The Tour de France

I have it on lousy authority that Yorkshire turned down a plea from the management of the Tour de France saying that it wasn't really big enough ; they had only done it this year to show people what a great race is like.
 
Le Tour De France is around the corner and this year's promises to be one of the closest in terms of competition. Who's going to be the winner? Contador, Nabali, Froome, Quintana, Pinot or Rodriguez?
 
Slightly jealous of dutch as went to last yrs stage 2 finish absolutely loved it got a great view 50m from finish line

But Yeah so looking forward to this should be fantastic, should get some great battles between them 4 that we were denied last yr unsure on nibali didnt look in good form at dauhpine but mightve been saving himself as he did in 2014. They are so hard to split if I had to go for podium prediction. Contador quintana froome. But on there day all 4 could destroy each other on big mountain stages which I think there is 7 of. But reason i say Contador is a Magician & 1 of the greatest cyclists ive seen (whjen he's clean after the tainted meat scandal) coming up for 8 yrs as everytime you think he's beaten he will surprise you look at last yr vuelta, wasnt there for the GC, only there to help the team, maybe go for a stage win if he felt good & he ended up winning it by 1min 10 on basically 1 good leg after breaking his tibia on the tour de france 2 mths prior
 
Contador did look a bit vulnerable on the penultimate stage of the Giro when he was behind on the climb with no team to support him. But I think that this year it is too close to call.

Shame about the Col du Galibier.
 
absolutely loving the opening 4 stages of tour de france full of action & drama, time trial was great especially them roaring dumolin around the course 6 secs from victory. yesterday great stage with 1 of the worst pile ups i can remember & today tony martin take a bow what a ride gets a flat tyre & then on someone elses bike seat too high & backwards brakes

the bonus secs for 1st 9 stages have done great job of spicing it up also giving the sprinters / time trial guys a chance of yellow
 
Agreed, Martin made the best with what he had at his disposal. Same cannot be said about Pinot.

Today another crash, not as devastating as yesterdays
 
Devastating for Tony Martin, he was riding a great tour. Pretty amazing that his teammate Stybar was able to win the day despite 5 of the team members huddling around Tony and helping him up.

Awesome stuff from Daniel Teklehaimanot to get polka dots though. First ever black African in the tour (joint with his teammate Kudus) riding for the first ever African team and he gets himself the jersey he's always dreamt of wearing. He is representing his country greatly, but I think MTN-Qhubeka is doing an even better job representing an entire continent. They've contested quite a few sprints, lead the field towards the finish at least once, and now have a leaders jersey. Don't think Teklehaimanot can challenge Quintana, Rodriguez, or even Julian Arredondo to win King of the Mountains but I'm sure he'll do something to make a splash in the big mountians too.
 
I was very Excited for today stage & because I knew it would be when the GC properly starts to take shape on the 1st summit finish which I didnt expect to be as a gamechanger as it was as What a performance from froome he truly blew the field apart when valverde was testing them about 7km from home I thought quintana would take it. but then the froome bomb went off fired up the hill

Just a few worries 1 that he's on another level as no one wants dominance In any sport as drama that makes sport special no one wants a ptocession for next 2 weeks & I know froome is asking for respect but problem is that the riders in 90's to mid 00's have ruined it for any dominant cyclist. Ive doubts over nibali clean from last yr because he was 1st dropped at 11km losing 4/5mins in comparison last yr he was going up them climb like he was on a motorcycle compared to everyone else & that was in a team that a had few known dopers & the team manager vinokovov who got banned for doping
 
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It was certainly impressive, Quintana was the only rival who looked even close to holding Froome. But it was only the first mountain stage, the big ones are still to come and it is not unusual for one or more of the big names to have a bad day or two.

Contador looked a shadow of himself, at one time I thought that he was going to fall off the bike! He also has the problem that his team mates just do not seem to be anything like climbers, he was all alone when there should have been at least two with him.

Team Sky looked as though no-one is going to touch them, they could even finish up with a 1-2-3 in the King of the Mountains.

So far, so good, I hope that they can keep it up.
 
F1Brits_90 Nibali seemed better up the Plateau de Beille the other day so I don't think its fair to say he wasn't clean last year. He probably just wasn't feeling well for a few days. Besides, when he looked so impressive last year remember he was racing Pinot and Peraud instead of Contador, Froome, and Quintana. Can't seem to remember why Tejay and Valverde lost so much time to Nibali last year though.
 
Yesterdays (Thursday) day was one of the poorest adverts for cycle racing that I have ever seen. It was always going to be cagey until the final climb but really it went too far. Sky ran the show, take it easy during the flat sections then go just fast enough to discourage any of the big names to try anything on the climbs. At one time the group with the main contenders in was over thirteen minutes behind the leaders, even Cavendish was catching up between climbs.

With five or six Sky personnel at the front until part way up that final climb nothing was ever going to happen. I had hoped that there would be fireworks on that final climb but the "contenders" managed one attack each on it. It may be a little unfair to carp too much as the Sky team just controlled everything the way they wanted by sheer weight of numbers, the others seem no to exist. Contador had one helper, Nibali doesn't seem to get any help at all, two of his team who should have been helping him were in the breakaway far out in front. Quintana tried but the team don't seem too sure of whether to support him or Belmonte so they leave both well alone. Did I mention Pinot? Supposedly a contender but wasted too much time in the early stages having what looked like hissy fits, 45 minutes behind it not the place to launch your challenge from.
 
That stage should've been much better. Not much love out there for Team Sky. Today a man threw a cup of urine at Froome and called him a doper. Richie Porte complained of a fan punching him, and that fans are slow to move out of the way for Sky riders. Other teams are complaining that they take up half of the parking lot at every hotel with their motor homes. And fans like me find themselves pulling for the other teams (this year Movistar) because the Sky machine has made cycling worse to watch.
 
soccerman17 said:
.... Today a man threw a cup of urine at Froome and called him a doper....
Click to expand

Where do these people come from? How come that they "know" these things without any evidence whatsoever and then promote themselves as being judge, jury and executioner? Oh, I know, it's because he is winning, nothing to do with the fact that they start of each important sage with six men protecting Froome, giving him the benefit of slipstreaming, then they work their guts out until one by one they drop off leaving Froome fresher than his opponents for the final push.
 
I'm not saying that the man was right or even being reasonable. Just an example of the lack of love for Sky and the affect they've had on cycling.
 
Regardless of all doping allegations, it is reprehensible to bring a cup of piss to a sporting event and throw it at any competitor. I can assure you I would not repay the compliment even if the assailant was on fire.
 
That was wrong on froome because anyone who doubts Team sky creditably hasnt done there research on dave Brailsford zero tolerance stance. He sacked a 1 of the main guys sean Yates because he couldnt sign a contract as he had been involved 25yr previous & also tiernen locke went. But lance Armstrong didnt help because ge always used to say/lie he worked harder than rest although french tv stirring it didn't help

Amazed by Geraint Thomas finishing todays stage when he hit that telegraph pole was sure he have to abandon due concussion but to finish 40 secs late shows cyclists are different breed
 
That crash was amazing, it looked like Thomas would be out of the tour. It is a blow for him as he was only a second behind Contador on GC, now he somehow has to make that time up. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday look like being the big stages, anything could happen.
 
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