Pro Cycling - Tour de France 2019

[choddo]

Great ITV4 coverage of the TT today I thought.

Nice little interviews with Millar and Froome

Actually quite funny Boulting interview with John Bishop

Only one or two mistakes

Interesting observations on the rules of following someone who's overtaken you.

Genius Imlac comment about finding out that "arse" was ok for daytime TV.

and I was quite choked up when Wiggo picked up his first stage win. He looked so chuffed. And he looked like a man who was deeply tapping his mental strength at the finish line.

[Hawkeye]

Amazing results yesterday from Wiggins and Froome. Imagine the GC if Froome hadn't punctured and lost over a minute last week!

I wonder what sort of contract Sky have Froome on. He must be thinking he's got a grand tour win or two in him, as must a few of the other teams.

[Disgraced Toblerone]

Here we are :

• Sport
  
• Tour de France 2012
  

Tour de France 2012: Cofidis rider Rémy Di Gregorio 'held by police'

• Police source says cyclist to be questioned by French police

• Two others also questioned over alleged trafficking

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/10/tour-de-france-2012-cofidis-remy-di-gregorio?newsfeed=true

[merman]

Today's a rest day. So they'll only cycle for about three hours to stretch the legs...

[choddo]

Today's a rest day. So they'll only cycle for about three hours to stretch the legs...

4 apparently

They don't seem too stressed about it

https://www.facebook...&type=1

And that guy Di Gregorio looks like a proper villain. Very interesting that Cofidis have held their ground on the tour and just suspended him. Suggests that they are pretty confident noone else in the team will be implicated.

[choddo]

Amazing results yesterday from Wiggins and Froome. Imagine the GC if Froome hadn't punctured and lost over a minute last week!

I wonder what sort of contract Sky have Froome on. He must be thinking he's got a grand tour win or two in him, as must a few of the other teams.

According to Cycling Weekly, they had to sign him for a long time & big cheque to keep him.

[curium]

High speed stretch skills

[Hawkeye]

That was the best finish line sprint ever. A bunch of lads totally knackered in who can stay upright on their bike stutter to the finish.

[morcs]

Does Voeckler always look like his parents bought him an adult's bike to grow into? Bloody tiny isn't he!

[smoothe]

I love Thomas Voeckler. Seems like such a nice man and always seems to be filled with an infectious love for bike racing.

As Hawkeye said, the sprint finish was hilarious. Great to see riders really working for their wins- Voeckler almost collapsed as he was mobbed by the press across the line!

[morcs]

He was awesome last year. I remember the commentators though saying that he wasn't very popular amongst the riders I think? Not sure why.

[choddo]

Brilliant, good to see another breakaway win, a win for a Frenchie, a win for cuddly Voeckler and a third place for old man Voight makes me feel less ancient. Plus I love those descents.

[Plissken]

Great stage today, lots of intrigue and interest.

Evans and Schleck getting dropped. Nibali doing want he can. A stage winner who fell off. Chris Froome setting a marker for the future. Wiggins steadily beating everybody. And a nice gesture between Wiggins and Nibali at the end.

[ras el hanout]

Well, Froome is steadily beating everybody while carrying Wiggins along. Ha! I'm really ragging on Wiggins today but Froome is clearly much stronger. Wiggins hasn't put his nose in the wind.

[smoothe]

Nibali is a really entertaining rider: bags of personality and he makes good on his smack talk with gutsy attacks chained together.

Froome! How big is his bonus for getting Wiggins onto the top spot? I can almost see him going for himself- he is riding incredibly strong. Real sense of frustration in his interview today, though of course he had just finished an incredibly tough ride. What a tour it would be if they were on different teams.

[Throbin Hood]

Nibali is a really entertaining rider: bags of personality and he makes good on his smack talk with gutsy attacks chained together.

