Tour de France 2015 – It's over and it's time to look back thread.

@ Sputnik , dont recall anything on Evans but I am sure L equipe did a few peices on nibali .

What has been missing for a long time in le Tour is what we call Panache . US Postal and to a certain extend Sky have contributed to it . Basically yellow jerseys riding behind a strong team without attacking .

This year has been different, more attacks , Sky not as strong in the mountains leaving Froome exposed a little bit more .
and when talking to friends in france , they dont seem to dislike him as much as the press , because he had to defend the yellow jersey by himself .

Last year there was a lot of talks of Pinot going to Sky . FDJ cannot afford top riders , and last year they had to get rid of their top sprinter , maybe to keep Pinot ?

What has been missing for a long time in le Tour is what we call Panache . US Postal and to a certain extend Sky have contributed to it . Basically yellow jerseys riding behind a strong team without attacking .

Yet when they do attack the Frenchies then accuse them of cheating…..

hmmmm

Yet when they do attack the Frenchies then accuse them of cheating…..

it’s not “The Frenchies” it’s certain sections of the french press and certain sections of the anglophone press are just as vocal. Take Paul Kimmage and Ross Tucker for example.

lunge – Member
Rolland is the answer for Sky, a climbing domestique, loved by the French who, with time, could possible have a crack at GC. He’d do a right job for them, he may also be available cheaply very soon

My, my. We think alike.. 😯

Don’t forget that Sky could do with another Kyri’, he can’t do every GC Tour and sat aside for this one but will be back in the Vuelta. Who’d replace him? Stannards good, but not Kyri good, in fact there isn’t anyone like Kyri around.

So Rolland, good fit, a Kyri clone, and Froomie, with Thomas, Konig, Powls, Landa, Izzagure brothers and an ex world champ..

Bloody Hell Guys… thatz awsomz a lineup. 😀

No wonder Tinkoff is sabre rattling, the French Press shoring up the Bastille, Lafevre in tears..

😀

Indeed lemonysam. This thread is getting an unpleasant whiff of bigotry.

What has been missing for a long time in le Tour is what we call Panache . US Postal and to a certain extend Sky have contributed to it . Basically yellow jerseys riding behind a strong team without attacking .

Maybe they ought to reduce the size of the teams to 6 rather than 9. You can’t blame teams for using a winning strategy, as long as it’s within the rules.

I thought that a few years back the French had decided to mimic British cycling and set up an national academy to act as a development/feeder system for the olympics and a new world tour team. Did it get off the ground, or fall to the usual french squabbling like Bardet and Pinot on stage 14 ! AGR and FDJ had reasonably good tours, Europcar are folding and Cofidis and Bretagne-Seche did absolutely nothing. They need to find so new sponsors if they wish to end the drought

No chance you’ll find another Kyri!! Pretty sure he just disconnects his brain from his legs, inputs the desired Wattage required then has a nice wee day dream until they explode! Man’s a machine.

Indeed lemonysam. This thread is getting an unpleasant whiff of bigotry.

Bit more than a whif really. The British press pilloried Froome as a plastic Brit when Wiggins was around but now he’s “our double Tour winner” it seems to be different but they need something shocking so they need to talk about the sneaky frogs. You read the Daily Mail website and you’d think all British people are cycle-hating-EDL-supporting-xenophobes and unsurprisingly it turns out that if you read comments on French mass-media websites, there’s a load of moronic bile and vitriol too.

TBH, my experience of Britain vs. France negativity tends to be lighter hearted on the French side than the British side. French people as a whole quite like the British and it’s very rare it gets much past the “Rostbif” or comments about Britain’s poor (relative to France) culinary tradition. Having seen and heard what my mother (French) has gone through living in the UK compared to my father (British) when they’ve been living in France, it’s the British who, on balance, are the worst towards their cross channel chums.

From my quick survey most French people I know who watched it thought the Tour was great and think Froome did a great job. Likewise they deplore the piss throwing and spitting and are as horrified as anyone else.

p.s.
Bardet under contract to AG2R until 2018

I think the bad eggs on the tour route stood out this year because it doesn’t happen as much on the TDF. Watch the Giro and especially the Vuelta for entire mountainsides of partisan dickheadary.

Well, I caught up with that Sagan vid posted on page 2, iirc.

He’s a lad! Although the podium routine was a little weird.

I hope I get to see him ride many more tours.
Good to see what appears to be a young man, enjoying himself as part of participating in world class sport.

Such a good Tour I’d almost forgotten about the Boom/Astana fiasco, and the Paolini mess too 🙁

Speaking of Sagan, just seen this…

Think we’ve all been there 😳

Speaking of Skynet’s long-term plans, I recall Brailsford mentioning the possible goal of winning the tour with a French rider.

That was just a PR sound bite. You guys are waaaaay over thinking things

They want a French winner who does it the French way.
You have to see this in the broader context. There’s a common narrative about the world and the way the US/UK are taking it away from a lot of things held dear in France – longer working hours, less time with family, austerity and so on. These are seen as damaging to the French way of life.
Sky are an extension of that – the big corporate, win at all costs and don’t care about the style/romance/history of it if it gets in the way. The whole thing about going to a mountain for weeks on end without family and living like a monk is not the French way. Similarly, steamrollering stages of the TdF as Sky have done destroys the romance of it.

Perhaps they should roll around drinking Chateneuf-du-Pap from Bidons with a Gauloise hanging out the corner of the mouth. You know, to keep it authentic and French.

