Tour de France 2017

Let us anticipate, etc.

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/img/map_route.jpg

Of course, given that it's starting in Dusseldorf, I would like to see Ralf and company there to play a song. Or send the robots to do the song. Whatever works.

That would be great.

Der Jan isn't invited for the grand départ, with ARD back broadcasting the TdF and Germany facing their dope demons.

I guess we'll see if the boring flat stages upset Team Sky/Froome's applecart

I am chagrined that I will be camping Sunday/Monday/Tuesday with rumors of limited wifi D:

WELL or something.

Actually kinda glad they're getting one of the two time trails out of the way tomorrow.

agree

*VG emerges from the wilds*

VG: "What happened?"

All of us on here: "Everyone mysteriously withdrew after the second day except Andrew Talansky and now it's the Tour de Andrew Talansky and he's just taking it easy riding along."

;_;

don't joke about things like that Ned, you'll jinx it

Poor Andrew.

at least we don't have to talk about Tejay this year u_u

feel bad for Dusseldorf that they didnt get a nice sunny day .. wouldve been nice to see a full-gas shootout on the time trails. But ugh what nasty conditions

Awful Valverde crash. multiple broken bones incl knee & ankle apparently. Rotten luck

fyi

showing a bit of Aussie bias here but:
Team Orica-Scott have a great "backstage pass" YouTube series that's worth checking out. They are a fun bunch of guys & they get usually some good ride footage

https://youtu.be/VrBezl2XgRg

Didnt realize Luke Durbige was one of today's crashes, poor bloke :(

Cycling crashes make me wince at the best of times but watching Valverde clattering into that barrier was pretty rough... a lot worse for him obviously. Izaguirre is also out with a lumbar fracture.

I'm really glad for Geraint Thomas though, I've been watching his career for a long time. It's a shame it's unlikely he'll get a chance to have a team rally around him as a GC contender in the forseeable future.

I wondered what it would take, after umpteen years of actively avoiding it while Ed or Emsk had it on, to get me interested in the Tour de France.

It turns out, this is it. And now I am going to spend the next few weeks watching Tony Martin and his specially designed by you-know-who bike. Please be gentle with me.

I believe he'll only ride the Kraftwerk bike - if that's the one you mean - on the two time trials. But it's good to have you on board eiter way :)

Think Thomas will have to leave Sky if he wants to go for his own GC chances, with Froome staying for three more years probably.

So my boy was in third place, and then coming round a corner, he slipped and he took like a dozen bikes out with him, in a crash and then a pile-up?!?!? Is it always like this? That's nerve wracking!

I don't understand the rules. Do you get penalised for a crash? Can you make up the time? He was Top 5 yesterday and now he's somewhere down around 180? That's rub.

At least Ralf will be relieved the bike is OK. (That's a joke btw)

There's no penalties for crashes usually, unless someone does something REALLY stupid deliberately, which is rare. Crashes are more of an accepted hazard more than anything, and at the start of a three-week race it's conceivable you could make up the time. Yer man Tony probably isn't going to be too bothered about his placing though, he tends to be more interested in going for individual stage wins in the TdF rather than being a GC contender

But that was an intense finish today, and an impressive breakaway from both riders - I didn't know before yesterday about Phinney's terrible injuries or the fact that Offredo was attacked with a fucking box cutter on a training ride

I haven't watched a pedalstroke of cycling since the sky doping scandal broke. However I might be getting sucked back in. I'm sitting in a hotel in Copenhagen wondering when the Eurosport highlights are on.

Brailsford still a very shady, murky affair, so many questions still, so I can only empathize with turning your back on it. (not worth it seeing today's highlights tbh, snooze stage w/ Kittel the best by miles). Froome says he "just lost some skin" after falling today. He'll prob be ok. I'm still bummed Valverde is out.

Lookit this bike, Ed! !

4th place😕Couldn't reach my goal but my head is up for the next weeks.Thanks to all the fans that support me #TeamKatushaAlpecin. #tdwsport pic.twitter.com/PyKQBFZsZo

— Tony Martin (@tonymartin85) July 1, 2017

L@@K! AT! IT!!!

https://www.canyon.com/kraftwerk/

Thank you for the explanation, UU-G. It's kind of overwhelming coming into a new thing. So much to learn.

Yeah today was a bit of a 'doze on the couch and let the coverage play out' stage. Nice run in at the end, though.

one fascinating thing about the tour de france is you know there's a whole hidden underbelly of special underwear gear. separate teams develop their own top secret lines of underwear for their riders - it's where the competitive edge comes from. but no one talks about it because they don't want that to be the face of the sport.

I thought you were taking the piss about the underwear thing, but apparently some of the teams are genuinely having a bunfight because the scruffy Welsh one has actually been using special go-faster pellets in his 'skin suit'?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/02/nicolas-portal-defends-team-sky-accusations-skin-suit-against-rules

Next they'll be giving Gee special go faster piercings. (Carbon. Fibre of course)

Lol never seen that before, Sagan really is a showman

That he is, and in the best possible way.

Damn, stay good Peter. Like,I remember the ass grab and I know he's just a person and not some kind of innocent, but I enjoy his current combo of greatness and decent, goofy, non-malevolence so much that I have a feeling of actual anxiety about him somehow going wrong. Like, I don't wanna know _more_, I just wanna be able to keep seeing him win like a maniac then put on moto goggles. It's not even like ~fandom~ as I've experienced it.

How many racers can have their nose in the wind with 370m to the line while staring down their opponents waiting for them to pounce and still stick it to them?

How the hell is Sagan going to be allowed to get away with something like this? That elbow-jab! I can't see any way that's not deliberate. Gone right off Sagan after that.

The #segan elbow in all its glory#TDF17 pic.twitter.com/SGCY0MtYtk

— Andy Jolley (@ajjolley) July 4, 2017

Yes, yes, I am hooked now.

Exactly the bit where the trees are covering the footage seems essential imo. If Cav hit him there w/ his bike and Sagan got out of balance.

If intentional the elbow is inexcusable, but I don't think Cav's in the clear tbh. He shouldn't have tried to force himself into the space that wasn't a space anyway. But it's what he does.

Zora just linked me this. Seems the judges took a dim view and penalised Sagan for it:

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/arnaud-demare-wins-tour-de-france-stage-four-crash-blighted-finale-339528?utm_content=manual&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=cyclingweekly

Sagan out of the TdF. Harsh.

So first they penalise him, and then ten minutes later take him out completely. Not a word on Demare obv. Thought I'd hate the organisation in the second week of the tour this year but here we are. Again.

I thought the penalty seemed fair, but exclusion does seem overly harsh.

I did like the plucky Belgian who was way out in front all day. The Guardian reckoned it was a practical joke, haha.

Guillaume van Keirsbulck one of the most beautiful names in the peleton, and there's stiff competition. He's done his sponsors a big favor today.

Sagan's exclusion doesn't sit well with me. Maybe especially because it's on Cav's behalf; nothing against him but boy he's done way worse things in his day and never got punished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJsPAIhuVls

^ 2013: Cav drives Veelers to the ground.

(second 50)

Seen replay after replay: the decision to take out Sagan is an absolute disgrace. No way does the punishment fit the "crime". Cav's team pushing for a bigger punishment after the TdF already relegated him in the daily results plus -80 points is nagl to the max.

Well that was...odd. (My sis will be having a fit -- she loves Sagan and thinks Cavendish is trash.)

And yeah van Kiersbluck is all right by me. Kinda loved how he went for it, realized he was alone, and then essentially shrugged and charged.

Ned's sis otm! Cav is trash. His best days are long behind him, but he's always been this way; a daredevil chancer on the wrong side of right most of the time. There's an evil demeanor in his riding that I just do not care for.

i just got back from camping what happ---

;_;

D:

nooooooo not my Pete.

