The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Brixtaan]

Oh yes, those fools made some terrible tactical decisions. They did make it easier for Sky. I was hoping some of you guys would talk me out of this way of thinking though. I hope Froome struggles tomorrow, I really do, would make all this look a lot more valid.

It's really sad to see other Brits have their doubts, if this is the case then god knows what the rest of the world must be saying. I have 100% faith in CF and more importantly Sir Dave. So much faith i honestly think i would put my house on it. These two and G man are so bloody honest, dedicated, passionate and driven by their mission to put Britain on the cycling map that i find it desperately disappointing to read these comments. Can you not see it in their faces and hear it in their interviews? Read my lips : no-one linked to Sky is doping! Sir Dave is a knight of the realm ffs, Chris is just a grown up kid from the mountains of Africa and GT is a loyal dedicated lietenant in the classic mould.
So just enjoy today. Never since i started watching when Robert Millar was KotM did i dream that one day I would see numerous Union Jacks finishing in the top 10 of a brutal Pyrenean mountain finish. (Still shocking even after the Wiggins/Froome 1/2)

 

[Pogue Mahone]

WTF is it with the highlights show telling you the result before showing the race? I'd have loved to have watched that without knowing what was going to happen.

Did they really? They've never done that before. That is ludicrous.

I record the stage as live each day - they can't tell me what's happened, because it hasn't yet!

Brilliant stage, and I choose to believe in Froome, and G.

 

[Machiavelli]

I've only been watching for a few years, but that was some ride by Froome today. Porte and Thomas (sorry, G) were top too.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

sorry, G.

You are forgiven.

Don't do it again.

 

[Triggaaar]

Did they really? They've never done that before. That is ludicrous.

Yep. They showed him making the break and (I think) crossing the line. And they showed a clip of the interview with the Green jersey leader - there goes the suspense of the sprints.

I record the stage as live each day - they can't tell me what's happened, because it hasn't yet!

I will now do that too, but I fear I'm already too late. The excitement was all today.

 

[Triggaaar]

I hope Froome struggles tomorrow, I really do, would make all this look a lot more valid.

Assuming Froome is clean, I wouldn't expect him to struggle tomorrow. He was faster today, but he didn't look like he finished with less energy than his rivals.

 

[Stat Brother]

It's really sad to see other Brits have their doubts, if this is the case then god knows what the rest of the world must be saying. I have 100% faith in CF and more importantly Sir Dave. So much faith i honestly think i would put my house on it. These two and G man are so bloody honest, dedicated, passionate and driven by their mission to put Britain on the cycling map that i find it desperately disappointing to read these comments. Can you not see it in their faces and hear it in their interviews? Read my lips : no-one linked to Sky is doping! Sir Dave is a knight of the realm ffs, Chris is just a grown up kid from the mountains of Africa and GT is a loyal dedicated lietenant in the classic mould.
So just enjoy today. Never since i started watching when Robert Millar was KotM did i dream that one day I would see numerous Union Jacks finishing in the top 10 of a brutal Pyrenean mountain finish. (Still shocking even after the Wiggins/Froome 1/2)

Team Sky are just paying the price for previous wrong doingings.
I too am 100% confident in Team Sky, margin gains, fail to prepare etc, but there's only so many times I can watch identical events, be told they were cheating and then not question the next identical event.

A-Rod - poster boy for EPO in baseball is having a better than expected season.
Clearly he not still on drugs, there's a list as long as your arm for reasons why he's got his groove back.
But he's been popped so many times in a Lance style, it's just easier to ignore all the evidence and question his methods.

After a nights sleep it's easier to rationalise Froome.
The Giro/Tour double is extremely rare (with drugs) Contador was pushed all the way, just 6 weeks ago.
Then without Basso he was always going to be susceptible.
Nibali has been poor and certainly not consistent all season, why would the Tour be any different.
Quintana hasn't been seen for a while and only recently raced Contador, which now clearly isn't form that stacks up.

We've all been desperate for this tour because all 4 can win.
We've been driven by the media who in turn has been driven by us.

The fact of the matter is only one rider/team has properly prepared for this tour, and they showed that yesterday.

I wonder how long the other 3 spent recceing yesterdays climb?
Movistar couldn't have done, or else they wouldn't have ridden like that.
When would Contador have had time?
Nabali was beaten before he arrived, 2 minutes down on the field instead of his expected 2 minutes up.

WTF is it with the highlights show telling you the result before showing the race? I'd have loved to have watched that without knowing what was going to happen.

I can't help thinking it was a highlight of 2013's Ventoux or Playa de Belles(sp), the stage where he set it all up.
I might have it on video, I'll look later.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Interesting that BBC Breakfast mentioned speculation about doping at 6.30, but didn't at 7.30. Someone's had a word.

 

[Brixtaan]

Interesting that BBC Breakfast mentioned speculation about doping at 6.30, but didn't at 7.30. Someone's had a word.

Good. They need to shut up about it as indeed does everybody else , but especially the BBC who's job is to report the news on these programmes not attempt to be clever clog investigative journalists.

 

[Triggaaar]

I can't help thinking it was a highlight of 2013's Ventoux or Playa de Belles(sp), the stage where he set it all up.

Eh? Are you thinking the clips I'm referring to were of a previous race? No, they were of the race they were about to show/were in the middle of showing.

