Tour de France
Comments
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Looking at the list of selected riders, it seems that all participating were right in not selecting Niboli. It looks as if the Giro has taken it's toll on him. Perhaps the idea of a single rider winning all 3 classics in a single year is a thing of the past.
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Fantastic sprint from Cav this afternoon. A deserved win.
Another great win for Cav. It's not often that he can get the better of Marcel Kittel in a straight one to one sprint.
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Ahh yes, another fine win for Cav.
Glad to see he's stopped that nonsense about taking his family onto the podium though.
And so we enter the mountains tomorrow, with a cat 1 climb up the Col D'Aspin. Not the biggest of climbs, but a nice warm up. After the summit comes a 5km descent to the finish.
Could be a good chance to start seeing some gaps between the leading GC contenders.
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Can't forget Daniel McLay,(who you may well ask!) 4th or is it 5th finish in the top ten with a 3rd place today. Is he going to be the new next best thing among the sprinters?
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What a stage!
How on earth did the teams with GC contenders let the yellow jersey get away in a break? What a poor show of tactics!
And what a brilliant performance by Steve Cummings! Got himself in a big break-away and then timed his break to perfection. A brilliant stage win......if only we had more brave moves lke this, instead of the boring 'computer says.....' tactics of the likes of Sky.
A great shame that the GC contenders just stick together in a bunch. One of them (hopefully Nairo Quintana
) will have to make a break, because they will need to gain some time on Froome before the time trial stages.The Tourmalet tomorrow!
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What a stage!
How on earth did the teams with GC contenders let the yellow jersey get away in a break? What a poor show of tactics!
And what a brilliant performance by Steve Cummings! Got himself in a big break-away and then timed his break to perfection. A brilliant stage win......if only we had more brave moves lke this, instead of the boring 'computer says.....' tactics of the likes
of Sky.A great shame that the GC contenders just stick together in a bunch. One of them (hopefully Nairo Quintana
) will have to make a break, because
they will need to gain some time on Froome before the time trial stages.The Tourmalet tomorrow!
Ah so, this Steve fella crosses the line first and wins. That means the rest lost, so do they go home now. Can the cars have the road back now?
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What a stage!
How on earth did the teams with GC contenders let the yellow jersey get away in a break? What a poor show of tactics!
And what a brilliant performance by Steve Cummings! Got himself in a big break-away and then timed his break to perfection. A brilliant stage win......if only we had more brave moves lke this,
instead of the boring 'computer says.....' tactics of the likes of Sky.A great shame that the GC contenders just stick together in a bunch. One of them (hopefully Nairo Quintana
) will have to make a break, because
they will need to gain some time on Froome before the time trial stages.The Tourmalet tomorrow!
Yes it was a great win for Steve Cummings. Wonder if it will help him get into the GB team for the Olympic road race, after his omission from the original selection.
However why do you keep picking on the Sky team, all the teams of the main GC contenders have acted the same. Surely it's also up to the likes of Movistar or Astana to try doing something different.
Oh I know why...it's because it's not a team from the continent!!
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Wow Nellie, so many points to answer!
Firstly, what is this obsession with the olympics? It really is a cycling non-event. When Bernard Hinault approached the age of 21 he made a point of turning professional and joined a pro team, with the specific aim of avoiding being chosen for the French
olympic team......because he saw it as irrelevant and an intrusion in his cycling career.I agree that other teams / riders should also be making breaks, instead of the metronome tactics that they seem to adopt. But Sky are particularly boring.
Why do you (and the television coverage) regard Sky as somehow a 'British' team? Pro teams are not organised on a national basis. Sky are sponsored mainly by an Australian and several other international companies. Their Tour team has 4 British riders (if
we include Froome) and 5 riders from other countries. They spend the vast majority of their time training and racing in Europe. Most of their team live in Europe. They are not a British team. They are not the 'home' team. They are another international team
who happen to have a large amount of sponsorship money to spend, mainly due to a rather dubious sponsor.0 -
And...sky do seem to spend a lot of time at the front of the Peleton without getting anywhere.
It's all part of the greater plan!! Bore all the rest to sleep and then sneak Froome away when they're snoozing!
Stange really but they've managed to have 3 tour winners in the last few years, so it seems to work for them.
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And...sky do seem to spend a lot of time at the front of the Peleton without getting anywhere.
