I think you misunderstood me. I'm saying if the other riders are stronger than Froome they can still beat him even with that tactic. Many teams have drilled it on the front all day just for their leader to be dropped as soon as the attacking starts. At the end of the day, the strongest guy will find that pace the easiest and if I was that guy, I be happy for Sky to do the work of shedding the peloton.unc.si. wrote:I'm not really arguing whether he's the strongest or not. The point is that if you have 5 teammates drilling it at the front at a pace that the group can only just live with, knowing that they can drop off and roll in 20 minutes later, no-one can attack. Froome wouldn't be able to attack the Sky Train if he was on another team. Its a team race (which just happens to have an individual winner), so its a perfectly valid way of winning the race and you have to take your hat of to Froome and Sky for executing the plan. Its just not very exciting.SPR wrote:I still think if you're stronger on the last climb you win when the pace is high, the issue is, no one is stronger. The last time some looked like they might be stronger was 2014.
Contador in 2014 might have been able to attack of a Sky tempo, Quintana at his best has shown he can, no one else has really shown the ability though. Froome himself has shown the ability to attack off that pace, and that was usually his MO in the first mountain stage in past races. Wiggins wouldn't win these Tours.