Cav seems to pull this kinda shit all the time & always ends up taking other ppl down ... i like how much he wants to win but it's still infuriating that shit doesnt stick to him

he took out 2 dudes in the omnium at Rio & still got silver

watching the replay, team manager said given illness recovery & slow showing so far this stage was critical for cav to finish & show that he's ready to win - feels more ominous & telling now

exactly the kind of situ ripe for cav to take his brand of stupid risks

interestingly: sagan nudged greipel the day before & after cav's crash, greipel's team manager saud greipel told him ""Twice in a row is too much. He (sagan) isn't my friend anymore from now on'."

but on twitter recanted later:

Sometimes I should watch images before I say something. Apologies to @petosagan as I think that decision of the judge is too hard.

— Andre Greipel (@AndreGreipel) July 4, 2017

I understand that I am new to this, but being new to this means I come at an incident and individuals with no pre-existing judgements.

I watched the clips of that incident about 20 times, from 3 or 4 different angles, and thought it clear what happened and who was at fault.

However everyone else talking about the incident seemed to have seen their own version of it, depending on which cyclist they supported. Like, how much their interpretations were altered by what the believed to be the 'character' of the athlete. An act of aggression could not be read as such because the aggressor "apologised"; the injured cyclist "deserved" what happened to him and so on.

It's really a reminder that people don't see incidents; they see perspectives of what they believe participants personalities to be. Fascinating.

otm x infinity

but that's the thing with cycling how it looks on tv is not always indicative of what is going on; like the iceberg being whatever percent submerged etc

it doesn't allow for reality of a 40mph sprint ie the reflexive instinct of a rider to square themselves against those coming up too close

obv the uci made the judgement based on how it looks & since Cav is clearly out of the race a lesser penalty on Sagan wouldn't ameliorate the fact that quikstep lost their best rider

it's optics and i get it but it isn't nearly as cut & dried as the footage makes it seem

imo

seems like a clear intentional elbow to me.

internet comments about cycling are almost more partisan than any other sport, i find.

looks like he was trying to balance to me.

rip quintana

i should've made the caveat that i don't really know what I'm talking about and am an extremely casual and intermittent viewer of cycling

It's crystal clear on every video that Cav's already falling before Sagan sticks his elbow out, but whatever.

Froome winning some time on lacklustre Quintana (Giro-tiredness) and Contador, Porte unable to do anything, and this is shaping up to be a very, very boring Tour already.

The Sagan/Cavendish thing has me annoyed, because the commisaires are just so capricious and don't even pretend to be biased when it comes to certain riders. VegemiteGrrl otm, as is LBI - I have nothing against Porte but I've never seen him do much to back up commentators' faith that he's one of the main favourites for the win. Unless I'm forgetting something.

Oh well, I mostly watch this for aerial shots of the French countryside and old churches and chateaus and stuff anyway.

OK not mostly, but

Don't underestimate the chateaus and churches! It's why they plan these languid stages: the départements pay for having the TdF pass through them, expecting more tourists and $$$ etc. It's probably why the TdF hasn't been nearly as exciting as the Giro or Vuelta as of late.

Porte will have to step up his game big time if he wants to avoid becoming a second Cadel Evans (also BMC tbh). Early days obv, but it seems Froome will walk this. Quintana seems way too tired from the Giro (what a race that was!), and will only lose more time in the time trial; Contador seemingly isn't up to speed either, and neither is Porte: hate clingers-on'ers like Evans and Porte the most tbh. Either die trying or don't try to win at all.

TdF will regret disqualifying Sagan; one of the very few who can colour the race, give it something extra.

Geez, you'd think someone would at least have credited Aru for the actual win today, not to mention getting some time on his side.

That guy was amazing! 2km from the end, he decides to attack, and he stands up and just starts gunning for it, bobbing like a 9 year old late for the school bus. His face, where he turns around to look for the peloton and realises he might actually make it... like, sheer disbelief that he might actually win? That was just priceless.

He seemed to come out of nowhere! The only mention I'd heard of him in the run-up was Radio Tour reporting that he and his cute Danish teammate had promised to do the macarena if their photo got enough likes:

.@FabioAru1 & @MichaelValgren on attend la vidéo avec impatience / we are looking forward to seeing your dance moves 🕺🕺@AstanaTeam pic.twitter.com/BYQuEo06sA

— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 5, 2017

I fully admit that I'm a newcomer and don't know what to expect. But it's more exciting to me, with the Big Names out, there's far more of a chance of randos winning the stages. If it were just Sagan winning every stage, I would have got bored and checked out. If it turns out to be Monsieur Froam (the way the French say his name is so funny) winning every stage... but it hasn't yet been?

The learning curve is steep, but I'm already finding there's such a difference between the various ways to follow it. I've mostly been following Radio Tour at work (the official feed is great, because it has lots of explanations of technical terms for beginners, so I'm learning all the phrases that are not in Kraftwerk songs). But I tried to watch ITV coverage, and I had to just turn it off because it was so absurdly jingoistic. They simply did not seem interested in covering any player that wasn't British! Which seems very point-missing.

My guy moved up from 184 to 175 yesterday. His team posted photos of him walking around with a leg that looked like it had been through a meat-grinder, so I will feel like he's a hero if he completes the race at all.

I fully admit that I'm a newcomer and don't know what to expect. But it's more exciting to me, with the Big Names out, there's far more of a chance of randos winning the stages. If it were just Sagan winning every stage, I would have got bored and checked out. If it turns out to be Monsieur Froam (the way the French say his name is so funny) winning every stage... but it hasn't yet been?

Branwell - it would never have been a case of Sagan winning *every* stage anyway. Broadly speaking there are flat stages that we'd expect specialist sprinters (like Kittel, Greipel, Cavendish and Kristov) to win, mountain stages that we'd expect the climbers and GC contenders (Froome, Porte, Aru, Dan Martin, Contador, Quintana...) to win, time trial stages that either go to GC people like Froome or TT specialists like Tony Martin, and lumpy stages that suit people like Gilbert or crazy breakaways. Sagan is unusual in that he can win sprint stages and lumpy stages so he picks up lots of green jersey points in stages that they other sprinters finish miles behind in, but he's never going to win a stage up a mountain. Similarly, Froome has dominated the GC in the past but it's not like he's ever going to win a sprint stage.

FWIW I think Sagan was at fault and the original punishment (relegation to last place on the day) was fair enough, but chucking him off the race was excessive. He went across Cav's line and bumped into him which caused Cavendish to fall over - the elbow flicked out after the collision and was probably Sagan desperately trying to stay upright. Demarre (sp?) swerved around much more dangerously than Sagan, though, nearly wiping out Bouhani, but got away with it completely.

nbs I rather expect you know what it's like when u left it too late and had your line shut the fuck down- That's cav in that sitch, and being cav, he tried to barge it. Which I've done, you've prob done, and since you're not barging Peter fucking Sagan, the dude swerves a bit but is moved left. If you're a little midge and barge Sagan tho, you are are dropping- and he did. That said, Sagan was not true there and relegation- whatever. Situational. Dq? No way.

