Why is there little to no talk of TD being tired? He rode just as hard in the Giro, if not harder given the efforts he had to put in to try to win it off Froome. He’s had already to chase and counter moves from Froome, G and others.  He doesn’t have the blanket of domestiques around him and is relying on following someone else’s pace most of the time – even if that is the sort of pace to suit him, what with all three of them not being pure teeny climbing folk.

G is 10/11; Froome is 5/4, TD is 5/1

Bookies are not often wrong.

I’m hoping all the GC riders go from the gun like a stabbed rat,

Me too, that would be fun.

what I’m expecting is that they sit up and wait for the domestiques.

But this.

Anyway high point for me would be G’s wins, especially atop the Alpe.

Grid start could be interesting. More so for the length of the stage. I suspect Sky will burn a couple of domestiques every 30 mins or so… Will gaps open up from the get go? Or will it be a more civilised affair with the main contenders climbing together?

I’m hoping all the GC riders go from the gun like a stabbed rat,

G gets on Froomes wheel and they 2 up tt it into the sunset!!

Is Dumoulin the biggest GC threat…or is it Roglic?

Roglic is a class act, if it wasn’t for a big time gap in the TTT he would be right up there. Interesting whether he forms an alliance with TD or does his own thing. If he jumps on one of the remaining mountain stages, who would scramble to cover him first?

It’s still Froome vs TomDum, as I see it. And it’ll be close.

Bernal leading the bunch up d’Huez and Degenkolb winning were the hilights for me. Really pleased for him coming back from a potentially career-ending crash.

Nice to see Sagan dominating, Seriously, I think he is the cyclist’s cyclist. Years gone bye, he’d have been GC contending, but it’s great to see him on the climbs. Bossing every lumpy stage, and clearly hungry for wins.

Sagan is the King, but would he have won GTs in the old days? I don’t really know what it used to be like – do you mean that Merckx and co rode everything and were all Sagan-like allrounders, you didn’t have the GT-specialist types in those days?

It just seems to be a French cultural thing

way to go Dave how to win friends and influence people 🙂

Pretty much, but even then they were specialists in certain aspects.

Merx and BigMig were totally different yet did excel in a sort of all round type of rider.

These days it’s all “specialists” which to some degree I don’t mind. What grates by bibs is invariably the Sprinters climb off after thier Bit is done.

I think, and throw bidons at me for this, that to claim your stage win you must complete the “course” so.. sign on at the start and cross the line at the CElsz..

Everyone is hankering for the next Merckx. Win the classics one day and GT’s the next. But that’s not happening now. GT winners excel in TT’s and can climb. If you are a climber who can’t TT, sorry Nairo, sorry Romaine, get down on those aerobars and start honing your position and power. If you are a TT specialist, learn how to pace up those climbs and lose 10 kg – hello Bradley and hello Tom. Il Pirata was the last climber to win, and I can still remember the tension when it came to that ITT!

Truth is, we want Sagan to excel at everything, and he loves to ride to win, which makes him so exciting. But he’s not a climbing TT specialist, or TT’ing climber.

Quite looking forward to the Sky TTT over the hills, but in reality, it will be a damp squib.

“way to go Dave how to win friends and influence people”

Hmm, odd that, especially after a year or so of pretty much having his personal and professional reputation permanently tarnished, the team being turned from gold standard to public enemy #1 courtesy of a surprisingly well timed data hack, some rather selective bits of sensationlist journalism that desperately searched for a smoking gun but instead only found their brothers best mates’, ex-girfiends dog walker who said they had noticed the faintest whiff of something that could have been smoke, a govt enquiry into sexism in sport that appeared to go, lets face it, quite a bit off piste, a leak from a what was supposed to be a confidential UCI enquiry (dont get me started about the difference between an AAF and a failed drugs test), a true humdinger ride in the Giro now under suspicion (it was either a mix of recce’ing the stage, luck, tactics and everyone else forgetting to race at the top of the climb or invisble jet engines powered by mind expanding psychadelic love drugs and Tesla model S Batteries designed by Lord Lucan hidden inside Froomey’s legs ) and then spending a happy couple of weeks being spat at you’d honestly think Sir Dave would simply see the funny side of it.

Sorry, been reading the comments section of Cycling News a bit too much and needed to vent 🙂

Still, on the bright side, G’s post-race interviews are genuinely refreshing :” Can we go to Paris now?” and I’m dearly hoping that Sagan will do the entire TTT pulling a no-hands wheelie while singing a medley of hits from Grease.

well said

Well I never.

@muddy +1

Also don’t forget winning the tour by winning it, with a team something most of the other GC contenders forget to pack year on year. Maybe next year it should be a solo race, yes that is it do every stage as an ITT so we can see who the best rider is on every stage 😉

As for a finale – GT has to race to the end, I don’t think the public would forgive him or sky if he didn’t. So it’s over to Froome and TD. TD is key to the battle I think and he needs to be close enough to make Froome uncomfortable going into the TT.

He has looked a little stronger on the final finishes so far which will be telling. As for the staged sprint up the hills, if you are sky and heading out in group 1 how long do you need to sit up for your team mates and how many riders will you have to repass to do that? What it could deliver us is a straight shoot out between the top 5 guys which would be advantage Sky

I’ve not seen a definitive explanation of what time gaps the various groups are going to have – the only things I’ve seen have all said the time gaps will be just a couple of seconds.

A fact worth repeating from the lance Armstrong podcast (as I found it very interesting.) G’s time up l’alpe d huez was outside the top 100 times recorded.

We should do some sort of finale sweepstake where we predict the final time gaps over the line at the CElsz..

