Le Tour de France

Not sure if you guys are following this year's tour but it's been absolutely fantastic for our Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Considering we only have 2 Colombian riders this year (Serpa is the other rider) this year, it's been quiet promising for a new horde of Colombian youth riders. Rigoberto Uran finished 2nd in this year's Giro de Italia. Colombia also had it's OWN team at the Giro. This puts us back on the World class map.

The next two stages are a MUST see. These are two huge mountain stages that will define the Tour's winner. Scary as hell but where a guy like Quintana can get into a podium spot as this is his specialty.

He's not going to catch Froome (current leader) or Contador as they are very skilled and experienced in the mountain stages as well. But the other spots are doable. Quintana is also the current white jersey holder (given to the best youngest rider in the tour - usually under 25 yrs old).

If you guys recall the days of Lucho Herrera or Fabian Parra you'll know that Colombia has a strong history of cycling.

here is a great blog I follow written by a Colombian that will give you great perspective on Colombian cycling:
http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Overall individual time classification

Total distance covered: 2768 KM

RANK​

RIDERRIDER NO.TEAMTIMESGAP​

​

1.

GBR​

FROOME Christopher 1 SKY PROCYCLING 66h 07' 09'' ​

2.

ESP​

CONTADOR Alberto 91 TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 66h 11' 43'' + 04' 34''​

3.

CZE​

KREUZIGER Roman 94 TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF 66h 12' 00'' + 04' 51''​

4.

NED​

MOLLEMA Bauke 164 BELKIN PRO CYCLING 66h 13' 32'' + 06' 23''​

5.

COL​

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander 128 MOVISTAR TEAM 66h 14' 07'' + 06' 58''​

6.

ESP​

RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin 101 KATUSHA TEAM 66h 14' 30'' + 07' 21''​

7.

NED​

TEN DAM Laurens 167 BELKIN PRO CYCLING 66h 15' 32'' + 08' 23''​

8.

DEN​

FUGLSANG Jakob 63 ASTANA PRO TEAM 66h 16' 05'' + 08' 56''​

9.

POL​

KWIATKOWSKI Michal 153 OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 66h 18' 19'' + 11' 10''​

10.

IRL​

MARTIN Daniel 175 GARMIN - SHARP 66h 19' 59'' + 12' 50''​

 

Oh without a doubt this isnt to take from the guys that have done well in the past decade but watching the level and RESULTS of the past 2-3 years there is a new golden generation coming up.

"OG"




to the NEW Class of riders:

 

What a great stage for Nairo! He jumps to a PODIUM place in the GC to 3rd place, only seconds from Contador . With 2 big mountain stages to go! Holy crap I'm so excited. VAMOS COLOMBIA!!

 

You'll love today's stage.

Also, part of the reason they made this tour so 'unusual' this time around with climbs and tons of turns is because it's the 100th anniversary. Last year's tour was very dull and won by Sky (Wiggins) 1-2 slots. Not much changed during that tour and there were no real challengers. Quintana, Contador and Rodriguez (all 3 great climbers), will make the finish of this race a ton of fun.

 

what a great stage! Quintana is a beast: AND ONLY 23
CHAMPION OF THE MOUNTAINS - Pokadot jersey
YOUNGEST RIDER WINNER - White Jersey
1 stage win
2nd Place Podium finish

...just amazing.

http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/ciclismo/nairo-quintana_12939904-4

Histórico: Nairo ganó la etapa 20 y es segundo en la general del Tour

Por: EFE |​

9:45 a.m. | 20 de Julio del 2013

Nairo Quintana celebra su triunfo en la etapa 20 del Tour de Francia.​

Foto: AFP​

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Además, el pedalista colombiano es el campeón de la montaña y el mejor joven de la ronda gala.​

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El ciclista colombiano Nairo Quintana ganó este sábado en solitario la etapa 20 del Tour de Francia, con llegada en alto en Annecy-Semnoz, en los Alpes, y escaló a la segunda posición del podio, la víspera de que concluya la competición.​