Froome! How big is his bonus for getting Wiggins onto the top spot? I can almost see him going for himself- he is riding incredibly strong. Real sense of frustration in his interview today, though of course he had just finished an incredibly tough ride. What a tour it would be if they were on different teams.

The tradition / convention is that the prize money for the yellow jersey is shared amongst everyone else on the team as winning the yellow opens up so much more to the winner.

Froome really wanted to go today and could have gone really far without Wiggins. He looked quite annoyed at the finish when he was interviewed. If he was on another team I don't think Wiggins could have stayed with him, he doesn't have the kick in the mountains. It will be interesting to see how BMC handle the flat stages. They don't have the team for the mountains but are built for the flat, they will probably try to split the field on a windy day like Astana did a couple of years ago. It's their only chance. Nibali theoretically could go in the mountains but it looks like Sky have too much and will just pace Wiggins up every hill which nullifies every kick when the climber needs to slow a bit further up.

[ras el hanout]

Froome should do a roche on vincentini.

It's all very well saying froome will have his own chance to win but he might not.

[Hawkeye]

Froome is playing to team orders. He should have won the vuelta last year had he not been on orders to look after Wiggins.

[morcs]

As a realtive newbie I don't understand the advantage of having a domestique lead you on steep climbs like that. Surely the gradient means there's next to no aero benefit? Is it just psychological/pace-making?

[smoothe]

The aero benefit is still very significant, even going uphill, as they are still going at decent speeds (because they are hench) and because wind often blows downhill. Even a few percentage points of energy saved makes a huge difference when they are working at their absolute limit! Also, when someone makes a move and you have to react to it, speeds are increased which makes the aero advantage greater. Finally, when the jump comes having a man in front of you gives you extra time to react before the attacker is off the front of the group, and much harder to catch.

[morcs]

Ah bloody wind! Hadn't thought of that, ta

[Graham S retired]

Froome should do a roche on vincentini.

It's all very well saying froome will have his own chance to win but he might not.

Richard Moore said this evening that there was some tension in the Team Sky camp surrounding Froome & Wiggins in that Froome is stronger.

[choddo]

Wiggins has earned his shot at this. Froome will have another chance. More than one I would guess. Let's not forget Froome was relatively fresh (as if that word makes any sense after those climbs) thanks to Eddy, Porte and Rogers and also dropped back a couple of times to catch his breath on the Croix de Fer and Wiggins just kept those wheels turning. Froome, van Garderen and Cern were awesome today.

Really nice to see Brad & Nibali bury the hatchet at the end after a murderous stage.

And great to see Cadel go for a break but at the end he looked utterly fucked. Can BMC really do anything now?

[ras el hanout]

Wiggins has earned his shot at this. Froome will have another chance. More than one I would guess. Let's not forget Froome was relatively fresh (as if that word makes any sense after those climbs) thanks to Eddy, Porte and Rogers and also dropped back a couple of times to catch his breath on the Croix de Fer and Wiggins just kept those wheels turning. Froome, van Garderen and Cern were awesome today.

Really nice to see Brad & Nibali bury the hatchet at the end after a murderous stage.

And great to see Cadel go for a break but at the end he looked utterly fucked. Can BMC really do anything now?

Do what now? I think you earn the right to win the tour by being the strongest rider and at the moment froome's clearly the strongest. And wigging hit the front for a few hundred metres yesterday and made no impression on the attack. It was froome singlehandly who dragged them back.

[Spudulis]

You all seem to be talking as if Wiggins did nothing. Yes his team were on the front but that group ended up being a ridiculously select bunch. Cadel and Frank Schleck couldn't live with him. Yes Froome could have gone on ahead but Brad had an amazing day. He rides the mountains like Indurain used to. He doesn't have explosive power he just grinds it out and people can't keep up. Froome could have gone on ahead but he's still a couple of minutes down and even if he did get ahead then Brad would probably retake on the next TT. After his bad luck last year Wiggins deserves this.

