TdF Stage 16 – Mastery Of All Aspects Of Cycling [Spoilers]

Stop looking round Tommy. Enjoy it.

love it

well done tommy !

2km celebration. badass.

What a ride by TV. All 4 climbs and the stage win? Back of the pack tomorrow? 😉

What a win – fantastic riding from Voeckler, he’s great to watch.

kessiakoff will be putting hte hammer down tomorrow

Been a good Tour for French riders 🙂

Considering Europcar barely made it into 2011 after BBox pulled out, I think they do an awesome job. Their Colnagos are beautiful in the flesh too; quite fancy a team colour C59.

what will evans rubber face look like whilst weeping into hincapie’s arms

It is a shame the don’t let you listen to bits of team radio like in F1

TV rode without one, hence the constant looking around and talking to team cars and camera bikes.

Brilliant ride by TV, became a fan last year after seeing him trying so hard to keep yellow, and reading about his loyalty (took paycut to stay with the same team, turning down bigger paychecks elsewhere, when it was his presence in the team that secured the Europcar sponsorship).

Was good for waldorf and statler to shut up for a few seconds so we could hear the crowd go mad as TV crossed the finish line. Apparently TV was first over the final climb of Col De Super Bagneres; the Bruce Forsyth of cycling couldnt even remember which bloody climb they were on 🙄

Their Colnagos are beautiful in the flesh too; quite fancy a team colour C59

Tommy V’s Colnago with shallow rims and gumwall tyres is the best looking bike in the peleton

did anyone else spot the look between Wiggins and Froome on the last Nibs kick. Froome was overcooked so Wiggins covered the move. Nice teamwork!

And did it quite comfortably in the end.

did anyone else spot the look between Wiggins and Froome on the last Nibs kick

Was it a look that said ‘I can’t do it this time’, or one that said ‘he refuses to listen to me, you’d better go and tell him he’s wasting his time’

TV’s bike for tommorrow

Nice slam, but not sure about the hoods.

no knowledge of colnagos but he rode a different model with different section rims at Flanders (and got v stroppy with the mechanics about something, came back to the car about 3 times) so he obviously knows what he likes.

TV’s on the front one, different design to others (with “lugs” like the KOM logoed bike above)
.

The OP on this thread said this was a boring stage!

I think it’s one of the best. I’ve always liked Tommy, and that was utterly vicious today.

I hope Wiggo and Froome are in different teams next year, what a fight that would be 🙂

Al.

I like the hills, sorts the men from the boys.

Gosh if only Thomas hadn’t been affected by his injury earlier in the tour he could be in GC contention, no?

Question – on these stages with multiple cols, the bunch breaks up early. Without the towing effect of the bunch, does it just come down to individual strength?

Another question – how does breakaway lone rider know he is going fast enough to keep the gap with chasers? Team radio?

Another question – how does breakaway lone rider know he is going fast enough to keep the gap with chasers? Team radio?

Team radio, the team car coming up alongside and/or the blackboard motorbike (a moto with a person holding a blackboard out which contains info about the break, time gaps, who’s in the pursuit etc).

If TV was a threat the peloton wouldnt let him bugger off up the road to win stages .As it is he is to far down to be a threat to the gc contenders so they dont chase him

Crashtestmonkey my bromance started at the same time for the same reasons. What a great tdf rider. Hope he holds off k***koff for the polka in Paris.

Also interesting to see wiggo appear to have found the ability to accelerate on a climb, he properly closed down nibbles attack just before the summit, and it did appear that froome’s look across was to say “I haven’t got this one”.

TV for polka, more than well deserved and a million French house wives will swoon. Me n stoner will just cough in a manly manner.

wow TDF and Wiggo on BBC1 news!

Another question – how does breakaway lone rider know he is going fast enough to keep the gap with chasers? Team radio?

You ride as hard as you can. If you’re good, you win. If you suck, you get caught and lose. But also gets feedback from radio and motorbikes etc.

You ride as hard as you can. If you’re good smart, you win. If you suck, you get caught and lose. But also gets feedback from radio and motorbikes etc.

😀

You ride as hard as you can. If you’re good, you win. If you suck, you get caught and lose. But also gets feedback from radio and motorbikes etc.

I’m not sure he had a radio on which would explain him looking behind for the last 2k, he definitely didn’t have an HRM on and Sherwen said he wasn’t using a power meter. Did Tommy V win a stage properly old-school style with no added technology to help? If so, maximum respect. Makes a nice contrast to Team Sky’s ultra-scientific approach. Tommy V is ace, I like him.

do garmin still have that site you can see the riders’ HR, power output and GPS info?

training peaks do

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/tour-de-france.aspx

I’m not sure he had a radio on

he didnt. Hence the visit to the team car on the fast descent, talking to the crew on the camera bike, and constantly looking back on the finish.

Not sure why though, Europcar were running radios during the race (Rolland said the crowds were too noisy for him to hear from his DS that Wiggins had neutralised the stage a few days ago). Maybe he ditched it due to discomfort in the heat?

What a stage. What an exploit. What a hero Tommy V is – was a fan before (after his exploits last year), but even more so now. Never going to be a contender for winning a grand tour as he’s not quite got the engine, but always going to be good for winning stages like that.

Back of the pack tomorrow?

Not likely – he has polka dots to defend. Though I guess it depends what Kessiakoff and Sörensen do, as they’re the only ones who could take it off him. They were also in the break today and appeared to have worked just as hard (I suppose Kessiakoff might have backed off at the end, though he seemed totally incapable of matching Tommy on the big climbs through the course of a day).

On the radio issue, he has made comments which suggest he doesn’t like them. I’m fairly sure he was wearing one on previous stages, though presumably doesn’t need too much of an excuse to get rid.

Meanwhile on the sideshow, who still thinks Froome is huge amounts stronger than Wiggo, after Wiggo looked so comfortable covering Nibali’s last attack when Froome looked spent? Has anybody else suggested that Nibali’s tactic was presumably to get a gap, any gap by the summit (hence why it was worth attacking so late on the climb) and then get away on the descent? Is he going to look to attack over the top of the Bales tomorrow to get a gap on that descent, or just hope that Wiggo does an Evans style meltdown?

We rode up the bales a couple of years ago, but from the luchon side… Looking forward to seeing that tomorrow (though tbh I preferred coming down the offroad descent from the col)

he didnt. Hence the visit to the team car on the fast descent, talking to the crew on the camera bike, and constantly looking back on the finish.

Not sure why though, Europcar were running radios during the race

He had a radio, he’d just pulled the earpiece out; you could see it dangling from his helmet straps at times. Just clearly likes to focus on the job of going fast. On the post-stage interview he said he’s ridden the area since he was 10 years old and knows the climbs very well and knows what it takes to go up them. I’d imagine that once you’re in the break and the team tell you that you’re away, the only thing to do then is get your head down and ride. Like someone else said, if you’re fast and strong enough, you win, if you’re not you’re in the autobus and 28 mins down before you know it.