Have to lol how close our perceptions of that are- only dif is whether cav is also at fault- I think he tried to force a thing that he knew he couldn't do, and if I read u right, u think cav just innocently victimized.

you've prob done

Ha! No, I'm the guy getting bullied out of position just riding in the bunch, never mind in a sprint. My instinct for self-preservation is much greater than my desire to win (which means I will never win).

welp i know you know how the flow goes. i can only think of two finale incidents (loooong ago) where contact was my selection. anyone who doesn't put a shoulder into someone's chest or under someone's arm is def much smarter, and much safer, but in some finales, just shut out. it's time to sit up.

when i finally got a little bit more experienced when i was a shitty amateur racer, i was pretty surprised how much contact there was in races. even away from finishes, you only got much complaining if you took your hands off the bars, that was understood as a never-do/you're being a dick (and illegal), around here at least.

and "space and risk management" like sagan did to, i think greipel, a couple days ago? looked uncool, not super dangerous. in context not clear to me if that's considered unnecessary hostility for them. it's so next level, i'm not sure what pros say about that.

yeah it's interesting! that's where i was going with my refernce to the "submerged portion of the iceberg" that i referenced upthread

greipel was apparently pretty cheesed with Sagan & Lotto Sudal appealed to get Sagan DQ'd over Cav, *because* of that incident w Greipel. But Greipel later walked that back after seeing more footage so *shrug*

sidebar, Sagan's "goodbye" instagram video yesterday was so typically chill, like "thanks fans for your support, i am going to aiport now and then to Monaco to see my wife :D" lol

How rad would it be if Sag and Cav started showing up at random TdF spots soaking in an inflatable pool atop a rockstar bus towing a big BBQ

— Joe Parkin (@joeparkin) July 6, 2017

pls god let this happen

Or dressed from head to toe in red lycra while jumping up and down waving tridents

yeah but i sorta think the lesson cipo taught is that if sprinters aint sprintin', they maybe should just be rock-starrin'. maybe even in the race, they can just bag the laughing group/autobus through the mtns, and climb in mobile hot tubs with bbqs.

i didnt realize how much i want that in my life

I would approve of this being a thing.

Just caught up with a bit of today's footage. Annoyingly (since I'm using NBC Sports Gold) they didn't get around to posting the full footage until some hours later instead of pretty much right after the race day concludes, but seems like it was a pretty steady-as-they-go stage until the final sprint.

Also re: NBC, after five days of basically using the standard feed with the two Aussie commentators, they apparently got enough complaints from people who can only watch cycling with Phil-n-Paul to put up that feed too. Except that one has the ads and I think I've topped out with P/P at this point so hey, I still win.

I'm watching on VUE via NBCSports and only get Phil/Paul so I have to take what I can get lol

but god sometimes they are like a couple of elderly chihuahuas with the way they spin up over the slightest kerfuffles

Oh and (per my earlier post) unsurprisingly when I asked my sis what she thought about Elbowgate, the word 'bullshit' came up.

Every sport gets the inflategate it deserves, cycling deserves a few apparently

Still very glad UK commentary team is Millar and Boulting now. I do not miss Phil and Paul ugh ugh.

Hang on I though NBC paid pipi and popo's salaries. If NBC isn't paying them they who the hell is, surely they aren't the 'international feed' from the organisers?

NBC does pay them! Must be why they're on the NBCSN feed.

kinda crushing on 2017 andy schleck now that he's got some human flesh on his bones <3

i'm a stage behind

but holy wow Aru was a machine on that stage 5 climb. fkn beautiful work there

Aru was just amazing at that climb. But mostly I <3 him because he actually made good on that promise to do the Macarena, even though he clearly has no idea how the dance goes!

So, @LeTour , we promised, we did it! Enjoy! #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/KnJ5vcTVW6

— Astana Proteam (@AstanaTeam) July 6, 2017

Can I just take a moment to salute Marcel Kittel's quiff, though? Five hours cycling in 35 degree weather, out in the sun, a hard sprint at the end, then he gets up on the podium and his hair is just geometric perfection. I did read that Le Tour has a mobile barbershop that accompanies the race everywhere, but that quiff is particularly spectacular.

Anyway, I am excited for the Mountains of Chocolate today!

Can I just take a moment to salute Marcel Kittel's quiff, though?

Especially for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnJYlwo5DdE

Watch till the end when his team mates sing 'Du hast die haare schön' (your hair is pretty) :D

Haha, Die Jungs auf das Geld. He has spectacularly schöne Haare. :D

Philippa York, who as Robert Millar was first Briton to win a jersey at Tour de France, joins ITV4 commentary team

This deserves a mention. Good for her.

Still very glad UK commentary team is Millar and Boulting now. I do not miss Phil and Paul ugh ugh

OTM

Oh, I caught the headline about Philippa York this morning but hadn't realised she was joining the ITV gang! That is a really good thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/06/philippa-york-gender-transition-cyclist-robert-millar

Awesome

@petosagan come and ride some mountain bike races. Here you are more then welcome. Makes anyway more fun, or? 😜

— Nino Schurter (@nschurter) July 5, 2017

um, god, about that thing i asked upthread? this instead. more compelling.

http://i.imgur.com/EhMgDI1.jpg

Sagan woulda won. #petobrosaretheworst

Wow, he was only pixels over the line!

Looks like he won it by...

*puts on sunglasses*

...A HAIR!

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

i was looking forward to seeing him fly around that mountain bike circuit at Rio olympics and then *sad trombone* :(

That was an insane finish today. Might as well have flipped a coin.

I'm two stages behind - my goal in life is to do nothing this weekend except catch up :D

A fine approach to life!

I have just caught up! Feel rather sorry for EBH, I like him.

Well that was a wild one today. But kudos to Calmejane, that was a nervy attack and hold.

Yeah great ride by Calmejane, and Gesink for that matter

Calmejeane & Gesnik, kings of the mountain for sure

legit teared up for calmejeane, he mustve been pushing through some legit pain

scary though, gotta hydrate buddy!!

Gesink is only pro whose feed I follow, good to see.

interesting to see what happens tomorrow after today's fast pace. i imagine there'll be a fair bit of fallout. 3 HC climbs ... hoo boy

no better feeling than settling down on the sofa for a day of the cycling but jesus wept this stage is absolute murder. can't wait.

Gesink out :(

wow this is incredible. never seen a race blown apart so effectively on a descent.

geraint thomas *again* :(

This is chaos

why are ag2r riding when vuillermoz is in virtual yellow?

unless they're riding at a neutral pace I guess

the initial double attack on the descent smashed the peloton and GC contender support so maybe it's trying to push that further. it's slightly difficult to tell, they don't seem to be going that hard, but are at the front, which does suggest they're riding...

oh wait they have dropped back now.

fffffffff

wow super snidey from aru. froome will be raging

lol aru.

shit

ugh that's not good

horrible horrible crash. gc carnage today.

jesus that was brutal

completely misread the line. feel sorry for martin.

rooting for barguil but he'll surely be caught.

barguil!

oof, uran on his two speed bike did it!

wanted uran, and i think yup

lol

plenty of great today but

So boss. https://t.co/fVEhy8KLJ0

— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 9, 2017

plenty of great today but
🐦[So boss. https://t.co/fVEhy8KLJ0🕸
— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 9, 2017🕸]🐦

yeah that's nuts. ag2r attack was highlight of the day for me. co-ordinated team plan which completely defined the race but, as is the way of cycling, couldn't ultimately control it.

it's really bad for general gc competitiveness that it's been such a brutal day. v hard to see quintana getting back tho i think he has the capability. porte going out is a massive shame as he would be combative and competitive. and always a shame to see geraint thomas going out - again! - as he's fundamentally likeable tho you do start to wonder if it's something more than just being ill-starred.

That Porte crash is going to give me nightmares. It's just hard to believe that a human being could survive that - and yet it could have been so much worse. Not what you wanna see when you're just learning to cycle!

really horrible. seeing him crash into the mountain rock at full speed is horrific. i think it was the '90s cyclist Gianni Bugno who had a horrific crash descending and then had to learn to descend all over again. He had completely lost his nerve (understandable when you see a crash like that) and learned to regain his composure by listening to Mozart when going downhill.

key thing when learning to cycle (for me anyway) was to look where you want to go rather than the direction you fear you're going. i still misread corners tho - and i don't mean racing, i mean going a little bit faster than usual (lol 14mph or something) around hyde park corner. go into them too early and have to compensate by drifting out. terrible technique.

nothing like hurtling down an alpine descent. starts getting a bit hairy at 40mph though. don't know how these guys touch 50 or 60... think dowsett even uploaded a pic of a ride where he hit 70mph once. 😶

thing is when i was young i used to love it. and now when i'm even close to touching 35/40 i worry that the slightest bit of eye watering or momentary confusion and boom. and so i start padding my brakes in a rather elderly fashion. need more mozart.

