Aru off the back
Aru copying my climbing style!
Bonk Bonk Bonk do you want a gel? Eh where am I?
🙂
Aru and Nibbles have had rather erratic form [s]since they have had to ride clean[/s] recently, haven't they?
Aru copying my climbing style!
You should have seen this point in the Etape. Loads of people suffering in the heat, loads of people who'd gone WAY too hard during the long flat bit from bottom of Columbiere to the foot of Joux-PLane (we missed out Ramaz).
Every single shaded bit had riders collapsed on the grass, pouring water over themselves and I passed some people who were really weaving all over the place. I stopped at the lake at the top to dunk my feet in, it was so hot.
Molle Er! Well spellchecker version
🙂
On the mtb descent you have to ride up the road a bit through Tour - the heat coming off the tarmac is stifling and thats a fairly flat bit
Every single shaded bit had riders collapsed on the grass, pouring water over themselves and I passed some people who were really weaving all over the place. I stopped at the lake at the top to dunk my feet in, it was so hot.
End of a hard 50km mtb bike stage with a shit load of climbing and 35c temps I was passing guys nearly crying and puking from cramp. Nasty when it hits
Pantano vs Alaphillipe duel is gonna be great, especially on the descent. Hold on tight.
Until nibbles turns up
Blimey where did Nibali come from ?
Blows away. Impressive
They've caught him - game on 800m to go
Who's gonna crash? Bet now.
Any idea on Porte and Yates .. seems fractured
[quote=Yellow Belly ]Who's gonna crash? Bet now.
I was wondering the same
Stoner - the descent is going to be spicey
Mint sauce on the road!! 😀
mintastic
this descent is going to be scary
So no GC Attacks?
Aaaahhh I can't watch it! Sketchy as.
At 6.7k now stoner
That tarmac looks very slick...
What tyres for shine new tarmac in goppingly wet weather at balls out pace?
Don't think I'd want to be on the moto.
is it just me that thinks the finish looks a bit scary? Respect to them all if they all make it.
Stoner - are you wearing red/purple rain jackets
So in the end a quiet stage, perfect for Froome & Sky really
Froome allows himself a little smile
So if I'm right we finished just above bar Robinson?
Yeah in the square at the tourist office
So for those that don't have the Oz. Commentary should we have a salary cap?
Ah the age old - we lost because of the budget. If GMC had more money would Porte have avoided a puncture and would his backup car have been closer ?
Not really Jamby, just at the moment Sky can pay guys to have no stage, green, polka ambition at all. Their budget is bigger than everyone else. The question really is do you want competitive racing? Take 2 guys out of sky and would the race have been better for the spectators?
No we shouldn't have a salary cap, we should have more teams who don't piss about with dual leaders, sprinters, stage hunting, defending 6th place, going home early for the Olympics etc etc.
Rohan Dennis (BMC) went home early to prep for the Olympics, Sergio Henao's (Sky) girlfriend had a kid 3 days ago and he's still there helping Froome.
Whichever team has the probable winner then concentrates all their resources protecting them.
While I see that the TdF is much better for the fact there is 4 or 5 rces going on, sky is the only team who does/can have only one plan. It's not bitterness but I'd love to see 4 or 5 guys fighting for yellow on stage 20, to be fair also bar the puncture Porte was the 2 strongest rider in the race probably 2 mins up on the rest overall.
I thought the table showed there where a few teams on around €20m - Quintana just rode on Sky's train its just he didn't have the legs for more. Porte puncture. The drop off from top few teams is quite great and I'm not sure lower budgets for top 3-4 teams would help. Don't know
Yates keeps the White - Chapeau
I thought the table showed there where a few teams on around €20m
I thought it was quoted here sky was 35m euro, best paid rider is Sagan at 5m
And really my point being if we have more equal teams get the racing would be better along with more.chances for more people
V soggy family Stoner on the way into town, where it has finally stopped raining. Front runners and froome group took the corner reasonably fast but nobody taking many chances. Will post some videos shortly. Back of the pack they were mincing around the hairpins just focusing on making it home. Sagan went past v slowly like a shaggy wet rat.