It's all part of the greater plan!! Bore all the rest to sleep and then sneak Froome away when they're snoozing!
Stange really but they've managed to have 3 tour winners in the last few years, so it seems to work for them.
Yup! If you've got enough money, you can buy enough winners.
But I don't see Wiggins going down in history for his attacking style or flair in races, do you?
Brailsford (the 'great cycling supremo', who basically knows nowt about cycling but has a big wedge to buy riders and staff who do) was on the point of getting rid of Froome, when he came 2nd in the Vuelte in 2011 with little support from the team. He then
put him in the Tour team to support Wiggins in 2012, without realising that Froome was actually the better rider. Numpty.0 -
Nothing would tempt us into buying much with "Sky" on it, but I have to say that the money has certainly transformed British Cycling these last few years, and that is all to the good. It is like any other big sport, reliant upon huge sponsorship deals. All
the teams "buy" in riders, it is not dissimilar to Football! The really big plus though, is that a great deal of it is free to go and watch, something still unique in top level sport. Anyone can just pull up a chair at the side of the road and watch! And we
like to take full advantage when we can. Can't wait to be able to go and follow Tour in France!
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Just watching Tour live at moment. Have to say, the scenery is breathtakingly lovely. It's always a colourful event as well with all the team colours and flags.
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Well what a stage!
Now that is how it should be done! Froome went off on a brilliant break from the top of the Peyresourde and never stopped!
An unusual, but obviously effective style (bet his legs ache tonight!).
I'm really amazed that Quintana didn't try a break himself, given that he needs at least a minute lead before they get to the time trials. I'm tempted to say that was a Tour winning break for Froome.
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Wow Nellie, so many points to answer!
Firstly, what is this obsession with the olympics? It really is a cycling non-event.
When Bernard Hinault approached the age of 21 he made a point of turning professional and joined a pro team, with the specific aim of avoiding being chosen for the French olympic team......because he saw it as irrelevant and an intrusion in his cycling
career.I agree that other teams / riders should also be making breaks, instead of the metronome tactics that they seem to adopt. But Sky are particularly boring.
Why do you (and the television coverage) regard Sky as somehow a 'British' team? Pro teams are not organised on a national basis. Sky are sponsored mainly by an Australian and several other international companies. Their Tour team has 4 British riders (if
we include Froome) and 5 riders from other countries. They spend the vast majority of their time training and racing in Europe. Most of their team live in Europe. They are not a British team. They are not the 'home' team. They are another international team
who happen to have a large amount of sponsorship money to spend, mainly due to a rather dubious sponsor.That was about 100yrs ago!! It's no good living in the past, Ian. Things move on and most the top road cyclist at the moment will be there at the Olympics riding for their countries, and be proud to do so I'm sure.
As for Sky having large amouts of sponsership money, so do all the teams of the leading protagonists.
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Yet another stage in which boring Sky led the way. Same old, same old, what!!
And another Brit wins a stage and pulls on the Yellow Jersey. Great ride by Chris Froome, who really fooled them all on this stage. BMC seems to be having problems about who their leading GC contender is. Surely it should have been Richie Porte who sacrificed himself to try and catch CF and benefit TJV.
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Some of the top riders will be at the olympics because their sponsor hs insisted on it. As a cycling event, the olympic road race is 4th division stuff. Track cycling is amateur league and for those who cannot make it in proper cycling.
If 'living in the past' is wanting cycling to be more exciting and dynamic, rather than a bunch of riders following whatever their team's computer has decreed and all sticking together in a bunch, to decide the race on a time trial.......then bring on the past!
And at least Froome does ride more as an 'old style' cyclist and he will go on a break. The Sky computer probably exploded when he went yesterday
Anyway.....yes, it was a great race for the Kenyan, Froome.
I don't know why BMC would have any confusion about their leader, clearly it should be Teejay. Porte is fine for the odd stage as a domestique, but he's no team leader and no Tour winner.
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Yet another stage in which boring Sky led the way. Same old, same old, what!!
And another Brit wins a stage and pulls on the Yellow Jersey. Great ride by Chris Froome, who really fooled them all on this stage. BMC seems to be having problems about who their leading GC contender is. Surely it should have been Richie Porte who sacrificed himself to try and catch CF and benefit TJV.
Write your comments here...Sorry NTH - Froome is not British.
