Oh, and on iplayer there's BeSpoke: Alpe d'Huez for those that haven't done it, it'll give you a flavour for tomorrow...
Absolutely the best day I've ever had on a road bike was up the Alpe 🙂
bertie to win tomorrow
metalheart, go knock yourself out on [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/le-tour-dopingspeculationrumourconjecture-thread/page/12#post-7064349 ]this thread[/url].
FWIW, a pretty good article on [url= http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/07/the-curious-case-of-chris-froome-why-he-and-cycling-deserve-better/ ]The Curious Case of Chris Froome[/url] over at cyclingtips. And the linked to [url= http://rouleur.cc/journal/riders/laurens-ten-dam ]Rouleur article on Ten Dam[/url] is well worth a read.
Ay(e), there's the rubmetalheart - Member
Yes, it pretty incredible that with all these obvious and ex(?) dopers in the race Froome is still in lead....
Must be some guy to do that clean, eh?
Though I suspect that, until they come across the next great undetectable (including by passport) drug, doping's not as helpful as it used to be
@Mrblobby: oh, I see. You can throw mud, just not in one specific direction.... I note you don't feel it necessary to 'instruct' anyone else. #doublestandards
'Sometimes your a hammer , sometimes your a nail . Today I was a cheapy wee ikea nail'.i love Geraint Thomas.
IKEA to sue Sky for slander !
Nah…. If IKEA marketing bods have any squirt of originality they'll release a modern flatpack interpretation of a [i]welsh dresser[/i] and call it it the [i]Geraint[/i]
@Mrblobby: oh, I see. You can throw mud, just not in one specific direction.... I note you don't feel it necessary to 'instruct' anyone else. #doublestandards
Eh?
Metalmuppet you can throw your mud in any direction on mud slinging thread that was specifically created for that purpose. Off you go,ta.
Haha, I saw three (veiled) doping reference posts in a row (two specifically mentioning valverde) and jumped in with both feet...
I actually don't want to derail these daily threads believe it or not... I deliberately [i]didn't[/i] *speculate* about tomorrow! 😀
Yes, it pretty incredible that with all these obvious and ex(?) dopers in the race Froome is still in lead....
Must be some guy to do that clean, eh?
If that wascaimed at me you have missunderstood my point. Froome has one le tour before and hasnt ever failed a test. He is riding as expected. Valverde who has been banned before and is currently riding way above expectations. If I was going to be throwing accusations around or looking at someone to investigate it would be Valverde. Both or neither could be doped.
Doping aside (deliberately not airing my views on this thread) my comment was just about the mental toughness someone in Froome's position has to have to endure what he does. Same would go for anyone in the yellow jersey in the current climate, be that Quintana, Nibali, Contador, etc. Though the daily media and roadside hatred that seems to be directed at Froome personally, which he seems to put up with graciously, just puts it on another level. No one deserves that.
Not sure where the #doublestandards is there?
metalheart - Member
Yes, it pretty incredible that with all these obvious and ex(?) dopers in the race Froome is still in lead....
Must be some guy to do that clean, eh?
So if he's leading and cheating, we can the assume that Nibbles, Quintana, Bardet, Ancona, Rolland, Jungles... Anyone who beats him, they're all juiced too, no?
Guys, you are right, I've probably misread your intentions.
And actually thinking about what you've clarified, well, it's made me think a little harder. And for once, I've actually have tried to think it from Froomes side. Now, [i]that[/i] felt weird.... 😯
Though the daily media and roadside hatred that seems to be directed at Froome personally, which he seems to put up with graciously,
No-one would be giving him shit if Michelle was still allowed to get involved 😆
Aw I feel bad about the name calling now Metalheart, I take it back. 🙂
Froome has one le tour before and hasnt ever failed a test.
Best not to go down that road, LA has yet to fail a test either iirc
people on the side of the road have always given abuse to riders , it is nothing new .
Mercx got a kidney punch from a fan once didn't he? the fans have always been a bit mad it seems,probably been on the beer for hours waiting for them to pass 🙂
'G' has been amazing. I'm gutted that he won't be on the podium this year. Surely that crash had something to do with his performance today.
Replay of Nibali looking at Froome's mechanical pretty conclusive.
Millar thinks it's fine. History of Chaingate says otherwise.
I find it hard to believe Nibali would wait for Froome to have a problem and then attack. he isn't racing Froome.
