Tour de France 2017

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

Struck me yesterday that Froome was pretty active on the climb and actually had a fair attack with a view maybe to going for the stage, and that he has attacked at some point on most of the uphill stages.

Rigoberto Uran however has been almost invisible, just following along all the way through.

Froome may not be flamboyant but it has not been a totally defensive performance-and not in previous years either.

 

Uran has been somewhat hindered by the fact that his whole team have been MIA.

Stage 19 (Friday 21st July)

Writing this with 85 km to go -

a break of 20 [with 7:30 minutes on the peloton] look almost certain to make it to the end, and with attacks likely to happen on and past the Col du Pointu. This is for the Stage win race with no one included threatening the GC.

Will be interesting to watch for any surprise attacks in the main peloton for the GC race - a last chance throw of the dice!

winkyincanada posted:

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

Struck me yesterday that Froome was pretty active on the climb and actually had a fair attack with a view maybe to going for the stage, and that he has attacked at some point on most of the uphill stages.

Rigoberto Uran however has been almost invisible, just following along all the way through.

Froome may not be flamboyant but it has not been a totally defensive performance-and not in previous years either.

 

Uran has been somewhat hindered by the fact that his whole team have been MIA.

...and Froome gets called dull because he is supported by a very visible and competent team!

Aru attacked without his team around. I'm not having a pop at Uran I just think people are unfairly critical of Froome and not very respectful of someone who looks to be the best rider. A good team around him does not make him win the GC for the 4th time as if they somehow carry him along on their backs.

Stage 20 (Saturday 22nd July)

22.5 km individual time trial 

Take a look at that gradient at Notre-Dame de la Garde - 9.5% for 1.2 km! 

I hope the weather is nice for them tomorrow....

naim_nymph posted:

Stage 20 (Saturday 22nd July)

22.5 km individual time trial 

Take a look at that gradient at Notre-Dame de la Garde - 9.5% for 1.2 km! 

I hope the weather is nice for them tomorrow....

Should be possible for Chris Froome to keep the jersey ....

If anyone is interested ....(?)

La Course - Stage 2 [ of 2 stages ] Women's race has just started and on showing now Live on ITV4

This women's race is run on the same 22.5 km Marseilles time trial course of Stage 20 TdF which the men will be using later.

However, the women's race is started time-trail fashion at 5 seconds apart but the rules allow them to draft and to work together, so it's an odd concept imho, be interesting to see how it transpires. The faster riders go firstly and in quickest order from the Stage 1 results...

We should get an interesting view of some road race style action on the Marseilles course, and a preview of that Notre-Dame hill climb.

The TdF Stage 20 Start time is at 13h45 (Local time)

I watched quite a lot of the late part of the women's race yesterday and most of today and I did think it was a really weird combination to put together. I can see why they didn't have a standard TT (dull!) but the alternative wasn't very interesting either. It's time for them to organise a proper women's TdF!!

Clive

Cdb posted:

I watched quite a lot of the late part of the women's race yesterday and most of today and I did think it was a really weird combination to put together. I can see why they didn't have a standard TT (dull!) but the alternative wasn't very interesting either. It's time for them to organise a proper women's TdF!!

Clive

I think they ran the women's stage 2 race like that to get it done quick and out of the way of the main event. A bit of a fudge in other words...

Would have been far better to run a 1 minute apart Time Trial which would have taken longer but they could have started it earlier. It would have been more realistic a result for the women who are quick testers but didn't have the best of luck on Stage 1 road race.

Debs

I think it was fatuous trying to link two completely different stages together when making up time in the second event was impossible.. A stage race works through having multiple stages of varying character. They should have kept the Paris event and had three discrete races rather then trying to establish an overall winner. Today's race could then have been a TT (I agree with you) with start times based on yesterday's results. This would have given three types of race - climbing; TT; and sprint - and would have probably given more riders a chance to excel and put more names into public awareness. 

Clive

So far the times range between super fast 28 minute rides, to slower off the pace 33 minutes rides.