El británico Chris Froome (Sky), tercero en la etapa por detrás del español Joaquim Rodríguez, que fue segundo, conserva la camiseta amarilla de líder de la clasificación general y es el virtual vencedor de la ronda gala. En la línea de meta, Quintana llegó solo, 16 segundos por delante de 'Purito' Rodríguez, quien escaló a la tercera posición del podio.​

En el Día de la Independencia de Colombia, el boyacense Quintana firmó la victoria 14 de etapa de un colombiano en el Tour de Francia, la primera desde el 2007, cuando Mauricio Soler se impuso en Briançon. La segunda plaza de la general de Quintana, que a sus 23 años participa por primera vez en esta carrera, es la mejor jamás ocupada por un colombiano en el Tour de Francia.​

El español Alberto Contador fue el gran perdedor del día, cediendo más de dos minutos y medio. El madrileño, que iba segundo en la general, cayó al cuarto puesto de la clasificación, a más de siete minutos del líder Froome.​

En la clasificación general, Froome lleva 5 minutos y 3 segundos de ventaja a Quintana, y 5 minutos y 47 segundos a Rodríguez. La última etapa, este domingo, será una formalidad de 133,5 kilómetros entre Versalles y París, con final en los Campos Elíseos, donde se espera que los embaladores se disputen el triunfo.​

Etapa 20​

1. Nairo Quintana 3 h 39 min 04 s​

2. Joaquim Rodríguez a 18 s​

3. Chris Froome a 29 s​

4. Alejandro Valverde a 1 min 42 s​

5. Richie Porte a 2 min 17 s​

24. José Serpa a 5 min 40 s​

Clasificación general​

1. Chris Froome 80 h 49 min 33 s​

2. Nairo Quintana a 5 min 03 s​

3. Joaquim Rodríguez a 5 min 47 s​

4. Alberto Contador a 7 min 10 s​

5. Roman Kreuziger a 8 min 10 s​

21. José Serpa a 45 min 51 s​

​

EFE​

 

remember he was not the team captain at the beginning of the Tour. He was there to support Valdeverde. Wonder how things may have changed had they given him the lead role from the start.

Two 2nd place finishes in two Grand tours on the same year...just amazing.

2nd Place overall : Giro 2013 - Rigoberto Uran (Sky)
2nd place overall : Tour de France 2013 - Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

I would love to see Nairo and team go for La Vuelta in August.

 

Yes, this year's Tour has been made for the fan. Usually you have to wait until about stage 8-9 to start to get a peek on competition but they have made pretty much every stage count. This is as competitive a field as I have seen. Dissapointed with Winner a bit and Nairo has a lot of catching up to do. Froome is looking strong but Contador to me is the man to beat for this Tour. Very well rounded rider. Uran also has a chance but I kind of feel he doesn't believe it himself.... Either way the next series of stages will be great and from about 11 on it's highly specialized which is great for Nairo and Co.

 

Great stage today from Froome starting the Pyrenean climbs.. Beast mode for Froome. Unless there's an accident I think he's too far gone. He left Nairo in the dust after that 6km push. Nairo will clearly be the only one with any chance to catch up with Froome but SKY i looks like the old USPS team that took Lance Armstrong to so many of his wins. Uran is all but done and can may be happy to get a top 10 finish if he makes up some time at the end of it all. Lots of fun stages to watch coming up but I'm afraid this is 85% in the bag for Froome.

Tomorrow, Stage 11:

 

Our man Quintana looked strong today. Froome just hung on but Quintana took :30 seconds off. Tomorrow, it's THE stage of the tour. The (In)famous Alpe D'Huez.... watch it live on NBC Sports tomorrow morning. Quintana all or bust. Riding two HC climbs for a combined 40km+ is just insane ---with some patches at an 11% incline. Last time around in the 2013 Alpe De Huez finish Quintana picked up 1'16" on Froome. But now down 2'38" will mean Quintana will have to attack much earlier than previous campaigns especially if he can reach the first summit before Froome as both Quintana and Froomer are weak decenders.

