Tour de France 2013 *spoilers*

[themosquitoking]

So in your reckoning Froome helps his closest contender ?

Yeah, i don't think he can take the time required out of Froome in two days, maybe he thinks the same. Froome has looked too strong up until today. Why wouldn't he go for second place? He'll clearly win the tour at some point in the future baring incident and second place at his age is a fairly outrageous feather to have in your cap. Also he'll be owed a fairly large favour by the strongest ride in the world at the moment.

 

[themosquitoking]

Yeah, i don't think he can take the time required out of Froome in two days, maybe he thinks the same. Froome has looked too strong up until today. Why wouldn't he go for second place? He'll clearly win the tour at some point in the future baring incident and second place at his age is a fairly outrageous feather to have in your cap. Also he'll be owed a fairly large favour by the strongest ride in the world at the moment.

Edit, apparently i read your post completly wrong. Why wouldn't Froome help him given the fact Quintana may have the mindset i outlined above?

 

[Paul99]

Even riders swimming in EPO sometimes bonk. It's a temporary event, not an indication of overall condition when it happens.

Yeah, it was staged. The drug testers will now never test him again, cos they don't really need to.

I wasn't bl**dy staged ! he hit the wall and it could have ended in tears. At the least Porte should be excluded.

Nah, Armstrong bonked on a climb and lost two minutes. PED's have nothing to do with fuelling.

Cheers for your comments! Didn't know the PED's would make no difference to someone bonking. Learnt something today at least

Although when he has had a stonking day this thread has been full of comments regarding is he / isn't he , today nothing. Has it taken the spotlight off him a bit. Only my thoughts, you are probably all right.

And he is my new hero, so I refuse to believe he could bonk.

 

[lukesdad]

Do I owe Lopez an apology after he finally, apparently, showed his face at the front end? Sorry Dave!
I was ultimately overwhelmed by my loco parentis duties...

I hope @Herzog fared better!

Rabobank junior training camp Rich ?

 

[araapatlio]

re: the Froome feeding fandango, surely it is a case of working to the rule, calculating that you get more of an advantage out of breaking the rule and taking the punishment, than not breaking the rule and have Froome stop and push the rest of the way (I might have exaggerated slightly). This isn't cheating, it was just a tactical calculation. To give a footballing analogy, players will often accept a yellow card when deliberately taking out another player to stop a counter-attack. This is exactly the same. There was no attempt to evade the rule or to cheat, it was very blatant.

The entire penalty seems silly to me anyway. I only started following cycling last year, and was not aware of the rule before today, but someone explained that the rule does not exist to stop riders feeding during the last portion of the race, but to stop them getting an advantage by riding along, holding the car for a brief period. Froome went no-where near the car, so even if he benefited from the infraction committed by Porte in terms of getting the gel, he did not get any benefit from holding onto the car.

 

[smutchin]

Although when he has had a stonking day this thread has been full of comments regarding is he / isn't he , today nothing.

Yeah, funny that, isn't it. Bertie's motorbike provided a useful distraction today.

 

[gavroche]

So happy today thanks for my countryman winning the most prestigious stage of the tdf. Christophe Riblon, you are a star! I felt the pain in your legs and admire your courage for beating the best of the field. France has now won this stage for 2 years running.

 

[lukesdad]

Edit, apparently i read your post completly wrong. Why wouldn't Froome help him given the fact Quintana may have the mindset i outlined above?

Well as Quintana is looking the most likely, you have answered your own question "he may have the mindset" then again he might not eh ? There are no gifts in the tour.

 

[zizou]

Let's be under no illusions when you hit the wall you stop very quickly. Sky were warned, then broke the rules. In any other sport you'd be excluded wouldn't you ?

Riders are fined for this sort of thing on virtually every mountain stage (although it is usually just a fine rather than a time deduction). If they were to start excluding riders for infringements like this half the peloton would be missing!

 

[lukesdad]

re: the Froome feeding fandango, surely it is a case of working to the rule, calculating that you get more of an advantage out of breaking the rule and taking the punishment, than not breaking the rule and have Froome stop and push the rest of the way (I might have exaggerated slightly). This isn't cheating, it was just a tactical calculation. To give a footballing analogy, players will often accept a yellow card when deliberately taking out another player to stop a counter-attack. This is exactly the same. There was no attempt to evade the rule or to cheat, it was very blatant.

The entire penalty seems silly to me anyway. I only started following cycling last year, and was not aware of the rule before today, but someone explained that the rule does not exist to stop riders feeding during the last portion of the race, but to stop them getting an advantage by riding along, holding the car for a brief period. Froome went no-where near the car, so even if he benefited from the infraction committed by Porte in terms of getting the gel, he did not get any benefit from holding onto the car.

Youll find drug cheats have been working on the premise of your first sentence for years.

 

[laurence]

Riders are fined for this sort of thing on virtually every mountain stage (although it is usually just a fine rather than a time deduction). If they were to start excluding riders for infringements like this half the peloton would be missing!

^^^^^ this

look at the points list, some have negative points, it's for rule infringements. sheesh, anyone would think Froorte got off their bikes and ate a nun. it was a bidon and some gels from the team car.

if it is a very hot day the feed rule is relaxed anyway... it's not a huge deal, hence the small time penalty.

 

[araapatlio]

Youll find drug cheats have been working on the premise of your first sentence for years.

The difference is that they try to evade the law, hide what they are doing, rather than openly breach it and take the hit. There was no deception on behalf of Team Sky, they didn't try to conceal the transfer, they were honest at the finish.

 

[lukesdad]

Riders are fined for this sort of thing on virtually every mountain stage (although it is usually just a fine rather than a time deduction). If they were to start excluding riders for infringements like this half the peloton would be missing!

Yeah I know and that would spoil you re viewing pleasure wouldn't it. Break a rule here break one there who cares they can afford it. Tell me where do you exactly draw the line on rule breaking ?

 

[400bhp]

My thoughts for Froomes feed today.

He has thrashed everybody up all the major climbs thus far. And everybody suspects he is using something.
Today the usual down to the last detail planning of Team Sky had gone AWOL, and Froome "bonks". Was it staged? Does it make him appear normal?

I do not think he has used anything banned or otherwise, but I can't believe he suddenly had nothing left today. I wonder how well he goes tomorrow.

Quoted so we can poke fun at this in future.

 

[lukesdad]

Its the leader of a grand tour on perhaps its most crucial stage FFS not some domestique in the Tour down under !