Originally Posted by
joejack951
This isn't the first time a lone cyclist in a Grand Tour has outpaced a group on a descent, whether first up the climb or gapped off the back. It seems fairly common even for the lone descending cyclist to be faster given that they have more of the road to use and can pick better lines through the corners. Perhaps the aero penalty of pedaling while sitting on the top tube isn't that bad due the air speeds being lower near the road and feet not being all that wide to begin with, and perhaps Froome isn't a good enough descender to make those sorts of gains on a chasing group without pumping out some massive watts.
Quintana was left floundering because he took so long to react in my opinion, though Froome can also take a big chunk of credit for a very well planned attack.
Well, the point was that according to interviews with Froome afterwards, it wasn't planned. The style of descending was as evidenced by Froome's comments about the extra teeth on his big chainring, but the strategic location and timing wasn't. The group that Froome left at the top of the mountain wasn't very large.
Yes, it isn't unusual for a lone cyclist to outpace a group, but that has as much to do with the talent of the riders involved, and in this case, it was Froome getting into the best aero position and adding to that with pedalling (when needed to exit corners or when the incline flattened slightly).