Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 124 total)
  • TdF Stage 13 – The Final Hour [Spoilers]
  • jambalaya
    Free Member

    Surely now is the time for sky to do something if they want yellow?

    Yes although I suspect we’ll see nothing as they look to damage control

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Mate is a rat

    I think he actually said Mate est un raton. “Raton” translates as wheelsucker.

    So the sentiment was the same but the statement was less of an insult. (Assuming you’d rather be called a wheelsucker than a rat!)

    llama
    Full Member

    nice shot of some proper bikes there ….

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    slowpuncheur
    Free Member

    Wait…. I reckon if Nieve is feeling good, he’ll let Porte go a couple of Kms from the summit and not before. Pinot’s the one to watch though.

    llama
    Full Member

    porte going backwards 🙁

    atlaz
    Free Member

    Porte is done in this tour I think. If he can’t go up today, it’s only going to get worse

    rusty90
    Free Member

    Porte dropped with still 12km to go. Not looking good.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Porte just doesn’t have it.

    And if he beat Froome up the Col de Madone then maybe Froome didn’t have it either and was glad to have an excuse to climb off.

    portlyone
    Full Member

    Nibali wins it. Race for 2nd place…

    lemonysam
    Free Member

    Here he goes!

    llama
    Full Member

    valverde attacks! Nibbles follows

    bigdean
    Full Member

    So what has happened with sky this year? They all look less fit than most of the other big teams. I know the main contender is out but it just looks like the was never any support available.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Just heard about Porte and seen comments here. I agree with @atlas – Porte looks toast for the Tour now, he’s not going to make the podium

    EDIT 2 mins down on Nibali – I stick my finger in the air and say he’s going to lose 4 mins today. SO much for making an impression

    And I have to say it, Wiggins was deemed to be in worse form than Porte ?

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Anus horibilius for team Sky. Something is up. They don’t seem to have the strength when it matters and their superstars have pulled out of a lot of races.

    Ironically Wiggins is their only rider who set out his objectives at the start of the season and has actually achived them so far. (Compete at P-R and win the TOC, still has the worlds TT to go)

    I’m not saying Wiggo should be at the tour, he handn’t trained for it, but maybe it’s telling that he has done his own thing this year rather than being with the “climbing group”.

    lemonysam
    Free Member

    Nibbles goes on the offensive!

    llama
    Full Member

    shark attack!

    lemonysam
    Free Member

    Valverde and Pinot look focused on each other, shame!

    edit: although the gap’s shrinking…

    edit2: and Nibali accelerates.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    EDIT 2 mins down on Nibali – I stick my finger in the air and say he’s going to lose 4 mins today. SO much for making an impression

    What do I know, 5:20 down already, revise to 7 ?

    llama
    Full Member

    surely another stage for Nibali!

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Chapeau to Nibali, he could so easily just play it safe. Would have loved to have seen him battle it out with Contador and Froome.

    portlyone
    Full Member

    Nibali looking more that human! *cough in tinfoil hat*

    Bimbler
    Free Member

    Come on Nibbles

    How old is Thibaut, I don’t believe they’ve mentioned it (enough times)

    phiiiiil
    Full Member

    “Ee by gum” written on the road… 🙂

    KonaTC
    Full Member

    Richie Porte hanging off the back @6mins+ maybe Sky will release Mr G for a stage win 🙂

    johndoh
    Free Member

    So where has Nibbles suddenly got this form from? It wasn’t long ago people were writing his chances off…

    slowpuncheur
    Free Member

    POP. What a day for Porte to have Un Sans Jour. Every 3 week tour he seems to have one. The question is whether he’s able to have a good day before the end of the Tour.

    Re Sky having a bad time:

    I just have a horrible feeling this is like the post Festina era all over again. I sincerely hope not but looking at the new lease of life several riders seem to be having lately, its a worry.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    maybe Sky will release Mr G for a stage win

    No point in not doing so. He was no help at all today on the final climb. Maybe Stage 5 might have been his opertunity though. Nothing from now on really suits him.

    timc
    Free Member

    Nibali form is making the absence of Froome & Contador an even bigger loss, what a spectacle it could have been.

    rusty90
    Free Member

    revise to 7

    Now at 7 with still more than 2km to go. 10?

    llama
    Full Member

    Nibali form

    He wet up PdBF slower than Froome did

    jfletch
    Free Member

    I just have a horrible feeling this is like the post Festina era all over again. I sincerely hope not but looking at the new lease of life several riders seem to be having lately, its a worry.

    Maybe but look at another way. Maybe the JTL incident, the Lienders incident, the Henao issue and the apparent stepping up of Sky’s internal testing regime have meant Sky haven’t been able to keep doing what they were doing to win previously.

    I don’t actually belive this but it just highlights why relative perfromance is a really crap indicator of doping and how you are looking at it with very blinkered Sky are like saints attitude.

    jonba
    Free Member

    And I have to say it, Wiggins was deemed to be in worse form than Porte ?

    Partly but also if you listen to pre tour interviews a lot of it was to do with team morale and cohesion. You’ve got 9 guys racing together for 3 weeks. Any friction is amplified and the team needs to work together to win. Wiggo/Froome not getting on was going to be detrimental.

    Also you don’t go to the Tour with a backup plan if you intend to win. You take a risk and put all your eggs in one basket. To put wiggins in as a backup at the expense of team performance is a bit like asking a sprinter to hold back and cover the brakes in case there is a crash – they’d just lose.

    You also need to consider that Sky are now down to 7. The loss of the team leader will have knocked them and Porte wasn’t protected for the first 4.5 stages. Different job being a domestique compared to responding to attacks. I imagine he has trained to diesel engine his way up hills rather than follow attacks.

    ajf
    Free Member

    So where has Nibbles suddenly got this form from? It wasn’t long ago people were writing his chances off…

    Where has the multiple grand tour winner and current national champion suddenly got his form from?

    Seems like he has not raced much this year for a reason as he looks the strongest and freshest

    KonaTC
    Full Member

    Nothing from now on really suits him.

    😥

    jfletch
    Free Member

    I imagine he has trained to diesel engine his way up hills rather than follow attacks.

    Couldn’t even do that though could he!

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    he has trained to diesel engine his way up hills rather than follow attacks.

    not sure on that – his role was to keep Froome in the main group on climbs, he couldn’t have done that today.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    portlyone – Member

    Nibali looking more that human! *cough in tinfoil hat*

    Not even some back of a fag packet kg/watts calculations? Poor.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Gaps today are huge.

    Lets hope Nibali can do it as Valverde would not be a popular winner.

    jonba
    Free Member

    Can’t see how bad he looks, only the text tells me he’s not going well. but it is a fair comment – he wouldn’t have been much use.

    I know the latest thinking is that unless you are a natural climber you do what wiggins does and limit your losses. Overall if you TT your way up you will lose less than if you try and follow natural climbers. But I though Porte was a natural climber…

    jonba
    Free Member

    I hope nibbles is clean. He’s looking impressive but then no more so that seeing Wiggins/Martin in a TT stage demolish everyone else.

Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 124 total)

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