy and it's a Spanish team with Spanish sponsor. Furthermore, Froome needed to weaken and even then the Skybots were so strong that they could claw back world class climbers. Mind, even USPostal couldn't do that, with the exception of Roberto Heras. If the rivals attacked, it was in 99% of the cases down to Armstrong himself to chase them.