 

[Stat Brother]

Lancey-poohs can't help himself:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33531194

 

[Stat Brother]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 11: Pau - Cauterets Vallee de Saint-Savin, 188 km





Stats & Facts

The halfway point of the Tour comes in this stage, about five kilometres on from the base of the Col du Tourmalet. 1,679.15km gone, 1,679.15km to go.
The Tourmalet has been tackled by the Tour more times than any other climb in the race’s history – 83 times in 101 races before this year.
The first rider over the Tourmalet rarely wins the stage. Before Thomas Voeckler managed this in 2012, the previous rider to do so was Richard Virenque in 1995

Prognostication.

The break stays away, and the race is won by a Frenchie.
Nibs loses a few more seconds, Quintana takes 3 seconds off Froome.

 

[Triggaaar]

Lancey-poohs can't help himself:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33531194

I've more interest in what Ernest says than Lance.

 

[teaboy]

I can't see this being a day off for anyone - Movistar and Saxo will probably work on the way up (Sky don't need to), Nibali will attack on the descent if he's still racing. Pinot could be allowed to go (if he can!), but any break will only get 3 minutes on the line.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Lancey-poohs can't help himself:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33531194

his only valid input should be words of support to Ivan Basso.

 

[lost in london]

Cheer up 1066. I know I also raised doubts, but unless Froome does the same tomorrow I am still willing to believe. The only guys you would really expect to even have a chance of beating Froome were Quintana, Contador and Nibali. It is quite clear that Nibali and Contador are way off form. So 1 minute in to Quintana, who he has put that sort of time in to at the Tour before does not appear that extreme.

As I said it is all about what happens from here. If Froome repeats this sort of thing day after day Armstrong style then we have a problem.

That's the key point I think - a bit of context is needed. He smashed two seemingly out of form contenders, and only put a minute or so against the other credible GC opponent. Sky have a much stronger team - having two genuine GC contenders in their own right see you up the first half of the mountain helps a lot, as does having a few other teams do a lot of the early leg work. Putting time into guys who were up their last year just shows that Nibali had a reasonably easy ride last year - those guys just aren't of the same class as Contador, Froome, Quintana.

Add that to the fact that it's the first big climb, two days after a TTT and a day after a rest day and it's hardly surprising some others didn't get it right / were rusty.

And as a final point, and nicking this off the brilliant cycling podcast, it's hardly like some of the gaps they had in the past - they mentioned 8 minutes on one climb for Mercx.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

That's the key point I think - a bit of context is needed. He smashed two seemingly out of form contenders, and only put a minute or so against the other credible GC opponent. Sky have a much stronger team - having two genuine GC contenders in their own right see you up the first half of the mountain helps a lot, as does having a few other teams do a lot of the early leg work. Putting time into guys who were up their last year just shows that Nibali had a reasonably easy ride last year - those guys just aren't of the same class as Contador, Froome, Quintana.

Add that to the fact that it's the first big climb, two days after a TTT and a day after a rest day and it's hardly surprising some others didn't get it right / were rusty.

And as a final point, and nicking this off the brilliant cycling podcast, it's hardly like some of the gaps they had in the past - they mentioned 8 minutes on one climb for Mercx.

Merckx comparison doesn't quite compare as they were all juiced back then!

I think the only thing Sky can try and do is go full "Pinot" and release years and years of power files. Pinot's went back to his junior years and showed his steady progression - no one even slightly suggested he was doping but its entirely possible. The power estimates are so accurate now that you might as well release the real data and be done with it.

 

[1066familyman]

It's really sad to see other Brits have their doubts, if this is the case then god knows what the rest of the world must be saying. I have 100% faith in CF and more importantly Sir Dave. So much faith i honestly think i would put my house on it. These two and G man are so bloody honest, dedicated, passionate and driven by their mission to put Britain on the cycling map that i find it desperately disappointing to read these comments. Can you not see it in their faces and hear it in their interviews? Read my lips : no-one linked to Sky is doping! Sir Dave is a knight of the realm ffs, Chris is just a grown up kid from the mountains of Africa and GT is a loyal dedicated lietenant in the classic mould.
So just enjoy today. Never since i started watching when Robert Millar was KotM did i dream that one day I would see numerous Union Jacks finishing in the top 10 of a brutal Pyrenean mountain finish. (Still shocking even after the Wiggins/Froome 1/2)

Sorry can't let you get away with that. As a cycling fan yourself you're better than falling back on " Sir dave is a knight of the realm ff".

There's a strong enough cycling case for defending Sky without resorting to the nonsense of trusting people just by how they come across in interview etc. Look where that has led us as a nation with the sickening revelations we hear almost daily about people in high places and 'celebrities' previously held in public affection by a whole generation

SB has summed up the other big 3 and their form perfectly. Nothing I disagee with there. But there's other points in Sky's defence too:

I watched the stage back live as per usual, and the pulls that Movistar, FDJ and Garmin took meant Sky actually ended up doing next to no work themselves.

It was the first of the mountain stages after a rest day.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

And finally, and this is the point that most makes me want to believe in what I saw yesterday more than anything - what about the performances of the likes of Gesink, Gallopin, Barguil and Meintjes? If that wasn't a clean performance from Sky yesterday then it's likely that neither was the performance of any of the above, and that would be equally as gutting to find out.

Perhaps SB is right, what is really behind the Sky doubting is the fact that as race the majority of cycling fans were dealt a massive blow yesterday, as Boardman's comments about being depressed about the result would illustrate. I'll keep the faith, and apologies for perhaps over reacting yesterday, but surely you can see why so many would have doubts based purely on experience.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'm not doubting the performance. I used to doubt all of the performances, so I stopped watching the TDF for years.

 

[Bold Seagull]

From 1 min in, is it Stannard telling someone to 'stop grabbing our f*cking wheel'...not sure I would mess with him to be honest...