Tour de France
Comments
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Not a good day for the Dutch, with Mollema dropping way down the GC and Dumoulin fracturing his arm. The French will be happy, as will Bardett. Jens Voigt gave us an interesting take on Froomes incident.
Tomorrow should be exiting, weather looks like it will be a factor again.
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Poor Tom Dumoulin! Hadn't realised it was such a bad injury. Monsieur Bardet had a good day yesterday, hope he can keep it up and hang on to second place today. Both Froomey and Nibali somewhat guilty of a basic error yesterday, white lines in the rain.
Apparently, Froome had just exploded to try his fast descent technique again, with Nibali going with him, but this time it ended not so good. But at least both seem ok, up and out again! All credit to Froome for coping with an alien bike!0 -
todays race was good. The race for the podium places really hotted up.
Froome is destined for another TDF win. Unless he falls off again and does himself a serious injury.
It has been a slightly disappointing tour this year. Not much in the way of attacks and a highly competent but boring performance by SKY. --- Cav dipped out of completing the race as he knew he couldn't win the sprint on the final day in Paris.
The commentary this year has lacked sparkle and has been lacking in performance information. ..
Still, I enjoyed watching the mountain stages -- hope next years tour will be more interesting than this one.
K
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Sometimes, when I come on here and read some of the posts, I am utterly convinced that I live in a parallel universe somewhere! A nice one, where terrific athletes get the credit they deserve for outstanding performances, both individually and as a team.
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And don't forget Romain Bardet! Excellent last week from him, and good news for the French having a rider on the podium. Barring any mishaps tomorrow! Should be a good final charge up the Champs Élysée, suspect Sagan has done a bit too much today, but I
wish him well. He has been awarded the Combative across the whole Tour, and richly deserved!
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Notice that Sky have still all their 9 riders left on the tour. There can't be many other teams that can state that. Perhaps if Movistar concentrated more on getting a tour winner and not going for the team prize the racing would have been more exciting!
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A deserved win for Froome as he has shown some bravado in a Tour that has lacked sparkle.
There have been some great individual performances for stage wins, but the GC contenders have been disappointing.
I'm glad to see Bardet in second, and Quintana in third, of course - but disappointed that the latter has followed the 'Andy Schleck school of tactics' - just keep following the race leader and hope that he falls over at some point.
Cav was a disappointment. Sagan was a far better performer and gives far better value for money these days.
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Whole heartedly agree that Froome richly deserves his victory. he was confident in knowing minor gains from that bravado was backed up by a team, so strong in depth, no one could attack back. Then the two TT performance completely cemented his victory.
Adam Yates was the stand out for me.
Any other team with GC aspirations is going to have to up it's game and build super domestique squads like Sky to stand a chance. Yes Sky pump the money in to pay for it, but look at the return in exposure. If the sponsors are not there to afford it, maybe
the UCI will have to consider salary capping to even out the playing field.Sagan is always good value, and deserves his green jersey.
But Cav a dissapoinment ? Eh ?
Hell, he was a revelation, everyone had written hIm off, and back he pops to take four wins.
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It has been a slightly disappointing tour this year. Not much in the way of attacks and a highly competent but boring performance by SKY. --- Cav dipped out of completing the race as he knew he couldn't win the sprint on the final day in Paris.
They did exactly what they were employed to do K. Looked after Chris Frome throughout, and totally dominated the Peloton. Their actions in acting together as a very strong team helped CF secure his third win and it would not have been possible without them.
Any excitement from Sky is a bi product, in the main they left that to others.0 -
Tomorrows finale ?
I would love to see Dan McLay or Coquard pop out and take the stage, but unless there is a breakaway, can't see Ettix not delivering Kittel to victory.
Actually, Oreca might give it a go, Michael Matthews anybody?
Well that's me away, off to Hull-Zeebrugge tomorrow, bound for Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Looking forward to the Vuelta thread guys?
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Speculate away, although a little word of caution.....someone caught tossing unproven insinuations on a public forum was prosecuted the other day for making the life of an innocent person very miserable!
Never fails to surprise me just how low some folks stoop to get their "thrills", nor that they are often thick enough to do it with all the world looking in!
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Just watched the Ladies race today. . Exciting finish.
Looking forward to the final stage of the TDF. Its a great atmosphere in Paris when Le Tour arrives. A few years ago we flew into Paris for the weekend of the last stage. Stood at Tivoli Gardens and had a great view of the race. Still one of the best cycling spectaculars in the world.
K
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Just watched the Ladies race today. . Exciting finish.
Looking forward to the final stage of the TDF. Its a great atmosphere in Paris when Le Tour arrives. A few years ago we flew into Paris for the weekend of the last stage. Stood at Tivoli Gardens and had a great view of the race. Still one of the best cycling
spectaculars in the world.K
Write your comments here...Correction -----the gardens are not called Tivoli -- post had timed out so cannot edit.
