wow! never seen froome blow up like that!
Aru in yellow by the sounds of it. Not sure they'll be unhappy with that.
Yessss! That was exciting!
team sky worked very hard for that.
Flippin eck. Froome 20s down on Aru and a time bonus too. He'll have yellow.
Do wonder about the Sky tactics there and whether Froome would have been better to kick things off earlier on the Peyresourde. Seemed to play more to Bardet and Aru's strength.
Aru in yellow by 6'.
He looks quite pleased 😆
That was a brutal finish ramp but surprised that Froome just didn't have the legs.
Wow that looked hard, v pleased for Bardet
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Yeah I like Bardet, read an interview with him recentyl and he comes across well
So Sky on the front all day not to make others think they coudl cover attacks but to stop attacks that Froome wouldn't be able to respond to?
A strong finish for Uran there too.
Of course 6" isn't much and can Astana defend?
But Aru and Bardet seem strong.
GC suddenly got very interesting. Aru now needs to attack in the hills, Froome needs to hold him and hope the TT goes to plan or attack and have to contingency. Uran and Bardet have to do something too. Tomorrow might will be very, VERY interesting indeed.
What a win. 😉
tomorrow should be full on mental from the start 101km with 25km downhill finish.
As***a will have to try and control it tomorrow. Could be a smart move from Sky
25km downhill finish.
Bardet will not be unhappy with that at all I would suggest.
Possibly not Froome either
Any word on Chaves? Whats happened this year?
What can anyone else do ? Sheesh.
drop Froome in the last 200m? 🙄
Any word on Chaves? Whats happened this year?
Early season injury. Not on form.
Worryingly for Froome he has leaked time to Bardet and Aru on all the mountain top finishes and they've both been chipping away at his lead from the stage 1 ITT.
I'm still slightly puzzled by Froome's tactics and leaving it to the final very steep finish given that Bardet and Aru are punchier riders. Maybe he just didn't have the legs to go earlier.
Only one more mountain top though.
And he's done ok on the downhill finishes.
(And so might Bardet of course - though he hasn't got time so far)
n0b0dy0ftheg0at
SL2...
+1 - every time I hear his name 🙂
Outro music genuine LoL
And of course there is the ITT on the final Saturday too – Froome is generally very strong on them so he'd have to have lost lots of time by then.
Landa.
Well, came around the corner at the bottom of the runway barely blowing at all, to be told to leave Froomy...
A class rider that's had a career supporting Bertie at Astana, and now supporting Froomy. What's next ? How long does a rider have to be suppressed before they move teams.
Landa is rumoured to be going to Movistar next year I think. To be fair, he has had his chances though has often crashed.
Landa... had his chance at the Giro two seasons running now.
That is partly what's puzzling. Landa and Nieve didn't actually seem to be setting that fierce a pace on the last part of the climb.
Beautiful interview with Cummings. What a nice bloke, laughing and joking with Juan.
Brilliant, unassuming elegance.
I know the Landa background, back in the Euskatel days him and Nieve, Sanchez were my heros. Never understood the move to Astana apart from the folding of Eusk and a cheque to support his mate Bertie, but to hang around for 3years without much support.. then to move to Sky in the Wiggo/Froomy strop, to be handed the Giro and crash.. then not get much support, to then come to the Tour and not blow chunks but soft peddle Froomy up the hills..
He needs to move fast outa there IMO.
Just amazed by Serge Pauwels, giving a 15 minute segment with the Eurosport boys straight after that stage as if he'd just got out of bed. [s]I don't know what these guys are on these days, but that just doesn't seem human. [/s]
igm - Member
Of course 6" isn't much...
This may seem like Mum's net but it isn't.
You know I mean " as in 35° 55' 56" deepred 😳
He needs to move fast outa there IMO.
Putting a big paycheque ahead of personal ambition? His choice of teams, Astana, Sky, Movistar, would suggest so.
[quote=johndoh ]And of course there is the ITT on the final Saturday too – Froome is generally very strong on them so he'd have to have lost lots of time by then.
It's only 22.5km though, he's not going to be making up a minute.
Do Sky send Landa up the road tomorrow? He's only 2:55 down so Aru has to chase (though Astana might get some help) and then who knows what happens.