^^ It's the same for me but I'd file it under a desire to stay alive taking over.

and always a shame to see geraint thomas going out - again! - as he's fundamentally likeable tho you do start to wonder if it's something more than just being ill-starred.

Exactly the same goes for Gesink. Great yesterday, looked very promising, but something always goes wrong.

Such a shame for the GC though. Can't see Quintana doing anything proper any more, and Contador is completely gone. Probably only Aru/Fugelsang who could try something. It'd be harsh to expect anything from Dan Martin (who regained an amazing amount after the crash) at this point.

yeah, also dan martin said he was struggling to stay with the accelerations on the last climb. hard to see him being able to put the pressure on Froome.

that said, froome has lost his most able climbing lieutenant today so may be vulnerable, tho he seems more than capable of handling anything that gets thrown at him in the mountains and then some.

On one hand, that was an amazing day's racing, but I'm mostly feeling gutted that riders I like have crashed either out of the race or out of contention.

key thing when learning to cycle (for me anyway) was to look where you want to go rather than the direction you fear you're going

Echo this. Look around the bend, not at the bit you're worried about overshooting into.

Phew, just caught up with the broadcast and everything that one could say has been said. Insane. Not to mention also that George Bennett sneaking into the top ten is pretty damn great (kinda in his corner following his California win the other month). And Uran sneaking that with a fucked up bike! Glad Barguil got king of the mountains at least.

Will also say that it was good to see Froome out on his own without his usual wall-of-white-jerseys.

Anyway: yeah I think we all need a day's break. Bring on the Dordogne.

feel a bit :/ for Barguil/Bardet not getting the final win across the line after such heroic efforts, but at least Barguil gets the KOM. talk about gas, holy shit

never forget him almost plowing into the wandering cow on a descent a couple of years back

gutted for Thomas and Porte. That Porte crash had me in tears, that was horrific to see him fly into that cliff at full speed.

the mountains always seems to yield horrors, that was true nightmare fuel for sure

Gesink fractured L1 vertebrae :/ Rotten luck, dude was a powerhouse yesterdat

lol

Congratulations Rigoberto Uran, first tour de France single speed stage win since 1937#tdf #SBSTDF

— Nick Squillari (@N_Squillari) July 9, 2017

ugh Thomas' fracture D:

Such a shit day!!! Nowhere to go when Rafa went down right in front of me. But I'm ok though, thanks for all your messages!! pic.twitter.com/lUTi9m6Nzy

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 9, 2017

last one from Kittel sums it up

Sprinters + mountain stage = 💩
I'm ready for a rest day. #tdf17 #stage9
📸 @AleTegner pic.twitter.com/P7VPxO3n4E

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) July 9, 2017

Obviously he should just keep his hair like that.

Helmet hair, I like it as well

lol right!?
i also saw that Nate Brown has the most hilarious helmet tan on like 2 inches of his forehead

i think i also saw that Mark Renshaw & Arnaud Demare didnt make the cutoff? anyone else see that?

Yep, along with Trentin and three team buddies of Demare iirc.

what a turn after such a huge start

Acres of space in the FdJ bus for whoever is left on that team

lol yeah *spreadeagle*

So let's see here, in terms of notable names

Valverde
Cavendish
P. Sagan
Gesink
Thomas
Porte
Demare
Renshaw

Doubtless missing a few. And I'm sure Froome would be more than happy if Aru mysteriously came down with an illness after today.

Just caught up, brutal day. Someone ban Lemond from doing his live analysis sections on Eurosport, I swear every time they cut to one there has been a heavy crash.

Hfs how old is renshaw, did his scooter run outta juice? His og lead out cred is unfuckablewith imo.

I dint know he was still racin

yeah i knew he was in bc they namechecked him once or twice in a couple of early stages

rough trot for a truckload of lads

lol: aru says he didnt know froome even had a mechanical! froome says he didnt know aru was behind him! welp i guess no-one knows anything *shrug*

that whole flap was a storm in a teacup anyway

Andy Samberg fake doc "Tour de Pharmacy" was predictably kinda lazy, but it had its funny moments and was really short. And special secret (but not secret) cameo making the most of his disgrace by further humiliating himself, with some good gags.

i didnt know charly wegelius is the poohbah of cannondale team

i just ordered his book to read

Official medical report is now in: Porte has a fractured clavicle & a fractured pelvis :(

Yech.

so brutal, cannot imagine the pain of that :/

thing is when i was young i used to love it. and now when i'm even close to touching 35/40 i worry that the slightest bit of eye watering or momentary confusion and boom. and so i start padding my brakes in a rather elderly fashion. need more mozart.

― Fizzles, Monday, 10 July 2017 3:03 AM (fourteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I hear you. Just learnt this weekend that a friend I had lost touch with came off his bike on a descent because he hit a pheasant. He recovering but has paralysed vocal chords to can't speak or swallow. The pros at least have people clearing the road and the organisers and local authorities to fix potholes - still terrifying though, when I Ali was descending at his best I had to watch from Behring my fingers.

At least G still has his sense of humor

Jersey for sale... Only worn once. Not in 100% condition, slight signs of use. Might need a wash… https://t.co/eHpshwDVTT

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 10, 2017

And a video message from Porte
poor fella

📹 #TDF2017 @richie_porte speaks about his condition, the crash and his supporters around the world. 📝 👉 https://t.co/tmaSTiZ0RZ pic.twitter.com/sS8lYJVRQS

— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 10, 2017

And back we go. Classic lazy stage aside from the sprint and end, and I never mind those. Kittel is looking more like a lock for green, I'd say. (Not the way I wanted to see Sagan's streak broken but there we are.) Best thing about today was all the insane architecture in the Dordogne, all of which I want to visit.

May not get a chance to watch today so caught up via recaps & Cycling podcast

boy Kittel is a beast now huh

watching a bit of replay now omgggg those rock formation mansions <3

I need them all.

Bob Roll on NBC was high-pitched incredulous that Lotto & Katusha only put one guy each up front for their lead-out. He was like, you're just handing the race to Kittel by towing him to the line

Velo news had a story that Contador might try to disrupt an upcoming stage now that his GC contention is done with. Idk that he's physically up to it but if it happens I'm not saying I'm NOT here for it
then again shit in one hand wish in the other, etc

Bouhanni is nothing but a thug, and got off too easy.

Poor Bodnar :(

Ready to race in the upside down #strangerthings #netflix pic.twitter.com/JtWBO6pv1O

— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) July 12, 2017

Hero.

And yeah, Bodnar *almost* had it. Amazing performance.

Big blow for Astana, and the GC tbh: Cataldo is out after his crash, and Fuglsang is wounded:

Jakob Fuglsang was diagnosed with two very small fractures: in the left scaphoid and in the head of the radius of the left elbow. Despite these injures, tomorrow Jakob is going to start at stage 12 of the Tour de France.

xxpost he's so weird, I love it

Bodnar full gas to the end: sad that he didnt get the win but what a hero for trying

Contador basically made of crashes now, yikes

Bouhanni is such a fkn tool

Well well well :D

post-race meeting done @TeamSky pic.twitter.com/ty21z6KsM4

— Landa Meana (@MikelLandaMeana) July 13, 2017

Landa rode up that final brutal hill in a relentless pace, did everything right for Froome, the latter just couldn't hack it. Was great to see Aru waiting for that insane last 300 meters and then dealing a blow. Bardet's third stage in three years. GC finally wide open.

Just heard the context of Landa's tweet: he got shouted down by the Sky bosses for not sticking with Froome when he cracked. Landa dgaf, he's joining Movistar next season.

