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Great performance by jumbo visma. Kreijsvijk has a super poker face as clearly he didn’t have it at the end. Hard one for the tv. Show the breakaway winner or the possible action as the GC duke it out. I think they got it right.
I don't think the ITV commentators mentioned Valverde once the whole episode and then he ride's in to second
shame nobody had a go at the end. Must be all pooped. At least we don’t have to listen to Kirby any more.
I hate to break it to you, but ITV have been running live coverage all Tour so you never had to listen to Carlton Kirby's inane babbling in the first place 🙁
Surprised Valverde didnt try and get his team to catch Nibbles as he was easily the fastest finisher. Then I remembered it was Moviestar!!!
Bardet.....is it just me or does that feel like a really 'easy' Polkadot win? He's not exactly looked great at any point in the race.
Yeh surprised Inneos didn't try and get Bernal to chase so he could pick up Yellow, White and Polka dot
Agree with crazy-legs about not being a Nibali fan and I really hoped Simon Yates would win the stage. Simon was robbed yesterday (wink).
So pleased for Geraint, he won his 2nd podium place fair and square, lets hope he doesn't have a massive crash tomorrow and get hospitalised.
Valverde in it for the bonus seconds. Classic Movistar tactics!
yeah, I don't understand how Bardet managed to claim the polka dot jersey, seems the least deserving 'win' for a while now.
Gutted for Allaphillippe, he had an amazing run in yellow when he and his team were pretty much written off as stage hunters from the word go. His TT effort was exceptional as again people had written him off and assumed that would be his last day in the lead.
When will the other sprinters work out that you have to hoover up all the intermediate points possible to be on a par with Sagan and not just shoot for the stage wins? The inconsistency of his rivals is incredible, stage winners one day and anonymous the next.
I really though G was going to come good in the final week however his more measured and metered approach to the climbs didn't seem to work, last year when the others were fading on the crucial climbs he seem to be able to maintain his pace a lot longer, this year that didn't seem to be enough.
It was good to see other teams getting the hang of having their own 'Team Ineos train', in the past it was always team sky dictating matters on the front however there seemed to be far more organisation from the opposition teams this year plus whatever Movistar was doing - did anyone work out their tactics?
Congrats to Bernal, one of the youngest tour winners for quiet some time, a third different TdF winner for team Ineos which must be quite the nice embarrassment of riches to have.
A slightly flaccid ending to what’s been a great tour. I’d been holding out hope that G could somehow pull a win out, but he was just missing that last ounce of firepower needed to go with Bernal.
So moving forward, who will Ineos put their weight behind for next years tour? I can’t see them putting up up a triple header like Movistar
Congrats to Bernal, one of the youngest tour winners for quiet some time, a third different TdF winner for team Ineos which must be quite the nice embarrassment of riches to have.
I'm assuming you mean three different winners still with the team?
I was meaning Bernal, Froome and G. Is one of them leaving that I missed?
Nice combinatorics problem. 3C2 for the three tours. Bernal and G for the Giro, Bernal and Froome for the tour and Froome and G for the Vuelta.
Assuming they all say upright. Which is no mean feat. G is the only one who (just) managed to not rule himself out through injury.
INEOS have Carapaz next year too. Their support riders mostly looked a bit second hand this year so I reckon they were lucky to take Bernal to the win.
I wonder if G will have a go at classics next year and Alaphilippe a GT win.
Yeh surprised Inneos didn’t try and get Bernal to chase so he could pick up Yellow, White and Polka dot
The problem with that approach is that you stand to lose everything rather than gain one thing. Blow up or make a tactical error that drags your opponents with you and you lose the lot. I'd imagine there may also be a sort of "honour" thing where you don't needlessly deprive an opponent of valuable airtime and exposure by taking something you don't really need.
EB didn't NEED to do anything other than sit there in amongst the main group and defend. The riders pretty much all seemed on the absolute limit - even Nibali turning onto that final ramp dropped down to about 8mph.
Bit like how F1 has become a measured tactical approach of tyre and fuel saving with less of the do-or-die overtaking. Everyone has reache dthe same plateau of aero / marginal gains.
When will the other sprinters work out that you have to hoover up all the intermediate points possible to be on a par with Sagan and not just shoot for the stage wins? The inconsistency of his rivals is incredible, stage winners one day and anonymous the next.
Easier said than done. Sagan reaches the places pure sprinters can't by being able to climb better than them.
So moving forward, who will Ineos put their weight behind for next years tour? I can’t see them putting up up a triple header like Movistar
Froome if he's recovered, which I'd kind of put money on. Bernal if he's not.
I listened to R5SX on the way “ooooup norf”
I have to say, from listening to the coverage, that th stage was rather unexciting and rather a 1 Nibble stage to loose.
Still, we’ve had one of the most interesting Tours in recent years. We’ve a couple of French riders who’ve been pretty much exceptional in both attitude and talent, other riders who’ve never done much come to the for.
I’m very happy for all of the riders for showing the Tour off to what it should be.
More tomorrow...
But for now, I’ll succumb to ITV4’s prattling on about today’s stage.. I may turn down the volume and just watch the pictures.
I'm not sure Froome will be fully fit by this time next year. Hopefully I'm wrong.
It was sad that Cummings was ill for a day or 2 and couldn't quite get into a break that was hoped for by his fans.
The Yates are looking better and better as time goes on, hopefully with their team support, their talent will have them on the TdF podium for the Yellow jersey.
La Vuelta Espana starts 24th August.
La Vuelta Espana starts 24th August.
Which isn’t that far away is it 🤪
I’m not sure Froome will be fully fit by this time next year. Hopefully I’m wrong.
you know he's going to ride the Vuelta right?
One legged froome wagon...
I love that video of froome: the grin at the end says a lot if you ask me.
And he hardly looked at his stem at all!
I was meaning Bernal, Froome and G. Is one of them leaving that I missed?
Not that I noticed - just that Skyneos have won the tour with 4 different riders, hence assuming you meant 3 winners in their current team (unless you forgot that beady bloke on Eurosport).
I (perhaps foolishly given the conditions) rode up Cormet de Roselend and bivvied at the top on Friday night
Hard to imagine a bigger anticlimax for the few hundred folk up there on Saturday morning
What was shocking was there was no signage or comms down in Beaufort, and as most people headed down off the mountains, there seemed to be an equivalent stream of fans heading up there