Tour de France 2017

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:50 pm

Aru just lost his main support in the mountains - retired after a crash (probable broken wrist) and then Bardet crashes, gets up though and seems to be ok, just a sore wrist. Sky having things even up for them without trying.

All the big GC teams down to 8 - are they just rehearsing for the new rules next year. Weird how they have all lost the last man in the mountains support to their number 1

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:37 pm

It must be soul destroying having the peloton chase you down like that

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:38 pm

Kittel gets no 5

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:48 pm

Kittel is really benefiting from the absence of Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan so he could break some records this tour.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:05 pm

Long day in the mountains tomorrow - early start too - coverage starts at 09:45 am

jdrobbo · Post by **jdrobbo** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:15 pm

I agreee that the absence of PS and Cav on the sprints is a shame, but you can't take it away from Kittel: his sprints have been immaculate!

burnley007 · Post by **burnley007** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:22 pm

Sprints are very lame this year unfortunately.
No competition at all.

Tomorrow looks great though.

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:38 pm

Kittel just looks fantastic in the sprints but does he really have to do some sort of fake crying after each win?!

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:02 pm

Warming up nicely - the sky train in full effect - someone is going to lose a lot of time today - Fuglsang dropped (he was 4th overall and badly injured yesterday) - Steve Cummings has gone for a very long one on the 50th anniversary of the death of Tom Simpson

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:14 pm

How long have they been going for today? I left just after the start this morning , got back and they're still going!

Knutsfordclaret · Post by **Knutsfordclaret** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:22 pm

Winstonswhite wrote:How long have they been going for today? I left just after the start this morning , got back and they're still going!

214km today with about 20 to go. Brutal!!

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:46 pm

Steve Cummings has been caught - who will take the 10 bonus seconds at the line - could be huge for the GC overall

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:02 pm

Wow - is Froome out of Yellow - Sky have blown that

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:07 pm

Aru in Yellow - Froome in 2nd at 6 seconds and Bardet 3rd at 25 seconds - this is going to be a hell of a run in to Paris now

Aru doesn't have the team to support him - Froome may not have the legs - Bardet looking awesome and could take Yellow tomorrow

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:23 pm

Today has really opened the race up. Froome looked spent in the last 500 meters but don't write him off, he'll be back strongly tomorrow and in the alps.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:29 pm

Looking back over the race today it looks like Froome knew he was spent before the top of the next to last climb (lot of radio contact with team) and bluffed his way to the last 400m

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:32 pm

Wow looks like another great day. Can't wait for the highlights later. So Sky won't join that elusive set of teams that lead from start to finish.

piston broke · Post by **piston broke** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:16 pm

pressure now on Aru, in yellow, and he hasn't got the team.
TT could be massive. Aru has improved but how good is Bardet?

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:50 pm

Aru said last week he would need 2 mins on Froome to feel comfortable in the TT - not sure about that but if either of them have a minute on Froome then it will be interesting - Froome has the team to keep in within that time frame. Bardet is the strongest rider though together with Aru, Uran and Martin are probably stronger than Froome as well.

Tactics are going to be very interesting - will Sky push Landa (currently in 7th overall) up the road to test both Aru and Bardet

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:52 pm

Flipping heck I can't believe that. Just can't get my head round how they can cycle for 6 hours and finish with a sprint up a mountain. I'd like to think EPO is a thing of the past!

TheFamilyCat · Post by **TheFamilyCat** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:24 pm

Reckon Froome played a blinder there; knew he didn't have the legs and could have been attacked earlier but the team tactics made his rivals think he was going to go for it.

May have saved his Tour as he could have lost a lot of time. Will be interesting to see how he recovers; whether it was just a bad day or if his form isn't good.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:14 pm

agree - probably saved 2 mins on GC with his Poker face

Froome's form is not bad - only 7 other riders stayed with his train - just not the best at the moment - he has always dipped in the final weeks of his previous wins - this year he went in with the intention of being stronger towards the end, we are only just pass halfway with plenty to play for and he definitely has the strongest team even with Thomas out. As Aru will probably lose Fuglsang overnight, Bardet is his biggest threat unless the others group together in an anyone but Sky approach. Even then Sky's roadtrain may be too much.

Winstonswhite · Post by **Winstonswhite** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:18 pm

Got to say Froome is so classy when he speaks. Doesn't blame anyone, holds his hand up when he's had a poor(ish) stage, has a do at someone who breaks etiquette but doesn't bleat to the media. Certainly one of the best sportspersons we've had in my lifetime.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:30 pm

Shame his missus isn't the same - refer back to the 2012 Tour - she was vile

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 12:42 pm

So having given 20 second time penalties to Uran and Bennett for taking on liquids within the restricted zone in the last 10k the commissaires reverse their decision when it was pointed out to them that Bardet did exactly the same at the same time as Bennett instead of sticking to the rules and penalising Bardet. Do you think they want the first French win since 1985

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racin ... eds-341826" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today's stage will be intriguing - I am not sure that Froome wants the yellow jersey back just yet - much more fun to let Astana and Ag2r kill themselves trying to defend/win it over the next few days - certainly expect them to try and get Landa in the breakaway just to test them

ExistentialWanderer · Post by **ExistentialWanderer** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 12:43 pm

Still reckon Froome will win it overall but yesterday was unexpected.

burnley007 · Post by **burnley007** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:00 pm