I heard he was going to some Middle Eastern team?

he's definetely leaving.

Edwin Winkels on Dutch telly says Movistar all but announced him, but formally won't make it known until the Tour is over.

Hahah here we go. Just caught up with the day -- actual drama, love it!

Yeah I think we've all been dying for some drama like today's. Wonder if Branwell is still on dis ting? She's been absent from the thread after the first week.

Tomorrow looks promising. Just 101km. Shortest ever stage in the post-two-stages-a-day era! Wish more stages were shorter, we've had some exceptionally dull stages this week. Bring on the fireworks imho.

Last climb tomorrow - I love how the French don't call it a 'col' anymore when it is in fact a wall, 'mur' - again is brutal:

http://www.letour.fr/PHOTOS/TDF/2017/1300/PROFILCOLSCOTES_2.png

Aru, Martin, Bardet and outsider Uran will have to attack there. Wonder if they can, after today. But Froome is looking more vulnerable as ever. Aru's 6 secs advantage isn't nearly enough with the time trial on the last day ahead, but I'm hoping they'll crack this wide open tomorrow.

Spare a thought for the great Contador btw; battered and bruised paddling to the finish line, always folding and losing minutes in the final km's. But Quintana? I've no idea why he is so bad. Must be the Giro.

think Uran is less a gc outsider than Martin, but if that climb had a (much) shorter run-in, maybe an Ardennes style M80 like Martin could do it tomorrow. I Think that run in is too much tho.

You're probably right. And let's not forget there's a long descent after this climb, too, to the finish line, which will probably narrow any margins made on the slope. Nevertheless it's a tough one, this. And Froome cracks when it goes up really steep and has no time to undo it. I hope ppl like Barguil/Cummings/Bennett can finish ahead of the main group and win it tomorrow, possibly also Calmejane or the likes.

woooweee what a payoff! fun times on the mountain! Landa was solid as a rock all the way, sky can fuck off.

cool to see Rigo Uran up there again

so Uran, Bennett and Bardet all took bottles inside the last 10km. Only two of them got a 20 second penalty. Can you guess which one didn't?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-tour-shouldnt-come-down-to-water-bottles-and-incompetence/

god what a bunch of cunts

pardon my french

but seriously.

in other news, Andre Greipel has a song about himself ... think 2 Unlimited & yr basically there

.@AndreGreipel has his own theme song and it's pretty awesome. 🎶Go Gorilla 🦍🎶 #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/l2pVoKxdBY

— NBCSN Cycling (@NBCSNCycling) July 12, 2017

No no no-no
No no no-NO
NO NO NO-NO
NO NO THERE'S NO GREIPEL!

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M7QFV0pyNgI/hqdefault.jpg

looool yes

Dan Martin said he was in a pretty bad way today, still carrying some injuries from prev crashes (he looked shellshocked in the post-race interview) ... fkn amazing effort to push through like that, jfc

Hope he can heal up

in other news: Cycling Podcast has had 2 great Kilometer 0 episodes this week

1) fascinating interview with Michael Rasmussen about doping
https://soundcloud.com/the-cycling-podcast/kilometre-0-ten-years-after

2) The ambush of Jean Francois Bernard in 1987
https://soundcloud.com/the-cycling-podcast/kilometre-0-the-ambush

they also did one on the first Aussie Tour rider, Phil Anderson <3

Branwell, who prefers the pronoun "they", is still following Le Tour! I have a guest this week, so I've not been able to be quite as glued to it as I would have liked to be. (She is from the former DDR, so we have become convinced that Kittel, Greipel and T. Martin are all the result of a special East German programme to genetically engineer cyclists with perfectly aero cheekbones. It worries me that she can't tell them apart, but by this point, I can? I'm not sure when I started having favourite cyclists but it seems to be a thing now.)

I am just so in awe of Kittel. I obviously don't know a lot about cycle racing, but I used to follow horse racing when I was younger, so I am used to seeing finishes where you get all of the fast riders bunched over on the inside, jostling for position and trying to pull in front of one another. But in many of these finishes, Kittel just seems to pull out from behind, then massively accelerate and go AROUND the bunch at the front. That doesn't seem like it should be physically possible?

I was very pleased when Kittel won his fourth stage. When he won the fifth, I was jumping up and down and shouting, to the embarrassment of my reserved German friend. At this point, am I correct in thinking it is now almost mathematically impossible for any other cyclist to surpass him in points?

I had already decided that I liked Aru due to his Macarena video. And I was feeling very "Anyone But England" about Froome already. (This is not his fault, but there is a Froome yellow jersey in the Bad Conference Room, and I dislike having meetings in that room so much that I hate having to look at his clothes.) But Froome was riding very badly yesterday? What was that about when he and Aru decided to take a shortcut through some caravans? When I left work, I had just posted that I was rooting for Aru. Then when I got off the train, I saw that he had beaten Froome to the Yellow Jersey, and I was so happy. Because I had been enjoying the race, but it would have been very boring had Froome been a shoe-in. I am rooting for Aru for the Yellow and Kittel for the Green. I astonishes me that I know what this means now, and such things come out of my mouth.

I don't understand why the race organisers make such bizarre decisions about who to penalise and who not to penalise. It seems very strange and randomly distributed. But I also do not understand why the other cyclists themselves have been acting so deferentially towards Froome, and not attacking when they get the chance. It's like they're showing him some misplaced kind of respect when they're supposed to be competing with him? It's these kinds of conventions I don't understand. Will they show Macarena-Boy the same respect now he's in yellow, or was that special Froome-age?

<3 the Greipel video. He's adorable. But those guys who are battered and covered in injuries, and still make it to the finish, I have so much respect.

Oh, and here's another stupid newbie question: with the team scores. When people drop out of the team, due to injury or whatever, how does that affect the overall team? I don't really understand how teams work. Why some riders get to take it easy and then go for the end sprint, and others get stuck carrying water bottles back and forth all day?

That doesn't seem like it should be physically possible?

I have no idea if this is the case in horse riding, but a HUGE part of cycling is the aerodynamic effect of riding right behind someone else to save effort, so it's quite normal for sprinters to try to leave it very late before nipping out and overtaking people. Obviously to do it from as far back as Kittel does and round so many people, you have to be incredibly strong.

it is now almost mathematically impossible for any other cyclist to surpass him in points?

Definitely not mathematically impossible, but very unlikely to happen unless he crashes out of the race or inexplicably decides never to contest another sprint.

But I also do not understand why the other cyclists themselves have been acting so deferentially towards Froome, and not attacking when they get the chance. It's like they're showing him some misplaced kind of respect when they're supposed to be competing with him?

It would be 'ungentlemanly' to attack the yellow jersey if he stopped for a piss or if his chain came off or he had a puncture (but all of these things have happened in the past, it's just frowned upon). But attacking him when he's showing signs of weakness is totally acceptable (that's what it's all about) - some will have been holding off on attacking because they fear he will crush them (as he frequently has in the past), but after what happened yesterday he's lost that aura of invincibility and I think he'll be attacked left, right and centre.

Will they show Macarena-Boy the same respect now he's in yellow, or was that special Froome-age?

It's a yellow jersey thing. If any of the GC contenders has a mishap it's considered Just Not Cricket for their competitors to find a sudden burst of speed. This has been abused in the past, with team mates insisting on a mass go-slow for tenuous reasons, but it's usually done about right. It's one of tge arguments I put forward when somebody tells me road cycling is all about the machines, like F1. If that were the case, mechanical failure would be pounced upon by rivals. Obviously, a mechanical has lost plenty of riders a race, but less often because it's been exploited by other riders and more usually because that's the way the cookie crumbled on that particular day.

When it comes to teams, they all have jobs. Some of them are there to bust a gut in the mountains and/or fetch bottles so the team leader doesn't have to, and that's what they're paid for.