I don’t really buy that. It’s a bit arrogant to suggest the French see the TdF as a national nostalgia-fest rather than a sporting endeavour.

Having said all that, I’d like to see another French winner. I think it would be good for the spectacle.

Think we’ve all been there

Not since about 12 years old. Always pop a wheelie with my right hand hovering over the brake lever which has allowed me to get it back when I’ve travelled too far past the “sweet spot”

Sagan appears to be fairly handy….

Or this:

You’re free to disagree, superficial. I don’t believe though that the French (or many others) see the TdF as only a sporting endeavour though.

I suppose that I should add that I’m half-French FWIW.

If some of the French guys are so good or have so much potential then why are they stuck at small and generally unsuccessful teams?

They want a French winner who does it the French way.

None of us really know but I find it hard to disagree with this ^

Take Pinot for example. Can you see him leaving the coaching of his older brother and familiar surroundings he has grown up with for a more sterile, win at all costs, objective coaching setup somewhere like SKY? It doesn’t suit everyone, regardless of nationality

When i was a kid i remember the Tour finishing in my home town . being a small town , less than 25k , it was easy to cycle round all the hotels where the teams were staying .
having your bmx ” fine tuned ” by the team Z mechanic was great .

watching the end of the stage in the RMO bus because it was parked outside your house even better . and all the riders coming back to the bus after the stage .

and off course in those days the caravan used to give lots of pens , t shirts , goodies etc…

it was a real buzz and great atmosphere . definetly more than just a sporting event .

If some of the French guys are so good or have so much potential then why are they stuck at small and generally unsuccessful teams?

They’re not stuck. They’re just young.

They aren’t all young and young guys from elsewhere are still being successful (in overall GT GC terms)!

UCI rankings are a bit rubbish, but the top 5 French guys are Pinot (FDJ), Bardet (AG2R), Vuillermoz (AG2R), Alaphilippe (Etixx), Gallopin (Lotto). What seems to happen is the stronger classics riders appear to make the transition well to Belgian/ Dutch super teams if they move out of France but there isn’t a great deal of movement in the past years of climbers/ GC possibles to non-French teams. Barguil is a Giant which is historically French although now registered in Germany so could be argued to have made the move, but I can’t think of many if any very talented French GC/ climbers moving to non-French teams (just Gadret?). You’ve then got the likes of Rolland, Voeckler, Peraud, Cherel, Sicard, Gautier, Feillu… realistic GC potential is hard to judge maybe but all on French teams

Maybe it is perceived that the opportunity for young French climbers/ possible GC riders is on French teams but the jump up to the bigger teams in terms of funding, structure and support is probably too large for this to become a reality? There does seem to be a loyalty or attachment of these riders to French teams

I guess you could also add Moreau as a French rider to move to a Spanish team and the likes of Casar and Riblon as talented riders who stayed in France… As I tried to say above, perhaps all aren’t realistically GC contenders but all are strong climbers loyal to French teams and who knows what might have been on other teams

I guess what I’m saying is that seeing a French TdF GC winner will likely take an attitude shift of the upcoming riders to make the most of bigger teams, or the French teams with talented riders need to step up their funding, organisation and support for their guys. Neither seems very likely

I don’t have time to spend researching on the internet, but the only young rider I can think of with more impressive GC results than Pinot or Bardet is a certain Mr Quintana.

Seems like you’re trying to bend the stats to fit an unconvincing theory TBH.

Edit – Fabio Aru is arguably a higher achiever too, but on a very questionable team.

(I love france and I have always found the french to be welcoming, I really don’t know why people have this negative stereotype)

One issue could be that there are too many teams in France all trying to deliver a winner, as well as the wilcards (same as the giro and vuelta, no issues there) there are quite a few squads but no one dominant team like Movistar in Spain who are all focused on, er, Valverde…

the ’40th Anniversary of the Paris finish’ was a big talking point but the ’30th anniversary of the last french winner’ was studiously avoided especially because he’s on the podium zipping up froome’s jersey! the French public want a winner and who can blame them, the race is still a big part of national identity – if Sky delivered a win I think they wouldn’t moan but be glad, L’Equipe would be able to say ‘Sky finally win with panache’ 😀

It isn’t such a stretch to see that the talented French riders have by and large stuck to French teams for whatever reasons, who are typically poorly funded, smaller teams and it might be a contributing factor to the lack of a French yellow jersey winner since Hinault.

One issue could be that there are too many teams in France all trying to deliver a winner, as well as the wilcards (same as the giro and vuelta, no issues there) there are quite a few squads but no one dominant team like Movistar in Spain who are all focused on, er, Valverde…

That is another really good point.

L’Equipe would be able to say ‘Sky finally win with panache’

I’m looking forward to the Sky press release

Team Sky today announced the signing of unknown young French rider Louis Panache. “He’s only 19” said Sir David Brailsford “but he shows a lot of promise and we’re confident we can win with him in the future”.

nice one rusty 🙂 – I can see the phil and paul that goes with it

“And there goes Laurent Pannnatchey” “er thats Ian Stannard”

“Laurent Pannnatchey descends like a demon… he’s a former mountain biker you know… looking strong behind the current world champion Rui Costa”

He’s done a job lot of work that Rui Costa. They’re like that in Columbia.

“Its great to see him up there holding court with the heads of state”

He’s done a job lot of work that Rui Costa. They’re like that in Columbia.

Whereas Mike Starbucks never really cut it in the pro peleton.