Quintana says he learned from TDF errors. Which, exactly?

//Quintana says he learned from TDF errors. Which, exactly?

Quintana says he learned from TDF errors. Which, exactly?

Quintana. What errors?

The news today out of Colombia super climber Nairo Quintana is that his “sueño amarillo” — yellow jersey dream — is alive and well. He just has to clean up some stuff to finally win the Tour de France and beat three time winner Chris Froome and those annoying SkyBots.

“I am more confident, the team is more consolidated, and we keep working for the best possible manner,” he said. “We’ve learned from our errors, and we will be even better,” said Quintana.

Question: what errors in the Tour de France is he talking about? Quintana admits that he suffered from allergies in Le Tour. His breathing was compromised and so he struggled to perform at the highest level in his usual playground, the highest mountains.

So what’s the error here? Not bringing an inhaler? Not following the gray ethical path of Bradley Wiggins and working the TUE to your advantage?

Two years ago, the error was pretty clear. Quintana waited until the third and final week of the Tour de France to attack the race leader Froome. By then it was too little, too late. He cut into Froome’s time advantage but not enough to make his rival sweat.

It was a timing error, aggression postponed, delayed intimidation. That seemed like an easy fix — don’t procrastinate, Nairo, stick the knife in earlier. Even cycling journalists can figure out these things.

In last year’s Grand Boucle, Quintana had his allergy issues and also his wind debacle. The little Colombian suffered more than most with the strong winds that hit the second week. He didn’t seem to recover as well or it took him longer to recover. Whatever, the result was the same — not enough power in the pedals to attack and open a sustainable gap on Froome.

Can we consider wind to be a tactical error? Not much Quintana and his Movistar squad can do about the wind. It tends to blow whenever and wherever it wants and Mother Nature doesn’t really take requests. Wind and allergies definitely held Quintana back but we can’t stick them in a box labeled Mistakes in Judgement.

There’s not doubt there were moments in the Tour where Quintana might have adjusted his strategy. And certainly, if he has identified certain things to correct, there’s no use telling Sky what you’ve figured out for the future. Still, we’re just curious — what errors does Quintana have in mind?

 

By |2019-02-03T15:44:59-08:00November 30th, 2016|Uncategorized|2 Comments

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2 Comments

  1. david.king@darroch.co.nz November 30, 2016 at 6:31 pm - Reply

    how about the error of sitting up when on froomes wheel on a downhill run to the finish line. froome takes the stage that valverde would have absolutely won in a flat sprint at the end of a mountain day, if he didnt have to try and reduce the time loss.

    • walshworld December 2, 2016 at 12:59 pm - Reply

      David, there you go– thanks for the memory jog. Yes, that certainly qualifies as a error. STAY AWAKE, NAIRO! Matt

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