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Boels better finish this off.
Pretty much every other race this season says they probably will.
Lizzie blown away all her teammates!
Looks like she's dropped the rest of the Boels team now?? 😯
I don't know if it's just that a handful of women's teams are truly excellent or that the stage is so short that they're hammering it but it's shocking how decimated the field is.
I don't know if it's just that a handful of women's teams are truly excellent or that the stage is so short that they're hammering it but it's shocking how decimated the field is.
Much of it is the latter. The racing is brutal because of the short stages.
Also that there is probably a wider gulf between the top few teams and the rest in the women's field than there is in the men's.
Annamiek Van Vleuten passes Lizzie Deignan like Aru passing Froome on La Planche Des Belles Filles on Stage 5. Currently has 18 secondd lead on Lizzie and 2 other (missed their names sorry). 3.7k to go
Is this the thread for discussing La Course then? Properly exciting this!
Van Vleuten riding away now.
Is this the thread for discussing La Course then?
Apparently so 🙂
3.4k to go. 30 seconds. They'll do well to pull her back.
41"!
Can't wait to see this all over again later. I'm supposed to be in a meeting 4-5 though. 🙄
as long as there aren't any right-handers, Annemiek has it nailed.
unless she goes pop...
Come on Lizzie!
There is quite a ramp at the finish so might be doable but I think V-V has this.
Yeah. Seemed to come down a bit when VV dropped her chain, but going out again now.
Well that was great and has got me really fired up for this afternoon!
Better get working!
That was great. Hope it carries on this way and we see more next year. A week long La Course would be cracking.
"The thing" - she obviously holds it in high regard then 🙂
Timb34 - Variflex - I guess you did the Etape on Sunday? It's quite fun to see how many Etape participants fall outside the time limit set by the pros.. some years it's 100% !!(fastest amateur this year was 5:15)
Yes indeed... due to the heat I took it easy and came in at 10 hours! Lots of people throwing up and passing out. Im not super fit, but do between 100 and 200kms a week of MTB and Road. There were plenty of hefty lads and lasses out there, so god knows what time some of them came in at.
Just shows how super fit the tour guys are to do this type of thing day in day out.
Have we done this?
40th anniversary of Bernard Thévenet's second victory. In everyone's mind, the Frenchman's first overall win in 1975 was more touching because the day after he dethroned Eddy Merckx in Pra-Loup, he received the visit of the first French three times winner of the Tour. [u]Louison Bobet instructed him to enter the Casse Déserte alone and pass the Izoard first. It was something a Maillot Jaune HAD to do. [/u]Thévenet did it. Bobet was three times first at the Izoard and Fausto Coppi twice [in the Tour de France]. On 22 July 1953, instead of defending his title, Coppi was on the road side to take a photograph of Bobet alone in the lead. Two kilometers before the top, in the most arid part of the grueling climb, Coppi and Bobet share a stele. If Chris Froome cares about the legend, he'll do his best to win with the yellow jersey in a solo effort atop the Izoard. It'll be his first time racing on this climb as it was the case at the Galibier on stage 17. He's got the team to help him achieve the maximum result but Rigoberto Uran and Romain Bardet who are only 27 seconds down on him on GC probably have other ideas. The grand finale in the mountains this year is an unprecedented one.
Does Chris Froome care about this stuff? Either it's a good tactic or it isn't, and either way, what he/Sky actually do when they gets there will depend on how he feels and where Landa, Nieve, Bardet and Uran are.
Just shows how super fit the tour guys are to do this type of thing day in day out.
It's when people say Cav/Kittel can't climb. Rubbish, they'll be faster than every rider on l'Etape and they've got 2 weeks of tour in their legs already.
Froome/Aru/Barguil are in a different world all together.
Where are the podium girls?
I have them. 😈
It's when people say Cav/Kittel can't climb. Rubbish,
It's their job to be in there at the end, however, they can't really climb. Cav has worked a lot on his climbing to be able to survive, as he was awful early on in his career. Compare to Dan Martin who was fast on climbs even as a junior.
Also you can't directly compare the times of the TDF with the Etape, because the Etape doesn't have the organised teams like Sky driving it from the off, and using up team mates to as result.
Fascinating stage, last chance saloon for Bardet. How good is he as a time trialer ? My feeling is Sky will control and Froome will track Bardet knowing he can put more time into him in Marseilles.
Also you can't directly compare the times of the TDF with the Etape, because the Etape doesn't have the organised teams like Sky driving it from the off, and using up team mates to as result.
No cars to hold on to either.
Where are the podium girls?
Last seen with Macron 8)
last chance saloon for Bardet. How good is he as a time trialer ?
Let's put it this way - Bardet could start the TT tonight and still struggle to cross the line before Froome tomorrow.