Doubt it, Froomy admitted (could be sandbagging) he didn't have the legs today so Landa was told to hoover up as many points over the line as possible.
Doubt Sky will change any plan they have, Froomy till the end.
Anyway, a lot of sprinters are still coming over the line.. 😆
Mamil bike anyone ?
Ah, well then it's about 200 metresYou know I mean " as in 35° 55' 56" deepred
Hmmm. Not sure that's smart.
Landa up the road should force others to chase playing into Froome's hands.
If they don't chase and Froome feels good he can attack up to Landa on the last climb.
If they don't chase and Froome doesn't feel good they just let Landa go for it.
Sky still have 8 riders to play with. Sending one up the road isn't that much of a gamble.
Reports of disagreements between Portal and Landa at the Sky bus.
Also reports of a 20 second time penalty handed to Uran and Bennet for taking drinks in the last few k. Claims that Bardet took one too and should be similarly penalised.
I can't see what Landa did wrong, unless he was told to go for the stage and backed off a little - which is what it kind of looked like. I don't think Froome would have been too upset if Landa had gone for it, he knows what it's like to be held back for a leader...
Froome looked a little off all day I thought. He was standing up a fair amount more than he usually does on the last couple of climbs.
Roll on tomorrow. Aru in yellow makes things much more interesting.
I'll be rooting for Bardet.
Just searched for those rumours of the Uran time penalty, can't find them..
God, hope not.
Froome looked a little off all day I thought. He was standing up a fair amount more than he usually does on the last couple of climbs.
the damp weather/low cloud/mizzle may have aggravated his asthma, it always seems to make the wife weazy.
Bastille day tomorrow fully expect AG2R to hit it hard from the off to see what today took out sky.
Reports of disagreements between Portal and Landa at the Sky bus
Just watched it again and I can see why there may have been a disagreement. Landa did all that was asked but, when your team leader is struggling, you don't go past him you give him your wheel and drag him up. There's no team value in Landa finishing ahead of Froome unless he knew he'd Hoover up the bonus seconds, which he didn't.
Just searched for those rumours of the Uran time penalty, can't find them..
Uran now showing as 55 seconds down on Aru, so 20 second penalty applied. From the cyclingnews report...
By a similar token, the quietly impressive Uran almost claimed a second stage victory at this Tour, and remains in fourth place overall, although his satisfaction will be tempered by being penalised 20 seconds for accepting a bottle from a spectator in the final 10 kilometres. The team accepted the punishment, even if manager Jonathan Vaughters complained that Bardet had committed the same infraction. Uran now lies 55 seconds off the maillot jaune, which, for the first time on this Tour, is no longer on the shoulders of a Sky rider.
Though later that changed to it having been a member of team staff that handed him a drink.
on a 20% hill there can't be any meaningful advantage in having a wheel to follow, surely - "no" aero and he could just as easily have held Froome up if he tried to match pacewhen your team leader is struggling, you don't go past him you give him your wheel and drag him up
I'm oot
Regarding Landa, I'm sure I read that Froome told him to go for the time bonuses.
Regarding Uran and Bardet and the time penalties. I think they are saying that Uran took a bottle from someone who was part of the team, hence penalty. And Bardet just took one from a spectator (or at least someone who wasn't wearing a team shirt) so no time penalty. If that's true it's pretty stupid of his team.
Cheers, blimey yes if he took one from a team member then that's a basic error and fair enough on the penalty. If, as you say, Bardet took one from a spectator then obviously the French UCI jury will turn a blind eye.
Obvious is obvious after all.
Thanks for searching that out.
Stupid really, if Cannondale really want to do that just make bloody sure the person handing the bottle isn't wearing a Cannondale shirt 🙄
Ridiculous to lose 20 seconds over something like that though, given how hard they work to not lose seconds on the road.
Vaughters eh.
Mans got form.
Landa was an absolute machine at the end
Don't want to see Bardet penalised... but...
https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/885532420908474368
On reflection I'm still a bit puzzled by the tactics today. Seemed a bit crazy for Sky to leave it to that last ramp, given how steep it was, and given how Bardet and Aru seemed to already have the beating of Froome on the super steep stuff. Maybe they couldn't make it as hard as they'd wanted to on the Peyresourde. Going up there I did think they weren't reeling Cummings in that quickly which made me wonder just how quickly they were going, still dropped Nario and Bertie though so must have been a fair lick. Be interesting to see some analysis.