Chester Perry wrote:So having given 20 second time penalties to Uran and Bennett for taking on liquids within the restricted zone in the last 10k the commissaires reverse their decision when it was pointed out to them that Bardet did exactly the same at the same time as Bennett instead of sticking to the rules and penalising Bardet. Do you think they want the first French win since 1985

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racin ... eds-341826" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today's stage will be intriguing - I am not sure that Froome wants the yellow jersey back just yet - much more fun to let Astana and Ag2r kill themselves trying to defend/win it over the next few days - certainly expect them to try and get Landa in the breakaway just to test them

Good call on Landa. Very possible

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:50 pm

Bastille Day - how did I forget that - much questioning of the commissaires over the Bardet backdown

Attacks from everywhere as the race gets underway - Sky trying but not Landa yet

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:31 pm

Pace is brutal today - Aru down to 2 domestiques on the 1st climb with another 2 to come

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:34 pm

Landa goes on attack with Contador - Aru has no support left, same for Uran - will Bardet and Ag2r step up to the challenge

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:19 pm

Watch this if you can - a special old fashioned race today - attacks all over the place - Landa could be in yellow tonight if Aru, Bardet and Uran don't move soon

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:26 pm

Froome made a mess of this for Sky - Landa should be much closer to yellow but Froome worked on closing down rather than letting Aru/Bardet do it - Selfish and stupid - is this the Froome of 2012

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:44 pm

Commissaires offer their reasons for reversing the feeding penalties

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racin ... nce-341890" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They didn't allow that for Richie Porte in 2013 when he went back for food for Froome when Sky vehicle was held up and missed the feed zone

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:02 am

If only Froome had been so gracious in 2012

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/landa-i ... -my-place/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 2:13 am

i know, a thread for gargantuan office bores and fitness dullards , what can you do? bikers, unfathomably tedious.

Spiral · Post by **Spiral** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 2:26 am

I know sod all about cycling but if you feel the need to demean the hobbies, interests and your imagined character representations of complete strangers, you might want to consider seeking professional psychiatric help, Wile E Coyote. You're a maniac.

TheFamilyCat · Post by **TheFamilyCat** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:55 am

Wile E Coyote wrote:i know, a thread for gargantuan office bores and fitness dullards , what can you do? bikers, unfathomably tedious.

Agreed.

Mods, please delete this thread, it is taking up valuable space on the board which could be used for threads repetitively whining about Talksport.

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:49 am

One of the very few threads on this board that doesn't involve bitching. Let's try and keep it that way please.

jdrobbo · Post by **jdrobbo** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:02 am

I agree: a great thread.

Still think Froome has got it under control. With the time trial to come too, I think he'd still be comfortable if his deficit stretched to 50 seconds.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 12:28 pm

karatekid wrote:One of the very few threads on this board that doesn't involve bitching. Let's try and keep it that way please.

Or at least didn't

Hoping that Astana and Ag2r will continue to be stretched this weekend - more likely to be tomorrow though

piston broke · Post by **piston broke** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:20 pm

Chester Perry wrote:Froome made a mess of this for Sky - Landa should be much closer to yellow but Froome worked on closing down rather than letting Aru/Bardet do it - Selfish and stupid - is this the Froome of 2012

The Froome of 2012 was robbed(?) of the Tour and Vuelta(2011) because of Sky and Brailsfords infatuation with Wiggins. Wiggo got the Tour and totally blew the Vuelta but Froome was far stronger than him in both. Admittedly he was the captain and you ride for your captain but how frustrating is that!

The Landa situation isn't all bad. 1min behind gives Landa a bit more license than 30 secs behind. Should be a great week.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:46 pm

Froome back in Yellow - very intelligent from sky in the last 5km there as they positioned themselves near the front - gained time on everyone except Uran as did Landa - Froome 19 seconds in Lead on Aru Bardet 23.

Mathews takes the stage - still trying to make the green jersey interesting

jdrobbo · Post by **jdrobbo** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:05 pm

Possibly the race to start moving Froome away from the field. Clever, cohesive teamwork from the Sky gang, but Astana not at it at all and they all knew how the pelaton could get broken up in the last 2km.

Big day for Froome

Colburn_Claret · Post by **Colburn_Claret** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:08 pm

To be fair Froome won his first Tour on the back of Richie Porte.
It's the job of the domestique to do the donkey work, I'm sure it's appreciated inside the team. The pleasant problem Sky have is that they have several riders who have the ability to be team leader. How would Geraint Thomas be doing if he hadn't crashed out.

Devils_Advocate · Post by **Devils_Advocate** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:12 pm

Hope Froome has a bad day either Wed or Thu in the mountains and goes into the TT around 90 seconds down to set up an interesting finish

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:25 pm

Poor Dan Martin gained 11 seconds on Aru today - Still in 6th at 1:26 down - the crash with Porte lost him about 1:15 - take that away and he would be in second - take the injuries away as well and he would possibly be in yellow as he would have likely beaten Bardet the other day

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 3:53 pm

Froome in big trouble - Ag2r attacking hard and sky struggling then Froome punctures - no waiting here for the yellow (rightly) probably a minute to catch up

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:10 pm

Froome Back on - but how much damage has that caused with plenty of this climb yet to go - phenomenal effort there though

Pstotto · Post by **Pstotto** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:23 pm

I can't quite work out how one team can be against another. Surely one could latch on to any team and let that team work for you instead of them.

jdrobbo · Post by **jdrobbo** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:25 pm

That last 30 minutes from Froome: absolutely sensational.