to ride over today and yellow is his. today will be fireworks!
who?
Everyones powders been dampened by Team Sky, no fireworks I reckon.
Some do or die in there hopefully, sat up last night to watch was hoping for an attack much earlier!! (Oz time)
TJ van thingy (no relation I reckon of the local TJ) to make a run for it
fireworks could come from Sky.
brad for the stage?
I think sky will just soak up anything leaving brad fresh for the tt, and cav fresh for Paris. I Think sky will really put the hammer down in Paris for cav as return payment
Klunk - Member
fireworks could come from Sky.
Hope so - after yesterday's dominant ride I wouldn't be too surprised if they go out today and totally smash it up, in a "yeah, we had you all along" kind of way.
I hope Brad wins.......but if this is the way racings going to be in stage races, I don't think I'll bother. Maybe this is how clean racing looks.
Mark Cavendish ?@MarkCavendish
Rise & shine! There's some mountains to be climbed! Again. Ohhhh.
from twitter this morning
i think you need another sport lazybike
other than the flat stages ive been gripped this year - yes there was no dominant climber in the group and it might have been better with one but ****ydor is a drugs cheat and thats that.
sky wont do anything silly its not brailsfords style - always thinking of the big picture and the big picture now is getting the brits medals in the olympics
Expect to see Sky do enough to control today .Cav will then do sod all tomorrow and in the TT to be as fresh as he can at the end of the tour to try and win in Paris?
nice pleasant 24 for the race today.
We'll be watching again today. A national hero called Bradley from [s]Yorkshire[/s] (sort of). We need an Aardman film about this TdF, Wallace Grommit and Bradley.
EDIT: opps just realised he lives in Lancashire, that mistake with get the red and white roses arguing.
[i]other than the flat stages ive been gripped this year [/i]
I have to admit, as much as I'm thrilled that Wiggo is on course for a win, I do think that the tour this year has been a bit flat (entertainment wise, not topographically). The main contenders have just kept up with each other, and Wiggo has basically won it on two time trials. There's been very little punch and counter-punch and essentially no drama.
I wonder how much Nibali took out of Wiggo's legs yesterday?
Thought it was bad form for anyone other than the yellow jersey to lead into Paris?
[i]A national hero called Bradley from Yorkshire (sort of)[/i]
Born in Belgium, to an Aussie father, brought up in London and living in Wigan? That's pretty sort-of 😆
[i]Thought it was bad form for anyone other than the yellow jersey to lead into Paris? [/i]
It's bad form to attempt to take the yellow jersey on the final day. The Paris stage is one for the sprinters though
Holyzeus - Member
Thought it was bad form for anyone other than the yellow jersey to lead into Paris?
Eh?
2 more stages before they get there...
sky wont do anything silly its not brailsfords style
I suspect they'll mark every move again, just as has been their style all tour. Except now it's really only Nibali that can hurt them, assuming (touch wood!!) Wiggins doesn't have an Evans-sized blowup no-one else is in reach.
I'd be interested to see what might ensue if Nibali attacks on the last climb and Brad can't respond but Froome can. Brad showed yesterday he is as strong as froome at reeling Nibali back in at his own speed, but we know he can't match the kicks. I wonder if Brad feels strong enough he might let Froome go in the last few km to protect the 1-2 even if it costs him a few seconds over them both. Or is 1st everything and 2nd expendable if it comes to it.
They took 1.5 and 2 mins approx out of Nibali on the stage 9 TT so realistically he needs what, a 3 min gap over Brad today to be in the ball park. Stay safe and tonight could be a good night!
by a team riding steadily on the front...although there have been some good breaks, as for the GC it's been a bit lacklustre. If it wasn't sky and Brad I'd go so far as saying boring...other than the flat stages ive been gripped this year
Sky will grind away until everyone of any slight threat is 'neutralised', and let anyone else go. Compelling yes, but give me two drug filled cheats attacking each other like rabid dogs up the hills any day. I'll be chuffed for brad, he and the team have earned it, but other than the result and sagan it won't be a tour to remember for me.
Yellow jersey leads to Champs Elysee then the fast boys get going.
The main contenders have just kept up with each other, and Wiggo has basically won it on two time trials. There's been very little punch and counter-punch and essentially no drama.
I'd have said he took the lead in the mountains, did well in the TT. More the fact that no other Team can put it's rider up the front and challenge.
And he hasn't won it yet!!
However nobody else has tried to win it with the exception of Nibali yesterday and that was too little too late.
Every attack decimated BMC/Lotto/Liquigas and left Sky stronger.
Rethink of tactics required
[i]by a team riding steadily on the front...although there have been some good breaks, as for the GC it's been a bit lacklustre. If it wasn't sky and Brad I'd go so far as saying boring... [/i]
I (unfortunately) agree
[i]I'd have said he took the lead in the mountains[/i]
Yeah, by being better uphill than Spartacus, which was always going to happen.
