Tour de France 2016
Posted by: joerand on 02 July 2016
Topic now open.
I'm currently watching the replay of Stage 1 with about an hour to go to the finish. So far, I'm not overly surprised by an early Contador crash on a dry day.
Tuesday July 5
Stage 4
Saumur to Limoges
Length: 237.5km
Category: Flat
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk...#dfrhFoAitl82GPq3.99
237.5 km is 147 miles in real money, so a long race with some upward gradient on the second half plus an uphill finish that's not steep but the finish incline will make winning more tricky for the sprinters to judge.
A couple of guys from our club are racing, one for Trek and the other for IAM, so we are following those teams. Regarding the wider race I'm very interested in how much progress the young French riders make.
Teaser alert...
Flat stage, crosswind....and boom the green jersey, the yellow jersey and two lieutenants take an opportunity. Who said Team Sky just ride to the script? Movistar caught napping today.
Great last 15km of the day, and Ventoux tomorrow, although the word is high winds may mean that is truncated by a fair bit. Should still be a good day now that Quintana has a bit more to make up.
Bruce
CF does seem to have found new ways to win. NQ is still a one trick pony, but he still has the ability to get a minute or two in the high mountains. Great race again this year.
Hope its not too windy on MV today so the high finish remains.
Stu
stuart.ashen posted:CF does seem to have found new ways to win. NQ is still a one trick pony, but he still has the ability to get a minute or two in the high mountains. Great race again this year.
Hope its not too windy on MV today so the high finish remains.
Stu
I do miss Contador, he could have made it a degree more exciting...
Agreed, and both Nibali and Aru have been poor. Yates going well but I do think it is a two horse race with Froomy ahead on points. Looking forward to today, and then the Alps...
Stu
Looks like a lower finish, due to the winds in the Alps.
Chaos!
Just watched Porte, Mollema and Froome riding away from Quintana...and into a motorbike!
Apparently not hurt but Froome down to 6th, Porte similarly delayed. Seen jogging up the road to minimise time lost before getting a spare bike he could hardly ride. (Q. Can you cross the line without a bike and still count?)
Surely that cannot be allowed to stand? Not a racing accident but how on earth will they settle it. And why did the following Peleton not do the decent thing and neutralise their response either?
We await a verdict. I hope that at the least the duo do not lose time, and maybe they get another chance to prove their superiority over the others.
Too many fans compressed further down the mountain after the race was shortened maybe.
Was loving it until then; in France after a good bike ride of my own, on Bastille day.
Bruce
Thursday, July 14 - Stage 12
From Montpellier
To Chalet Reynard
Length: 178km
Category: Mountains
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk...#jDH9GGeOZVyobzGe.99
Richie Porte (BMC) smashed into the back of a camera motorbike as crowds on Mont Ventoux, causing chaos in the final kilometres...
General classification after stage 12 (provisional)
1. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange in 57-12-20
2. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 9 secs
3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 14 secs
4. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r at 28 secs
5. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar at 52 secs
6. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 53 secs
7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 57 secs
8. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 1-07
9. Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx-QuickStep at 1-09
10. Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha
Personally i think they should award all involved in the pile-up the same Stage 12 finish time as Bauke Mollema, not perfect but maybe the best quick fix to compromise.
The crowd discipline is appalling - definitely needs better control.
Debs
It was a disgrace and yet the rules clearly mean that Froomy is 53s back on the yellow jersey. Disgusted to the point where I may stop watching it! However, he is in such good form that he can recover and still win! What did that have to do with sport?
Frustrated and need to put on some heavy metal! Angst!
Stu
Looks like Debs is spot on, Porte and Froome given the same time as Mollema so Froome back in yellow, and with some of the extra advantage they had earned.
i hope none of them are injured or the race will be very much clouded.
bruce
Phew! Time for some Enya or Goldfrapp...
Stu
I think the jury has made a strange decision. Normally it's just bad luck what happens, now two changes have been done, questionable ...
Results
Tour de France 2016, stage 12: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux (Chalet Reynard)
1. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
2. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data at 2 secs
3. Daniel Navarro (Esp) Cofidis at 14 secs
4. Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling at 40 secs
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie at same time
6. Bert Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 2-52
7. Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data at 3-13
8. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo at 3-26
9. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Fortuneo-Vital Concept at 4-23
10. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 5-05
Other
11. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange at 5-24
25. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 6-45
General classification after stage 12 (provisional)
1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky in 57-11-33
2. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange at 47 secs
3. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 56 secs
4. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 1-01
5. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r at 1-15
6. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar at 1-39
7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 1-44
8. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 1-54
9. Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx-QuickStep at 1-56
10. Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha at 2-11
I'm glad they adjusted Froome's result for classification, what happened was very unfair from a competitor point of view.