Oh, and here's another stupid newbie question: with the team scores. When people drop out of the team, due to injury or whatever, how does that affect the overall team? I don't really understand how teams work. Why some riders get to take it easy and then go for the end sprint, and others get stuck carrying water bottles back and forth all day?

All the teams want to get as much recognition for their sponsors as possible. The most obvious way to do that is to win the yellow jersey, so teams with a genuine GC contender (someone who is very good at climbing, and very consistent, and can also time trial not too badly) will usually build the team around this person - that means many of the other riders that get selected for the team are not really riding for themselves, they're there to do a job for the team leader. That might mean going back to the cars to get drinks / gels, it might mean pacing them back to the bunch if they've stopped for a wheel change, it might mean riding alongside them to protect them in the bunch, it might mean riding at the front of the bunch to try to chase down a break, etc. Other teams might not have anyone with a chance of winning the race overall, but they might have a sprinter who is a good bet for a stage win, so again the team would be largely built around them with several domestiques basically there to assist the leader (all the things above plus forming a lead-out train for the sprint finish).

So what happens when someone has to drop out? It depends who it is. If it's a domestique, everyone carries on as before, there are just fewer helpers. If it's the team leader, then the team needs to decide how to change their focus: this might mean chasing stage wins instead of going for the overall, or it might mean 'promoting' someone (e.g. when Cavendish dropped out, his team started trying to set up Edvald Boasson Hagen for sprint wins instead).

Uran & Bennett's time penalties have been rescinded thankfully, new times are
1 Aru
2 Froome +06
3 Bardet +25
4 Uran +35

Loved the way Aru was half-tracking Froome ALL the way up the final climbs. He looked so strong, and a proper climber, which makes a nice change over Froome's 'robot pushing a supermarket trolley' style. And full credit to ITV coverage for using SL2 On a Ragga Tip as their outro music - has this been done before?

Yes

That's good news about those time penalties

Commissionaires views on the rule:

1) if we can help a Frenchman win without it being too blatant - do this
2) if not hang the rules and make the race exciting.

Re team gc, I thought the ? was how calc'd- it's each team's top 3 rider times for each stage, (5th across for ttt). I don't know what happens if a team is finishing with only two riders. I can't recall that happening- in cases of massive illness like PDM in 90ish, the whole team just withdrew.

So the Team scores on an average of the top 3 scores, or just all 3 of the top riders added together? I've watched the explanation videos for all the other awards, which seemed straightforward enough. But I didn't understand how they decided which team was winning.

(Sorry for these dumb questions. Le Tour's social media are great about being inclusive with lots of information for new fans, but that's one I couldn't find.)

Summed I believe. I wonder what the prize is on team gc? Will check later

It's 50,000. See prize money

Welp, not surprised Martin was active,or that there was not quite enough left for a clean thru, up the top. That he was able to get back in on the descent should have been a clear marker to uran really, strategically and tactically. The classics specialist is the guy to mark, u know he'll go again and he's right behind u on gc. Counter HIM, don't let him counter YOU. (Uran's move was ok, but waiting to follow Martin's move THEN having his own try was, I think, the way to run that finale, if you're Uran. I assume that Uran even knew Martin was back in the group, tho I'm not sure when Martin rejoined).

Great stage, obv. Give me these over 200+ km every day. Delighted for Barguil, who's having an amazing TdF.

Heard some praise for Sky's tactics but I'm not convinced. Landa's obv better than Froome at this point (who's 'attacks' on Aru were barely attacks at all), and he'll go for it, opening the ranks of the team. Dan Martin was great today.

McEwen it was, I think- was right. yesterday sorta made today possible. Never heard mcewen's commentary before this tour. pretty good talker. i really liked his pocket-rocket, super acceleration sprints and lines, back when. anyway his takes are spot on and his insights actually interesting and he's willing to talk about wine and chateaus and france stuff, without killing everyone, so that's nice.

Yeah, fantastic stage, near front to back great. Barguil's day to shine for damn sure.

Love seeing Contador come to life, thrilled for Barguil, Martin killing it... what a great day

Dan Martin's post-race condition gives some perspective O_o

@willfoth @IrishCorner10 have you seen this? Hard as bloody nails. https://t.co/M9skep1tZG

— Diver Buzz (@diverbuzz) July 14, 2017

I thought Aru was going to try and do that to Froome, not vice versa.

I think the same thing happened to Aru in a Vuelta when Dumoulin pulled this off and gaining 10 seconds (or so) on Aru.

Nice win for Matthews in any event!

yay Bling Matthews. Great finish

do Astana just not give af about trying to keep the yellow or do they not like Aru? they have been a weirdly non-cohesive in the past few years iirc with Nibali et al

when Aru won it seemed like he was prouder for having yanked it from Froome than the win itself, so maybe it was just the thrill of the moment idk

wtf this interview with Valgren after the stage, great team spirit they've got going on in Astana
http://www.instagram.com/p/BWktmicAB2G/

O_o

ok well i guess that partly answers my question jeez louise

That's the Danish guy he was doing the Macarena with last week, so honestly WTF? That's cold as ice.

(in Dutch: http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/Tour/1.3025846 )

Valgren about interview: "attitude wasn't right, but I was misunderstood"

Today, Michael Valgren Andersen tried to limit the damage in an interview with Sporza. "People now think I don't like Fabio - yesterday, I just tried to say it was maybe not that bad to lose the yellow jersey. We don't have the strongest team to control the race - that's why losing the yellow jersey was probably best. But it wasn't on purpose and a 25 second difference is a lot, of course.
Still, there are yet stages where Fabio can take back some time. If you attack as the general classement leader, everyone follows you - when he's wearing the Astana shirt, it's Sky's job to control the race and that means more chances for him. That was what I was trying to say - my attitude wasn't the best, but it was just after the stage and I was misunderstood. I always work hard for the team."

And about yesterday's time loss: "We haven't left Fabio in a good position - the team made a mistake and we'll have to look into that. We do our best, but this is the Tour and it's not easy. Sometimes you have a bad day."

So happy for Mollema, cracking 30km solo.

He's been there for so long and obviously a strong rider it surprises me that it's his first stage win

Ha I saw that Astana take and I totally got what he was saying, it didn't seem cray at all. Seemed like a shrug but with confidence in both aru and the sitch.

That was my reading as well.

It was a shame Bardet couldn't or wouldn't attack when Froome was behind '50. He got back relatively easy after his mechanical.

Martin is at 1.12 in the BC now. He lost 1.15 in the Porte crash earlier. *makes u think*

BC=GC

There are too many Martins in this race. After Tony's solo Spitzengruppe adventure I was looking up in the results of today's stage and found he'd only dropped back to 20th place. But then I looked at the GC listing and there was a completely different Martin at 20? Got my hopes up for a minute. I assume you mean the Irish one.

Is Kittel going to do anything for the rest of the race or just rest on his laurels? He's so far ahead I don't think he has to.

Meant the Irish one indeed.

Matthews could possibly pose a threat still, though Kittel's got one hand on green. Stages with some intermediate sprints are mostly up for grabs for Matthews, but Kittel will go for the Champs Elysee win to seal it (a stage which is never not a sprint).

The sprints [and thus points] in those stages are for grabs for Matthews I mean, not a stage win necessarily, but he's really strong by the looks of it. Kittel needs to survive the last mountains, be in on time, and nab the final win in Paris.

"Motivation" eh Laurent?

Ha, I had missed that, Jalabert sarcastic live on French TV about Froome having mechanicals just before key climbs. Fuel for the boos... https://t.co/Vik7AxoZos

— Ufe (@oufeh) July 16, 2017

wtg Mollema :D

Landa is so pretty,damn

bookmarking him for next year in Movistar for sure

Yeah, nice Mollema victory for sure, all chances taken at just the right moments to seal it. Loved that he could just pull up a little early and cruise in as a result.

