Tour de France
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George Bennett moves into the top 10. I gather he crashed in the initial time trial and lost about a minute, so arguably he could have been even better placed.
Hasn't quite managed to stick with Froome in the mountains, but he's in the next small group of riders (with Quintana).
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@Chris-B. said in Tour de France:
George Bennett moves into the top 10. I gather he crashed in the initial time trial and lost about a minute, so arguably he could have been even better placed.
Hasn't quite managed to stick with Froome in the mountains, but he's in the next small group of riders (with Quintana).
Great stage last night, at one point you had a group of probably the top 6 contenders all attacking each other up the mountain.
Kind of looks like Froome has this wrapped up already... looks like a dumb decision for Quintana to do the Giro, he looks rooted already. Losing his right hand man Valverde in the first Time Trial probably the final nail in the coffin for him
Bennett has done really well, have watched a few stages in full... another kiwi, Jack Bauer is getting a lot of TV time at the front of the pelaton as leadout man for Marcel Kitttel who has been killing everyone in the sprints.
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What happened to Bevin? I thought he was also in this tour as well?
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@Hooroo said in Tour de France:
What happened to Bevin? I thought he was also in this tour as well?
It's his first tour, he'll be just pleased to make the finish line I'd assume
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Ok, so he is still in it and hasn't crashed out?
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@Hooroo Still there. He's in 86th place.
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@SammyC I usually watch a few stages, but haven't done so this year. Might try to watch the last couple of hours of this one since the highlights packages lose most of the subtlety - and waste a lot of time showing all the winning presentations - guy in coloured jersey stands on stage with two attractive girls in matching dresses - it's very predictable.
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@Chris-B. said in Tour de France:
@SammyC I usually watch a few stages, but haven't done so this year.
I hadn't watched anything up until last night's stage and it was entirely predictable. I won't bother watching the rest.
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It was over on the first climb stage earlier in the week where Froome cruised up surrounded by the Sky machine.
Aussie hope Richie Porte had a really nasty crash last night, and is gone.
Sagan was my favourite guy to watch in the tour as he did a bit of everything, and then won the sprints. But he's gone for poleaxing Cavendish.
But I'll watch for the scenery
If this was 15 years ago and Sky were dominating like this, you would have to cut down entire forests to print all the conjecture about them...
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@mariner4life I reckon Sagan was hard done by. Cavendish looks like he was already going down before Sagan stuck out his elbow, which I don't think ever makes contact with him.
Cavendish tried to ride a dangerous line and paid the price.
Sagan will be agreeing with us about French refs!
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@antipodean said in Tour de France:
@Chris-B. said in Tour de France:
@SammyC I usually watch a few stages, but haven't done so this year.I hadn't watched anything up until last night's stage and it was entirely predictable. I won't bother watching the rest.
I thought it was awesome.... Uran taking the stage win was not predictable at all.... I can't remember a stage win for him in at least 2 years (and he did it riding the last 13km unable to change gear) ..
Barguil in second also a major surprise.
Contador getting dropped a couple of times and fighting back hard, sketchy descents in the rain causing havoc, Bardet's attack was daring as always
I am tired of the "don't attack the yellow jersey stuff though". It's a race, part of the race is having your shit together.
Froome etc didn't wait for Dan Martin after the crash and they all knew about it .
Also why were fulsang and aru pulling for froome on that last climb. Watching the last 10-14k, froome's longest pull was 20-25 seconds. all his other pulls were short compared to everyone else.
Happy to see Quintana drop in the standings. He's boring as fuck in stage races. Just waits and waits and waits.
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Last night's stage was amazing. If you don't like that, I feel you will struggle to like cycling. It was a very well designed stage. Too often they just put the biggest mountain at the end of a stage - it gives you an exciting final climb but the rest of the stage is just boring. Last night we had a kiwi doing well, attacks on the descent, crashes etc. We probably won't get a good GC battle in this tour now that Porte is out. Froome is still too strong.
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@hydro11 said in Tour de France:
Last night's stage was amazing. If you don't like that, I feel you will struggle to like cycling
Nonsense. I've followed cycling for years. Last night was entirely predictable. Breakaway doesn't work together, splinters and gets caught. Check. Tempo riding gets rid of stragglers. Check. A couple of attacks while Quintana and Contador get blown out the arse. Check. A mechanical and crash. Check. Froome loses no ground and the Sky Train continues on its merry way to Paris. Check.
Seen it all before.
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@SammyC said in Tour de France:
@antipodean said in Tour de France:
@Chris-B. said in Tour de France:
@SammyC I usually watch a few stages, but haven't done so this year.I hadn't watched anything up until last night's stage and it was entirely predictable. I won't bother watching the rest.
