Le Tour 2018
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@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
Thomas answered all the questions!
Froome does very well to give lots of fucks about finishing on the podium and push Roglic off.
Thought this was some interesting commentary in the Guardian...
"That battle is likely to be even more intense given that Thomas, Dumoulin, Chris Froome and Roglic are all strong time triallists, and all capable of winning this final decisive stage.
This race has been the Tour of the rouleur-climber – riders with all-round abilities – capable of riding strongly and at high rhythmic speeds in the mountains, holding their own in the crosswinds and on the cobbles, and of winning time trials.
All four of this quartet are of the new breed of Grand Tour contender, tall, skeletal and powerful. The days when diminutive climbers dominated stage races, creating big time gaps in the mountain stages and then battling to hang on in the time trials – the best recent example of this being the late Marco Pantani – are gone.
In many ways Team Sky’s high tempo style of catenaccio climbing suits riders like Thomas, Dumoulin and Roglic with their highly refined power-to-weight ratios, while it dissuades the more explosive climbers, such as Nairo Quintana and Romain Bardet.
The reality is that Quintana, Mikel Landa, Bardet et al can huff and puff all they like in the mountains, snatching seconds here and there. It is dramatic and exciting, but even in a mere 31km against the clock their time trialling capabilities are so limited, that Thomas, Dumoulin, Roglic and Froome will always have the upper hand."
That is a challenge for George. One thing Lotto Jumbo will have learned from this tour is that their team needs to have better team time trialling capability if there's a team time trial. that cost Roglic about a minute.
Great analysis 👏
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@mariner4life said in Le Tour 2018:
Wales isn't even a real country
Well done Thomas, a great tour.
We've got plenty of country 😉
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I was born soon after my English parents landed in NZ. They are much more Kiwi than English now -- they abandoned their GB passports a while back.
I'm not assimilated, because I'm completely Kiwi to the bones. However I have a British passport. I used it recently to get a job, because there were far fewer hoops to jump through. It also helps slightly in some situations travelling.
When people asked what nationality I was, I always said British, despite having lived briefly in England and with English parents. I'm definitely not Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Manx etc. But I just can't bring myself to say English.
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My nationality is British (there is no Welsh, English, Scottish or N Irish passort) and my ethnicity is Welsh based on this definition
ethnicity
ɛθˈnɪsɪti/
noun
noun: ethnicity; plural noun: ethnicitiesthe fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
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@Chester-Draws That all makes perfect sense, though I think your nationality should be determined on how you say "Give us a kiss"
@MiketheSnow I always used to consider myself British first and English second but I find this less so these days. I reckon this is down to the degree of divisiveness we are seeing all around, most notably with all that SNP bollocks north of the wall. Dunno if you saw the recent news about people serving in the armed forces based in Scotland now having to be paid more than their English/Welsh/NI/Overseas based brothers due to the SNP raising higher levels of tax in Scotland? Seems as though that whole "power to set our own taxes" thing is working out well.
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@chris-b said in Le Tour 2018:
Thomas answered all the questions!
Froome does very well to give lots of fucks about finishing on the podium and push Roglic off.
Thought this was some interesting commentary in the Guardian...
"That battle is likely to be even more intense given that Thomas, Dumoulin, Chris Froome and Roglic are all strong time triallists, and all capable of winning this final decisive stage.
This race has been the Tour of the rouleur-climber – riders with all-round abilities – capable of riding strongly and at high rhythmic speeds in the mountains, holding their own in the crosswinds and on the cobbles, and of winning time trials.
All four of this quartet are of the new breed of Grand Tour contender, tall, skeletal and powerful. The days when diminutive climbers dominated stage races, creating big time gaps in the mountain stages and then battling to hang on in the time trials – the best recent example of this being the late Marco Pantani – are gone.
In many ways Team Sky’s high tempo style of catenaccio climbing suits riders like Thomas, Dumoulin and Roglic with their highly refined power-to-weight ratios, while it dissuades the more explosive climbers, such as Nairo Quintana and Romain Bardet.
The reality is that Quintana, Mikel Landa, Bardet et al can huff and puff all they like in the mountains, snatching seconds here and there. It is dramatic and exciting, but even in a mere 31km against the clock their time trialling capabilities are so limited, that Thomas, Dumoulin, Roglic and Froome will always have the upper hand."
That is a challenge for George. One thing Lotto Jumbo will have learned from this tour is that their team needs to have better team time trialling capability if there's a team time trial. that cost Roglic about a minute.
