The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Stat Brother]

Chaps - You can do your own reviews!!

 

[Bozza]

Great work from G (worth watching)...

Wonderwall: https://www.periscope.tv/w/aIUjIzY2NDk3MTR8NDc1NTI5ODFxa0QL-twNxNcgRqeR9wLdw8xLq8PvkgnXYA4vIPrP_Q==

Stick with this one past the music: https://www.periscope.tv/w/aIUl1DY2NDk3MTR8NDc1NjA2MDdmJNI-yy46KS3YMQRtfs-B1bZUGtmujnH6aduWGP3_mQ==

We are the champions: https://www.periscope.tv/w/aIUm2TY2NDk3MTR8NDc1NjMzNjd_GvTSNHUX08FSIX9lOcOvNHHfE24VbefxX1U9-8V03g==

 

[Triggaaar]

Chaps - You can do your own reviews!!

You're just pissed off he cost you £200. I don't blame you.

 

[Stat Brother]

You're just pissed off he cost you £200. I don't blame you.

In all honesty it's nice to have my luck reinforced.
Results like that have allowed me to cut my flutters down to 1 or 2 a year, as opposed to a couple a month.
For that my bank account is considerably happier.

As the geeks will tell you, I can predict the 1-2-3 of any stage race, just by saying the 1-2-3 bet I did for the day before
I'm surprised they haven't each got their own box at the AMEX, by now.

 

[teaboy]

Review Time

Well that certainly was an enjoyable tour.
I can't think of too many days without a highlight or talking point.
I'm even struggling to pick out a villain, beyond some of the media, in with all the hero's.

Froome - Rode to perfection.
G - Did everything brilliantly, including his interviews.
Wouter Poels - I think he'll get forgotten but for me his Alpine riding kept CF in yellow.
Tony Martin - Dogged determination for yellow, and epitomising Le Tour with his collar bone sticking through his skin.
Peter Sagan - All guts and talent.
Steve Cummings - Blasting past the Frenchies.
Plenty of heroic climbing and descending.
A great looking route, as usual.
Some top notch coverage.
A fair few heart in mouth moments as well. (today's was self-inflicted)
Finally, I hope Cofidis get a wild card entry next year, the race seemed a little lacking without them!

The stand-out riders for me have been G (just epic for nearly all of it), and the Yates boys (one of them ALWAYS in the break, often in the top 10 on stage). The future of British Cycling is bright. Greipel rode as well as expected, and nobody really gave any competition - where were Giant-Alpecin? Contador was below-par, sadly, but I doubt we'll see a Giro-Tour double for some time - a sign of cleaner racing perhaps?

 

[Bold Seagull]

The stand-out riders for me have been G (just epic for nearly all of it), and the Yates boys (one of them ALWAYS in the break, often in the top 10 on stage). The future of British Cycling is bright. Greipel rode as well as expected, and nobody really gave any competition - where were Giant-Alpecin? Contador was below-par, sadly, but I doubt we'll see a Giro-Tour double for some time - a sign of cleaner racing perhaps?

I thought Greipel was exceptional to be honest. 4 stage wins, he blew everyone away. You can say nobody gave any competition, or that he and his team were just bang on the money. With few sprint stages in this Tour, to win 4 is just incredible. Sagan and Cavendish were desperate for stage wins. Would have been great to have seen him up against Kittel, but even so, other than one stage Cavendish couldn't touch him. Cav will be nursing some wounds as he'll realise not only has Kittel got his number now, but so too has Greipel.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Chaps - You can do your own reviews!!

Easier to just unpick yours I reckon

 

[Triggaaar]

Greipel rode as well as expected, and nobody really gave any competition

4 stage wins is impressive, but I'd say Sagan, with zero wins, was pretty good competition, given that he won the green jersey.

Contador was below-par, sadly, but I doubt we'll see a Giro-Tour double for some time

I hope we don't, that would be weird.

 

[Bold Seagull]

The interesting thing for Sagan is what type of rider is he going to end up? Is he a modern day Sean Kelly and we're going to see a rider who can win classics, and overall stage races? Or does he purely want to become a sprinter?

