Le Tour 2018
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@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
Not surprisingly, after last night's stage, Thomas and Froome are first and second and Sky has an iron grip on the race.
What is good news (hopefully) is that George Bennett's Lotto Jumbo team mates, Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk are in 5th and 6th and have been pretty competitive. If you add in Robert Gesink, who can climb - Lotto Jumbo could potentially put out a really strong team for next year's TdF - hopefully with George as team leader.
Is it just me or does Thomas look like the second best rider in the tour yet again? Shame that we can't see those two battle it out.
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@tewaio said in Le Tour 2018:
@scribe said in Le Tour 2018:
@mariner4life I rode this stage last week and it's tough. The HC climb is only 6 km but averages 11% and the road is not that wide. I wouldn't be surprised if there are GC gaps especially after the amount of energy both physical and mental that was expended on the cobbles.
That was L'Etape I am guessing? A friend of mine who I cycle with regularly did it as well, he's no slouch and got round in 9.5 hours......TDF winner yday did it in 4hrs 25!! Goes to show what a different level these guys are compared to weekend warriors. A 4hr+ average of 350W or something...
Yes it was le etape du tour. I’m an average club cyclist and got around in 8.5 hours. It was hot (40 degrees on the road according to my Garmin) and as tough as expected, though I approached it this time from the point of completing rather than competing. These guys did it 4 hours quicker and maintain the same intensity for 3 weeks. It’s just insane! When I did I the etape a couple of years, the guy who got the quickest time on that stage that day was an ex-pro. When the peloton did the stage a few days later (Stage 18/21), his time would’ve been good enough for dead last (including all the sprinters in the grupetto just hanging out or Paris).
Thomas is just about my favourite cyclist so was really happy for him yesterday. He typically has one very bad day in the tour – hope it’s not today. There’s 5000 metres of climbing today with the Madeleine (29 km long ) and Croix de Fer (22 km) to soften them up before they hit Alpe du Huez.
Not sure who has got anything to attack Team Sky. Dumoulin is looking the most likely but I also have a suspicion that Nibali will try something big today. Sky will need their climbing domestiques Poels and Bernal to pull their fingers out as yesterday they were as disappointing as much as Kwiatkowski was brilliant, and I’m sure they’ll want to protect both Thomas and Froome until the business end.
I also hope the anti-Sky / Froome sentiment doesn’t boil over today on Alpe du Huez. Lots of fans would’ve spent numerous days ‘fuelling’ up and its typically where the nutters like to appear.
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The Giro was sealed at this point. Yates looked utterly commanding.
Froome's legs may give out yet. There's a reason the Giro-Tour double is rare.
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@chester-draws True - though if Froome gives out the most likely beneficiary will be his team mate Thomas. Only guy within real spitting distance of Froome is Dumoulin who, of course, also rode the Giro. A spectator has taken out Nibali overnight.
I foolishly got sucked into watching how Kruijswijk would get on with his bold break last night. For a while it looked like he had a chance of surviving, with Sky having used up a couple of their men and Poels and Castroviejo looking to be struggling, but a couple of the other teams annoyingly helped them chase for a while. Kruiswijk got to the bottom of Alpe d'Huez with about 20 seconds per kilometre to give up, but it soon became evident that he was giving up more than that and they caught him with 4kms to ride.
Things are interestingly poised in Team Sky - Thomas is now 1.39 ahead of Froome and, although he was clearly setting the pace for Froome up the latter part of the climb, he currently looks as strong. Still three mountain stages to go, but I wonder whether, he would - at some point - get ordered to let Froome win. Or whether they'd be left to fight it out in the final time trial.
Other big thing that happened overnight was the withdrawal of several more big sprinters. Sagan miles ahead in the green jersey now.
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@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
Other big thing that happened overnight was the withdrawal of several more big sprinters. Sagan miles ahead in the green jersey now.
was laughing at Michelton Scott this morning.. fcuk they must be pi$$ed they left their 61kg sprinter at home - cause all the sprinters gone now so they would have been in the box seat for him to take some stages as much more likely to survive climbs.
all the money they just dropped on Yates and he lost 30 mins today... when eggs in one basket strategies go bad...
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@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
Other constraining factor for Sky is that while Dumoulin is right on Froome's coat tails, they can't afford to have Thomas ease back - so in a strange way, Tom is Geraint's ally and GT has an interest in not cracking him!
it will be interesting as G is untested really over 3 weeks best result is like 15th... but Froome and Tom both have a Giro in their legs.