At least the antics of crown control [or lack of it] and all the kerfuffle is caused didn't affect the fine Stage win result by Thomas De Gendt.
Seemed a very sensible solution IMO. Sometimes the French are quite good at that, ignore the rules and do the right thing instead.
JamieWednesday posted:Seemed a very sensible solution IMO. Sometimes the French are quite good at that, ignore the rules and do the right thing instead.
Agree that the race organisers made the bast call to slavage the best outcome from a complete fiasco. Also interesting is whether or not the group should have slowed after Gerrans' crash (at about 32km to go) took out a Stannard and at least one other Sky. There is a good argument that Movistar should have pushed on and not facilitated Froome waiting for his team-mates.
Winky,
you should never attack the yellow under such circumstances. Froome would do the same for Quintana. Movistar earned much respect following this unwritten rule.
I was surprised at the change of result, very unexpected, but certainly correct in the sense that the final result reflects the performance of the riders on the day. Well done the organisers!
A very pragmatic decision by the race committe in view of the very unusual circumstances IMO. It will be interesting to see if Chris is adversary effected in the time trial tomorrow. The booing by a section of the spectators at the yellow jersey podium presentation shows very bad form indeed.
Graham
If the conditions at the finish are deemed to be unsafe, the general classiment times are quite often taken at 3km from the finish, but the placings at the finish still stand.
I’m sure the organisers got together with Sky and Movistar to bash out an agreement
TBH i'm not particularly a Chris Froome supporter, i'm quite happy to see Adam Yates in yellow, but the incident that occurred today which resulted in delaying CH was caused by over excited spectators interfering with the race proceedings [getting in the way and forcing a media motorbike to abruptly stop ] This is not the competitors fault, and the organisers and race officials should make amends, and IMO they did the best compromise in a difficult situation.
One theory that is being considered is that spectator overcrowding was caused by the decision to reduce the distance of Stage 12 due to high winds on summit of the hill they were due to finish on, and this caused too many fans to bunch up along the last few km of todays race.
However you look at it, it's only fair that CF remains in yellow after todays outcome.
Tomorrows race will be very exciting, the race of truth...
i always enjoy the time trails, just hope the fans keep out the way : D
Stage 13
From Bourg-Saint-Andéol
To La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc
Length: 37.5km
Category: Individual time trial
The time trial starts on the banks of the River Rhône, and the route goes straight up a climb called La Roche Colombe. It is six kilometres long, and quite steep in places. It will be an awkward ascent on a time trial bike. However, a time trial bike comes into its own at the top, where the riders face 18 kilometres across a flat then gently undulating plateau to the Col du Serre de Tourre.
The route then descends rapidly, with many changes of direction and tight bends, to six kilometres of flat through Vallon-Pont d’Arc. The final five kilometres are uphill though the spectacular Gorge de l’Ardèche to La Caverne du Pont d’Arc.
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk...#1Ivveib1mrWWAfrT.99
I'll assume they have paddy wagons in France.
They need to get some on the mountain, lock the jackasses inside, and then prosecute them to full extent.
More barriers would help, albeit unusual change to the course today.
Can't help but feel for Richie Porte, riding brilliantly yet finding bad luck beyond his control.
Froome? Solid command and control. He's a machine.
The Tour de France's official Twitter account posted: "The heart of the Tour beats for Nice."
"We want this day to be a day of dignity as a tribute to the victims," said race director Christian Prudhomme.
"We had a crisis meeting with the prefect of the Ardeche department and the gendarmerie. The stage is on. The race must continue."
naim_nymph posted:One theory that is being considered is that spectator overcrowding was caused by the decision to reduce the distance of Stage 12 due to high winds on summit of the hill they were due to finish on, and this caused too many fans to bunch up along the last few km of todays race.
Absolutely correct. ASO must take its share of the blame for this. There were hundreds of camper vans above Chalet Reynard, so those people came down to just below the new finish line. The barriers, which were on the right side only, were placed over the last 500m only before Chalet Reynard. The fans from above crowded down the 500m on the rhs behind the barriers and below there where there were no barriers. Alcohol also played its part, of course, since fans had been waiting on the mountain for many hours and days before the race passed.
Some very bad news:
Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman's mother Carol has died after a collision with a pick-up truck as she was cycling in north Wales, police have said.
Mrs Boardman, who competed in cycling races in her youth, was taken to hospital with serious injuries following the collision in Connah's Quay, near Deeside, on Saturday.
She later died in hospital.
He posted a lovely tribute to her, concluding with 'may the wind always be at your back'.
She sounded like a real inspiration for him.
Bruce