Le Tour (may contain spoilers)

So Phil, was it this stage last year that Chris Froome crashed out? I’d just like some clarification as you’ve only mentioned it 8 times…

Here’s a question…..
When Bertie and Nibbles et al decide to change bikes, why isn’t there an immediate attack to make them have to work far harder to get back on?

The same reason the riders had no clue why they were stopped yesterday, they’re probably to focused on their own plan, plus I guess its not very sporting and they may very well do the same to them if you have a mechanical.
That’s not to say it hasn’t happened in the past though.

Great stage, nice to see Froome’s generous comments for Martin’s win today

Congratulations to Tony [Martin] for his late attack. He’s been really close to the yellow jersey for a few days now and he deserves this after all the hard work he’s put in.

I guess its not very sporting and they may very well do the same to them if you have a mechanical.

But if it’s clearly not a mechanical, why not attack? Surely the teams have people watching live TV and reporting back? They might be able to see an occasion where it’s just a bike change and make the call over race radio.

Not a fan of changing bikes, as you might be able to gather. If you’re changing bikes for an advantage, you deserve to be attacked.

I am, however, a big fan of the way Tony Martin rides. Lovely to see him getting his just desserts today!

Anyone got a source of English audio commentary that works outside of the UK? It used to be that eurosport sub would do it but no longer unfortunately

**** **** arse **** bollocks, for some reason it didnt record..**** arse **** sticks

you might want to edit that 😉

I feel that was justified use of the asterisk there.

ITV4+1? If that exists! If not, try the interwebz.

they weren’t asterisks a minute ago 😉

I missed last nights and caught up with ITV Player, it’s ok apart from a few ads.

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/tour-de-france/series-26/episode-4

alternatively they repeat in the middle of the night, which is how I caught up with yesterday

Well, thank **** the ****ing swear filter dealt with the nasty ******* words!

😉

they weren’t asterisks a minute ago

😉

I’m still **** fuming mind!

Absolutely loving Paul’s repeated ‘Excuse Me!’ prefix in todays commentary. He’s proper lost it, BUT I reckon we’ll still be knocking Waldorf and Statler in 2025.

I have set it to record later, fingers crossed!

I reckon we’ll still be knocking Waldorf and Statler in 2025.

at least it’s not Hugh Porter. I really don’t understand why they can’t find someone better.

The maddening thing is that they have found somebody better, it’s just that Phil and Paul appear to get disinterred for the TdF.

for info, tho this should be repeated in tomorrows “stage 5 spoilers” thread…
ITV Player had the highlights online about 2100.
ITV4+1 doesnt exist on freeview

what’s the deal with the spare wheels from non-team cars, is there a ‘standard’ tyre, pressure and cassette or something that everyone is happy to ride?

I should think anybody with a puncture is happy to get any tyre – though pressure is probably fairly standard. Cassettes are more problematic, though I guess will work OK if not perfect. More of an issue might be rim widths now those are no longer standard, but they’ll just put up with braking not being perfect I suspect.

Anyone know the story with Thibaut Pinot? Having a pop at the mechanic, refusing a team mates’ bike when he had another, what was the issue?

From what I saw he was understandably frustrated by the puncture and got angry it took so long to get a wheel. Then he dumped all the toys out of his pram.

He threw a strop. Apparently one of his mechs wasn’t working, battery had worked loose. Probably blamed the mechanic, thinking it wasn’t charged up.

Waaaay back on page 11/12

mikesmith – Pinot now looking for his toys

LOLZ!

mrblobby – Sean Kelly: Pinot “creating a scene”

😛 Wish I’d heard that, I can hear him saying it in my head!

What a stage!!! Brutal* but absolutely beautiful!

I seen the “Chris Froome” thread way way earlier (about 16:00 FFS!) and instantly feared the worst, when he was doing the elbow dance with the Katusha rider I reckon my heart stopped for a good 3 seconds… I’d convinced myself he’d been taken out of the race but managed to stay away from Facebook/here/the Internet from then and have just watched the highlights.