I thought it was awesome.... Uran taking the stage win was not predictable at all.... I can't remember a stage win for him in at least 2 years (and he did it riding the last 13km unable to change gear) ..
Barguil in second also a major surprise.
Contador getting dropped a couple of times and fighting back hard, sketchy descents in the rain causing havoc, Bardet's attack was daring as always
I am tired of the "don't attack the yellow jersey stuff though". It's a race, part of the race is having your shit together.
Froome etc didn't wait for Dan Martin after the crash and they all knew about it .
Also why were fulsang and aru pulling for froome on that last climb. Watching the last 10-14k, froome's longest pull was 20-25 seconds. all his other pulls were short compared to everyone else.
Happy to see Quintana drop in the standings. He's boring as fuck in stage races. Just waits and waits and waits.
The difference was when Aru went they were all riding tempo at the time. Froome signalled a mechanical and Aru blatantly attacked from immediately behind Froome and then lied about not knowing Froome ways in difficult. When Porte and Martin crashed they were were mostly just descending (albeit v quickly). They didnt decide to go any quicker immediately after the crash. Bardet then opened a gap which forced Froome to chase. If he had waited for Martin, then Bardet would be in yellow. There are subtle differences.
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@scribe said in Tour de France:
@SammyC said in Tour de France:
@antipodean said in Tour de France:
@Chris-B. said in Tour de France:
@SammyC I usually watch a few stages, but haven't done so this year.I hadn't watched anything up until last night's stage and it was entirely predictable. I won't bother watching the rest.
I thought it was awesome.... Uran taking the stage win was not predictable at all.... I can't remember a stage win for him in at least 2 years (and he did it riding the last 13km unable to change gear) ..
Barguil in second also a major surprise.
Contador getting dropped a couple of times and fighting back hard, sketchy descents in the rain causing havoc, Bardet's attack was daring as always
I am tired of the "don't attack the yellow jersey stuff though". It's a race, part of the race is having your shit together.
Froome etc didn't wait for Dan Martin after the crash and they all knew about it .
Also why were fulsang and aru pulling for froome on that last climb. Watching the last 10-14k, froome's longest pull was 20-25 seconds. all his other pulls were short compared to everyone else.
Happy to see Quintana drop in the standings. He's boring as fuck in stage races. Just waits and waits and waits.
The difference was when Aru went they were all riding tempo at the time. Froome signalled a mechanical and Aru blatantly attacked from immediately behind Froome and then lied about not knowing Froome ways in difficult. When Porte and Martin crashed they were were mostly just descending (albeit v quickly). They didnt decide to go any quicker immediately after the crash. Bardet then opened a gap which forced Froome to chase. If he had waited for Martin, then Bardet would be in yellow. There are subtle differences.
Haha, yeah I kind of like Aru because he doesn't give a shit.. not the first time he's pulled a move like that and lied about it afterwards
Watching him argue with Porte afterwards was hillarious.
For those of us that don't find the Tour boring and predictable I highly recommend listening to Lance Armstrong's podcast called "stages". It airs about 1 hour after the finish off each stage, he definitely doesn't hold back.
Here's the one where he discusses the mountain stage above:
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Marcel Kittel has won 5 of 11 stages this year. Ridiculous. Isn't the record 8?
Obviously all down to Jack Bauer.
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France:
Marcel Kittel has won 5 of 11 stages this year. Ridiculous. Isn't the record 8?
Obviously all down to Jack Bauer.
Armstrong reckons he will win 8 stages. He's so much faster than everyone else.
Couple of boring stages last 2 days, most exciting moment was Nacer Bouhanni punching Jack Bauer..... French showing their bias again by fining him 200 swiss francs and a 1 minute time penalty.
Meanwhile Sagan is kicked out of the race for what could be seen as incidental contact in a sprint finish
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@SammyC said in Tour de France:
@mariner4life said in Tour de France:
Marcel Kittel has won 5 of 11 stages this year. Ridiculous. Isn't the record 8?
Obviously all down to Jack Bauer.
Armstrong reckons he will win 8 stages. He's so much faster than everyone else.
Couple of boring stages last 2 days, most exciting moment was Nacer Bouhanni punching Jack Bauer..... French showing their bias again by fining him 200 swiss francs and a 1 minute time penalty.
Meanwhile Sagan is kicked out of the race for what could be seen as incidental contact in a sprint finish
the fucking French. Blow up our boats. Try to ban our dairy. and rob us of rightful test victories. Ignore assaults on our cyclists. Their treachery and villainy knows no bounds!