Nice analysis.
If there's no team time trial, then there's two individual ones. So Roglic would have been even further behind.
There is a very short team time trial at the start of next year's race. No-one should lose too much on 29 km.
I suspect a cobble stage will be repeated. They're staging it in honour of Eddy Merckx, and I presume he rode cobbles. Maybe one in the dirt like they ride in Brittany?
I can't see it being as mountainous. I assumed they did that to disadvantage Froome compared to two tts. Shouldn't be an issue for 2019.
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Fucking Frogs as bad as the BBC.
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'Vive Le Tour' mic drop.
Leg End 👏🍻
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And congratulations to Debbie Wharton, the lady who founded Maindy Flyers, Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe's home cycling club.
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@mikethesnow said in Le Tour 2018:
Classic impartial reporting from the BBC
Thomas and Poulter
Wales to a tea.
Countrymen wins one the great annual truly global sporting events; finds something to bitch about.
Just enjoy it man, colossal achievement!!
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@mikethesnow said in Le Tour 2018:
My nationality is British (there is no Welsh, English, Scottish or N Irish passort) and my ethnicity is Welsh based on this definition
ethnicity
ɛθˈnɪsɪti/
noun
noun: ethnicity; plural noun: ethnicitiesthe fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
by that definition, is the Fern an ethnicity? There's sure as shit a cultural tradition on here... would love a Fern passport. Hell, could branch off into drivers licenses and turn a bit of coin.
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@majorrage said in Le Tour 2018:
@mikethesnow said in Le Tour 2018:
Classic impartial reporting from the BBC
Thomas and Poulter
Wales to a tea.
Countrymen wins one the great annual truly global sporting events; finds something to bitch about.
Just enjoy it man, colossal achievement!!
Oh I am.
Posted the pics before he won
Mate tweeted the Beeb and they changed it to Welshman 👌
Today this Welshman is British.
Last year when he fell off his bike he was Welsh.
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I'm happy to see him win, just Sky is still too strong. And I want to make it clear that this is not their fault.
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@wairau said in Le Tour 2018:
to anyone saying Sky is too strong, and it is boring, I say: The All Blacks
do you say the same thing about our All Blacks when they win all the time?
Slight difference in that a big part of Sky's dominance comes down to money. Some view it as an unfair advantage even if there are no rules about it and others are free to find the same levels of funding if they can.
It doesn't help that Brailsford is an unlikeable tosspot and when called out about dodgy behaviour they 'lose and forget' evidence. -
@crucial @Wairau I'd say the bigger reason is that there are at least 4 million people that are very strong fans of the All Blacks, whereas the cycling teams do not engender that much emotion and certainly not with a such a wide swathe of people. I mean, who has allegiance to a corporate sponsored, made up team?
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@catogrande said in Le Tour 2018:
@crucial @Wairau I'd say the bigger reason is that there are at least 4 million people that are very strong fans of the All Blacks, whereas the cycling teams do not engender that much emotion and certainly not with a such a wide swathe of people. I mean, who has allegiance to a corporate sponsored, made up team?
Chelsea and Man Utd seem to go ok
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@mikethesnow said in Le Tour 2018:
@catogrande said in Le Tour 2018:
@crucial @Wairau I'd say the bigger reason is that there are at least 4 million people that are very strong fans of the All Blacks, whereas the cycling teams do not engender that much emotion and certainly not with a such a wide swathe of people. I mean, who has allegiance to a corporate sponsored, made up team?
Chelsea and Man Utd seem to go ok
Yet 20 years ago you'd never meet a Chelsea "fan". Abramovich sells his stake and they may well go back to that state.
When I was a kid there were loads of Liverpool "supporters" and now there's lots of Manchester City "supporters" -- many of whom couldn't place Manchester to the right country, let alone county.
It's a combination of billionaire egos and massive Ponzi scheme.
All Black fans follow them through thick and thin, and don't change allegiance. There are quite a few real Chelsea fans like that, but not the millions who purport to support them.
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@mikethesnow said in Le Tour 2018:
@catogrande said in Le Tour 2018:
@crucial @Wairau I'd say the bigger reason is that there are at least 4 million people that are very strong fans of the All Blacks, whereas the cycling teams do not engender that much emotion and certainly not with a such a wide swathe of people. I mean, who has allegiance to a corporate sponsored, made up team?
Chelsea and Man Utd seem to go ok
If only I could remember which bunch of corporate fluffybunnies they’d Sold out to this close season, I would of course have corrected your irroneous names.