He is a good competitor though and I was delighted to see at least one of the Sky riders break away from the boring formation they have persisted in since the start of the tour----- Well done Froome !!!
As an retired time trialist, I like the time trial stages. It is probably the purest competition to assess the abilities of individual riders
K
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A great win by today on a mountain stage by a time trialist, K. Tom Dumoulin rode a well planned race, and could well be a GC contender in the future.
Froome & Henao did the same again today as they did yesterday, only it was at the head of the peleton and not at the front of the field. Wonder why Quintana did not tried to gain a few seconds on the Yellow jersey. Perhaps he & his Movistar team are letting
Sky do all the riding down of the breakaways, and will try and grab a bit of time when the race gets to the Alps.Porte showed Teejay how to do it today. He's looking more like a winner than his team leader is at the moment.
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Well I hope Quintana has a plan for the Alps. I have to say though, at the moment he looks too much like 'the nice guy' and that he doesn't have what it takes. I hope I'm proven wrong.
Porte has about as much chance of winning as I have......none.
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Some of the top riders will be at the olympics because their sponsor hs insisted on it. As a cycling event, the olympic road race is 4th division stuff. Track cycling is amateur league and for those who cannot make it in proper cycling.
If 'living in the past' is wanting cycling to be more exciting and dynamic, rather than a bunch of riders following whatever their team's computer has decreed and all sticking together in a bunch, to decide the race on a time trial.......then
bring on the past!And at least Froome does ride more as an 'old style' cyclist and he will go on a break. The Sky computer probably exploded when he went yesterday
Anyway.....yes, it was a great race for the Kenyan, Froome.
I don't know why BMC would have any confusion about their leader, clearly it should be Teejay. Porte is fine for the odd stage as a domestique, but he's no team leader and no Tour winner.
I seem to remember that it was on a mountain stage last year that Froome gained his time over the rest of the field, and not in a time trial.
In your idale world we would have to go back to the time when there were only about 6 countries that bothered riding on the tour. Road cycling is now a world wide sport and one of the ways to spread it's popularity is to showcase it at the Olympics. All
team managers realise this and so are willing to release their riders to participate for their respective countries. Tom Dumoulin has stated that he has been targetting the Olympic time trial all season, and Niboli the same for the road race. So not really
a 4th grade event.0 -
Some of the top riders will be at the olympics because their sponsor hs insisted on it. As a cycling event, the olympic road race is 4th division stuff. Track cycling is amateur league and for those who cannot make it in proper cycling.
Ian, with the greatest respect, come on? I can not imagine there will be many elite athletes being so up their own rears, not want an Olympic medal on their palmares.
It might not match a TdF jersey, but will be up there alongside a rainbow or individual classic.
Of course Cav & Demoulin want Olympic medals.
Once Sagan has an unsurpassable lead in the points competition, the only reason Cav would stay in the TdF would be for a win on the Champs-Elysee. But he has a few of those already, he does not have an Olympic medal. If he thinks murdering himself over the
alps will damage that chance he will retire before Ventoux.And a few die-hards will think that dissrespectful, so what?
Not half as dissrespectfull as suggesting track specialists could not make it in "proper" cycling.
Sorry Ian
Anyway, bring on both TdF and Olympic road races.
I am not at all suprised at Quintana's tactics.
It is clear Movistar are not as strong as Sky, and would struggle to defend Nairo if he did attack now and take Yellow.
No, better to stay on Froomes wheel, hope Sky wear themselves out defending Froome and countering every move. Stay in touch and attack on the last or penultimate stage in the Alps.0 -
In the days when professional cyclists had to earn a living, they would enter criterium races in towns. These were 'show' events where the cycling fans could see their heros in action.
The riders would decide in advance who was going to win - often a local rider or a big star of the time. After all, there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.
Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).
And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.
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there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.
Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).
And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.
Eh?
Can you imagine the conversation between Peter Sagan and Greg Vam Avermaet as they approach the finish line in Rio.
"Go on Greg, off you go. You take gold, I am saving myself for Fleche Wallonne next year"
Somehow, I don't think so.
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In the days when professional cyclists had to earn a living, they would enter criterium races in towns. These were 'show' events where the cycling fans could see their heros in action.
The riders would decide in advance who was going to win - often a local rider or a big star of the time. After all, there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.
Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).
And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.
Yawn!!!!
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