Back in to the mountains soon aren't we? Should liven things up for a second (until the Sky train just cruises the rest of the race)
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France:
@SammyC said in Tour de France:
@mariner4life said in Tour de France:
Marcel Kittel has won 5 of 11 stages this year. Ridiculous. Isn't the record 8?
Obviously all down to Jack Bauer.
Armstrong reckons he will win 8 stages. He's so much faster than everyone else.
Couple of boring stages last 2 days, most exciting moment was Nacer Bouhanni punching Jack Bauer..... French showing their bias again by fining him 200 swiss francs and a 1 minute time penalty.
Meanwhile Sagan is kicked out of the race for what could be seen as incidental contact in a sprint finish
the fucking French. Blow up our boats. Try to ban our dairy. and rob us of rightful test victories. Ignore assaults on our cyclists. Their treachery and villainy knows no bounds!
Back in to the mountains soon aren't we? Should liven things up for a second (until the Sky train just cruises the rest of the race)
Back in the mountains tonight, it's a really tough stage with a really technical descent and an uphill finish.
If Aru etc are serious they have to attack Froome on this stage.
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George Bennett having another good day. With 3km to go he is in the leading bunch of 10 riders which is missing a couple of GC top ten.
Quintana has dropped off the pace and could drop down below Bennett. -
Bennett attacks with the line in sight but is caught.
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Romain Bardet wins by two bike lengths. Chris Froome finishes 21 seconds behind
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So Bardet makes up some time on Froome.
I still don't get cycling at times. Froome runs himself of the road and the peleton sits up and lets him catch back up. WTF is with that?
I can understand the toilet stop thing and kind of why they do it when it is a mechanical (although that's tough shit in other sports), but this is a cycling race. Crash or misjudge a corner by yourself and you should pay a price. -
@Crucial said in Tour de France:
Romain Bardet wins by two bike lengths. Chris Froome finishes 21 seconds behind
Aru takes the Yellow Jersey
- Fabio Aru
- Chris Froome, 0.06
- Romain Bardet, 0.25
- Rigo Uran, 0.35
- Dan Martin, 1.41
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Bennett moves up to 9th overall only 3 seconds behind an eighth placed Quintana who looks to be toast and doesn't have the legs after the Giro.
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I haven't seen the video yet but it looks like Aru and Bardet have Bennett to thank for breaking Sky.
Bennett jumped early but that made Landa have to close the gap and Froome was left without support. -
@Crucial said in Tour de France:
I haven't seen the video yet but it looks like Aru and Bardet have Bennett to thank for breaking Sky.
Bennett jumped early but that made Landa have to close the gap and Froome was left without support.Not quite the case but Bennett's early jump does look to create an opportunity for a second break once he came back. Pity he didn't save himself for the last 100 metres though.
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Another great stage to watch. What a finish!
Bennett was awesome.
Too bad about Dan Martin crashing the other day, he could have been in yellow.
Good to see team sky being dropped by Aru, Bardet, Uran, Landa Meintjes, and Martin on the final climb, losing Geraint Thomas means Froome looks a little more vulnerable.
Also, love seeing this on the cycling news live feed: "There seems to be some disagreement in the Sky camp after that stage. Mikel Landa tells the Spanish press that he could have been a contender for the victory today if he'd been allowed to go for it. "
Aru looks to have the best climbing legs this year. He really pulled away in the last 1.5K (that last few hundred meters was steep as hell), and is now wearing yellow by 6 seconds. Are there enough climb finishes for him to take more time on Froome?
At this stage Froome probably takes it back in the team time trial before Paris. But at least it's not the procession of previous years
Bastille day tomorrow, my money is on Bardet!
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@Crucial The commentators were saying that when Froome ran off the road that in that case it is perfectly acceptable to attack him - they thought it was a mistake for them to have sat up and waited and were speculating that there weren't any/enough experienced heads to take advantage. Probably a pity that Aru followed Froome off the road. As it turned out, I suspect Sky had enough resources to ride him back into the Group - but, the additional effort might have killed them/Froome on the climb.
I wonder whether Aru and Bardet are kicking themselves that they didn't attack earlier or are just happy with the eventual outcome. It's a pity that Fuglsang got injured, because Sky just has so much weaponry to protect Froome from individual attacks. If Astana had two riders in the leading mix, they might be able to burn off some of that protection.
I think George did great! Even launching that attack - he said afterwards it wasn't very realistic to think about beating those guys but he had to try. Great attitude! I hate it when people just sit at the back of the bunch and trail along without firing a shot (I discussed this with some others re. the lesser NZers running the 1500 metres in Rio).
I don't think George had anything to lose, really. If he'd sat at the back he might have finished the day a spot higher in the general classification, maybe even be 10 seconds ahead of Quintana - but, that time difference likely won't be decisive. Either Quinata will crack again or George will get cracked somewhere - or they'll shoot things out in the time trial.