Anyway, great shame for G to run out of steam. A brilliant performance up to now though.
There are millions of fans on the roadside and thankfully only a few d*cheats. Its ask been seen before, Merckx punched punched,riders knocked off and beer and other fluids thrown. However we now have Twitter where everyone likes to rage about something.
Anyway, great shame for G to run out of steam. A brilliant performance up to now though.
G has been the rider of the Tour for me. What a legend. Outstanding riding, he's a future Tour winner for sure. Probably one of the best all-round riders of his generation. Great shame to see him drop out of top 5 but he still managed a funny, self-depracating interview at the end.
No way I'm waiting for the highlights tomorrow, will be watching live, it's got to kick off surely!
The abuse is ****ing stupid, Froome is doping but Quintana isn't.......the plebs seem to forget that Froome made most of his time while Quintana and Movistar weren't paying attention.
Bitumengate!!! Get on there, no class whatsoever but **** it, get up there Nibali!!
crazy-legs - Member
Anyway, great shame for G to run out of steam. A brilliant performance up to now though.
G has been the rider of the Tour for me. What a legend. Outstanding riding, he's a future Tour winner for sure. Probably one of the best all-round riders of his generation. Great shame to see him drop out of top 5 but he still managed a funny, self-depracating interview at the end.
This. Couple more years of Froome and then G gets the full force of the Sky machine behind him?
Fully agreed, plus if the british public want riders want personality then g's just the ticket. Much 'better' personality than wiggins IMHO
There are millions of fans on the roadside and thankfully only a few d*cheats. Its ask been seen before, Merckx punched punched,riders knocked off and beer and other fluids thrown. However we now have Twitter where everyone likes to rage about something.
So what's your argument there? Part of the sport for decades, partisan crowds for the Vuelta and Giro being the stuff of legend, etc. So we should consider it acceptable behaviour?
I love Gee and he's been incredible this year but there's no way he's a future GT winner.
Firstly Mr Smith is grumpy, having watched as much as I did in the small hours of the mornings I'm now missing the best stages, expecting the one to be a right battle. It's very hard to say what gt will do, true Froome showed his potential on the Wiggins win but maybe gt has just a little way more to go. Commendable to have got this far before the inevitable, he put some big efforts in there.
Let's be fair to G, he'll have worked a damn site harder than the other GT contenders in the early flatter stages, we've no idea what he could do if he was protected.
Well Sky should have a vacancy for a leader at the Giro, so hopefully we'll find out.
🙂
Gee is a super strong rider, no doubt, but he'll be exposed on the climbs along the full duration of a GT (especially in the Giro/ Vuelta type routes) and doesn't have the Wiggins type TT prowess to compensate for this with longer TT stages (if they ever reappear in Le Tour). Classics, GT super domestique and week long stage races are more his things and he has been doing these very well. Maybe he could pick up a top 10 in Le Tour in the future but winning is several orders of magnitude harder and more unlikely even for the very top established GC riders. Some people are letting their Man Crush take over their emotions 😆
I agree with a lot of that and certainly wouldn't expect a win in the Giro. It would be nice to see him ride it as the protected leader and see how it went though.
IMO he's more of a Nibali than a Froome or Wiggo, in terms of GC contenders.
Sky are about the best-placed team to take a rider with certain strengths and abilities and help him adapt for a different purpose though (in other words lose weight I'd guess).
Also I got a bit angry with the pundits talking up his podium chances for the TdF, as if they don't know how ruthless Sky would be about using him up in support of Froome for the win.
Remember that G has done a full classics season as well, so the fact he popped on stage 19 of a brutal tour isn't that surprising, an awesome rider
He'll be leader for P-R (and other classics) next year, surely? Let him get some monuments.
Also I got a bit angry with the pundits talking up his podium chances for the TdF, as if they don't know how ruthless Sky would be about using him up in support of Froome for the win.
Apart from the fact it's a bit short and written like a sportsman writes Porte's smh colum (in my other post above - it's also just how he talks ) kind of gets that across, it's all about doing the job for Froomey, if you have to go I to the red then go, drop and let the next man suffer. Honestly gt has a chance centre like Porte on a team behind him and a season to prep. If you want to win the tour enter the tour and make that the goal, forget the giro or some of the classics forget winning everything give it all for the tour.
