Tour de France 2013 *spoilers*

[raindog]

Fantastic win for Dan there - well done lad!

 

[thom]

Froome did awesome there. Well done Movistar for shaking it up and chapeau Dan Martin.
Back in blighty, Murray won the first set - something of an epic going on.

 

[smutchin]

Brilliant. A very well deserved stage win for Garmin - they blew the race open from the start and have been riding aggressively all day.

Movistar should be pretty happy too - they probably knew they wouldn't shake Froome off today but they've got rid of Porte. They can have another dig at Froome in the Alps.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Brilliant. A very well deserved stage win for Garmin - they blew the race open from the start and have been riding aggressively all day.

Movistar should be pretty happy too - they probably knew they wouldn't shake Froome off today but they've got rid of Porte. They can have another dig at Froome in the Alps.

Opened a gaping wound, just to pour the salt in on Tuesday

 

[yello]

Movistar and Saxo could knacker Froome here if they play it properly

They didn't though, opportunity missed or simply that Froome is too strong?

 

[Hip Priest]

In the last two days we've seen victories for a Briton from Kenya, and an Irishman from Birmingham!

 

[smutchin]

They didn't though, opportunity missed or simply that Froome is too strong?

I think they need a summit finish to attack Froome.

Great interview with Schleck on ITV just now - he reckons Movistar blew their opportunity. Also reckons Contador looks strong.

Still no one talking about Mollema as a GC contender. Am I missing something?

 

[jifdave]

well there was lots of talk of dan martin before the tour....

thought schleck did fine today

DM 2:34 and 15th not to bad

 

[raindog]

Bahamontes is at the finish today - how cool is that?
He was born in 1928 and he still looks fit and healthy. They just presented him with a climber's jersey.

 

[yello]

I can't help but feel that there was a set of circumstances today that ought to have been seized upon. You've got to grab such opportunities as they present themselves or you might as well give up and hand Froome yellow now. On a number of occasions, the French commentators referred to Froome as 'enemy number one'. I could see what they meant. Teams should have been taking turns to attack and make him respond. They let him sit in for the most part.

Respect to Froome though. He did all that he had too, all that was asked of him and it was a hard day for him. He's certainly earned his jersey so far.

 

[jarlrmai]

I thought Froome rode a composed, defensive stage and didn't panic when his team vanished.

Sky have got a lot to do though now they need Porte etc back soon.

Maybe the rest day will help.

 

[dellzeqq]

They didn't though, opportunity missed or simply that Froome is too strong?

possibly a bit of both. Chris Boardman reckoned they should have sent Quintana away on the penultimate climb, but that might have meant sacrificing his white jersey in the hope that Valverde would storm to a win. Maybe somebody calculated that wasn't going to happen, and that grabbing second place was as good as it was going to get. And there's still the Alps to come - Movistar now know that Sky are not supermen.

 

[RobNewcastle]

Yeah that was a good point made by Boardman. Still find it very surprising that Sky could lose so many riders so early. Lopez looked like he was struggling yesterday and couldn't do as long a turn on the front as he normally would and Sistsou was nowhere.

Impressive that Froome came through a potentially dangerous situation unscathed. Assuming things go as you'd expect he'll out more time into people in the time trial on we'd but at least the Ventoux and Alps will be more interesting now with Movistar pushing things on.

 

[ColinJ]

After all the talk about today's time limit potentially being a problem for the sprinters, they all came in safely with about 10 minutes in hand, about 26 minutes down on Dan Martin's time. The one rider who didn't make the cut was Kiryienka so that is another blow for Sky.

 

[Noodley]

I can't help but feel that there was a set of circumstances today that ought to have been seized upon. You've got to grab such opportunities as they present themselves or you might as well give up and hand Froome yellow now. On a number of occasions, the French commentators referred to Froome as 'enemy number one'. I could see what they meant. Teams should have been taking turns to attack and make him respond. They let him sit in for the most part.

Respect to Froome though. He did all that he had too, all that was asked of him and it was a hard day for him. He's certainly earned his jersey so far.

I thought Saxo and Movistar had an ideal opportunity to take Froome on today, they had the numbers and legs to do it. They may not have another opportunity to have Froome in a position with no support, and potentially they blew it big time. I realise there's a long way to go and that they also need to consider "other things" but ... FFS!!