Tour de France 2013 *spoilers*

[Noodley]

That as well

 

[Auntie Helen]

I get to watch the Phil 'n Paul show each day and the thing that's irritating me (well, one of the things) is that Paul seems unable to say "in July" but has to say "the month of July"; someone is "23 years of age" not "23 years old". Loadsa stuff like that.

Still, the commentary may be laughable but the racing is fab!

 

[jifdave]

Definitely disappointed that contador/valverde/et all.... didnt have legs/bollocks today quintana had a few pops but no one else went for it.

 

[lukesdad]

Definitely disappointed that contador/valverde/et all.... didnt have legs/bollocks today quintana had a few pops but no one else went for it.

I think you ll find they couldn't agree what to do Quintana was told off by by Valverde for the digs.

 

[smutchin]

at the back of my mind I wonder if their training camps have gone a bit wrong and whether the team selection was right.

There's probably something in this. Before the Tour started, I thought the team looked very strong on paper, but Lopez has definitely underperformed so far and Siutsou looks cooked after the Giro.

As for my punditry... I take the infinite monkey approach - jabber enough and eventually I'll come out with the works of Shakespeare. But for every Mollema there's a dozen Taaramaes...

 

[400bhp]

Porte was made to eat his words after yesterdays comments and to his credit he did so

Think Boardman was about right with Movistar's tactics. They set off with consolidating 3rd position and not risk everything and go for broke with the yellow.

Plenty of racing left yet.

What's with Hesjedal's sunglasses?

 

[Herzog]

I get to watch the Phil 'n Paul show each day and the thing that's irritating me (well, one of the things) is that Paul seems unable to say "in July" but has to say "the month of July"; someone is "23 years of age" not "23 years old". Loadsa stuff like that.

And nobody works hard...they are always "doing a great job of work"...

 

[SWSteve]

I'm a big fan of Froome's quote from the ITV Coverage
"They're only human"
When talking about his team mates not being able to stay with him on today's stage.

 

[beastie]

The good thing for Sky is the timing of this problem. They now have a flat stage to recover as best they can, followed by a TT where the rest of the riders bar Catweasel can take it a bit easier. The Ventoux stage is perfect for Sky with a long flattish run in followed by one monster climb, but one where their train should be pretty effective. I expect Froome to put another 30 sec - 1 min into the GC boys then. If he TT's well then he should have a lead of 2 1/2 mins to play with after Ventoux. The alps will be a different story now, with long range attacks to be expected. Very interesting tour so far.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Fair play to Froome today, he was awesome, isolated etc. And it's all been said so what's the point in me elaborating even further, other than to say that he was very modest come the interview he gave to ITV...I like that. 'One of the hardest days I've had on the bike,' or words to that effect, show some regard for his opposition but blimey, the lad is strong.

I think Boardman had it right too and this tactic (from Movistar and others) isn't going anywhere quick and you can't help thinking that Movistar were testing the water for the second round in the Alps.

I can't wait...

...oh yeah...


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AylbEJzvrRM

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Got in earlier and had planned to skim through the previously recorded Oooooorosport coverage and perhaps watch the final 60k. Ended watching the whole shebang from start to finish!!

Utterly loved that race. In my best Olly twist voice - "Please sir, can i have some more?"

This tour is throwing a few curveballs. Froome is so far knocking them out the park.

 

[jifdave]

http://twitter.com/simongeschke/status/353955856980783104/photo/1

Classic!!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

It's clear that Sky made some sacrifices to get Froome a clear lead at this stage before the rest day, which can he then build on in the ITT. The rest of next week is pretty flat until Ventoux and Sky aren't really going for the sprints so most of them can save their legs. I bet they didn't bank on losing Kiryenka, however I think Movistar and Saxo-Bank are actually going to be far more disappointed than Sky at this stage as they failed to break Froome.

 

[montage]

Kiryenka is a huge loss! The man can do the work of three men, though something must have gone very wrong today.
Fantastic riding from Ten Dam as well, I bet the odds for him podiuming were pretty great! What a tour this has been so far!

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Loved Porte's response when asked if the team have any illness etc........

"no nothing like that, the peloton just kicked our arse!".