You're right though, the fat lady has not yet warbled so there could be some action today. I can't see it though.
the measured approach of skys team attack doesn't have the same 'elan' as the attack-counter attack of previous tours but it's fascinating none the less.
you clearly want drugs back then
done much stage racing ? attacking and lone breaks looking for victory in that fashion are usually done by desperados having a last ditch attempt at taking the top spot.
Id rather have a clean sport than a sport riddled with drugs that is exciting to watch. try FMX
were you just watching it for sky. regardless of wiggos britishness - voeckler is the man of the tour for me !
Thats the danger, DS's trying to do what sky are doing...stage racing will be won and lost in the prologueRethink of tactics required
You say
[i]attacking and lone breaks looking for victory in that fashion are usually done by desperados having a last ditch attempt at taking the top spot. [/i]
yet
[i]voeckler is the man of the tour for me ! [/i]
😐
Of course I don't want drugs back, but I'd like to see the top guys battling a bit more. This year has been very controlled; I'm not saying it isn't worthy, but I am saying it's not that exciting to watch.
If it wasn't sky and Brad I'd go so far as saying boring...
Yup, +1
Lack of serious competition and / or riders under orders, plus the total dominance of Team SKY shutting down everything hasn't made for great watching.
The coverage of the breaks and incidents is more than the GC battle because theres no drama there.
'Look, theres SKY at the front destroying all competition - again.'
Its reduced poor Scherwinn to repeating himself countless times as he tries to think of something to say.
🙂
[i]Its reduced poor Scherwinn to repeating himself countless times as he tries to think of something to say.[/i]
I was amazed that yesterday, not once was it mentioned that someone was a 'great descender' because they were an 'ex-mountain biker' 🙂
listen, lets not take anything away from what has been a lifes ambition for a top english bloke. He and the team have had a plan and executed it perfectly. You can only race and deal with whats there at the time. He has been the best rider and they have been the best team. End of.
oddly, if Nibali wasn't in the tour, and it was Sky vs Evans, we'd probably have seen it be more interesting because Evans could have hurt them in the TT on saturday. Hence riding just to avoid losses to Evans in the hills wouldn't have worked, and we might have been marvelling at Sky's ability to ramp up the pace over and over until Evans cracked.
As it is, liquigas did that, blew everyone else out, and we see it as 'boring' because [u]all[/u] Sky have had to do is hang on.
I miss the Floyd Landis, eight minutes down on gc mega attacks.
[i]listen, lets not take anything away from what has been a lifes ambition for a top english bloke. He and the team have had a plan and executed it perfectly. You can only race and deal with whats there at the time. He has been the best rider and they have been the best team. End of.[/i]
Absolutely. I don't mean to detract anything from what is a magnificent team achievement.
voeckler is the man of the tour for me
Agreed, top turn yesterday and seeing him "sprint" last week to win the stage shows the effort he has put in. Hopefully he has something left in the tank for today and can get the spotty shirt for keeps.
I cannot believe the trolling negativity, actually I can.
Sky and Bradley have squeezed the life out of the competition, which done at the top level of professional sport is mightely impressive.
diference between a stage win and GC - voeckler was NEVER going to take enough time to take GC.
some folk really seem to have a limited grasp on stage racing , the different jerseys and different classes of "winning"
apparently to be worthy of yellow you need to attack attack attack - what happens when tomorrow comes and you have no legs because you attacked for nothing ? if i was in wiggos shoes id be doing exactly the same thing right now.
nibali is capible imo but his team just falls apart when ever the going gets tough and sky stand firm - thats the difference
if he had a good team round him it would have been a different race all together and we might have seen wiggo crack.
Did I hear correctly, he lives in Wigan?
Its been lacklustre because all the others are hanging on. I suppose Sky have (so far) ridden a perfect race.and we see it as 'boring' because all Sky have had to do is hang on.
Vockler has been supurb!! Awesome riding from someone who might not have started. Would have been more interesting had he been firing at the start.
To correct a few Sky are not making it boring, it's the fact nobody can match then that is. Like saying Aaron Gwin should slow down a bit to make it more interesting. [b]Thats Not Racing[/b]
listen, lets not take anything away from what has been a lifes ambition for a top english bloke. He and the team have had a plan and executed it perfectly. You can only race and deal with whats there at the time. He has been the best rider and they have been the best team. End of.
Yes.
sky don't have to do anything they are in the lead, no point in showboating and risking it. It's up to others to attack and when they have sky have just upped their tempo, riders getting dropped from the peleton en masse, caught up the attacker then taken control again.
But yeah maybe not quite as thrilling as a couple of pumped up 'roidheads stamping all over each other
