I was thrilled when Wiggo broke the duck; also when Froome stepped up and took over.

But i am enjoying this massively more, he interviews and comes across so well, rides with style and panache, an absolute pleasure to watch on and off the bike.

#stepasidesky #worldclass

What is wrong with Froome? Not enough training? Surely Sky, with all their metrics, would know he would be weak? Or was there appearance money paid so they had to turn up? Very strange. In all the grand tours he’s competed in in recent years he’s looked peerless.

He’s just riding into form

It’s clearly a big misstep from Sky if your trying to prove that you havn’t been doing stuff with inhalers…

Sky are looking to see if they can get onto the podium but unseating Pozzovivo without aiding Pinot will be a tricky bit of riding, I’m not sure that Mitchelton will want to help though because Sky wouldn’t do anything to help them if they were in the driving seat. As long as all of the top 6 hit the slope at the same time then Yates should be fine and if any other team attempts to go on the rampage he can sit in for the ride

There’ll be plenty of nervous Michelton Scott Edge people for the rest of the week I reckon, pretty much until they get to Rome unless they can grab some more time. I’m sure memories of Chavez losing pink right at the death are still floating around. Sounds like he went deep today so let’s hope he’s got fresh legs in the morning!

What is wrong with Froome? Not enough training? Surely Sky, with all their metrics, would know he would be weak?

Well a quick calculation based on his time gap suggests that he is 0.1000250% slower than Yates. I’d say while he’s come to the race willing to try to win he hasn’t come willing to compromise his chances in the Tour.

he hasn’t come willing to compromise his chances in the Tour.

Just riding the full Giro could compromise his chances in the Tour, especially if he’s putting in big efforts trying to win. (Of course, that’s for a normal grand tour winner, not a weird superhuman alien like Froome.)

he interviews and comes across so well

* I like the fact that

* He speaks in bullet points

* with a weird melange of

* an accent

Smiles

Walks off

* I like the fact that

* He speaks in bullet points

* with a weird melange of

* an accent

Smiles

Walks off

Plus he occasionally swears in interviews (or is that his brother?) and has a silly giggle.

Froome came in under cooked and looking to ride into form, his crash before stage 1 hasn’t helped that apparently. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he puts in some big attacks over the next few days and makes some time back. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t race again until The Tour.

Yates will be chuffed its a flat ish stage today, he went deep in the TT and can hopefully sit in the pack for most of today and recover in time for tomorrow. I’m intrigued as to what, if anything, Dumoulin will do over the coming days, he surely has to try something or pink is over.

He’s very much still got the rough edges yet to be blunted by the corporate PR machine. A bit like Cav in that respect, he’ll say what he wants to say rather than what he should say.

Dumoulin will do over the coming days, he surely has to try something or pink is over.

I’m not sure what exactly his options are. He’s clearly a decent climber but he’s not an out and out climbing machine like Froome/Quintana/etc. So his options are obviously limited and his attacks, well, i just can’t see what he can possibly do. He’s more likely to be concerned about holding onto 2nd rather than winning it.

I don’t like this todays stage is all over the place…..

Poels and Elissonde in the break, looks like Sky have given up on GC then.

Elissonde is a great find by Sky, how long will he stay for?? That’s the question.

I still think after the Tour, Sky will pull the funding.

If today’s stage is all a bit random then that gives a break an easy option of staying out there till the end .. fingers crossed. 🤞🤞🤞

Poels and Elissonde in the break, looks like Sky have given up on GC then.

I wondered if they were winding up some other teams, giving froome an “option” up ahead.  I don’t imagine he was serious – doubt he could’ve made anything stick

Oh no.

This could be painful for Yates over the next few days.

Aaghh.

FFS! – just had a “notification” on my phone from Eurosport, delivering me a nice **** spoiler after the race

bollocks!

Anyone know how to disable it ?

Let’s hope this was Yates’ “jour sans”.

Coowee, that’s looking tight… hope Yates eats a whole pizza and ice cream to himself tonight.

As is, QSF are having a tremendous first half of the year… fancy a break being left to go for it 👍👍👍

Can’t remember if I had Shac’ers in my “would like to win a stage” list🤞

double bluff – let Dumoulin go all in on a power climber’s stage, while you pretend to be shagged and limit your losses so they think they’re still in it while secretly you’re giggling at fooling them all.

Then when he’s hanging tomorrow on a proper mountain stage, put the final nail in.

Or maybe he is donald, dumoulin makes the rest back tomorrow and Saturday is stripped to the waist, mano a mano, winner takes all racing.

God, this is so much better than the recent TdF processions.

Skybet has Dumoulin as marginal favourite, at evens vs 6/5.  Froome at 12/1

double bluff

Can’t see that.

Let’s not forget that Froome got dropped in last year’s tdf, on the runway finish.

First hill/mountain top win on discs?

First hill/mountain top win on discs?

Clever – sever everyone else’s leg below the knee and spin up to glory ?

Ouch – tomorrow might be nasty, hey ?

Shouldn’t happen but if anyone’s off the back after climb one, there’s 30k of team TT to try to get back on before the “proper” climbing.  Summit of the big climb is still only half way in.  If anyone’s off the back of a pushing bunch at that point it’s going to hurt for a long while.

fingers crossed for the lad

Bad day for Yates. Where was Chavez when he was needed to help him right at the end? In post race interview Yates looked angry and was in a ” bring it on” mode so hopefully he’s still on form and needs the very steep climbs to extend his lead.

Where was Chavez when he was needed to help him right at the end?

Chavez was 22 minutes down, at a guess taking it easy so he can be super domestique for tomorrows high mountain

must have been what Froome was doing when the tour went up Prato Nevoso in 2008, finished 22 minutes down on the winner that day 😉

Well I hope Simon isn’t feeling as nervous as I am. I think there’s going to be quite a fight on the Finestre. I’m not sure who 9km of gravel suits most.

Well, Froome’s an MTB’er…  but always looks unbalanced to me.   One crash could very much change the result.

The Finestre was horrible when I rode it last year – we did Bardonecchia->Susa->Finestre->Sestriere->Bardonecchia, so the middle two climbs of today. The gravel/dirt was pretty loose and dusty, and it’s a constant 9% for those 9km pretty much. You couldn’t stand up on the hairpins as the back wheel would spin out, so had to be ridden entirely seated.

Will possibly suit seated climbers more than standing ones, but I think the pros will be going somewhat quicker than we did.

I’ve been impressed with Yates but I think Froome could smash the race to pieces today.

yates popped

Yates blown away by Sky, oh no….

very  early he’s going to lose 20 mins +

what did I just say!

now if TomDum starts to slip….