TdF Stage 15 – A Fully Deserved Winner [Spoilers]

Wow. Some going. Chapeau. Such an ungainly looking rider as well, Froome.

Fe-rooooooooooooooooom! 🙂

Bah, Froome. Looks like the GC is done and dusted for the rest of the race, dull dull dull.

Good effort by Porte as well today , Kennaugh as well.

Va Va Froome – that is the words of my 6 year old who said he looked like he was on the flat

Wow great race by Sky

mogrim – Member – Quote
Bah, Froome. Looks like the GC is done and dusted for the rest of the race, dull dull dull.

Shame the rest of the field is too crap to contest

Bah, Froome. Looks like the GC is done and dusted for the rest of the race, dull dull dull.

No, I reckon the fight for 2nd – 5th will be pretty good to watch. 🙂

mogrim, sadly that’s the case it seems. But maybe, just maybe that might open the door to some craziness on the mountains yet to come?

I’ve not a Froome fan, but I must admit that was actually impressive.

Great to see the yellow jersey attack with style again (even if the style is Paula Radcliffe on a bike).
Too many years of what seems like watching riders calculating the minimum effort required to defend it.

mogrim, sadly that’s the case it seems. But maybe, just maybe that might open the door to some craziness on the mountains yet to come?

I’ve not a Froome fan, but I must admit that was actually impressive.

Yeah, not saying it wasn’t impressive – but I’d rather have been impressed by one of the other guys, Mollema or Contador. 4 minutes looks pretty much unbeatable.

No ! not the Kenyan, cant anyone else ride up hills fast in the burning heat?

a stage with multiple climbs may well see Sky crumble again, its not all over

Maybe but no one looks strong enough to attack them .Sky dont look as strong as last year in the mountains though

150 miles @ >25mph average with a bit of a hill at the end.
Reckon Froome’s got that strava segment for a while.

a stage with multiple climbs may well see Sky crumble again, its not all over

Can but hope…

In a nod towards the green jersey Sagan’s effectively got that wrapped up hasn’t he barring a bad crash etc, but surely it can’t be too far away until its mathematically impossible for anyone else to take it?

Congrats to Chris Froome.Awesome display of climbing ability. I just knew Richie Porte had been playing poker the last few days, he blew the elite group to bits. The race for 2nd will be interesting.

Froome win – ace.

Contador wheelsucking Nieve most of the way up but still getting dropped – nearly as good.

a stage with multiple climbs may well see Sky crumble again, its not all over

Rest day tomorrow, Tuesday is a tough day, Wednesday is a 32km TT then Thursday and Friday are both brutal climbing days.

Lots more still to go – Thursday is the double climb of Alpe d’Huez.
Although to be fair, all Froome has to do is sit there and fllow the wheels.

but I’d rather have been impressed by one of the other guys, Mollema or Contador.

Bertie is a drugs cheat I would rather he just got of his bike and gave up stopping only to shake the hands of every spectator and apologise.

a stage with multiple climbs may well see Sky crumble again, its not all over

They will no doubt crumble but Froome has a huge time advantage and the knowledge that he has the legs of them all – how can they attack him in the mountains when they know he is the fastest amongst them and all he has to do is shadow?
the othere teams have to watch attacks as well as I assume they will fight for the podium which is more realistic for them

a puncture for Froome when he has no support could cost him

Bertie is a drugs cheat I would rather he just got of his bike and gave up stopping only to shake the hands of every spectator and apologise.

Couldn’t give a flying f about whether Contador was on drugs or not, I want to see racing. And a four minute difference isn’t ideal for that.

Stage win
Yellow
Kom

Seeing a British rider (yes I know) in a British team do that, in the way he did, is pretty cool.

Fantastic! Far more exciting than the sky train last year.

Sorry I’m late everyone, watched the stage after a great ride in a restaurant with a few drinks and some brill food. What a way to win, fantastic riding. Just read the thread, a few interesting posts..

bikebouy – Member

Frome will be boxed in and then spat out the back today. Saxo/Movistar maybe one other team will isolate him and pen him in then they’ll attack and spit him out.