Brilliant show by the GC guys and awesome to see Nibali attacking (Swooons!), this race ain’t over yet!

Anyone seen the weather for tomorrow? I’m hoping for some echelontastic racing again!

Tony Martin in yellow with one of the best wins of the year, perfect!

*Not Roubaix but close enough.

Ooh, strong crosswinds? Just what we were after!

Tour Stage 4 Review

A good read!

Stage 4 results, pavë, pavë, pavë!

1: Team Nitey Nite Burners, DS David Galloway on 491 points
2: Team Almost real biking, DS Greg Bowie on 481 points
3: Team Durham Dynamo, DS Rich Harper on 470 points

In the GC battle:
1: Team Durham Dynamo, DS Rich Harper on 1296 points
2: Team Raleigh banana, DS Chris chaddock on 1281 points
3: Team Michael Flatley Quick Step, DS Scandal42 on 1246 points

.

Not a fan of changing bikes, as you might be able to gather. If you’re changing bikes for an advantage, you deserve to be attacked.

Those were exactly my thoughts. The only reason they are changing bikes is to gain an advantage so attacks are fair imo. Mind you, I think it’s fair to attack when riders puncture or have a mechanical so my thinking may be skewed! My thinking is something like… a puncture or mechanical is often because a team is trying to gain an advantage through their kit eg if Froome’s rear shock had snapped yesterday should he expect other teams to wait for him?

Sean Kelly yesterday was amusingly disparaging about riders who have ‘started’ Paris-Roubaix. Basically just because they started and climbed off before the first cobbles..

Damn, just seen the pics of Dowsett’s injury. Looks pretty nasty considering he is a haemophiliac.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/alex-dowsett-suffers-nasty-injury-on-cobbles-and-finishes-last-181152

Anyone know the story with Thibaut Pinot? Having a pop at the mechanic, refusing a team mates’ bike when he had another, what was the issue?

I like Pinot but his head went the day before when his team mate crashed horrifically right in front of him (a bit like his descending a year or 2 ago). Apparently it was an electronic shifter issue not a puncture, which is why he took it out on the helper (not a mechanic, probably a student getting a free FDJ jersey out of it…) as new wheels were no use to him. By then though he was looking for excuses, his body language showed he’d given up as he threw a tantrum (I should know, I’ve thrown a few…) and Tony Martin showed how effective you could be on a team mates bike…

Hope he pulls himself together in time for the mountains, if he’s way off GC he could be fighting for summit finish stage wins.

Loose Di2 connector if you believe the reports

He didn’t have a mega tantrum, more a mini tantrum 😀 More than understandable given everything that has happened so far and the insane pressure put on him as France’s big hope. To do well in a Grand Tour you need everything to go your way almost every day. The stress and pressure can only build with every little mishap, be it of his own making or a mechs fault. A Cavendish said, it isn’t a computer game

The general rule seems to be: attack or at least carry on if it’s an “in race” fault or incident but don’t attack if it’s because of external issues like someone throwing carpet tacks on the route as happened with Cadel Evans a couple of years ago.

It’s not in “the rules” but is more a gentleman’s agreement between the riders.

Sometimes there just isn’t enough risk in Pro Cycling so lets spice things up 😯

Flag marshall nipped off for a fag?

A couple of questions relating to the Eurosport footage-

1) Are the Alpecin adverts a sort of joke?

2) Who gave Sean Kelly a talking serum??? Last time I watched the footage he was essentially asleep in a corner and would only give a gruff sentence if prompted.

Greipal is fast this year but what a late surge from Sagan.

So, is it that the outright sprinters are fat lardarses this year, or are the likes of Sagan, Cancellara getting faster? 😆 Terrible leadout by EQS btw.

The Alpecin adverts look like dubbed German ones, or at least filming the same sequence in multiple languages.

I’m not sure how sophisticated the average German advert is these days. My experience consists of Alpecin, Focus “Bikes from Germany!” and Bora extractor fans.

On board footage of today’s big crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=EMapm4gU8CI&app=desktop