I was the one with a bandaged finger funky 🙂
surely,
Sagan [s]went[/s] wheelied past v slowly like a shaggy wet rat.
Fans seem to to be policing themselves slightly more over the last few days, seen quite a few of the idiots being "encouraged" not to run alongside the riders recently.
Excellent example below:
Just got back to our chalet after getting very very wet. Started our day on top of the final climb, but kids were getting cold, so legged it back to Morzine after the caravan went through, to watch the race finish.
I'll have a couple of photos once they've uploaded.
Hot food will taste good tonight 🙂 Photos etc when you are ready
Ivan yes I saw that at the time !
The top of col du ranfolly, about 1pm just as the rain started.
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Froome 150m from the finish.
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One of Froome's bikes, with egg shaped chainrings!!
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Nice
It's now warm dry and fairly sunny here in Morzine, the rain stopped about 5 minutes after the race finished!! Bloody typical!!
Glad we took the beach shelter
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Izagirre at the lacet
Hell of a day. Followed the tour in here and Twitter whilst watching some great performances at the Anniversary Games. Now feeling happy, half cut and generally in a great mood.
It's been a blast, vavaFroome, I'll pos back when I'm sober! Much love!
Ha - i saw you stoner (I assume) thrusting MTB in the air at about that distance!! was there a bend nearby?
tmh there was also an mtb in the air closer to the finish than Stoner
Thanks for sharing the photos, classic Brits "on the beach" image 🙂
Not me with the mtb, thm, that was M le grenouillie in front of me in the video
Feeling a bit gutted it's over for another year! Talk about saving the best till last (and last but one).
I feel a bit sad - that it's over but also that the rain buggered it up a bit
Regardless, a good TdF overall, I'd say
... and many, many thanks to RealLunge for doing these threads
I'm oot for tomorrow's formalities
Au revoir, you breeteesh DOGS !!
jambalaya - MemberAh the age old - we lost because of the budget. If GMC had more money would Porte have avoided a puncture and would his backup car have been closer ?
The reason Porte lost so much time due to the puncture was nothing to do with the team car but the fact that BMC bolloxed their tactics and had all the team supporting that donkey TVG. Richie didn't have any team mates with him to give him a wheel (or a bike) in 15 seconds, Can you imagine that happening to Froome?
@forza indeed, my post was tongue in cheek
Sky News had a special on Froome tonight, I'm sure it will be repeated or maybe even online.
Its been great to watch, Froome was in decent knick and no one threatened really. Sky where very professional. Great to see Sagan and Yates win a jersey, Bardet got second which is great for the French interest and finally of course to Cav, in yellow for the first time ever and another 4 stage wins. Roll on Rio.
Its been great to watch, Froome was in decent knick and no one threatened really. Sky where very professional. Great to see Sagan and Yates win a jersey, Bardet got second which is great for the French interest and finally of course to Cav, in yellow for the first time ever and another 4 stage wins. Roll on Rio.
Spot-on. I've watched every second of the live coverage on ITV4 and have enjoyed every minute of this Tour. You want to hear some of the moaners on the BikeRadar forum going on about how poor this Tour has been. For me, every day has been enthralling with races within races for stages and jerseys, epitomised by today's final racing stage.
We've had drama and controversy with weather, accidents and mechanicals and as Jens Voigt pointed out the Brits have won a third of the stages. What's not to get excited about?
The only downer is we have to wait 49weeks for it to start all over again. There's always the Olympics to look forward to though...
