Tour de France stage 17 – Berne/Finault-Emossen – welcome to The Alps

Oooh here we go

Froome gaps Quintana

I reckon Froome is struggling.

OK, maybe not.

Boom……..!

Froome and Porte – I think Froome will have this battle

Think it might have been another Movistar rider that the MJ group had just caught. Porte and Froome distancing Quintana now, they have passed 500m to go banner.

@lunge in fairness he wasn’t looking so comfortable, strange style he has

I don’t think Froome will care, he wants to put time into Quintana and Yates imo. He’ll take a good chunk out of Porte in the TT.

So, who can sprint better, Porte or Froome?

Quintana cracke

Is that Yates riding into second on GC? 😀 Can’t see Mollema, was struggling a while back.

Edit… ah there he is, was that more than a minute behind Yates, don’t think so.

Quintana 29 seconds down on froome

Looks like Yates crossed the line about ten seconds after Porte & Froome, Quintana another ten back then Mollema a few seconds more.

Just as predicted.

Not been following as much this year – where has Geraint Thomas gone? This time last year he would have been keeping Froome company up to the death.

Bit dull really, says a lot that Porte is the most attacking rider. At least Martin gives it a lash too!

There is (or used to be) a climb up the front face of the dam at Emossen – four rope lengths using the plastic holds that are used in climbing walls.

Time gaps Froome gained today:

8secs on Adam Yates

28secs on Quintana.

40secs on Bauke Mollema.

Sagan with his trademark uphill wheelie finish 8)

French TV – Chapeau to Froome always speaking in French. Froome asked if he was surpised Quintana didn’t attack “perhaps he doesn’t have the legs this year” 🙂

Complimnetary of Porte, tough stage and day. Looking for a solid ride tomorrow to protect his lead. Seems pretty relaxed as well he might be

Nice to see Porte have a dig though it did look like him and Froome where on a mountain training ride together at the end.

Quintana looks shot, I’d not be in any way surprised if he doesn’t start tomorrow or Friday citing a “fever” that he’s had all race.

TJ gone, I’m just not sure he’s a GC contender, BMC will live to regret the Porte wheel change or lack thereof.

Yates blew up at the end too and did very well to keep his place, showed a lot of strength there.

Mollema too went pop, not sure how much he’ll have in the tank for tomorrow.

And Froome, well, whilst I said he looked to be struggling at one point I was clearly wrong, he looks very strong indeed and his team is top notch too. It’s very impressive to watch.

All plays into Froome’s hands for the time trial, and then only a couple of days to mark people before Paris. Fair play to him I say if he is that strong.

I probably asked this at the wrong time earlier on, but…

See how Nibali has just pulled over and slowed after setting the pace. Why does that take more out of him than his teammates? Is it just a mental thing, following a teammate who is setting a pace for you? It’s not like they’re doing speeds where slipstream would come into play is it, so why does the one at the front get more knackered than the ones following at the same pace?

Because they are still going much faster than you think on a slip stream still has a big effect

OK. I assumed it wouldn’t be a factor on such steep hills like it is on the flat.

They are doing 15k uphill @thegreatape (20kmph on the first climb) … I too was surpised he “bonked” quite like that as he was leading the break (or trying to). I did wonder what was going on in his head if wasn’t feeling strong. Maybe just some TV time for the team ?

All this talk of Quintana… he’s not looked sharp for a few days.

This is all a battle for second, so all the chatter about Froome is kinda irrelevant. Froome, and his team, are so far ahead of the others, in every way.

The real question is: who is going to get 2nd and 3rd? Porte, Yates, Mollema, Aru, Bardet and Martin could all have a go. Froome’s just going to watch them fight within themselves from now on. They aren’t going for him any more. Should make some good TV, hopefully.

OK cheers, makes a bit more sense if they’re still going that fast.

Froome may be ahead in terms of perceived strength but he’s not that far ahead in terms of time. Certainly not enough to be able to safely get away with a troublesome mechanical or a crash at a crucial moment, or a bad day.

Though much like Sagan when asked who his biggest adversary is for the green jersey, his response was “bad luck”, it does seem that a dose of that is the only thing that’s going to stop Froome this year.

Has anyone else noticed that Yates seems only to speak in tweets? Very short, rapid bursts of words. Is it because he’s knackered or cannot string more than 8 words together?
It’s a strange way to communicate or maybe I’m just an old fart.

Heh

Just catching the highlights on the tele and David Millar got a tad excited when trying to say…

“…he can’t get on Quintana’s wheel!”

…and actually blurted out C U next Tuesday instead.

🙂

Yates blew up at the end too

Really?

Yates blew up at the end too

Really?

Wish I could run out of puff like that.

If it wasn’t for Porte’s puncture we might have a bit more of a race. Anyway, the podium I’m rooting for is Froome – Yates – Porte.

Yates blew up at the end too

Yeah, so watching it back again that may not fe entirely correct. That and my “Froome is struggling” comment suggest I really don’t have a clue what I’m talking about!

Good going from Yates, if I could blow up like him I’d be winning races 😆 starting to feel nervous for him now!

Yates reminds me more of a motorbike racer than a cyclist. Beginning to think he might get a podium

Going to be a real interesting stage tomorrow in terms of kit too.

Goes up about 600m over 10k (whereas the Dauphine prolog was 500m in 4k.) It’s not that steep. And there’s a 4k flat bit at the start and a 1.5k downhill at the end. It’ll be interesting to see who goes for a TT bike and who goes for a road bike with tri bars. Difficult to see past Dumoulin for the win.

Don’t forget Yates has done it all practically unaided by any teammates as well. He also says “Yeah” a lot when interviewed. I counted five on this evening’s highlights interview. 😀

Tomorrow’s TT is going to be interesting as well. He’s not a great time triallist but it’s uphill practically all the way so it might suit him better than say Mollema.

I would also like a Froome, Yates, Porte podium.

These Go Pro daily vids have been good, interesting to see the chat, crowds and the amount of short cuts (generally slower)

It’ll be interesting to see who goes for a TT bike and who goes for a road bike with tri bars.

Froome was out on his TT bike on the rest day. I wonder if that was just a diversion.