Giro d'Italia / Tour de France

[Paddingtonwolf]

He came down like a sack of shit right onto his right shoulder. Amazed he didn't pop the shoulder or crack his collar bone. He may have a checquered past courtesy of that "dodgy" steak incident but it is impossible to deny his bravery today.

Ritchie Porte was just fucking unlucky though - awful place to get a mechanical.

 

[Johnny75]

Cracking stage today. Felt sorry for the bloke in the break who got caught with 500 metres to go.

Contador and Porte both lost quite a bit of time. Good news for Chris Froome.

Tough stage for the 2nd day and that was quite a finish. Pleased for Sagan, one of the tour's real characters, I thought he might not have the legs to finish as that was a nasty little ramp.

Looking at the main contenders, Froom has to do something special in one or two of the stages like today or this is Quintana's tour. The time trial mountain stage could break a few.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Froome v Quintana is going to be amazing in the hills. I expect them to kick the living shit out of each other up the Ventoux. Have a look at the profile of the stage to Andorra-Arcalis though. Wow. The last sixty kilometres is brutal. Going to be stunning stuff.

 

[Johnny75]

Id agree with that. I don't think you can count out Arau (?) or Nibali of Astana either. Couple of BIG stages to sort the men from the boys.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Aru - quality climber

 

[nimrod]

Cav by a mm.

 

[nimrod]

cav's in again. outstanding!

 

[thehistorymakers]

Epic.

 

[Wombat del combate]

Not this tour, but does anyone think he can go on and break Merckx's record for the most stage wins outright? He's already miles ahead of anyone because all his have been on the road while most of the former's and also Hinault's were in TTs

 

[thehistorymakers]

Steve Cummings trying to hold on, with 9 kilometres to go.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Col d'aspin to Cummings, the first big climb of the Tour. D

 

[thehistorymakers]

The finishing post which is like a big inflated tube collapsed on the cyclists. I don't think anyone was hurt, but quite a spectacle nevertheless!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Chapeau Chris Froome. That was fucking awesome descending

 

[Bit on the shaggies]

Chapeau Chris Froome. That was fucking awesome descending

That was fucking brilliant from Froome. Obviously planned for and I imagine he's done that descent many, many times in the past months.

Audacious stuff like that is quite rare in cycling, and sitting on the fucking frame and pedalling at 80 kmh is batshit mental! Happy I stayed in to watch it.

 

[thehistorymakers]

It was Froomes cheeky move, when Quintana was being passed a bottle of water. Team Sky are the difference, most of the hard work was done for him. No doubt they are miles better than any other team.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

He went fifty yards from the summit. Quintana took the bottle over the summit and Froome had already started to move.

Sky had this planned. Read Geraint Thomas' article on the stages on the BBC and he says "no GC rider would choose to make any move with a descent to finish" Nice red herring.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Did you listen to Froomes live interview?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Couldn't hear it. Stepson has his guitar on about a billion volume.

 

[thehistorymakers]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/09/chris-froome-wins-tour-de-france-stage-eight

From the link below.


As Movistar’s Quintana reached to grab a water bottle at the summit, Froome burst clear, with his lead reaching 22 seconds before falling slightly on the flat.


Don't get me wrong, he did brilliantly. What I am saying, is Sky do lots of the hard work for him, they are prolific. He came down the hill very fast and deserves all credit.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Froome was already ahead on the summit. Quintana went for the bottle because (I guess) he thought Froome was just after the King of the Mountains points for the Peyresourde. Froome then saw that and pushed on, and it was too late to recover.

Great move in my book. Sky do lots of hard work. They are easily the best team and it does help. Tinkoff seem weaker this year and Nibali isn't going to act as a super-domestique for Aru at Astana.