I'm kind of over hating Chris Froome to be honest guys... The shit he has done so far this tour to have the advantage he has would have me stuck to my pants if it were Armstrong doing it. That descent last week, hopping on Sagan's wheel today to pick up more time... Just some awesome and aggressive riding. I'll be shocked at this point if he doesn't win. And, a shame that Mount Ventoux has been shortened tomorrow :(
Two things: - Can somebody explain the ruling from yesterday to me? - At what time should I tune in today to catch the contenders' time trials?
-the ruling was that the 3 involved in the motorcyle inident (due to spectators) got the same time gap as the last measured gap to those ahead of them in the field. at least that is what I gathered -idk, I never watch time trials
Sort of...What they did was give Froome and Porte the same finishing time as Bauke Mollema, who was also caught up in the crash, but was able to get up almost immediately and finish, unlike the other two. The assumption being that the 3 of them would have likely finished pretty close to each other. It was actually a pretty good break for Quintana. He was dropped before the crash occurred, and likely would have lost more time than he did.
It seemed like a fair ruling overall to me. Froome just about finished the tour off with his performance in the TT today- General classification – top 10 Chris Froome (Sky) 58hr 02min 51sec Bauke Mollema (Trek-Seg) +1.47 Adam Yates (Orica) +2.45 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2.59 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +3.17 Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) +3.19 Romain Bardet (AG2R) +4.04 Richie Porte (BMC) +4.27 Dan Martin (Etixx) 5.o3 Fabio Aru (Astana) 5.16 My boy Aru was terrible :( Like 4.25 behind the stage winner, approximately losing 3 minutes to Froome. He and little bitch Quintana better attack all throughout the Alps just to make it interesting. Otherwise, this thing was basically wrapped up and done when Froome descended the other day. .
Sagan actually got caught out pretty bad in that sprint. Was on the right behind dimension/etixx when katusha/lotto took over on the left. He had to work through a lot of traffic to get back up at the finish. Kittel was for sure beaten but I think he has a fair complaint that he was cut off from finishing 2-4th.
And of course TVG is getting dropped. I hate TVG so much. I wish there was an American GC contender worth a damn. Lots of action today though. I just about lost it when you could hear someone clear as day on TV say "Fuck off Froome" and then Richie Porte started laughing.
sorry guys. little goheels was born on Bastille Day, so I've been pretty out of it for a few days. so the whole Ventoux thing. Froome's bike was destroyed by the motorcycle wreck. As much as I hate him, it was fair to give him the same time. as for Froome... this article pretty much sums up my feelings. the way he's raced so far, i've gone from hating his fucking guts, to saying chapeau. TVG needs to leave BMC. I just knew this whole Porte/TVG thing wasn't going to work out on TVG's favor. That said, TVG seems to have lost his balls. Move on, start over. He's still young. random things: * Awesome win by Jarlinson Pantano today. His team is dissolving after this year, so this win pretty much guarantees that he will get a good contract next year with another World Tour team. Can you say mountain support for Quintana at Movistar? * Pierre Rolland has been riding for a week with a broken hand. I can't even imagine how painful that is.
I have to admit...I don't hate Froome and Sky. Sky came about at a time when the sport was in utter shambles, and vowed to do things differently. I'm still weary of all the Italian, Spanish, and Russian teams (and Kazakhstan). I feel like Sky, being based in the UK, has much more to lose than some of these other teams where the doping culture is more ingrained. Now, are they actually clean? I have no idea. Froome is basically Lance Armstrong now. Dominating climbs and taking time in TTs too? Seems kinda unreasonable. Especially since there was nothing in his history that suggested he could become an elite cyclist. He basically went from a donkey to a racehorse. So I see where people are coming from. But there's no omerta in the peloton anymore. If Sky had an institutional doping program going, don't you think guys like Cav and Richie Porte would blow the whistle after leaving? Or, at the very least, continue doing whatever miracle drugs Sky was giving them? Especially Porte...he's never quite gotten back to where he was in the 2013 Tour with Sky, and I'm sure he'd be calling foul if he knew Sky was up to no good, given his current situation. So, I give Sky the benefit of the doubt right now. And if they really are clean...I don't get how you couldn't like Froome. He's incredible. And all you can really say is "Chapeau".
I say raging faggot for slowing the race for a "nature break" when his riders went down. I understand the motorcycle 3 bike pile-up issue.
yeah thats was ridiculous, and from what I've read he isn't really considered leader in the peloton. Feel free to correct me there goheels10
Yeah, not going to hate on Froome after he has attacked successfully on a descent, a flat stage, the climbs, and the TT. His team is heads and shoulder above everyone, but he has proven without a doubt this tour that he is the best TDF GC guy right now by far. I was happy to see Astana and Aru attack today, but god damn fucking Poels was an absolute monster and reeled every GC attack in AND never shattered. All of that for Sky without Thomas, who was dropped before the final climb. Ridiculous.
His fakeout on the climb killed me today and made me think he could have out time into everyone if he had felt like it. I can't stand Quintana also lol
I used to think Cancellara and Boonen were the two guys who are really considered "leaders" within the Peloton, but after the last Secret Pro article I have no idea anymore. The Secret Pro stuff is probably bullshit though.
yea its just one guy's opinion. I think I know who it is... I think he rides for Sky too, so I take most things he says with a grain of salt.
Been reading the cycling news forums just to learn more about the sport and because this thread isn't as active as I wish it was... -Most dislike Sky but are kind of gaining respect like us for Froome with how he has performed -A lot of calls for salary caps or team number limits to combat the current "train" system -Contador fanbois galore lol, "This would be so much better if Alberto was healthy OMG" Side note: I'm pretty excited for the Vuelta, which is almost all mountain stages.