Unlike last year, it's been good to see Froome work more for this as opposed to one or two moments and then the team did the rest.

It's def become much more of an exciting Tour than I expected, really looking forward to next week

Yeah, could be fun! More of Sky looking unexpectedly brittle, please.

Meantime, definitely a day of naked people on the sidelines.

Also going back a bit

McEwen it was, I think- was right. yesterday sorta made today possible. Never heard mcewen's commentary before this tour. pretty good talker. i really liked his pocket-rocket, super acceleration sprints and lines, back when. anyway his takes are spot on and his insights actually interesting and he's willing to talk about wine and chateaus and france stuff, without killing everyone, so that's nice.

Yeah he's been great, definitely not missing Phil/Paul at all.

if u need a phil/paul update:

paul: still hammering on about medieval churches
phil: still hammering on about traffic furniture
phil/paul: still muffing every other stat & prediction

It's almost like I can hear them now and zzzzzzzz

lol

i spend my time wondering what good commentary might be like

honestly i'd settle for jens & christian at this point

taylor phinney's weirdness is v pleasing to me

Watch 🎥 @taylorphinney ask @JohnKerry the hard-hitting questions at #TDF2017. 🐴🐶🙊 pic.twitter.com/ZUqJAfu1n8

— Cannondale-Drapac (@Ride_Argyle) July 17, 2017

he's more like a snowboarder than a cyclist

He's sorta on stage in an amusing way here, but didn't really come across that way irl (limited exp).

are you saying you met him? idg what you mean

Lol was gonna add something like "this says way more about my bystander status than it says about whether his style there is an affectation." Strictly Boulder events/mutual connections style.

i see you and yr humbebragging

humble even

he's been doing a bunch of videos for nbc & they are very chill & random

Sunweb delivering the best team effort this Tour by far. The way they tore up the peloton, dropping Kittel and QS etc was incredible. Love how competitive they are with Barguil and Matthews, who racked up 50 points for the green today, seriously threatening Kittel's jersey.

I hate them. Ruiners of everything.

(Kittel looked so unwell today; his face looked greener than his jersey. He was a trooper for staying the course.)

Had to catch the stage in bursts -- what a crazy mad dash from start to stop! I had to keep checking that the leaders (minus Kittel) were there the whole time, hell of a break they pulled off.

Meantime, fun read

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/sports/cycling/tour-de-france-mountain-stages.html

^^ Good read, and with great photos.

Really looking forward to tomorrow. Croix de Fer, Telegraphe and Galibier in one stage. The last two follow each other up nearly seamlessly, which makes for a whopping 40 km continuous climb. Wishful thinking but I hope Bardet attacks and can leave Froome behind on the Galibier and the following descent.

no idea if this will link but it is my fave tdf image ever:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71bmqw2jzqL._SL1050_.jpg

so excited for Sunweb & Matthews especially - am a fan of Bling from his stint with Orica, he's grown so much just in the last year. Sagan being out of the picture this Tour is def helping, will do wonders for his confidence if he keeps this up, whole team seem to have rallied together for him and Barguil which is excellent to see

those winds tho O_o

Matthews was perfect yesterday, great ride great finish.

Kittel just crashed and is suffering at the back. Hope he makes it.

Abandon Kittel

Awwwww. Pinot out too #tumbleweed#

Guessing it won't be the only two not making the finish (in time) today.

NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

;_;

Sorry B. :(

I get bad news every time I set foot in Belgium. I was looking forward to celebrating his win in Germany.

Not gonna root for Matthews. And no way Greipel can catch up in that time, is there.

Kittel was SO CLOSE. SO CLOSE. Poor lad, he must be gutted with all this bad luck. Gute Besserung!

Bloody Aachen. Always lose signal here....

I'm sure that in a week or so after the TdF has ended, the good feeling of 5 wins will prevail for Kittel. It's part of cycling to lose; winning is relatively rare.

Yeah he'll be set for some great future challenges -- mind you, I'm sure Sagan will be back with a vengeance next year, but we'll see...

Fantastic ride by Roglic today, well deserved conclusion too, sweeping in on his own.

Today absolutely crushed me as a Nairo fan. Hoping he's just saving himself for an incredible stage win on Izoard, but that does nothing for GC since he's now almost 13 mins down. Magical thinking, but also hoping he and Urán Urán can maybe work together and get a nice gap on Froome/Sky prior to the next TT.

god what a stage

roglic, heroic finish there, what a great effort. sucks for kittel, what a day

http://media.nu.nl/m/y0txbvmap81n_wd640.jpg/topsporter-roglic-voltreffer-gebleken-lotto-jumbo.jpg

Roglic' 'landing' on the stage was great to see. Pretty incredible you can go from being a ski jumper to TdF stage winner. But now I'd really like to see the opposite happen, too: can you imagine Voeckler jumping off a ski ramp?

Today absolutely crushed me as a Nairo fan. Hoping he's just saving himself for an incredible stage win on Izoard, but that does nothing for GC since he's now almost 13 mins down. Magical thinking, but also hoping he and Urán Urán can maybe work together and get a nice gap on Froome/Sky prior to the next TT.

― naus, donderdag 20 juli 2017 6:02 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ooff, you must have a hellish TdF as a Nairo fan. He's clearly got nothing left after the Giro. But as you said, maybe as a final trick he's been saving something for today. Contador will probably try (and fail) again today. At least he's going down guns blazing.

I am def rooting for Uran Uran

Ah man, WHAT a performance by Barguil. Stellar, stellar work. Truly a genius Tour all around for him. If Bardet holds for second through the end that obv replicates last year -- third time the charm for him?

Barguil delivered. Uran short but ok. Landa on orders.

Barguil made me cry a little. What a competitor. Beautiful stuff

i fkn love the mountains u guys

EBH <3

I love how determined he was that he would be the definite winner this time, not that I can blame him. Great ride.

The way he ditched Arndt was great. I wonder if him taking the other side of the roundabout was something he knew about or pure luck.

Bloody love EBH.

Relieved for him. That would have been heartbreaking if he'd missed out again.

Yeah, that was sweet all around. Took the chance, rode it brilliantly -- what a break!

Strongest rider got absurd good luck, even after a strong attack 2k earlier. Good for him.

omg EBH what a win. Slingshotting around the roundabout was a dope move

Aways a bit lame when a tour victor doesn't win a stage, but tbf it's not from lack of trying from Froome, just a lack of strong competition.

Not lack of trying maybe, but abundance of control, keeping an iron grip on the peloton.

Bodnar is a beast, great ride by him. Cool to see Daryl Impey made it out 5th place.

Bardet though - kid left his heart and entrails on that course. It wasnt pretty but it was probably as full gas as he's ever gone ... and with Froome nipping at his heels! Froome decisive as expected

Bummed that Rigo didnt pull out a bigger performance

Love this photo

Bardet #TDF pic.twitter.com/BQbkpTPXP9

— Ramiro (@Rama_mtto) July 22, 2017

xpost then again Rigo went up a spot overall and he crushed the climb so <3

Great photo, that.

So fucking annoying the TdF gave the prize for most attacking rider to Barguil instead of De Gendt. That's chauvinism for ya.

Landa is exactly 1 second behind Bardet for place 3 btw. If Landa decides to attack tomorrow I'm all for it, but it's prob so not gonna happen.

Yeah I heard the grumping about Barguil over De Gendt, that did seem weird on numerous levels. Would be interesting re Landa making the final day more than just a breeze-in (except for the sprinters).

Bardet's going to be sweating bullets to keep that lead. Landa's made it pretty clear he wants to podium. Should be a good day!

Have to go to a sleepover tonight & out again tomorrow night, hope i can squeeze in time to watch!!