Don’t honestly know what the order will be for the top 3 but I am predicting 9 seconds between 1st and second and 4 seconds between 2nd and 3rd.

Tighter than Sunwebs aero none zip jerseys and Sky’s Doctors note pad.

A fact worth repeating from the lance Armstrong podcast (as I found it very interesting.) G’s time up l’alpe d huez was outside the top 100 times recorded.

Given A) the number of previous dopers up there and B) the way it was raced not at all surprised, the sit up, the cat and mouse games up there it wasn’t a flat out destroy them stage like it has been before

A fact worth repeating from the lance Armstrong podcast (as I found it very interesting.) G’s time up l’alpe d huez was outside the top 100 times recorded.

they were all playing silly buggers once they got to the flatter stuff at the top.

A fact worth repeating from the lance Armstrong podcast (as I found it very interesting.) G’s time up l’alpe d huez was outside the top 100 times recorded.

Big Mig still has one of the faster times I think? We can take a view on that…

On Sagan – why would he aim for a GT win ?  People (other than the rest of the peloton?) pretty much *heart* him as it is and he’s bloody minted, all without beating the shit out of himself every day for a fortnight (I’m not saying he doesn’t train hard but he’s a stocky little **** and it’d take a lot to get down to climbing weight.  He also appears to hate TTs, and good on him for that; he’s a racer

Favourites for the tour – I’m also in the GT or TdM camp.  Froome looks shagged to me (unless a rest-day miracle should occur)

I do think Sky’s “domestique” dominance has buggered it all up though

Fair point. But everyone loves an all-rounder. And who was the last most successful rainbow jersey wearer?  Winning just one race in the hoops was considered a good year in the past!

I also agree that Froome looks tired, but then Elbows-the-stem-watcher can turn it around pretty quickly. I also think he’d be delighted if GT were to retain yellow in Paris, more so if he knows he doesn’t have it in him, but can do something to make that happen.

So I’m calling G for the overall after reproducing his recent GB TT success. With TD second having overtaken Froome in the ITT. Just wonder who will be gluing silicone dots onto the ASO skinsuit

Could be proved wrong tomorrow. But Team Sky are the consummate Team.

GT winners and classics – Nibali won MSR this year, Dan Martin has won LBL and it’s a climber classic as is fleche wallonne, Nibali and others have won Lombardy, the guy wearing yellow at the moment has had some decent wins in Belgium (not a monument yet tho), classics aren’t just Roubaix and Flanders

I’ve not seen a definitive explanation of what time gaps the various groups are going to have – the only things I’ve seen have all said the time gaps will be just a couple of seconds.

From last nights ITV4 TDF rest day recap:

First 20 riders line up in offset echelons like F1 races except in rows of 5 – Yellow Jersey first, 2nd place slightly behind, third a little further back etc. 4 rows of 5

The remaining riders will be in groups of 20.

Approx 80 metres from front of the start line to the back of the peloton

What’s the point/logic of that ? I don’t see how that’s going to change anything for more than the first minute while they sort themselves out.

“Roubaix and Flanders”

Yeah, they are 😉 .The others are somewhat hilly long one day races. Although the descending of the Poggio in MSR was what did it for Nibbles, and it was great to see the sprinters mugged on the line. My comment still stands regarding GC specialists being climbing TT’ers or TT’ing climbers. I love Bardet, but if he can’t improve his TT’ing, he’s not going to be the next French winner in Paris. Needs more aeroz gainz, or just time in the position.

Most successful MSR ride is Merckx. Most stage wins in the TdF is errr…. Different age.

What’s the point/logic of that ? I don’t see how that’s going to change anything for more than the first minute while they sort themselves out.

Depends how they ride…..as said before if for example the front rowers, ie: the GC contenders go for it from the gun (like startled rats) they’re already on a major climb, and their teammates are already up to 80m back with hordes to get past as well. So for sake of argument if Bardet attacks from the gun, does Froome / G wait for their teammates to catch up before Sky-Training their way back, or do they go for it tout seul? Big gap but then with people to help you close it, vs all in from the start?

On a stage that is basically all climbing or descending with very little flat where you might really benefit from your teammates, i think it’s going to be exciting.

(also Sky are not that well placed overall….. Bernal is in 22nd, Kwiat is in 67, Poels in 69….. an alliance of non-Sky riders to stop them rejoining too easily perhaps?)

hang on….has the TdF started already?

He has looked a little stronger on the final finishes so far which will be telling. As for the staged sprint up the hills, if you are sky and heading out in group 1 how long do you need to sit up for your team mates and how many riders will you have to repass to do that? What it could deliver us is a straight shoot out between the top 5 guys which would be advantage Sky

Even just 70kms is too much for a balls out race to the finish line. Don’t forget the rest of the Sky train don’t need to finish that high at the end – bearing in mind they are used to bossing races for 150km, they can easily go mental for the first few kms to get to the front and then go hard for 50km.

The only thing that might cause problems is a ‘convenient’ pile up after about 20th place that blocks the road for a bit and causes some carnage – G and Froome aren’t going to wait for their team, and maybe Movistar have enough up the road to launch something with Tom haning onto their coat tails.

Tricky one to say who’ll win. G and Tom D are a couple of my favourite riders, and I’d also like Froome to get to five TdFs. Could be a great TT on Saturday. I know Tom D is the World Champion at the time trial, but with three weeks worth of tour miles in the legs I’m not as sure as everyone else that he’s going to cruise to victory in it. Bear in mind Froome came third in the Olympics a couple of weeks after the TdF, he’s no mug and has, erm, form, for finding his form late in the race.