Not many tours end like thatI'd love to see 4 or 5 guys fighting for yellow on stage 20,
At best there are that many at the start with genuine hopes of aspirations of winning but they are never all close together by stage 20 as the stringest rider is susally pretty clear
I think its been a great tour race wise and some great stages with great moments
Who can forget the Maillot jaune running up hill sans bike 😆
Or the great crash as the inflatable fell - thankfully its impact was largely comical
the only real disappointments are
1. Nairo - I know its fast but he never even tried to threaten [ ok once] never mind threaten to challenge
2. Porte was unlucky in team roles and puncture
3. cav shame he is not there to win it tomorrow.
Yates - One for the future and the next on the procession line as we claim the tdF as ours 😉
Cheers Lunge appreciated
I thought it was a very entertaining first couple of weeks when it's often just warming up... Cav in Yellow. Froome attacking at every opportunity. Froome running! Flamme Rouge collapsing! Sagan bossing it.
Would have liked to have seen more firepower from the GC men in the Alps. Today's stage was a bit of an anti-climax, but then I kinda expected it to be.
But Yates in 4th, very almost on the podium... They surely have to ride for the GC next year? Fantastic effort from Porte too, who has struggled in grand tours in the past. Only a shame he lost time completely out of his control.
Today's stage was a bit of a damp squib but the tour on the whole has been great. Sure Froome and Sky bossed it but the number of incidents, battles for 2nd-10th and the sheer number of times Pantano attacked (chapeau that man) made it very entertaining.
I thought yesterday's stage was pretty good, sure not from a g.c. Perspective but the Nibali, Pantano, Allaphillipe battle up the last hill then what's his name who won on the way down was gripping. Would have liked Pantano to win again really
Nibali's pedal action is so smooth.
I thought it was quoted here sky was 35m euro, best paid rider is Sagan at 5m
28m Euros was mentioned on ITV4 IIRC. Interesting:
http://inrng.com/2016/07/the-finances-of-team-sky-2015/
The reason Porte lost so much time due to the puncture was nothing to do with the team car but the fact that BMC bolloxed their tactics and had all the team supporting that donkey TVG. Richie didn't have any team mates with him to give him a wheel (or a bike) in 15 seconds, Can you imagine that happening to Froome?
Weren't they also driving the peloton trying to set GVA up for a stage win?
So the Vuelta then... Contador v Quintana? Wonder who else will ride? There'll be a few who misfired at the Tour with a point to prove.
T'other Yates lad at Vuelta with sibling rivialy to push him on?
mrblobby - MemberThe reason Porte lost so much time due to the puncture was nothing to do with the team car but the fact that BMC bolloxed their tactics and had all the team supporting that donkey TVG. Richie didn't have any team mates with him to give him a wheel (or a bike) in 15 seconds, Can you imagine that happening to Froome?
Weren't they also driving the peloton trying to set GVA up for a stage win?
Amounts to the same result then. Sky have one obsessive objective, all the other teams split their effort and people wonder why there is no viable GC challenge for Froome.
The only stages that didn't have any real excitement were the two very long stages where the peloton just ambled along like it was a club recovery ride. Friday's stage was one of the best (from a spectator's point of view) for a long time. Time trials - well they are what they are and often the most exciting thing about them is the rising hysteria of the commentators. I would have liked to have seen a team time trial, the Morzine mountain TT would have been "interesting" in that format.
Quite like Boulting and (especially) Millar, early days for them but they'll get better Half of Paul Sherwin's commentary seemed to be reading verbatim from the local tourist boards' brochures. Millar's insights into the tactics are great - he'll say something along the lines of "they need to do this now" and a minute later exactly whatever "this" is happens. I thought Jens Voigt was working for another broadcaster during this Tour so possibly on loan to ITV4 following Chris Boardman's departure after his mum's death.
Not a fan of the team time trial. I wonder how it would have changed the race though. Bardet would probably not have finished second, which would have been a shame. Sky might have brought one or two less climbing domestiques too which may have made for a weaker team on some of the tougher stages.
I love the TTT for the sheer brutal mechanical simplicity. But agree it distorts the GC. As a spectacle for a stage town that might not otherwise be on the route I thinks a good thing for le tour, perhaps it needs it's own GC neutral day