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Tour de France discussion (spoiler alert)
Thought it might be good to have a thread to discuss the race, etc.
First comments from me are Sagan is exciting. A real talent. Hope to see much more from him.
Secondly, poor Tony Martin. What a terrible first 2 stages. Just unfortunate or not fully 'up to speed' after injury? What do you reckon?
Finally, who said Cav needs a lead out train?! His wheel hopping was first class today.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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53 comments
Oh dear Frank - guilty or innocent?
I was on my hols last week and was able to check in with Le Tour now and again on Eurosport - allbeit in Spanish and German and I have forgot to ask what happened to the yellow lids Sky had to wear and then no doubt passed onto RNT?
Did everyone start objecting to wearing them?
I believe they are not compulsory. Team in top spot has the choice. RNT have yellow flashes on the side of theirs which might be for that reason but I can't recall if that is always there or not atm.
Tommy Voeckler should be fined for bearing his torso. Doesn't the #tdf have a dress code?
Allow him that, he is such a great character.
He and sorenson in gurning contest lol.
Another random observation, the saxo bank kit is really growing on me. (no, not literally
)
Richie Porte been excellent.
Tacks on the road. Really? Whoever did that is a muppet.
I know this may be unpopular to say BUT do you think that Froome and Wiggins might be on more than just Weetabix?
Interesting how they can take so much time out of Fabian's time. A few seconds - perhaps. But minutes?
I think brad might have something to answer that one...$#%& +%$#: **&$###***
I think brad might have something to answer that one...$#%& +%$#: **&$###***
cancellara is no longer at his absolute peak, plus he's had a tough first week, not just defending yellow but showing the leader's jersey great respect by powering up that final climb (even past his own GC man, Schleck) on the day he was always going to lose it. Wiggins seems to have been riding within himself in week 1, so to me no great surprise that he smashed this TT. Froome was more of a surprise, but then he'll have been doing very similar traning and preparation to Wiggins. One thing that I have noticed is a slight difference in the Sky TT bike compared to others - they have their aero extension bars raised up quite high, creating a gap for the air to flow under the fore-arms but above the head-tube. Perhaps Sky have spent more hours refining their TT bike design in the air tunnel.
I think it's more that the emphasis has been different. Sky more or less just 'survived' the first week (notwithstanding Cav's stage win) where Spartacus gave it some real beans to stay in yellow so long, and Cadel's babysitting group always looked strong. Now that's out of the way, Sky are coming into their own. The gaps wouldn't be so big if another team had the riders and and a similar strategy to put in a strong showing on the climbs. Dave B is sometimes criticised on a tactical level, but strategically he's the master, and that's what we're seeing here.
Froome has been good at TTs for a while - h'e been picked for the Olympic TT ahead of Dave M remember.
I suspect HTC had thrown quite a lot of money at the team and no other sponsor was willing to match that so they couldn't keep everyone on salary.
I guess so but you could have kept some of, what was a most successful, team together surely.
Had the best kit in peloton last yr too imo.
Agreed, I suspect there was a choice to be made at some point, either scrap the team entirely or carry on as a much smaller, less well funded and less successful team. I can't blame them for pulling the plug rather than wanting to dwindle into mediocrity, it was a brave choice and one that many people would not have taken prefering to linger on as something average.
More awesome stuff from Brad and Chris Froome!
Another point though, how on Earth did HTC fall apart as a team. Look at some of the team they had who have been doing top jobs in the TDF. Cav, renshaw, goss of course. Then the Velits boys. In the TT today tj and tony martin. What happened there. Surely another sponsor could have been found if HTC were crazy enough to pull the plug!
Mind you I dont think Yates will have made many friends at BMC after stating that Evans was on his way out
The BMC manager was on Eurosport tonight and he was asked if there was going to be any alliances between teams to beat Sky - his reply was an emphatic YES.
Shows how much they all fear the Sky team !
Going back to Sagan - massive improvement in his sprinting to beat Griepel - BUT - he cant climb for toffee so unless they run a grand tour in Holland then i cant see him anywhere near a yellow jersey.
Stage 8, and we had another exciting finish. A win for France. Then all the GC contenders arriving in second place. Brilliant
STAGE 7, and I'm eating humble pie; and so pleased to have to scoff lots of it! Seems my criticism of how Sky was performing throughout the first week, was unfounded; and if todays wonderful performance by the sky team was anything to go by, we are in for a really exciting remainder of the tour. The Sky Team were in total command throughout the final steep climb on stage 7, no other team could match them on the climb. So good to see Froome Win the Stage and Bradly take the yellow jersey.
The excitment lives on; and the Sky's the limit.
Stage 6, was a disaster for so many riders.
Brailsford, about turn in stratergy for stage 5. Shame it didn't work out for Cav. Good to see that Sky are at least trying to support Cav, with a sort of? lead out.
Bit of a hil in the stage 5, finish; and Cav was caught out by going too early for the final sprint, he was also probably suffering from some aches pains and bruising from the previous day's crash.
I think he'll get stage 6, today? Although, Greipel seems very strong.
Heard from a lad at work that Cav was going for Lance's stage win record in the first week then 'fading' in weeks 2/3 to save on fitness for the olympics
He was using the tour's first week as part of his prep for the olympics (could explain why he's had no leadout train and the team are there for Brad for the overall victory)
Im not too sure but what he was explaining SEEMED feasable
and since then he's crashed so Lance's record for now is intact
Anyone else see this??
I hear the TDF riders will be out on their day off; practising their falling off procedure.
Crash bang wollap.
Nibali getting back into the peloton after the crash today. Scary stuff!
I am aware of Lance's winning tactics. I don't remember 8 guys sticking with Contador though?
Well, Sky have won a stage in the tour; and Cav has already earned his place in the team!! Leadership of the team is questionable though.
Fingers tightly crossed - Yeah.
Yep - totally agree. I'm sure Cav will do his fair share of the donkey work later in the tour, and Wiggins will repay him on Box Hill. So hopefully all will be good...
'Wiggo IMHO was already 1 to 2 support riders down before a wheel was turned in anger.'
Crikey. I counted 7, now 6.
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