Vive la Revolutions: Tour de France 2018

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Just caught the end of that passing through Hong Kong. That was pretty amazing. Thomas may have more time on Froome than Froome could take back on the TT, but I’m also not sure Froome can attack Thomas unless he is chasing down someone close on GC or Thomas cracks.

Interesting times.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 16:06 (six years ago) link

Thomas finally kicked his bilharzia. Good for him.

— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 18, 2018

gbx, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 16:09 (six years ago) link

Ha when i saw thomas get to dumoulin so fast, i was like, man, nieve is about to get hit by a missile. I was surprised he paused with dumoulin a little.

Hunt3r, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link

i like how Wiggins has come back to haunt Froome in the form of Thomas.

the dominance of Sky is very very frustrating though, and bad for cycling. Before this Tour I thought Movistar could challenge them.. but alas. Not even close. Quintana will be happy if he finishes top 5 in this Tour, or so it seems.

Ludo, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 19:07 (six years ago) link

Why is Sky so dominant (is it just money?), and why can't other teams compete? Isn't this just about having the right training schedule? Is there a stat on how much each team member gets paid on all teams?

brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 19:36 (six years ago) link

mostly money

as ed said upthread, sky has domestiques that would be team leaders elsewhere but the pay at sky is good, as is (i hear) the benefits (like not medical bens but top quality training / nutrition / mechanics / etc)

gbx, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 20:03 (six years ago) link

I mean, former rainbow kwiatkowski is an _embarrassingly_ big talent as just one of your climbing leadouts. Such a complete racer. Not only winning worlds, but classics and monuments i mean hes outsprinted sagan at e3 and msr aside from dumping him into siena, which u could at least expect.

Hunt3r, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 20:41 (six years ago) link

somehow had not unsubscribed from the lance thing and found myself listening to their stage 10 episode. he is a TOTAL fanny, and seems utterly unrepentant to boot ("I mean, according to wikipedia, I've never won a stage of the tour")

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:01 (six years ago) link

I was sure he'd at least displayed some contrition in the past but he's acting like he's been robbed on this thing, not like he was the one doing the robbing

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:02 (six years ago) link

the finish of la course was unsane

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:05 (six years ago) link

https://youtu.be/VkbyFDrF9kM

Hunt3r, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:53 (six years ago) link

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig post stage interview yesterday i think is really really sweet.

Hunt3r, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:56 (six years ago) link

amazing. good on her

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:57 (six years ago) link

woman's cycling is so, so good and gets such a raw deal

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 21:58 (six years ago) link

i like how Wiggins has come back to haunt Froome in the form of Thomas

Heh. Just seen it (was out cycling all day). I reckon Thomas attacked so early to make sure he went before Froome did. Similarly, I think that's why he attacked again just before Froome bridged across to him and Dumoulin.

the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 22:12 (six years ago) link

tomorrow will be fun

||||||||, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 22:15 (six years ago) link

That it will. But yeah I'm getting kinda bored with all these other Sky riders, however great they are, being "Hi we're just this glomp at the front of the peloton who don't seem to have any fun and to hell with you if you don't want to see anything interesting happening. Thanks for the cash, fuck you." (Not that the rest of the field are genteel souls doing it for the charity and fun of it but jeez.)

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 23:42 (six years ago) link

ok i did listen to armstrong now, and the bit at 7 mins, when he talks about teams that can paceline an hc climb and DESTROY, and then mocks hincapie for his objections during the times it was postal doing them, is actually a-hole bro done in good form by armstrong, sorry all. hincapie ultimately peacing on a climbing paceline is classic to think of and i can only imagine bruyneel spitting in hincapie's dinner.

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 00:19 (six years ago) link

Not going to listen to that prick.