[quote=dragon ]It's their job to be in there at the end, however, they can't really climb. Cav has worked a lot on his climbing to be able to survive, as he was awful early on in his career.
You seem to be missing the context of what you were replying to. Even early in his career Cav would have outclimbed anybody in the Etape (organised teams or not).
It's their job to be in there at the end, however, they can't really climb. Cav has worked a lot on his climbing to be able to survive, as he was awful early on in his career. Compare to Dan Martin who was fast on climbs even as a junior.Also you can't directly compare the times of the TDF with the Etape, because the Etape doesn't have the organised teams like Sky driving it from the off, and using up team mates to as result.
Compared to Froome/Martin no, they can't climb, but you're comparing them to the very best in the world. But, they're still quicker than pretty much everyone else, including all those doing l'Etape. I'd hazard a guess that they'd destroy anyone on this forum up a col. I'd also guess that Froome would beat most of us on a sprint too.
Sh1t. Meet fan....
It's their job to be in there at the end, however, they can't really climb. Cav has worked a lot on his climbing to be able to survive, as he was awful early on in his career. Compare to Dan Martin who was fast on climbs even as a junior.
A mate runs guided MTB and road trips in the Pyrenees. One of the local climbs there (can't remember which), not a single one of his guests has ever come within 10 minutes of the SLOWEST of the pros on the day they rode it in TdF a few years ago. It wasn't even the final mountain, it was an early one in the stage and they were all just warming up.
Back when he really was super fit, he got it down to about 5-6 minutes off but was then absolutely screwed for the rest of the day and the idea of doing another 150km wasn't top of his list.
I was out in Italy a few weeks ago and rode Umbrail Pass which a stage of the Giro finished on. The stage winner (and KOM holder) is Thibaut Pinot. He did it in HALF the time it took me (admittedly I stopped for a few photos but still). 1.5hrs for me, 45 mins for him and it was the final climb in a 220km day which included Gavia and Stelvio and mid-way through a brutal three-week tour. To average 12mph up that climb after 200km is unbelievable.
Even early in his career Cav would have outclimbed anybody in the Etape (organised teams or not).
He wouldn't have, certainly not the Cav I saw go straight out the back on a minor climb.
Let's put it this way - Bardet could start the TT tonight and still struggle to cross the line before Froome tomorrow.
It's a different proposition to the stage 1 ITT, but on that stage Bardet did finish ahead of Aru, Uran and Landa.
Tommy V!
He wouldn't have, certainly not the Cav I saw go straight out the back on a minor climb.
but surely, in a stage race, he knows the stages where he can be at the front/to win, otherwise he'll just sit in the groupetto using as little energy as possible, why would he smash himself up the Izoard just to suffer the next day?
Yes, to be fair, this TT is very short, and there's a climb. It's not like a 45k TT that Froome will take them all for 2 minutes.
I wouldn't read too much into Landa's performance at the beginning. At that point he was just in it for the kicks. Even on the Belles Filles he dropped off the lead group.
Calmajane !! De Ghent !!!
Reminder, gaps from Froome for stage 1 ITT...
Bardet +0:39
Aru +0:40
Uran +0:51
Landa +0:56
I wouldn't read too much into Landa's performance at the beginning. At that point he was just in it for the kicks. Even on the Belles Filles he dropped off the lead group.
Think the weather played quite a factor in that ITT too. Was a bit surprised that Landa was that far back as he can put in a good ITT. If ITT was today I don't think Landa would get on the podium but it could be close.
but surely, in a stage race, he knows the stages where he can be at the front/to win, otherwise he'll just sit in the groupetto using as little energy as possible, why would he smash himself up the Izoard just to suffer the next day?
Precisely this.
Think the weather played quite a factor in that ITT too.
For sure.
I want to see an expressionless Landa towing the group at Casse Déserte before reaching into his pocket, whipping out his mobile, and taking a selfie of the group.
I think it was Cav who was asked about how decent club riders (those with a Cat 1/2 racing licence) would get on in the Tour. His answer was basically "They'd get spat out the back in the neutralised zone at the start of the stage!".
There are 18 teams on the World Tour series. Team Sky have 28 riders on their roster which seems typical so that's roughly 500 riders that could participate in the Tour, possibly some are "apprentices" and wouldn't be picked anyway, but 500 is a reasonably round figure to work from. There's 17 Brits on the World Tour. What percentage of cyclists and racing cyclists do those numbers equate to? Probably a small fraction of 1% so you are looking at the best of the best of the best.
That's why, bless him, you gotta love Tommy.. on a stage like today.. oh crepe.
Breaks out to 1'30"..
[quote=lunge ]I'd also guess that Froome would beat [s]most [/s] all of us on a sprint too.
I'd put money on it. He wouldn't even need to break out of TT pace to beat most of us.