K
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Well, I do agree that ASO won't block his entry in future Tours. They are a commercial organisation, in it for the money, not for the history and tradition.
They regularly make courses more suited to the riders that they're trying to court. They did it in the past, to encourage cycling as a sport in the USA (Andy Hampsen, Greg Lemond and a certain Mr Armstrong). They even contemplated having stages in the US!
Their current target appears to be the UK, with courses designed for Brit contenders (2012 with all its time trialling and lack of mountains, being a good example).
So no, Cav will not be banned because he's a 'good earner' for ASO. But yes, traditionalists will rightly believe that he has disrespected the sport and the event that has made him a millionaire.
Surely this year's course was designed with Quintana in mind, not Froome, with mountain TTs & the back end loaded with high climbs, when Quintana has previously proved that he has it over others!!
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Well done Chris Froome......on current form I can see at least another two Tour wins for him.
I don't get all this praise for the Sky team though. I get the feeling that he would have won whichever team he was on. Other than Wouter Poulls, the rest of the team were fairly poor.
In particular, why do ITV4 insist on lavishing praise on Geraint Thomas and interviewing him all the time?
He provides some support one day and then takes a rest day......not what a potential Tour contender can do. He was a protected rider this year and yet he still fell back as soon as they hit the mountains.......exactly as he did in previous Tours.....exactly
as he did in the Tour de Suisse, when they gave him leadership of the team.He's a run of the mill domestique........and in no stretch of the imagination a 'super domestique' as Ned Boulting refers to him (when not being corrected for the umpteenth time by David Millar).
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Froome's performance today was exceptional.......especially after the efforts he's put in so far in the Tour.
I really do hope that he is an exceptional athlete......and that his team are not simply exceptional in other 'activities'.
(I did note that Porte's comeback in one of the mountain stages last year, after he had been blown out once, was rather unbelievable. He was with Sky then).
Assuming everything is bona fide.......well done Chris. The Tour is yours for the taking.
Why is that it you keep inferring that certain cyclist are still using prohibited substances? You have no more idea that they are or are not than you have that those such as Merckx, Indurain & Hinault won their GT races while taking or not taking similar
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Trolling Nellie, that's all it is, trying to nudge others into disharmony, instead of celebrating a great win for Team Sky, Chris Froome and others who have done well this year. Few aspects of the Tour seem to have pleased one or two who post on here, from
the winner down to the commentators. Personally, I think it has been a good Tour, different, full of incidents, dominated by team tactics, some great sprinting, some good breakaway wins. At first I missed Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, but aside from Ned getting
a touch over excited in places, I think they will develop into a good team. David Miller provides some very good insights into team riding and tactics, and is working hard to find out more about some of the fabulous locations. Bring it on I say!0 -
Well done to Andre Greipel for his spectacular stage win yesterday. Excellent tactics.
Well done to Froome for winning Le Tour. -----The Sky team carried out their job of making it easy for Froome to cycle along without having to challenge anybody on a one to one basis for the whole tour. Which, to their credit is what they were told to do. Good tactics, although makes for a dull and boring tour for cycling fans.
I do hope that there are no instances of cheating found when the rider's samples have been analysed.
Looking forward to next year's tour already. ----There was a lot of good up and coming stars of the future riding in this years tour.
Might also get a better commentary team, as this year they were lacking.
K
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And so......the final results were -
1st - Chris Froome - Goldie
2nd - Romain Bardet - Take the Dog Along
3rd - Nairo Quintana - IanH
4th - Adam Yates - nobody!
5th - Richie Porte - SteveL
13th - Fabio Aru - Runrig
23rd - Warren Barguil - Nellie the Hooker
29th - Tejay van Garderen - HughR
166th - Marcel Kittel - Pliers (but 2nd in the Green Jersey)
DNF - Alberto Contador - Kennine
So, a few surprises, a few disappointments. Great to see a Frenchman on the podium (Bardet), disappointed that Warren Barguil didn't do a bit better and that Thibault Pinot wasn't able to finish the race.
Major disappointment that Contador had to retire so early after his big fall early on.....he would probably have livened the race up. Speaking of which, the lack of attacks in the mountains was very disappointing. Quintana reckons he had some sort of allergy that was affecting his strength - it certainly showed.
Adam Yates was a surprise and has the added benefit of coming across as a good bloke. It would be interesting to have seen him race with his brother (inhaler exemptions permitting, of course!)
And what would have happened if Richie Porte hadn't punctured early on? My view is that he isn't a Tour winner, but we will never know of course.
So well done to Chris Froome - he certainly deserved to win as he was by far the strongest rider.
And so now looking forward to the Vuelte - see the separate thread - get your bets in early!
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