Next year's race may be more in the mountains and less TT in which case Froome would have more of a chance to win than Wiggins. This year's course is the best chance Wiggins will ever have to win Yellow. Froome will have many more.

[morcs]

Assuming both riders are showing all their cards. Putting Froome in front most of the time is the team strategy isn't it? To save Wiggo as much as possible - then go for it on the TTs?

Not that Froome's TT was slow mind! Is there a team TT this year? Last year Wiggo did the lion's share of the work on the front - be interesting to see if they repeat that.

Edit: bit slow

[ras el hanout]

Sure, but froome shouldn't be pacing wiggins up the mountain and then still be much stronger than him at the top. It wasn't froome's attack that was the problem yesterday, it was the fact wiggins couldn't keep up with the others. It's just a shame for froome because next year there'll probably be more competition.

[smoothe]

No TTT this year. A shame, I always think they're way more interesting than ITTs, I'm not sure why they aren't particularly popular with the teams.

I think Bradley is still Sky's best chance to win the tour. He's shown he's capable of outgrinding the other contenders in the high mountains, and he also trials better than Froome. I'd say that makes him a solid tourwinning bet. They have less data on Froome and the team tactics haven't been built around him- he could crack without warning and then what would happen? I'd say the best thing for Sky is to carry on as is, and if a potentially fatal Nibali breakaway happens that Wiggo can't keep up with, send Froome off and move to Plan B. I don't think that's likely though. It's hard for Froome but I can't see him not winning a tour at some point, though maybe not next year as others have said. Others in the team have made sacrifices too: Cavendish essentially gave up the chance to defend his green jersey to ride for Sky and be part of this GB effort.

[ras el hanout]

No TTT this year. A shame, I always think they're way more interesting than ITTs, I'm not sure why they aren't particularly popular with the teams.

I think Bradley is still Sky's best chance to win the tour. He's shown he's capable of outgrinding the other contenders in the high mountains, and he also trials better than Froome. I'd say that makes him a solid tourwinning bet. They have less data on Froome and the team tactics haven't been built around him- he could crack without warning and then what would happen? I'd say the best thing for Sky is to carry on as is, and if a potentially fatal Nibali breakaway happens that Wiggo can't keep up with, send Froome off and move to Plan B. I don't think that's likely though. It's hard for Froome but I can't see him not winning a tour at some point, though maybe not next year as others have said. Others in the team have made sacrifices too: Cavendish essentially gave up the chance to defend his green jersey to ride for Sky and be part of this GB effort.

You say Froome could crack. You mean like Wiggins did yesterday? He cracked. If Froome hadn't gone back and got him he'd have been in massive trouble. Of course he (Froome) knew what he was getting into before the start so he should really stick to the plan but it's disappointing to watch. As I've said, apart from the time trials Wiggins has been to the front of the race for a total of about 500 metres, and that was yesterday, and when he did he was too slow. It's all very well using this scientific approach on the track but it sure stinks up the Tour.

Cycling fans have hated Evans for years because he doesn't attack. Wiggins is even worse to watch than that. He just gets paced everywhere.

[ras el hanout]

You all seem to be talking as if Wiggins did nothing. Yes his team were on the front but that group ended up being a ridiculously select bunch. Cadel and Frank Schleck couldn't live with him. Yes Froome could have gone on ahead but Brad had an amazing day. He rides the mountains like Indurain used to. He doesn't have explosive power he just grinds it out and people can't keep up. Froome could have gone on ahead but he's still a couple of minutes down and even if he did get ahead then Brad would probably retake on the next TT. After his bad luck last year Wiggins deserves this.

Next year's race may be more in the mountains and less TT in which case Froome would have more of a chance to win than Wiggins. This year's course is the best chance Wiggins will ever have to win Yellow. Froome will have many more.

Didn't see this.

I don't think Indurain ever had any team mates in the mountains when he was under pressure. Certainly none ever had to wait for him.