The cyclingnews forums are actually pretty decent. Some pros actually post on there, some team managers too. Velorooms is another good site for boards. Not quite as active, but the users are a bit more quality.
Porte would never "out" froome or say anything negative about him. They've said it a few times now that even after Porte left Sky last year froome has stayed with Porte at his house during training sessions so they are very good friends. Hes not saying shit
I don't hate froome I just don't like him cause he the race seems "inevitable" when he is riding like this. Ive started to love this race and I want action, excitement, and competitiveness and some of that has gone out the window
I know people say the power output from Froome is questionable, but I honestly don't think the doping is as bad as it used to be... For example: check out Lance Armstrong and Pantani summiting Mount Ventoux (all the way to the top unlike this year)... Armstrong is fucking out of the saddle for almost the entire trip.
When froome pulled over for the phantom piss, it was cancellara who put his hands up to slow the peloton. So I would agree
Tony Martin is one of my favorite riders. Love watching him do this. Sounds like he's moving to Bora next year with Sagan.
Wanted to see Martin and Alaphilippe make it, but Sagan is having himself some tour. Pretty awesome guy with no dedicated help.
Tomorrow sets up as a potentially interesting day with a mountain top finish. Probably a much more suitable climb for guys to attack on, IMO, as they don't have to go through several major climbs before reaching the two climbs at the end. -People seem to hope/think that Astana will attack in the third week as has been their tactic in the last two grand tours (Nibali and Aru both having closes significant time gaps to win the 2015 Vuelta and 2016 Giro... Aru also did that in the 2015 Giro to finish on the podium). Aru is probably too far off to threaten the overall GC, but Astana at least has the balls, and potentially the riders, to go on the attack and make things interesting if nothing else than for the podium spots behind Froome. -There's also some hope that Astana/Movistar will work together against Sky, but that always seems to be the hope and never seems to come about. I would pay to see Aru and Quintana attack Froome and Sky together, though. Personally, I would like to see Astana attack earlier in the race rather than later. It's a tactic they used pretty well in the Giro/Vuelta, but of course that was not against this Sky team... I just feel like waiting until the last climb for any of the contenders is too late because Sky and Froome are way too strong.
not to mention that its the day after a rest day. its kinda counter intuitive, but a lot of riders have shitty days on the day after a rest day. On top of that, you have a ton of teams who have spent the entire rest day planning something epic to try to get that first stage win (only 9 of the 22 teams have a stage win so far), or to move up the GC ladder. Also, it was 93 degrees in this location today. forecast is the same for tomorrow. Froome is too savvy and Sky are too good to let this slip away. Not saying that it won't happen, but it would be a huge surprise if someone overtook him. Sky's team is so insane right now. I think they have something like 4 riders in the top 20 in GC, including Geraint Thomas, a classics rider. Astana are the perfect type of team to try to blow things up over the next few days in the mountains. They have a ton of riders who are great in the hills, they are super experienced in GTs, and Vino is their boss and he's fuming that they haven't done shit. I would say the same thing about Movistar, but they have just been dog shit. I'm just shell shocked at how bad they've been this race. They're usually a tactically astute squad... this year, they've been crap. I wouldn't be too shocked to see Ag2R be frisky tomorrow to move Bardet up GC.
Lawson Craddock posted his 2 week training peaks summary. Freaking insane what these guys go through.
Yeah, not expecting Froome to do anything but win again. Just want Astana and Movistar to try. Astana will go after some stage wins and I have no doubt at all that Aru will attack. Nibali and Aru are awesome because they will attack and keep coming at you as many times as they can until they shatter. I just think they are going to need to be more creative and try and attack early on and see if they can't break Froome's escort apart.
Cav retired from the race btw. Not entirely shocking. He wants to medal on the track at the Olympics, and notoriously hates hauling himself over mountains, so he's going to rest instead of punishing himself another week just to get to Paris. Opens things up a bit for the Champs though. I think Kittel and Greipel have to be considered the overwhelming favorites now, but if Sagan could pull that one off...boy, that'd be quite the season lol.
Can we discuss movistars 1-2 tactic? They send valverde on the attack while Quintana sits. Anyone who's ever been a cyclist knows that Movistar wants a response and then Quintana would attack. Hell, I've been the first guy to attack several times for my team. It's as old as cycling. 1) sky lets valverde go bc he stops the attack too soon. Valverde needs to go on an all out attack and gap 15 seconds. 2) Quintana hasn't attacked on the rebound once. Are they setting something up later in the tour? Is sky too smart to react? Does Quintana not have the fitness?
it took the break 70 km to get away today. holy fuck. the did 50 km in the first hour. today is going to hurt. Sagan is in the break!
This is exactly what they need to do, but will Valverde be willing to blow himself up for Quintana? Thats the big question. Valverde has always had issues giving up team leadership. As for Quintana, a lot of whispers in the peloton say that his confidence seems to be way down. Apparently he hasn't been acting like himself.
Another day lost and the results all but certain. GC, Green, Polka Porte and Froome are the best GC riders clearly at this point. Astana tried to break Sky and failed again. Nibali and Rosa blew up, and Aru turned around and saw three Sky riders with Froome lol. He didn't even bother to attack after that and probably couldn't. Valverde did his usual attack, Quintana tried and was swallowed up, Porte opened a small gap, and Froome caught him with everyone else losing time after that. Basically, you can't beat Sky at this point and if you can Froome is still the strongest guy in the field lol.
when do the cries of "no team or individual can be this dominant without cheating" begin? or does it take being an absolute asshat to everyone around (re: Armstrong) before a witchhunt begins?