Bertie for the win.

ironbrucove – Member

It’s going to get messy. French guys riding Luke their tails on fire, valverde out for revenge after he get a lesson in Belgian riding, Saxo bank riding everyone else legs off and sky getting a kicking. Should be good viewing

Junkyard – lazarus

I expect him [Froome] to drop all of them on the final climb again

crazy-legs – Member

Huh, Quintana obviously didn’t get the memo from the French.
Dear cheating Spaniard: please drop back, there’s a good chap.

Spaniard?

😀

One thing I can say though, Froome needs to hire Sagan to teach him how to celebrate..

I’m sure he’ll get better though. He actually got out the saddle a few times and looked roughly ok, a lot better than Voeckler anyway, who went flying out the back wonderfully.

Whereabouts on the innernet can I find some decent coverage of he highlights? I’ve seen the 3 minute ITV highlights but they’re way too short. I want something that gives you a good flavour of what happened and why.

Also tried the one on the guardian website, but it’s risable. Took me about 3 minutes watching to finally realise the commentator was actually speaking English, of sorts.

after a great ride in a restaurant with a few drinks and some brill food.

Surprised they didn’t throw you out.

One thing I can say though, Froome needs to hire Sagan to teach him how to celebrate

I bet the original froome dog has seen that look before

A brilliant stage and lets face it a brilliant weekend, if you include Friday

I also wonder if it might be the beginning of the end for macho gearing on road bikes……

In a nod towards the green jersey Sagan’s effectively got that wrapped up hasn’t he barring a bad crash etc, but surely it can’t be too far away until its mathematically impossible for anyone else to take it?

Yes, but I’m pretty sure you have to finish the tour to win a jersey, so if he crashes and has to retire, he can’t win it – even if nobody betters the points total he had when he retired.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, I’d say he’s already won it – I can’t see anyone catching him. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprise if he just extends his margin.

You think Porte was playing games to mess with people’s heads? Interesting.

Bah! Wish I’d watched this live instead of the highlights. Didn’t expect it to be so exciting.

Quintana is pretty incredible – destroyed all the seasoned Touerers and he’s only 23, even if he looks like he’s 53.
I wonder what his little pow-wow with Froome was about.

Froome asked him to work with him to gap the rest “before kicking his head in” to quote Chris boardman on ITV4 podcast.

Froome on oxygen between finish and podium according to Twitter, and europcar attacked when froome had a ‘natural’ break early on (mind you they have previous for that, thinking back to Rollande when Evans suffered tack punctures and Wiggins slowed the peloton).

French TV had the interview with ( in French) and he confirmed he’d been on Oxygen after finish, he was seen gasping for breath outside the van

Yeah he looked pretty knackered at the top. Still got on the turbo though, naturally.

Enjoy the rest day tomorrow everyone 🙂

Who wears the mountain jersey tomorrow, how many points did Quintano get for second?

Mikel Nieve Iturrale from Euskatel-Euskadi will wear it as the young rider jersey is apparently more important than the polka dot one. Quintana would have worn it otherwise.

Quintana was magnificent today, as was Porte. Of course I want Froome to win the GC, but I would not have been upset to see the most promising new climber for an age take the stage. Alp d’Huez perhaps? He should be good for one stage win at least. Perhaps today’s was just “too iconic”.

Rest day tomorrow, Tuesday is a tough day, Wednesday is a 32km TT then Thursday and Friday are both brutal climbing days.

Lots more still to go – Thursday is the double climb of Alpe d’Huez.

Just watched the weather on BBC news and the big euro-map had rain clouds over the Alps on Wednesday and Thursday, could make things interesting, especially up t’Alpe d’Huez.

The way Froome kicked to set up the final break with Quintana once Porte had done his job was amazing.As hard as he is to like/watch him on a bike,the only way anybody is going to beat him is by tying an anvil to the back of his bike….actually chain it,chain is heavier than rope.