TdF Stage 18 – Sporting Stakes [Spoilers]

Froome needs to just sit back, he’s got this habit of chasing everything down. He’s got a lead of over 5 minutes to Contador.

Quite why on earth he and Porte battered that descent to Gap to get back onto the bunch when Contaodr and Froome both had to unclip I have no idea. Contaodr had the most to lose, the sensible thing to do would just be to let him do the chasing.

Same here, sit in the bunch and just let the others fight it out amongst themselves. I can see the psychological advantage in just casually popping another minute into Contador though. 🙂

It’s the ‘fans’ who get in the bloody way who ruin a great race for me.

Froome faking looking tired to stave off the doping questions 😉

TooTall +1 – I find myself cursing the fans instead of concentrating on the action. And wondering what else might happen if the riders had a bit more space to work with.

I always thought that everything that Sky did was carefully calculated, including going a bit slower… but I’m not sure that Froome bonking was planned.

I’m feeling sad about this gel thing.

I find myself cursing the fans instead of concentrating on the action

I’d put water cannons on the motor bikes

Its not so much the numbers of the crowd, but the dafties that run with the riders and jump out into their path, when the runners have to try and pass other spectators. IF they just stood still and supported, I dont think it would half as bad.

I think that habit is getting worse.

UCI just whisked off Contadors bike to weigh

Froome could lose the Tour as a result if he does get tome penalties and Quintana eating into his time.

????

What are they going to do, dock him 5 minutes?

I’d put water cannons on the motor bikes

I said the same thing earlier, would be great fun to watch too.. 😀

Now then…. Interesting discussion about Cont-ador’s bike being under-weight.

No time penalties for getting assistance, just cash.

Talk of Froome being docked 20 seconds on ITV4…

Froome saying the car had ‘technical problems’ at the bottom of the climb so they couldn’t take gels there. Struggling to believe that…

and now SBS contradict themselves and say you can, usual UCI making rules up and applying as they want to 😉

I like the fans running alongside, the huge crowds pressing in, the tunnel of flags and whatnot… It wouldn’t be the Tour without it.

They did it 30-odd years ago. Twice in one day but like portly said, not up, loop back then up the same road again.

1979 tour went up twice, but on consecutive days. It’s never been done twice in one day before.

usual UCI making rules up and applying as they want to

After the Armstrong affair, it’s clear that the UCI make even FIFA and the FIA look straight

Add in Julian Clary to that list

Froome’s 57s gain on Contador only seems to have improved his lead by 37s – so it looks like a 20s penalty.

ITV have confirmed that Froome has been penalised 20 seconds for the illegal feed.

Just been confirmed that Froome got a 20″ penalty for that final feed.

On a psychological basis, surely putting the boot into Bertie >> 20s

pfff. I’d have taken that in his position.

If he really was up against the wall, he might have lost more without the gels.

wonder what penalty Contador will get with an underweight bike…

Why did the Kenyan get the penalty when Porte went back to the car obviosly to save his leader from any penalty?

Didn’t some people get excluded from another race recently for underwight bikes?

according to the previous discussions and underweights it’s DQ but it’s the UCI here. Seems the reason he got pulled was he is a dirty cheat who wriggled out claiming he ate steak changed bikes 3 times today

Changing bikes was the key yesterday Bertie…

Edric64: I think you probably answered your own question there. “20s off Mr Froome for sharp practice and playing the system”

On french TV, they interviewed the director sportif of Contador, and he said they changed bike due to shifting issues.
All the team have been told that all the bikes will be inspected tonight. The mechanics have been asked to stay behind to take bike apart if necessary.
The issue with Contador is that he had 2 bikes with a race number. Commentators were not sure if it is legal or not.

Assuming for a moment that all the bikes were legal weight, would there be any handling advantage from swapping to a heavier bike for the descent, and swapping back to a min. weight bikes for the 2nd climb?

Why did the Kenyan get the penalty when Porte went back to the car obviosly to save his leader from any penalty?

Annoying you by “pretending” to be British?

Assuming for a moment that all the bikes were legal weight, would there be any handling advantage from swapping to a heavier bike for the descent, and swapping back to a min. weight bikes for the 2nd climb?

Unlikely, the minimum weight bikes aren’t THAT light afaik. You could switch to one with super tacky tyres though and riser bars, that might help.

cchris2lou – Member
On french TV, they interviewed the director sportif of Contador, and he said they changed bike due to shifting issues.
All the team have been told that all the bikes will be inspected tonight. The mechanics have been asked to stay behind to take bike apart if necessary.
The issue with Contador is that he had 2 bikes with a race number. Commentators were not sure if it is legal or not.

Rumours on Twitter suggest one of the bikes was thrown off a cliff shortly after Contador changed bikes, which was shortly after the ‘surprise’ bike weigh in was announced.

I love twitter.

he minimum weight bikes aren’t THAT light afaik

Minimum of 6.8 kg
as moly is the physicist i dont know what the advantage would be of say a 15 kg weighted bike for the downhill beyond it being theoretically faster – I have no idea how much though

harder to accelerate out of corners, though

Contador appears to be trying everything and anything and still loosing time. Careless from Sky on the penalty, not that hard to ensure your riders have ample gels

as moly is the physicist

I need a pen and paper for that.

Top speed is achieved when accelerating forces balance with decelerating forces.

Accelerating forces = acceleration due to gravity + rider input
Decelerating forces = wind resistance + rolling resistance

So assmuming a straight open descent

((rider mass + bike mass) * sin(gradient in degrees)) + rider torque = (drag coeff * v^2) + (friction coeff * v)

Rearrange that for v and Robert’s your father’s boyfriend. Off you go.

Careless from Sky on the penalty

,

Careless, really? When Sky are usually so calculating (eg. bike change yesterday)

not that hard to ensure your riders have ample gels

it is when they obssess about carrying excess weight (see allegations Bertie had an underweight climbing bike), and they no doubt planned their feed requirement to the n’th degree based on previous calorific burn, ambient temperature and phase of the moon, but if a guy feels like hes’s bonking he feels like he’s bonking.

Great stage again. Bit of drama and fun and games. Marvelous. As for the gel thing, it is pretty minor offence but considered serious enough for a 20 sec penalty so fair enough i guess. I would make sure most of my riders had a spare gel on days like this though.