Tour De France 2018

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

He had a bit of luck (or others had bad luck) early on and then was absolutely rock solid. Never looked like he'd crack in the mountains with two stage wins plus squeezing out extra seconds at other times. I think he'd probably have won the TT if he'd not been backing off in the last section. Thoroughly deserved as the best rider in the best team. I do like his dry humour, and he's clearly been a loyal, committed and brave rider for many years who has dedicated himself to the team before himself but has now seized his chance. Double Olympic gold medal winner too. Few in the sport seems to have anything bad to say about him, although I guess the Sky-haters will manage something.

I really enjoyed the style (and sportsmanship) of Julien Alaphillippe, and I'm sad that Richie Porte again lost a chance to compete by crashing out. Dan Martin always tries to animate races but needs a decent team? Dumoulin impressive but just lacking that extra spark to break away. Quintana a disappointment; anonymous until one stage win, and then next day he's exhausted and loses time. Froome dignified in defeat and I'm not so sure he is 'done'. He's had an amazing year. I suspect he'll miss the Giro next year to concentrate on the Tour. Might be two leaders for Sky again?

Bruce, I enjoyed reading your post. Nice summary. My contentions being the text I bolded above, and here's the thing; a subtle, innate part of great athleticism involves a knack for being in the right place at the right instant, or as much, not being caught in the wrong place, especially in a bike race where crashes are likely. Avoid injury if you want to compete. You might call it luck, I call it a winning athlete's sixth-sense; the ability to avoid injury and continue to compete. Some guys have a knack for staying off the pavement, G certainly one. Those without will fly home early and lick their wounds. There are sad, poor, sorry, and bad luck contenders, then there's the winner on the podium.

As far as anyone being "deserving"? Deserving should have nothing to do with objective competition. G was simply the best rider out there at the given time. Kudos to him for his ability to schedule/plan/organize his legs.

Joe, nicely put.

'The harder I work the luckier I get' is one way of thinking about it. Great athletes do seem to be 'luckier' or as you say just better at being in the right place and avoiding trouble. Not sure you can always mitigate against a puncture or being taken out by a motorbike, team car or the strap of a spectator's camera!

G used to have a bad reputation for crashing but avoided trouble this year.

For me 'deserved' means that he earned it and won it on merit, not that somehow it was his due.

Been a good Tour.

Bruce

PS Parlee-king. I assume another Parlee owner? I have a Z1 that is a fair few years old and still absolutely sublime