Doing a rough calculation of this 22.5 km course (almost 14 miles in real money) and taken the hill into consideration; if i were to ride it as fast as i could it would take me in excess of 44 minutes 

Debs

Storming time trial. Great news for Froomey, but I feel so sorry for Mikel Landa, losing out on 3rd place in GC to Romain Bardet by just 1 second.

But at least (at last!) France has a rider on the podium.

Next year there'll be one less man in each team. I'm not sure that will have the effect the organisers want (to reduce the dominance of team Sky) since Sky rode most of the race with just 8 men. I'd still prefer to see the race without race radios. I'm convinced that would lead to a better race.

J'aime le Tour.

French crowd embarrass themselves again.

A pity they can't just accept that Froome is a remarkable rider and by far the best in the tour.

Maybe we should move thewhole Tour De France to Yorkshire in future ? Such well behaved fans there.

I wonder if team Sky would dare launch Mikel Landa for a sprint finish tomorrow? Even if he didn't win a time bonus, if he finished with more than a two second time gap anywhere before AG2R, or Bardet in particular, he would finish third. 

Then I think even the French would be in favour of Brexit.

Arise 'Sir' Christopher...

Clive B posted:

I feel so sorry for Mikel Landa, losing out on 3rd place in GC to Romain Bardet by just 1 second. But at least (at last!) France has a rider on the podium.

Clive B posted:

I wonder if team Sky would dare launch Mikel Landa for a sprint finish tomorrow?

Why wouldn't Landa battle for the final podium spot? Team Sky are poised set him free to have a go. Barring catastrophe, all classifications are virtually decided and the only remaining race within the race is for the individual third.

Maybe I'm way off base and if so someone please enlighten me.

It’s tradition. (The fight for podium places is over).

As is booing. Eddy Merckx, in yellow (the greatest cyclist ever) was booed at the end of a time trial during the 1971 tour. Merckx was punched by a spectator during the 1975 tour.

Doesn't make it right though. I was unpleasantly surprised at the level of noise during the Lions' kicks at goal in New Zealand. The poison directed at Chris Froome is quite shameful IMO. Have a bit of respect. And show some class.

JamieWednesday posted:

Doesn't make it right though. I was unpleasantly surprised at the level of noise during the Lions' kicks at goal in New Zealand. The poison directed at Chris Froome is quite shameful IMO. Have a bit of respect. And show some class.

It's entertainment that arouses the passions of the fan and the barracking is all part of it... the French find Froome's lack of soul and utterly boring winningness almost as shameful as Mr Armstrong's. The Kiwis are just trying to stop the nation from entering 12 years of depression, were the Lions to win series, not to mention the shameful interpretation of the laws by the French ref in the 1st test. 

Attempting to defend the indefensible, but given the poster's location not surprising. The 'win at all costs' approach of many nations which encompasses this vitriolic, unsporting, rude, ill mannered behaviour of so called fans is unforgivable. The English gave the gift of sportsmanship, along with many other things, to the rest of the world, and it is sad to have it thrown back in our faces. It matters not a jot that Chris Froome isn't really British at all, what does matter is that he is, in this race, better than all the rest and thus deserving of respect.

Old fashioned I know, but not everything on display today represents progress.

I suspect this won't happen, but unless there are some amazing British sporting performances between now and the awards, surely Chris Froome deserves to win the 'BBC British Sports Personality of the Year' award this year. His achievement of 4 Tour de France wins (now including 3 consecutive wins) must be considerably more worthy than that of any of our previous Tour winners who picked up the award.

Not only are his achievements pretty astonishing, but he also appears to be a really nice and unassuming guy as well. I don't understand the negative reaction he gets from some people, nor the faint praise (even apathy) he sometimes attracts in these shores. Cycling is not my sport, but I can still recognise that he is an outstanding sportsman, and one whose like we may never see in this country again.    

Like you, Hmack, I'm no fan of competitive cycling, but Froome will definitely get my SPOTY vote.