No doubt Kelly sees him as a kindred spirit, but what is in Sagan's mind? Did he chase the money in joining an out and out GC team? One of the most exciting riders around without a doubt, and has the talent to fulfil a whole host of possibilities on a bike.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Loved every minute of this years edition. I'm not a huge Sky fan tbh, but I thought they pretty much rode a flawless race, with G a standout performer for the vast majority of it. Thought Porte and Poels were exceptional too. Such a shame that Kennaugh didn't make it to Paris though...

Other highlights? In no particular order.....

Froomes ride to La Pierre St Martin
Bardets stage win
Geschke's solo win and emotional interview
MTN Qhubekas superb showing throughout the whole race - & always with a smile on their faces
The Yates Bros - outstanding debut tour from both of them. Along with all the other Brits, we have a great future to look forward to in the sport
G's reaction to his collision with a telegraph pole
Valverdes form - a great race from the Spanish Champion
The French scenery - yet again a stunning backdrop on so many stages. The stage to Les Lacets de Montvernier being my fav.
Getting across the Channel to spend a day in France watching it go past. Awesome day & will be trying to do it again next year in Mont St Michel & Normandy.

Vive le Tour!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The interesting thing for Sagan is what type of rider is he going to end up? Is he a modern day Sean Kelly and we're going to see a rider who can win classics, and overall stage races? Or does he purely want to become a sprinter?

No doubt Kelly sees him as a kindred spirit, but what is in Sagan's mind? Did he chase the money in joining an out and out GC team? One of the most exciting riders around without a doubt, and has the talent to fulfil a whole host of possibilities on a bike.

The former. He is brilliant at most things, but there will always be three or four sprint specialists who will beat him in sprint stages of Grand Tours.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Also forgot Adam Hansen and his incredible feat of 12 Grand Tours in a row...quite astonishing.
He definitely deserves that beer every time he goes up Alpe d'Huez!!

 

[1234andcounting]

Just a brilliant TdF all round, particularly as I was able to watch almost all of the stages live.

For me Sagan was the stand-out rider (apart from CF, of course). Owned to Green Jersey yet again and rode well on a variety of stages. G running him a close second.
MTM Qhubeka's perfomance as a wild card team was amazing, almost on a par with the big boys. Will the two Eritrean riders get snapped up by bigger teams I wonder?

A word of praise for ITV4's team which was excellent as always. I think Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett get it just about right, given that they have to commentate for three on four hours on the bounce and Jens Voight a good addition this year. David Millar is a bit intense though!

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

the comeback kid must be Thibaut Pinot winning Alpe d'Huez

2 days earlier if he'd been a horse you'd shot him

I found it ironic the French giving Froomey so much beef,don't they realise it will be Quintana who will deprive them of a French Tour winner over the next 5 or 6 years

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

the comeback kid must be Thibaut Pinot winning Alpe d'Huez

2 days earlier if he'd been a horse you'd shot him [emoji38]

I found it ironic the French giving Froomey so much beef,don't they realise it will be Quintana who will deprive them of a French Tour winner over the next 5 or 6 years

Even more ridiculous when every ad break has virenque advertising festina!

 

[Stat Brother]

Even more ridiculous when every ad break has virenque advertising festina!

Reminding me of another classic moment.

Rendell doorstepping Virenque attempting to get to the bottom of his PED comments.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Why the thumbs down on my comment about Adam Hansen doing 12 GT in a row?!?
Thought it was quite an accomplishment myself....

 

[teaboy]

Even more ridiculous when every ad break has virenque advertising festina!

To be fair if it wasn't for Virenque et al we wouldn't be using the word Festina on a regular basis. He deserves some sort of payback....

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Ignore my thumbs down reply earlier....its showing me a thumbs down on the post for some reason, but a thumbs up on my notifications?! Its all over the place like Abdujaparov on the Champs Elysees....

Great little highlights video on the cycling weekly page (after the Sky article) recapping the last 3 weeks. What. a. race!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/raci...by-fans-as-it-goes-up-alpe-dhuez-video-184704

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Où est le Tour