The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Kinky Gerbil]

Question for the experts, If Froome goes on to win this (which I hope he does) Is it more of a case of it being handed to him rather than him winning it with the two leaders pulling out, or is that seen as part of the race?

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Question for the experts, If Froome goes on to win this (which I hope he does) Is it more of a case of it being handed to him rather than him winning it with the two leaders pulling out, or is that seen as part of the race?

Not at all, those 2 leaders were never going to win it overall.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Question for the experts, If Froome goes on to win this (which I hope he does) Is it more of a case of it being handed to him rather than him winning it with the two leaders pulling out, or is that seen as part of the race?

Both those who pulled out, Cancellara and Martin, are great riders, but they would not be in contention for the final victory. Both would have lost a lot of time in the mountains.

Leaders of the TdF in the early stages have fulfilled a tough ambition by getting into the yellow jersey, but this tour was always going to be about Froome, Contador, Quintana and Nibali - with a bit of Teejay thrown in...maybe.

 

[1066familyman]

I refer the right honourable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier...

...it's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Pantani]

Nibali

Surprising he would get dropped on a climb like that.

 

[1066familyman]

Dan Martin reverting to type.

Sagan suffers his usual fate.

Nice win by Vuillermoz.

Very surprised to see Nibs go backwards.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Dan Martin reverting to type.

Sagan suffers his usual fate.

Nice win by Vuillermoz.

Very surprised to see Nibs go backwards.

Seems similar to stybar win, either they were too strong for anyone to hold the wheel or they given too much leeway as they weren't a "big hitter"

Nibs is going badly, people said it before the tour and this year it's true.

Sagan is a victim of his own, sort of, success in that no one will work of he's there so someone chips of and nicks the win.

 

[Stat Brother]

Stage 8 result

1 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 4:20:55
2 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:05
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:10
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
7 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge

***Young rider competition***

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:21:05
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge
3 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica GreenEdge
6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing

 

[1066familyman]

Seems similar to stybar win, either they were too strong for anyone to hold the wheel or they given too much leeway as they weren't a "big hitter"

Nibs is going badly, people said it before the tour and this year it's true.

Sagan is a victim of his own, sort of, success in that no one will work of he's there so someone chips of and nicks the win.

The Stybar win Sagan was definitely the victim of the usual scenario as I think they could have brought that back.

Today however I think Vuillermoz was just too strong. No GC prepared to go deep enough once everyone was accounted for and with the TTT tomorrow, and Sagan himself had probably gone into the red keeping up on the climb so had nothing left for the sprint. That was a classy win by Vuillermoz I think and it's been on the cards from him for a while now.

Dan Martin frustrates almost as much as Sagan but for very different reasons. Bad timing/positioning again today, but also Garmin burnt all their matches by taking sole responsibility for chasing down that second break.
Nibs was a big shock today. However, I still reckon he'll finish above TJVG come Paris, despite what this first week would suggest.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

The Stybar win Sagan was definitely the victim of the usual scenario as I think they could have brought that back.

Today however I think Vuillermoz was just too strong. No GC prepared to go deep enough once everyone was accounted for and with the TTT tomorrow, and Sagan himself had probably gone into the red keeping up on the climb so had nothing left for the sprint. That was a classy win by Vuillermoz I think and it's been on the cards from him for a while now.

Dan Martin frustrates almost as much as Sagan but for very different reasons. Bad timing/positioning again today, but also Garmin burnt all their matches by taking sole responsibility for chasing down that second break.
Nibs was a big shock today. However, I still reckon he'll finish above TJVG come Paris, despite what this first week would suggest.

True, he did essentially keep putting time into them all the way through the last 700m. He may well get another stage in this tour.

TJvG always has a bad day, a bit like porte.

 

[Stat Brother]

I think TJVG may well be in yellow, this time tomorrow,

 

[1066familyman]

I think TJVG may well be in yellow, this time tomorrow,

He may well be, but he won't be come Paris.

True, he did essentially keep putting time into them all the way through the last 700m. He may well get another stage in this tour.

TJvG always has a bad day, a bit like porte.

My thoughts exactly on TJVG. I also wonder if he could be peaking too early. Was very strong at the Dauphine and this Tour is seriously back loaded in that final week. Fair play to him if he's still going strong by that third week, but I think it's most likely to be a head to head between Froome and Quintana at the business end. Nibs could well be suffering today because of the crash yesterday, although it does seem he could genuinely be below par rather than aiming to peak when it matters most. I'd have expected him to have attacked more in this first week, although Froome and Sky have not put a foot wrong so far by using attack as the best form of defence in many respects.

Bert is still unknown I think as to how much that Giro took out of him.

 

[Stat Brother]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 9: Vannes - Plumelec (TTT), 28 km





Stats & Facts

Plumelec hosts a Tour de France stage for the fourth time. There was also a TTT here in 1982, for the Tour’s first visit.
Plumelec hosted the Grand Départ in 1985, when local boy Bernard Hinault won the prologue. In 2008, the first stage of the race finished on the Côte de Cadoual, with Alejandro Valverde winning and taking the yellow jersey.
TTTs are a lot more reasonable these days – in 1978, there was a 153-kilometre TTT, in which TI-Raleigh beat C&A by seven seconds.

Prognostication

BMC
Sky
Movistar.

Finally Quintana starting going up in GC.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

I think TJVG may well be in yellow, this time tomorrow,

This - he and his team have ridden a really good race so far, quietly doing their stuff, avoiding all the crashes and media lime light.

He is still big odds to win, only lost the Dauphine by a final push by Froome. An accident or two could open the way for him.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

One second defeat for SKY, Roche really suffering. They will take that and Froome takes Yellow into the mountains.

 

[banjo]

Wow! That were close.

 

[Pantani]

You have to feel for Roche. He will be climbing on that bus knowing they would have won if he was just a little stronger. I was hoping TJ would get in to yellow, think that would have made the race more interesting. Fantastic ride by Sky though, they have not done that well in a TTT for a long time.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

So, for those of us watching the tennis, who won? What was the order, and what were the time differences?

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

BMC beat SKY by a second with Movistar four seconds back (they had a bad time on a climb where front two took off)

Tinkoff Saxo beat Astana with Nibbles losing another 34 seconds on Froome

Big day Tuesday when they will all try to flex some muscle and a Frenchman will be desperate to reach the summit first in a breakaway on Bastile day

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

So, for those of us watching the tennis, who won? What was the order, and what were the time differences?

Rain Break was perfect for the Greg Lemond highlight show on Eurosport - your losing your male channel hoping skills