Giro d'Italia / Tour de France

[Pompey Wolf]

Phil thought Stybar was Cav initially! Gutted for Martin, definitely looked like that's his race done, luckily Nibali looked ok despite going down.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Tour Tracker as an app is good Paddy. Or if you're on Twitter Cycling News and Inner Ring give pretty good updates.

 

[Kenny]

BTW - BBC website coverage is shockingly bad. Firstly they got the stage winner wrong (they went for Trentin). Secondly they were wondering whether Martin will get credited the same time. It is within the last three kilometres of a flat stage so of course those that crash get the same time. That rule has been there for fucking years. Do your homework BBC. If I can't watch pictures then I will be following LeTour.com in future.

I guess the BBC are just relying on the TV feed from Eurosport/ITV and have folk in Manchester typing stuff up as they see it. Not really going to go out an get experts in for a "oh shit we better do something to cover it" job.

 

[Wombat del combate]

I watch it on ITV4 mate.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

ITV4 is excellent and I also like the Eurosport coverage. Yes the commentators are fairly rubbish and Sean Kelly is utterly impossible to understand, but I like the amount of coverage and the fact that ITV4 and Eurosport very rarely go for an ad break at the same time so a bit of channel flicking and you miss nowt. Unfortunately today, I had no control of the telly as Micro is off sick and playing Sunset Overdrive on the XBox.

 

[Kenny]

Unfortunately today, I had no control of the telly as Micro is off sick and playing Sunset Overdrive on the XBox.

Fancied getting a banging headache did he?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It is fucking madness. If I was feeling like shite it would be the LAST game I would go near!

 

[Kenny]

Its a Migraine in gaming form (or I am just too old for this gaming lark)

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

You and me both. Now it is generally accepted that (Skyrim apart) I am fucking shit at games that came out post-Galaxians in the arcades, but I wouldn't even know where to start with this thing. Too busy a screen and just way too much colour going on. Maybe if I did a fuckload of LSD before trying it?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Martin has confirmed the collarbone is broken. That's that. He won't be able to start tomorrow so Froome will be yellow I guess. Didn't realise that Froome and Quintana were in the crash as well as Nibali. No damage for Froome though, bar a small graze to his knee.

Desperately sad for Martin. He deserved to hold that jersey until the Pyrenees.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Yep the Quickstep chief Lefevere has confirmed it's "impossible" for him to start tomorrow.

Nibali and Froome had a bit of a falling out over the cause of the crash it seems. Froome went onto the Astana bus to "sort it out" straight after the finish.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Froome has tweeted with "not my fault". Going to watch the re-run on ITV4 now and then I will let the TWF cycling fans know what I think.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

At the time I thought Martin clipped the guy in front and fell into Nibali but I've only seen one replay. So hard to tell sometimes!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It is on now on 118 (Virgin) and will be coming up to the finish in about 10 minutes.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Martin's fault for me. Leant into the Europcar rider and knocked him off.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Martin definitely out. Sad for him.

However, Nibali throwing his bidon at Froome should be looked at. There is no way that was ever Froome's fault as he was on the other side of the group from the crash and so no need for such a reaction.

 

[Kenny]

According to the Etixx doctor, Tony Martin's collarbone was in numerous bits and was sticking out of his skin.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Ouch

 

[Kenny]

Different animal these cyclists. So many times you read about how bad their injuries are and they have still got on the bike and got to the end.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

To be fair he only had 900 metres to complete. If he wasn't in yellow he wouldn't have finished. The yellow jersey never abandons mid-stage unless it is a broken leg or something like that.