Originally Posted by
Marcus_Ti
Barring a massive race ending crash or 10 minute delaying mechanical the GC winner was decided a few days ago. Contador/Valverde can't even keep up the pace with Froome on a Cat 2 mountain...forget about attacking and doing any kind of damage. Quintana can't even attack hard enough to open and hold a single second gap on a Cat 2 mountain, although he can at least keep his wheel. GC is done, aside from the lower podium steps. The Lanterne Rouge contest is more exciting at this point.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?
The good thing about Contador is we know he isn't going to quit, no matter how unlikely his chances (IIRC, he went balls-out for the overall on the last mountain day in 2013 and ended up losing out on a possible podium spot as a result). So while the race is over as a contest, there's still some racing to be done. If a few attacks by Quintana and Valverde can isolate Froome, and he ends up in a position where he has to choose to chase one or the other, then he could have to work very hard to keep his jersey, a bit like Contador dealing with Aru and Landa in the last week of the Giro. Like Contador, he looks to have more than enough cushion to handle it, but you never know. He lost time to Nibali and Valverde (and TvG!) on the Pra-Loup stage of the Dauphine (though they both paid for that the next day) which is repeated in the Tour on Wednesday. Again, the key there was that he (and Tejay) got isolated and had to chase alone.