Anyway sets things up nicely, the downhill runs to the finish on stages 13,15 and 17 may now become significant for GC with time bonuses up for grabs.
I wonder if Sky were faking it up that last climb, hoping to prevent the attack until the last ramp - i.e. accepting they would lose the 20secs but hoping not to have someone (plural?) attack from further down the mountain and lose a minute or two. If so, tactical victory.
But otherwise, I would have thought going faster sooner and letting Froome go sooner would have been better. I'd expect Martin and Aru to be quicker up 300-500m of 20% than Froome.
So my suspicion is that Sky knew it wasn't their day and were faking strength (apart from Landa obviously)
igm, I suspect that might be the case. Froome being cagey at the end and just saying he didn't have the legs when it came to the finale but maybe he was already struggling to hold the wheels on the Peyresourde, which might explain why the pace wasn't that high.
Landa; he was pulling on the front up the climb mouth closed, barely breathing hard, whilst behind him even Froome was clearly suffering. How can this be??
Maybe he's been hanging our with femme van den driesshe!
Landa is a great rider but he can't TT and always has at least one really bad day so him winning a GT is a stretch so I can see why he's opted for Sky (gives him best chance in the Giro or Vuelta and he gets paid handsomely to be a super domestique in the TdF).
With Froome generally when he has a bad day he doesn't lose an unrecoverable amount of time. I'm hoping he recovers and gets Yellow back before the ITT but failing that I hope Bardet wins, not a big fan of Aru (even before his silly attack the other day).
Landa; he was pulling on the front up the climb mouth closed, barely breathing hard, whilst behind him even Froome was clearly suffering. How can this be??
Failed to attach the tow rope from his nose ring to Landa's seatpost?
I couldn't help but smirk a little recalling Wiggo and Froome.
Failed to attach the tow rope from his nose ring to Landa's seatpost?
Wiggo Froome, Hinault LeMond, Delgado Indurain, you can come up with quite a long list of super domestiques who people argue are stronger than their team leader. No surprise he occasionally looks like he's towing Froome up the hill, it's his job to be strong on specific stages and do just that. Yet to prove he can lead a team in a GT.
No way you can 'help' a teammate on that 20% finale - you just have to give it what's left.
Landa has been one of the best climbers in the bunch for a few years. After his Giro crash he won the KOM at a canter and nearly won 3 stages. No surprise there.
Will be interesting to see 2 things now
1) How will Astana deal with controlling the race without any climbers. Don't forget, Sky smashed the front group to bits yesterday and still had 4 riders with Froome.
2) The Izoard is steep, but doesn't have the mental 20% finish. Can anyone pull out more than 30s over Froome before the TT?
Unless Astana as a team can smash Sky in the run-up then I don't see them doing much today apart from maybe a time bonus. That is, of course, providing the 20% was what cracked Froome, not underlying fitness.
Can anyone pull out more than 30s over Froome before the TT?
That's what I have been thinking since yesterday – I am sure he'll be disappointed with yesterday's performance but I doubt panic has set in yet. It might do after today if he has another bad day, but let's face it, barely a tour goes by without one of the favourites having a bad day or two.
Incredible news!!! @UCI_cycling has reversed decision!!! No penalty for Rigo!!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
63 replies 170 retweets 415 likes
From Vaughers twitter
No way you can 'help' a teammate on that 20% finale
I wonder think that. Admittedly I know nothing about road racing but I'd have thought if anything more of a hindrance - better to have clear sight lines etc?
EDIT. pleased about that Atlaz
All to play for now.
Loving this, most interesting TdF for years.
I know nothing about road racing but I'd have thought if anything more of a hindrance - better to have clear sight lines etc?
Supposedly there's a psychological benefit of following a wheel even if you're not getting a physical boost but I guess that works both ways if the other rider is dropping you. Also, if he cracks and you're going well there's a big chance that you'll crash.
Supposedly there's a psychological benefit of following a wheel even if you're not getting a physical boost
Yes. But I'm talking about the last 200m to the line, not the 5k leading up to it.