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Fucking French refs!
George gets a 20 second penalty as does Uran - French rider (Bardet!) who also takes a bottle of water doesn't.
Not to be trusted!
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There's a prominent story on stuff about our tour rider, is that a sign I should be jumping on the bandwagon or is it still too soon?
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Froome is quite difficult to distance. He rides to his power metre so if he is dropped early on a climb he can often get back on as long as he keeps a consistent output going. I think Froome still has to be the favourite given how strong is team is and how good he is in the time trial. I think the mountain top finishes seem to be the best opportunity to put time into him.
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@hydro11 said in Tour de France:
Froome is quite difficult to distance. He rides to his power metre so if he is dropped early on a climb he can often get back on as long as he keeps a consistent output going. I think Froome still has to be the favourite given how strong is team is and how good he is in the time trial. I think the mountain top finishes seem to be the best opportunity to put time into him.
Given that Froome has a formidable team defending him, won't the attackers have to work as a team to break him? One person trying to do it alone is likely to destroy himself but if Aru, Bardet, Uran all took it in turns to attack then it might work. Can't see it happening though.
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@hydro11 said in Tour de France:
Froome is quite difficult to distance. He rides to his power metre so if he is dropped early on a climb he can often get back on as long as he keeps a consistent output going. I think Froome still has to be the favourite given how strong is team is and how good he is in the time trial. I think the mountain top finishes seem to be the best opportunity to put time into him.
I think he cracked a little today though, Landa was trying to drag him up the final climb and had to slow down quite visibly to do so.
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@KiwiPie said in Tour de France:
@hydro11 said in Tour de France:
Froome is quite difficult to distance. He rides to his power metre so if he is dropped early on a climb he can often get back on as long as he keeps a consistent output going. I think Froome still has to be the favourite given how strong is team is and how good he is in the time trial. I think the mountain top finishes seem to be the best opportunity to put time into him.
Given that Froome has a formidable team defending him, won't the attackers have to work as a team to break him? One person trying to do it alone is likely to destroy himself but if Aru, Bardet, Uran all took it in turns to attack then it might work. Can't see it happening though.
Yeah especially as Aru has lost Fugslang.
Armstrong discussed this possibility on his podcast today, was sceptical it would happen as most of the other teams are not very fond of Astana. Would be great to watch though.
Tonight's stage should be great to watch, only short but with 3 catagory 1 climbs and virtually no flat terrain. It's made for a crazy attack from Contador
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@KiwiPie Further to Sammy's comments - I guess none of them will want to be the first sacrificial lamb to attack and all of them will want to be the third guy who attacks and possibly gets to win.
I'd like to see more of these cross-team alliances form, but they seem to be temporary and often untrustworthy - unless people happen to be old friends.
Interestingly, I was reading that Bennett and Bauer use to ride together for the little Tasman Wheelers club in small South Island/NZ races - they sat together on one of the TdF flights taking them from A to B and were reminiscing about how weird it is that they're both now in the bigtime.
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@KiwiPie said in Tour de France:
@hydro11 said in Tour de France:
Froome is quite difficult to distance. He rides to his power metre so if he is dropped early on a climb he can often get back on as long as he keeps a consistent output going. I think Froome still has to be the favourite given how strong is team is and how good he is in the time trial. I think the mountain top finishes seem to be the best opportunity to put time into him.
Given that Froome has a formidable team defending him, won't the attackers have to work as a team to break him? One person trying to do it alone is likely to destroy himself but if Aru, Bardet, Uran all took it in turns to attack then it might work. Can't see it happening though.
Aru is in yellow now though. I don't see why other teams would bother helping him.
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@jegga said in Tour de France:
There's a prominent story on stuff about our tour rider, is that a sign I should be jumping on the bandwagon or is it still too soon?
I think a more accurate metric for "when to jump on the bandwagon" would be the length of the relevant TSF thread.
If/when this thread gets to 100 posts, I'll consider re-evaluating my views on bicycling, and I'll be on that bandwagon with some hastily compiled knowledge and opinions. -
@Kruse said in Tour de France:
@jegga said in Tour de France:
There's a prominent story on stuff about our tour rider, is that a sign I should be jumping on the bandwagon or is it still too soon?
I think a more accurate metric for "when to jump on the bandwagon" would be the length of the relevant TSF thread.
If/when this thread gets to 100 posts, I'll consider re-evaluating my views on bicycling, and I'll be on that bandwagon with some hastily compiled knowledge and opinions.Don't forget to brush up on your mechanical expertise and geography.
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@Crucial Cheers - added to the list.
