Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[smutchin]

I think we Brits may be more sensitive/respectful/squeamish/whatever than continentals. I don't know who controls the video feed but it's not the UK brodcasters/commentators.

Those Continentals are a funny lot. When I lived in France, there was a pro skiier who fell and hit a tree, breaking her neck and killing her instantly. This was in a big event that was shown live on TV. They kept showing the clip over and over again on the news.

 

[MisterStan]

Those Continentals are a funny lot. When I lived in France, there was a pro skiier who fell and hit a tree, breaking her neck and killing her instantly. This was in a big event that was shown live on TV. They kept showing the clip over and over again on the news.

That's horrible.

 

[jarlrmai]

Hard as nails, cycling 60k with a broken back. Unbelievable.
Was it last year when one of the British riders finished the stage with a fractured pelvis?



Anyone who videos in portrait mode, except very specific circumstances, is dead to me.

It was Geraint Thomas rode most of the Tour with a broken pelvis.

 

[jarlrmai]

Riding 60KM with fractured vertebrae is crazy, come off again and you might never cycle again.

 

[MisterStan]

Impey did the same distance with a broken collarbone. How they got up that hill in that state, I'll never know.

 

[sleaver]

If you want to be at the front of the ten deep crowds on the Champs Elysee you need to get there before the riders even set off from the Depart. Maybe even the night before? I dunno cos we didn't even entertain the idea!

I've kind of decided against it for this year I'm writing my Masters degree dissertation and a weekend away in France followed by RideLondon the weekend after wipes out two weekends.

So I think it is better to get the degree done and plan something properly for next year. With 10 weeks left of what will be 3 1/2 years of work, I'm not throwing it away.

Plus Eurostar along is about £300 for a return

 

[HF2300]

So in all the excitement has anyone said great win for Purito?

Great win for Purito.

 

[Crackle]

So in all the excitement has anyone said great win for Purito?

Great win for Purito.

It was. I thought he didn't have it any more but he still does. Punchy bit of riding that.

 

[smutchin]

It was. I thought he didn't have it any more but he still does. Punchy bit of riding that.

Same here - I didn't pick him in the punditry because I suspected he was no longer up to it. Pleased to be proved wrong.

 

[Adrian_K]

'slighly' geeky question...what sort of gear ratios would you guess that the riders used to get up that hill yesterday. I am rarely exicited when watching but I was on the edge of my seat, I was just blown away. And not a bad result either.

 

[ColinJ]

'slighly' geeky question...what sort of gear ratios would you guess that the riders used to get up that hill yesterday. I am rarely exicited when watching but I was on the edge of my seat, I was just blown away. And not a bad result either.

Much higher than you or I would use! (You could work it out by looking at their cadence and seeing how fast they were going.)

I know that Froome likes to spin a low gear but even so he looked a bit undergeared as he chased Rodriguez at the top of the climb.

 

[The Couch]

(The look of) the first cobble stone section is a bit of a let-down

There are many streets in my town that are worse to ride over then what I see here

 

[mjr]

There are many streets in my town that are worse to ride over then what I see here

King's Lynn has cobbled streets like St Margaret's Lane and the ones behind the Bank House that I've been told were laid by French POWs - who must have hated us because they're hellish rough and you'd buckle even tough wheels at TdF speeds. We've also streets like Pilot Street that some call cobbled but are really setts and much smoother, which is more like most of what they ride over. Finally, we've modern sett streets like the South Quay which you barely need slow for.

In today's P&P commentary highlight for @Marmion, today's stage is just like Paris Roubaix... except for fewer cobbled sections, summer weather, heading south rather than north and not being full of cobbled specialists... but it's just like it.

 

[smutchin]

Much higher than you or I would use! (You could work it out by looking at their cadence and seeing how fast they were going.)

I know that Froome likes to spin a low gear but even so he looked a bit undergeared as he chased Rodriguez at the top of the climb.

'Undergeared' suggests to me that he didn't have the option of a high enough gear, but that clearly wasn't the case - he chose to be in that spinny gear!

I have to say that I was slightly surprised when the commentators mentioned in the final stages of the climb that they were only doing 20kmh - it looked faster to me, perhaps because of Froome's high cadence. (And I say 'only' 20kmh, but that's a damn sight faster than I could get up the Mur de Huy.)

 

[Crackle]

Rodriguez's winning time was 2.50 up the Mur, 4 seconds faster than Valverde's win this year.