The Ludwig interview is lovely and yet again women’s racing shows to to be equal if not better in terms of entertainment, drama and quality that the men. Ironically the UCI’s sexism helps this along. In no other major endurance sport do women race over shorter distance than the men. So when we get what is effectively a shorter one day climbing race like nothing on the men’s calendar the women go all out to leave it all on the road (short recovery time after the giro Rosa notwithstanding). Alpe d’Huez could be a snooze fest today partly due to a the battle now being for the third step and partly because there will be tired legs.

The women deserve a lot more than the paltry crumbs they are currently getting.

As for the sky thing - the other advantage that they have is that they are grand tour focussed and pretty much Tour de France focussed. No other team gets that luxury and it becomes a self reinforcing loop. Sky barely show at the classics, the vuelta has been a consolation or development race and the giro was barely anything for them till this year. They have a programme that is all about he top step in July. I don’t think any mainland European team would get the opportunity to do that. Also, looking down the list of sponsors I can think of a name that comes remotely close to the size of sky apart from Movistar ( I guess the state sponsors, Astana, Bahrain and UAE). One does wonder what will happen to the Sky if the Comcast bid succeeds.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:27 (six years ago) link

The women deserve a lot more than the paltry crumbs they are currently getting.

Rather. I saw some La Course highlights but I'm going to catch up with the full race soon.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:43 (six years ago) link

i do think dumoulin will be right washed out tomorrow. as far as sky goes, number ones often appear unbeatable til they get beat. it's not likely here.

that pod cites brown's or nibble's claims (and their doubts on the claims) re budgets: "Team Sky spends the most, around $42 million. Bahrain-Merida counts on a budget in the 15 million range. Other teams have only 10 million." https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/tour-de-france/nibali-it-may-seem-boring-but-thats-modern-cycling_472562

"it aint where you focus is the way that focus, and that's what gets results!"

xp

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:52 (six years ago) link

lol "it's"

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:53 (six years ago) link

and um, also "you." gnight!

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 03:54 (six years ago) link

Annemiek Van Vleuten is a boss ass bitch & the world should know it imo

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 19 July 2018 04:06 (six years ago) link

also women have a decent claim for the two best pound for pound cyclists of the past 7/8 years in voss then PFP

||||||||, Thursday, 19 July 2018 05:49 (six years ago) link

Meanwhile, Cavendish, Kittel & Renshaw didn’t make the time cut.

Alpe d’Huez should be a good watch tomorrow after today’s excitement

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 19 July 2018 06:34 (six years ago) link

yup, i think the rider who finishes first (of the favorites, GC contenders) TODAY, will win the Tour. Thomas' chance really, is he's as good as yesterday.

Ludo, Thursday, 19 July 2018 06:39 (six years ago) link

I think Froome will be looking for some kind of pretext to gain time on Thomas, but hoping it can be under the guise of marking someone else's attack.

the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 19 July 2018 09:01 (six years ago) link

In the past 7 yrs when froome has gone into hyper-robo-crab climb mode, he’s been pretty untouchable. Today we r all waiting to see that i think.

I cannot imagine anything much more batshit than his revelation at the giro, but im prepared to be amazed. As dull as his persona is, he has managed to improve his competencies in actual and impressive ways since his tdf run began, from muuch improved descending, to like, creating a new ride pedaling position on toptube, to dismounting and running when necessary.

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 12:52 (six years ago) link

Groenewegen abandon

Agreed with Ludo and NBS, it will be very interesting to see if Thomas pulls through. Only sky could crack Sky :)

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 19 July 2018 13:12 (six years ago) link

he's doing it.

Poor Steven.

Ludo, Thursday, 19 July 2018 15:45 (six years ago) link

It's certainly convenient for Sky that the rider having a ton of shit thrown at him is doing less well than his team mate this year.

Madchen, Thursday, 19 July 2018 16:07 (six years ago) link

So far.

Madchen, Thursday, 19 July 2018 16:09 (six years ago) link

i want what egan bernal had for breakfast unless it causes cancer.

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 16:46 (six years ago) link

That was fantastic.

