The Stage 20 ITT gonna be interesting as hell. Unless one of Froome or Thomas completely sacrifices their chances for the other, I bet the time gaps don't change too much between now and then. It'll be a Dumoulin, Froome, Thomas ITT battle for the yellow jersey. Also, with all the abandons, Sagan may just get his victory on the Champs this year.
TdF is now saying Castroviejo did not abandon. Thats weird. They said it through their official channels. Did they retract it?
for real man. now that Uran is out, I'd love nothing more than Lawson to get in a breakaway and go for it in the Pyrenees.
That live tracker has really given me appreciation for the isolation some of these riders deal with. He was all alone all day. Makes me wish they covered that stuff too, very interesting I think.
How did Warren Barguil win 2(!) TDF stages last year and then end up on a PCT team for 2018-2020? I'm assuming they just paid him more than anyone else would, but that's still pretty crazy.
Fortuneo gave him a ton of money. I think a few other teams offered him more though. I think he left Sunweb with another year left on his deal too. He went to Fortuneo because he wanted to ride for a french team (and a Breton team at that), he wanted to be the GC leader for said French team (means FDJ and Ag2R are out), and he's also quite a quirky character. I could see his character turning some folks off.
One of Barguil's wins last year pissed me way the fuck off. He sucked wheels on a breakaway and would not take a turn even when the other riders were trying to get him to. Then coasted by them for the win. Overall it was a good strategy as he got the stage victory but looked extremely weasel-like in the process. *Disclaimer - I know he is a mountain more of a rider than I or most other people ever will be, but still.
This is going to be super exciting when only 6 riders finish the Tour this year and they are all on team Skye
I'm not a great froome fan at all as has been said. But pushing and shoving him by some fans when hes riding up Duez yesterday is despicable. Just awful And the nibali news is horrific, wtf...
The Dutch are pretty wild when you get a fairly big group together. I’ve experienced them at Olympics and soccer events. I’ve enjoyed it every time. They did orange flares because they are orange. Why flares? I don’t like them tbh. There riders are sucking wind and then have to breathe that shit? I’ve noticed flares on every stage. Most haven’t been orange, so it’s not just the Dutch.
It's a bit cruel that the area they're pedaling through is completely obstructed by those trees. Looks incredible.
If Sagan takes 1st-3rd on the intermediate sprint tomorrow and Kristoff gets no points on the day then Sagan will mathematically lock up the green jersey.
Rest days at the TdF are usually when some interesting stories break. Usually rider contracts, team sponsor news, etc. Here's the first few nuggets from today.
Wout Van Aert to Lotto-Jumbo on a 3 year deal starting in 2020. It might start in 2019 though... depending on his interests. Greipel is done at Lotto-Soudal
holy shit.... Demare made the timecut... 41 min down today. it was almost dark when he crossed the finish line by himself. chapeau
weird... it said Gilbert was carried out of the back of an ambulance after todays stage and has abandoned the tour.
They are saying that today’s stage (17) will be the first ever gridded start in a TdF stage. I realize this should be self-explanatory, but what is a gridded start and how does it differ from normal starts?
Normally riders can just bunch up in any particular order. Today, they line up in staggered groups, with the overall leader first, second place second, etc. See this picture. The white tape outlines where a particular rider will start.
i fucking hope this is an epic stage. I fear that its boring as hell and Sky end up extending their overall lead.
everybody is talking about the climbs today, and how short the stage is. Do not underestimate some of these descents. Some consider these descents are the most dangerous in the whole race.
Loved Eurosport dropping that in and then just not giving any more updates about it. Looks to have lost about a minute from the group he was with prior, so I guess it wasn't that bad.