 

not impossible but surely 70/30. Problem is team SKY is very strong this year as is Froome. They have set the pace throughout the whole tour. MOVISTAR will try to break the group as much as possible. I Think Nairo has a shot. Today was the 1st time in the entire Tour he overtook Froome. He's tried in about 2-3 mountain stages (Pyrinees mostly) and Froome would reel him back in. This time he had no help from his teammates and the pace was very strong. Again, odds are Froome will win but I expect Nairo to make it interesting and winning the stage. Nairo will win white jersey (youngest rider) again and he will have the 2nd place podium but he wants more. Valdeverde (his teammate) needs to work smarter for Quintana.

 

Nairo won the youngest rider award in his 1st TdF in 2013. He also won KoM poka dot jersey that year which is highly coveted. Usually riders are peak at about 27+ and have a stretch of about 5 or so more years. TdF, Vuelta a Espana, Giro D Italia (the big 3) are 3 week tours and considered the hardest races in the world. But it's not common for anyone under 30 to win a 3 week race. You need a lot of experience and a great $$ team. Most teams pick a captain. They all work for the captain who is a GC rider(general classification) meaning a rider that is good at all (sprint, flat, mountain).
Froome is the best rider at the moment and has had an almost perfect tour. Looks very strong. He is the undisputed team captain at Sky. Movistar has Quintana as the captain BUT Movistar is a spanish team and their 2nd man, Valverde is a spaniard, and the one who was the captain back in 2013. So much so that even with a podium finish in his 1st tour, Movistar sent Quintana to the Giro d Italia (Quintana won the whole thing in his 1st try)for 2014 and had him skip the TdF and gave the focus to Valverde. But Valverde could only manage 4th.
Indurain (Spaniard) was the last dominant rider in the TdF prior to Armstrong. We will never know Armstrong's true level because of the doping. I used to watch Armstrong DESTROY the field going up mountains the way you and I ride going downhill...he was amazing to watch. Watch this starting at 1:05....

amazing.....

 

Yes, Valverde is in his mid 30s and a great rider but Movistar need another gem and Quintana is the perfect man to lead them for the next 10 years. No doubt he will be the 1st Colombian to win a TdF. We have won Vuelta de Espana (Lucho Herrera) and Giro D Italia (Nairo Quintana) but we've never had such a dominant rider with a dominate team. Back when Herrera was competing with the legend Bernard Hinault (FRA), Herrera was riding for Cafe De Colombia, who had 1/10th of the budget that BH and his team had.
Contador is still technically in contention in the top 10 but he lost too much time mid way thru the tour. Nibali (ITA) last year's TdFwinner (Froome withdrew after a crash and Nairo was not enlisted), won today's stage and has a ton of heart and is currently sitting 4th. He has an outside chance and his team, Astana, is very good.

The thing with the people so close to riders is a bit of tradition. TdF did not start with so many riders and or media. First and foremost, those scenes are usually in very high mountain stages. The paths are narrow so you can't put too much patrol around the area. Secondly, the riders are going uphill so they can only go so fast. But crashes have happened because of it. But there's a crazy type of etiquette because these riders are going up 5-12% inclines for MILES so sometimes you want someone to give you a bit of hope! If I were a betting man, I would say just like bike helmets are now mandatory so will the fact that fans will not be able to be so close in the future. But most of the accidents are not fan oriented. They are terrain, weather, speed and exhaustion oriented.

 

It's in my bucket list to watch at least one tour live. I didn't like all the smoke the fans lit up on the way up. Not cool. They showed a fan spitting at Froome yesterday. Today Quintana attacked and gained over a minute but not quite enough. Next year this will be his rave to lose. We still can be pretty proud of Quintana today.