Giro d'Italia / Tour de France

[Paddingtonwolf]

Holy shit! Simon Yates you ARE the real deal!!! I thought I was going to be right with Pozzovivo there. Froome is losing well over a minute.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Yates, wow! Stunning win

 

[Wombat del combate]

Looking forward to the highlights tonight then! Re: Froome: Is he just off colour/form or is he more injured than is being admitted after he dumped in the recce?

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Definitely worth catching the highlights mate. Re Froome, he hasn't been great all season so is maybe coming in a little under-cooked. I'm sure he'll still ultimately be aiming to peak for the Tour. I expect him to get better as the race goes on but may be all too late by then.

 

[Wombat del combate]

Unless he blows the race apart repeatedly I can't see him making up a deficit well in excess of a minute - While it's true to say that you don't win a race like this in the first week, you can definitely lose it.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

He is going to be two minutes behind Yates. I don't think the TT is long enough to reverse that, and Dumoulin is still well ahead as well. Basically, Froome needs a stellar day up the Zoncolan.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Oh yeah I don't think he can win this now, I still fancy Dumoulin but it was encouraging to see him dropped in the later stages today.

 

[Johnny75]

Brilliant ride by Yates today.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Yates was awesome. He really looks like a potential winner here, and probably in the other tours as well.

 

[Johnny75]

Yates was awesome. He really looks like a potential winner here, and probably in the other tours as well.

He's a proper mountain goat and looks ready to fulfill his potential. I think Doumulin will be close to winning it but that's a big lead Yates has and could get more on the other mountain stages.

Froome looked shot to me, I wonder if he'll drop out before Le Tour.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

If Froome thinks he can't win then I expect an abandon

 

[Wombat del combate]

Froome was (is) absolutely cooked. Given it's a rest day today he didn't appear to even be able to drag out a few more watts taking into account 24 hours of R&R. Yates was superb, stalking everyone and then popping out into the wind at the last possible moment. If Adam were to win the Tour or the Vuelta, would that be the first time siblings have held GC titles in the same season?

 

[nimrod]

got back from a hol yesterday in time for the end of the stage.

quite good

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Stunning stuff from Yates today! Great finish to the stage today, really exciting town centre cobbled climb set-up. Great the GC boys got involved, Yates’ confidence is sky high to go 100% so early but it paid off.

 

[Johnny75]

Stunning stuff from Yates today! Great finish to the stage today, really exciting town centre cobbled climb set-up. Great the GC boys got involved, Yates’ confidence is sky high to go 100% so early but it paid off.

I thought Doumulin was going to catch him as he'd gone to early but what a great finish that was. Yates is looking top class. I see the other brother is getting into TdF form in California too (along with Sagan who looks a beast).

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Yeah I thought Dumoulin would reel him in but he didn’t crack at all, great to see the 2 strongest guys go head to head like that.

Adam is just back from an injury so encouraging he appears to have some form already in the build up to the Tour.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Looking forward to the highlights. Followed it online on the giro website at work but I need to see some pictures now!

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Glad it was a better stage than expected today, always good to have a sick day from work during a grand tour

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

BTW - Loving the Scarponi stuff in the highlights. Very fitting. He is sadly missed.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Missed that unfortunately though I know they were going down the road that it happened. RIP Michele