Don't think Landa will go for third; though there's the chance the peloton breaks in the final Champs Elysee round, and I can see him push forward if that happens. I'm done with the truce on the last stage tbh. As nice as traditions can be, it's sport. It doesn't feel right.

xp

Did Landa make that clear? I must've missed that (not seen a lot of it today tbh)

the talk from commentary was that he had said he wanted to podium

landa can't take it out on sky, but he can take it out on bardet, and i wouldn't surprise me if he tried. and if he tries, i can't imagine it wont work. dude was pulling climbs _with his mouth closed_. he should be a little pissed. i don't really care either way, but if he wanted to do it i think he could.

It'll be interesting to see if Landa gets Sky's tacit blessing to go for it. I think usually the whole team hangs back to cross the line with the yellow jersey.

"tacit blessing" as apt a description i've ever seen :)

if Landa wants to try this at all (I don't think he will), I doubt Kwiat will be of any help

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFXNolkXcAAGlMk.jpg

:D

De Gendt not getting that most attacking rider prize:

Don't care. I stopped caring about this whole charade after the ridiculously amateuristic Peyresourde bidon incident. (Bardet wins, Uran and Bennett get penalised -20 seconds for taking a bidon from someone during the climb, Uran's team leader posts a video of Bardet doing EXACTLY the same thing - first reply from the jury: "we can't be certain he drank from it because there's no video of that" - result later that evening: instead of penalising Bardet, they reverse their decision re: Uran and Bennett)

xp lol

Think he'll give it a half-assed go just to scare AG2R a bit.

Groenewegen in the sprints this tour finished something like 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and a win on the last day. Good learning curve. Thought he might be a choker but here we are.

That was heartbreaking for Greipel! He accelerated just a split second too late and it was all over. German TV tried to interview him but he was just verklempt.

(I wish my German could keep up at that speed - they were definitely talking about Kraftwerk, after a long passage of going on about Tony Martin so I assume they were talking about Ralf Hütter's bike?)

Sorry to say but think Greipel's over the hill. His timing was way off. He's had a tour he'll want to forget quickly.

You make me wish I listened to the German telly now though. Tony Martin would make a great Kraftwerk stand-in.

Mostly they went on and on about how they wished Marcel Kittel was still in the race!

They showed about 20 seconds of Froome with his kid, saying "yeah, yeah, Froome gewinnt wieder, süß familie" then immediately cut off to find some German they could interview.

It's so interesting how the coverage differs in each country.

I'm sad it's over TBH. What / when is the next Bicycle Thing?

Yeah it def differs in each country. Think European side commentary trumps commentary in USA and Oz by a mile knowledge wise, been pouring one out for Ned and VG all TdF. Interesting too was that Groenewegen was completely composed in the post-race winners "interview" ("team did a good job, went well" etc) but he was sobbing like a baby on Dutch telly, just a mess of tears and insane happiness.

Next big round is La Vuelta, the tour in Spain. But now that you've enjoyed this and are lost without cycling anyway: Next Saturday is the next classic, Clasica San Sebastián \m/

RT @NOSsport: Dylan Groenewegen wordt vlak voor de huldiging gegrepen door zijn vriendin. #spontaan #TDF2017 pic.twitter.com/dxbEj5SF7u

— Jarno Gottemaker (@jajarno) July 23, 2017

Groenewegen's gf drawing him towards her before he steps on the stage is ace.

Next big round is La Vuelta, the tour in Spain. But now that you've enjoyed this and are lost without cycling anyway: Next Saturday is the next classic, Clasica San Sebastián \m/

Yeah I was about to ask if we should start a general non-TdF cycling thread -- finally started watching most of the big races properly thanks to the NBC Sports Gold package over here, so I first saw the Vuelta last year and rather enjoyed it. Different landscapes, different competitors (to a degree) -- fun race. Will be busy this Saturday so I'll have to miss that race.

Think European side commentary trumps commentary in USA and Oz by a mile knowledge wise, been pouring one out for Ned and VG all TdF.

Hahah, nah, VG is the one who's been suffering with Phil/Paul; I've been doing just fine with Keenan and McEwen, really enjoyed the change-up on various levels.

And yes, cheers for Groenewegen, stellar work in the clutch.

Mostly they went on and on about how they wished Marcel Kittel was still in the race!

Ha, yeah, him and Sagan would have been great in all this but such is life. (And jury decisions.)

Oh yeah, hold on, that AG2R rider who proposed to his partner early on in the stage, do we know if that was successful?

(Also will add I enjoyed what I saw of La Course -- had to do a bit of catch up both days, nice pursuit in Marseille there.)

Oh yeah, hold on, that AG2R rider who proposed to his partner early on in the stage, do we know if that was successful?

Update on the @LeTour marriage proposal by Cyril Gautier.... she said YES

— Robbie McEwen (@mcewenrobbie) July 23, 2017

Hurrah!

this gave me a wry lol

Poll: Who was the Most Combative Rider of the 2017 Tour de France? #TDF17 #TDF2017

— Neal Rogers (@nealrogers) July 23, 2017

I can't choose.

i feel bad for Greipel but he waited too long to make his move.

froome & babby froome super cute

weird seeing comments on matthews green jersey that he didnt deserve it / belongs to sagan etc
like i get being salty but dude rode his way into that jersey, cmon

Once again I'm left wondering what Gary Imlach does for the rest of the year. I might be alone here but I really like the ITV coverage, they all have a kind of wry humour that I enjoy apart from anything else.

Anyone who got any of the jerseys deserved it despite big names dropping out imo

(Also will add I enjoyed what I saw of La Course -- had to do a bit of catch up both days, nice pursuit in Marseille there.)

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 23 July 2017 23:26 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

First stage was good, but it seems like the second stage's format didn't work for most people, including the riders themselves and I'm inclined to agree. I suppose it's a minor victory for women's cycling that it's double the length of previous editions, but I don't understand why they got rid of the Champs Elysees sprint they had in previous years tbh

weird seeing comments on matthews green jersey that he didnt deserve it / belongs to sagan etc
like i get being salty but dude rode his way into that jersey, cmon

― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, July 23, 2017 11:03 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

See I follow a lot of commentary but have not heard anything even remotely close to this. Matthews not deserving green? Belongs to Sagan?! Different strokes I guess, idgi.

Yeah I was about to ask if we should start a general non-TdF cycling thread --
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, July 23, 2017 10:23 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

We def should, and need one. Consider it done.

La Course was a bit weird. But the ultra-conservative ASO deserves an inch of praise for experimenting and not just hosting a women's race but also trying to make it an attractive race. Don't think they succeeded this year, but it's a process since 2013 and it's not going away, which is good.

La Course Stage 1 was p great but I havent had a chance to see Stage 2 except for a few higlight clips.

i'd be into a general cycling thread. i get a lot of the non tour events bcz of my tdf event season pass with nbcsn so i should get san seb & vuelta i think
i dont usually watch but i might with ongoing chats :)

re commentating

most annoying thing this year for me re Phil & Paul is their endless nonsensical fanfics about what riders are saying or their motivations all spouted with this air of knowitallness, its really ridiculous

it's like listening to two kids playing TdF with little cycling toys and making up stories about the riders

lol

i would rather bob & christian & jens do their own commentary from upstairs tbh

La Course was a circus, ridiculous format. I love cycling so much, I honestly find it heartbreaking that it's 2017 and they can't sort themselves out. Plenty of major sporting events from Wimbledon to the London Marathon have parity in coverage and prize money between the men's and women's competitions. Even the bloody Boat Race! There's no excuse for the sports which haven't got their acts together on this.

Honourable mention for British Cycling's stance obv.

Dan Martin rode the last 12 stages with two fractured vertebrae.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dan-martin-diagnosed-with-two-fractured-vertebrae-after-tour-de-france-top-10/

jesus

Yech indeed.

Hey didn't Le Bateau say he'd start a general cycling thread?

Started a punless Rolling Pro Cycling thread, let's see how it fares.