The Tour de France

I must apologise to the organisers of the Tour de France. Following yesterdays stage it has become clear that what they are doing is running two races on the same day using the same stages. First of all there is the Domestique Tour, this is fought out by the riders who are not quite good enough to be stage winners in their own right, once they get within thirty minutes of the lead they are switched to the Elite Tour on the following day. The Elite Tour is committed to racing between ten and twenty minutes behind the Domestique Tour, they are not allowed to start racing until entering the final five per cent of any stage, they also must beware of catching and passing the earlier riders except on flat stages, then they must wait until they are in the final five hundred metres of the finish.

I must applaud the sportsmanship of Contador, being known as one of the best technical descenders he fell off purposely to allow Geraint Thomas to recover the time he lost on Monday through no fault of his own. Contador actually overdid it so Thomas is now in fourth.

Having said all this the final part of yesterday stage was a cracker, Quintana really attacked Froome who came back at him every time. It was noticeable that Quintana had the support of his team from riders who had dropped out of the group in front. Was this planned, join the breakaway so that they can later support their leader? Or am I just ahead of the teams in my thinking?
 
I wonder if this time Movistar should have supported Valverde instead of Quintana. Truth is Froome has really no competition and most likely will win the Tour. Good for him and Sky but really boring for the spectators ...
 
In the end the last two mountain stages were exciting, just not in the way they used to be. Froome did what was necessary, apparently he had health problems but in the end was successful. On Alp d'Huez I think that he picked up a few seconds after his last team mate dropped back.

Alas though, I do not think that we will ever see the days of the climbers who would take a stage by the scruff of the neck will ever return.
 
Final 2 days in alps were fantastic viewing quintana attacking froome & quintana fighting sprirt was fantastic why I rate him so highly. Especially on alpe d'huez to put that kind of shift in attack after attack when he took nearly min & a half out of froome. If quintana hadnt lost 2/3 mins in the 1st week couldve been a much different race but he gave himself to big of a mountain to climb with bad luck in '1 day classics' stages

Although taking nothing away from his victory ad he is a worthy winner as no clean riders can ever luck into a tour de France only way is hard work pain & determination team sky proved in the victory that cycling is a team sport because individually in that 3rd week I think quintana wouldve beaten froome. But whereas movistar had no domistics to help valverde or quintana, sky having porte pouels thomashelping meant froome was fresher for longer
 
F1Brits_90 Quintana got some help from Winner Anacona on Alpe d'Huez, although he was a lot faster once he left him. And Jesus Herrada did some pacemaking for Valverde and Quintana. But as a whole Sky had much better domestiques. A climber as pure as Quintana is isn't going to use domestiques the same way Froome did, so it's kind of like having some great apples and mediocre oranges.

Anyways Bill Boddy I agree the climbers taking the stage by the scruff of the neck will probably never return. I think a big part of that is doping, I truly believe these guys are clean now, and you can tell from their performances that they are humans. Quintana and Valverde tried on Saturday but it's so hard to do nowadays. The only allegedly clean rider to recently "take a stage by the scruff of the neck" was Andy Schleck on the Galibier finish back in 2011, but Cadel Evans put in an equally impressive effort to limit his losses and go on to win the tour.
 
Looks like the Vuelta is over for froome 5+ mins off likes of quintana & Rodriguez now whether its injury from his fall on the 1st kms this afternoon or fatigue from the tour de France because he was struggling in final week of tour de France & nearly lost it to quintana in that penultimate stageBut yet again camera bikes have been idiots running into sagan wasnt enough now theyve apparently ran into another tinkoff saxo rider who required 17 stitches according to a tweet from oleg tinkoff & from pic ive seen had blood down his leg
 
Well, I'm Surprised there's not been any posts yet.

Le tour 2016 underway, 3 stage victories from Cav, back to his best, and beating Kittel in open play on the Tour for the first time. Van Avermat in Yellow by 5 minutes, and the first mountain stage looking to blow things apart.

For those of you who like your cycling, this could be a great contest this year!!
 
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CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!

Quite a day as well today. Once again the Sky team setting the pace and not bothering about anyone getting away as long as they were on the Sky "no danger" list. There simply is no other them like them, although Movistar try their best; but Movistar has two riders who capable of winning which seems to confuse them a bit.