Nibali did well to limit his losses there - I think he pulled back about 30 seconds on them over the last few kms. I've got no idea how this one is going to play out. With Thomas's ridiculous run of bad luck over previous years, I can't help feeling it's just a matter of time before he crashes out in yellow or has a nightmare day like the one (the other) Yates did near the end of the Giro earlier this year and lose loads of time. Difficult to see how the time trial will affect things as well, as even though Dumoulin is clearly the best, both Froome and Thomas are very good at time trials.

I wonder if we're going to see the Giro affecting Dumoulin and Froome as the race goes on. In any previous year, when Froome attacked that would have been it. Instead he didn't get very far away and was clawed back and dropped (for a while). You could put that down to the Giro, but then Dumoulin doesn't seem to be affected at all. It's received wisdom nowadays that it's impossible to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season. I'm trying to think of actual Tour contenders who tried this recently: I think it's only Basso (2010) and Contador (2011 and 2015, with a big asterisk next to 2011). From what I recall, it wasn't that they faded away as the race went on, but more that they didn't have it in their legs as soon as the race hit the mountains. We've done half the mountains in this race already.

the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 19 July 2018 17:14 (six years ago) link

would be good to see the world's most overrated cyclist geraint thomas actually add something to his palmares win the tour I guess

||||||||, Thursday, 19 July 2018 20:58 (six years ago) link

Bounced to pcs site today and im like, that was a lot of bloating he got rid of lol.

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 21:18 (six years ago) link

https://www.procyclingstats.com/mob/

Hunt3r, Thursday, 19 July 2018 21:18 (six years ago) link

Christ, NBC streaming has been useless today, the replay still isn't up hours later so I have to scrounge for highlights since I'm busy tonight. Anyway, quite a finish!

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 July 2018 21:55 (six years ago) link

what a great finish! bardet, i just love him. heart of a lion, i loved seeing him attack again & again. Kruijswijk too - that took incredible, unbelievable gas.

and this sucks - more video evidence to indicate it was spectator & not moto as first thought

BREAKING - Broken vertebrae confirmed, Nibali won't start tomorrow (Italian journalist Andrea de Luca on FB) #TDF2018

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 19, 2018



so many out now, cant believe Greipel won’t finish.

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 20 July 2018 05:11 (six years ago) link

I am a giant softie and this made me well up slightly. https://chpt3.com/blogs/journal/well-done-mark

Madchen, Friday, 20 July 2018 05:34 (six years ago) link

first time Greipel ever left the Tour. will he ever return? I am not so sure.

Ludo, Friday, 20 July 2018 10:46 (six years ago) link

I just realized Bradley Wiggins was 32 when he won his only Tour. This could be Gerraint's only Tour. It's certainly starting to look like it.

Ludo, Saturday, 21 July 2018 17:49 (six years ago) link

bit distracting, but comments like this re booing fans are topical and fair imo: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=2291903&sid=90f04b549ef9013153e8291412a76eb0#p2291903

Hunt3r, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 12:30 (six years ago) link

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/24/tour-de-france-protestors-peloton-farmers

French police accidentally pepper spray the peloton.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 24 July 2018 13:57 (six years ago) link

cool stage. i felt sick and terrified at gilbert going over that wall, and was so so happy to see him reappear in reasonable shape, then stoked as fuck to see him remount.

but...controp: you CANNOT blow your rad break/positioning tactic like that and get a fatmantis prix de la combativité. can't do it. nope nope.

Hunt3r, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link

Yeah that was a shocking moment when he went over, Christ. I figured he had to be okay simply because I hadn't seen any explosion of comments on my feed or elsewhere earlier before I saw the replay.

Alaphillipe had a blast for sure but pity about Yates.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 23:43 (six years ago) link

Alaphillipe is easy to enjoy. Larfing at the gifs of his resemblance to begbie tho

Hunt3r, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 23:56 (six years ago) link

JA rules

gbx, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 00:10 (six years ago) link


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