Giro d'Italia / Tour de France

[Paddingtonwolf]

Good stage that. Glad Geraint is okay from that big peloton prang a couple of ks out.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Bit of a phoney war so far although stage 3 was good stuff. Expecting fireworks today though. Beast of a stage.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Good stage yesterday. Geraint did himself no harm whatsoever and moved nicely up GC.

Today though... Jesus what a snoozefest. Barely racing. Half an hour behind schedule as they crawl to an inevitable 2 minutes of excitement in a sprint. I hate flat stages.

 

[Johnny75]

Fantastic day of racing today. Alaphillipe almost catches De Gent who was in the breakaway with the peloton and big GC favourites busting a gut to hang on.

An unexpected day and will be interesting for tomorrow's tougher day.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I always thought the parcours of today's stage could provide some fun and it didn't disappoint. Alaphilippe has definitely come to the party and GT and co are going to need to beat him up on the big mountain stages or the time trial.

Strange to see Nibali cracking today. I think he is cooked.

 

[Sniffer]

Simon Yates wins his first ever stage.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Did well today. Looking forward to the highlights later. Something odd going on with the Roahan Dennis abandon. Very strange scene.

 

[Sniffer]

Adverse test?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I'm not sure. They said there was sickness in the team camp, and then he suddenly just gives up halfway through today, when he would have been the outstanding favourite for tomorrow's TT. And then comes out of the tour bus with a security guy who is VERY zealous keeping the press away and his agent. All very odd indeed and does rather point to the conclusion you have made Sniffer.

 

[Wombat del combate]

I read that some teams might be/are using a naturally-occurring additive (Aicar) which is on the doping list but as good as undetectable. Bit of a leap to connect the two?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Dunno. The fact that Bahrain-Merida were as surprised as everyone else by the abandon would suggest not.

 

[Wombat del combate]

Bad crash for van Aert.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Ouch

 

[Sniffer]

Julian Alaphilippe is leading the field at the second check point of the time trial, 6 seconds quicker than Geraint Thomas.

It may be the case that Thomas might be losing time rather than gaining on the leader

 

[Sniffer]

Alaphilippe wins the time trial stage, 14 seconds quicker than Geraint Thomas.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Bit of a surprise. Going to have to out climb him on the Tourmalet

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Really excited for today's stage. I fucking love the Tourmalet. Absolutely iconic climb.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

This is a great stage. Barguil has gone for it but I think he will get caught. Thomas looks in good shape but Alaphillipe is still there.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Ouch - bad finish for Thomas.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Brilliant stage today. Thomas is back. Pinot was sensational.

And Yates won it.