Shame Nibali gone as that would have mixed things up... keep an eye on Roglic -
@williethewaiter true that Thomas is untested over 3 weeks but he's never really been protected to this extent before. When he was lying fourth a couple of years back and then cracked, he had been burying himself for Froome every day in the mountains. He looked really strong yesterday. I'm not sure either TD or CF will take much if anything out of Thomas on the time trial. Thomas won the British TT title immediately before the Tour. He smashed it big time (on a longer course than stage 20's TT).
I think key to his chances of taking GC is how much the likes of Poels, Kwia, Castroviejo and Bernal have left to drive things for him and Froome in the Pyrenees. If Thomas is forced to pull for any length of time (he acknowledges Froome is still the leader) it certainly won't help him.
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If Bevin is going to win one, today isn't a bad option
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Tom scully off in a break early
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@mariner4life riding with Mr Breakaway himself Thomas Degendt. Let's hope this one sticks but it looks like Arnaud Demare fancies it today as his team seem to be prominent already at head of the Peloton (and FDJ have done nothing of note so far in the Tour).
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And it's sagan. Becaus he's awesome
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@williethewaiter said in Le Tour 2018:
@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
... keep an eye on RoglicYeah, I am, because I've got a Slovenian friend that I've discussed Roglic and George with - and because I'm watching Lotto-Jumbo.
Unfortunately, if he and Kruijswijk do too well then next year George might end up riding as a super-domestique rather than team leader. And right now Roglic is doing very well.
He managed to "win" last night against the other GC riders, breaking away on the short final climb to pick up 8 seconds on Thomas, Froome and Dumoulin and more over everyone else. If Lotto-Jumbo hadn't lost a minute to Sky in the team time trial, he'd be right up there with Froome and Dumoulin.
An advantage Roglic has over George is that he's also an excellent time trialist - silver in the World Champs last year.
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@chris-b A team can have two GC contenders, because only one can be on top form at a time.
Plenty of guys support their leader in the Tour, but are given their own chance at the Vuelta. LottoNLJ have let George have the Tour off, so I don't think he's expect to support Roglic.
What team should he ride for? The good ones have higher ranked GC contenders or sprinters, and the ones he would be outright leader for aren't good enough to support big time wins.
Movistar have three guys at this Tour with bigger names than George. Teams cope.
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@chester-draws George just re-signed with Lotto Jumbo for three years - for what's likely to be most of the peak years of his career - so that die is cast.
No doubt teams can have two contenders - and even co-leaders, and they can switch horses during the race. In this year's tour, for instance, it's Kruijswijk who is the designated leader of LJ, not Roglic (though I reckon horses wouldn't be far from being switched).
According to George, he's being given the leadership for the Vuelta (which I'm sure he'll get) and then next year's TdF. But, if Roglic holds onto fourth or even improves to a podium spot, I reckon George would need a pretty good Vuelta to stop a re-think on that plan.
Probably better for George's aspirations if Roglic has a bad day and fades to eighth.
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I know the result was basically decided last week, but is this the best tour for ages? Every stage seems to be great fun to watch. The mountains were good, the cobbles were carnage, last night was mental at the start, with no breaks being able to form due to a ridiculous pace from the peleton. The racing just seems to be really hard this year.
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@mariner4life said in Le Tour 2018:
I know the result was basically decided last week, but is this the best tour for ages? Every stage seems to be great fun to watch. The mountains were good, the cobbles were carnage, last night was mental at the start, with no breaks being able to form due to a ridiculous pace from the peleton. The racing just seems to be really hard this year.
Agree, in recent years its been so boring compared with the Giro and Vuelta.
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@mariner4life I think there's still some intrigue to come.
Dumoulin is only 11 seconds behind Froome and Froome is riding for his legacy - I'm pretty doubtful he's going to be happy to let Thomas win for Sky. So Froome's got to put more time between himself and Dumoulin before the final time trial.
If I'm Dumoulin, I'd be thinking I can't cover both of them, so I'd just ignore anything Thomas does and sit on Froome - ask him if he's willing to let his team mate win.
Sky's to lose, but they could fuck it up by trying to engineer the win for Froome.
Of course, Froome's probably going to unleash a blistering ride like he did in the Giro and blow everyone away, but that's still to happen. The pundits are expecting it on Stage 17.
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And Sky lost a rider last night for being a bit too fighty