First of all an excellent win for Tom Dumoulin, he was part of an early break which gradually had a rider drop off now and then until at the start of the last climb to a mountain-top finish. Their lead had been over 10 minutes, having by now dropped to under 9 minutes. There were 11 riders left, there had been attacks and counter attacks which had been more feelers than serious attempts at a breakaway when DuMoulin attacked with about 10 kilometers to go. The other riders all looked at each other for whose turn it was to lead the chase, I was quite staggered that they gave him about a thirty second start, this for a rider known for his time trialling ability. When they did get organised it was too late and the group gradually disintegrated.

That last half an hour or so was quite something. Firstly Froome's body guard did their job, then the weather started to become wet, then hail and it became very dark, I gather that the temperature went down to about 10 degrees. Whilst this was happening Froome's rivals were throwing everything at him, as soon as one attack was repulsed there was another from a different source; Froome also was attacking and inflicting damage on the opposition, he had the last attack which ensured that he would not be beaten on time.

Elsewhere Contador called it a day for this year, he had a couple of crashes early on and was also suffering from a fever. He cannot have many more chances to be in the big time, he will be 35 next year. Over the past few years he seemed to be riding with little support from his team members; this caused him problems at times when he was suffering multiple attacks from rivals.

One rider who suffered more than most today was Fabio Aru. There were a couple of shots showing him dropping away from the leaders on that final climb, considering his record he should have been at the front. Quintano was notable by his ommission during the attacks on Froome, or was he saving his powder for a more favourable chance in the Alps where the mountains may be more to his liking?

So now the GC is Chris Froome, with Adam Yates at 16 seconds, Daniel Martin at 19 seconds and Nairo Quintana at 23 seconds being the main contenders although there are another 5 at under a minute with Alejandro Valverde at 61 seconds.

Tomorrow is a rest day, then Tuesday starts with a 1200 meter climb after which it is all downhill to Revel, a distance of 197 Km so any momentous changes are very unlikely, Then another flat day before Montpellier to the dreaded Mont Ventoux on Bastille Day; it will be exactly 49 years to the day after Tom Simpson died from exhaustion there fuelled by amphetamines and alcohol.
 
I think that Quintanas chance of success will sit in his performance in the TT's. He has not yet shown his hand in the mountains, but I do think he shows a lack of tactical nous, especially when the first thing he did when Froome blasted off at the top of Peyresourde was to look round at his team-mate. I do not recall seeing him take the initiative in a long stage race yet, and although I know that he is a class act, he is on the back foot a little bit now, and needs to mix things up a bit.

That said, there are a lot of mountains between now and the Champs Elysee. and no doubt a few twists and turns along the way.
 
You didn't watch last years stage on Alpe d'Huez? Where he gained 1'20 on Froome?
Or the Giro of 2014, which he won and in which he won 2 stages?

Last year Quintana was more than 3 minutes behind after the Pyrenees, but finished just 1'22 behind. Now he's 23 seconds behind. It's no way over. OK, last year there were no ITT, but still it's in no way over. Froom is looking a lot less dominant in the mountains. In his previous tourwins he always made a gap in the first big uphill finish. Now he didn't.

I think that at the Mont Ventoux Quintana will take the lead. Possibly Froome can take it back again the day after in the ITT. And then it will be decided in the Alps.
 
Yes, i watched last years tour, where Quintana last year left his move till the last stage, and came up short, despite froome being ill. I also recall the Giro, but i would not put Uran and Aru in the same class as Froome. I do think now that it is most likely a 2 horse race though. Last year Froome was in a position to sit back and watch a bit, as he had won time in Zealand as well as up Pierre st Martin, this year he has said he is looking to save more for the last week, so personally, I think he will try and control the attacks now until late the TT stages.

To be honest, I don't think Quintana has shown his hand yet, and as I said there are a lot of hills to come, so it is still wide open, I just think that it is up to Quintana to make a statement, and put Froome under pressure. Maybe he is waiting for Ventoux, personally, I hope that between the two of them they make the race exciting and close.
 
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