Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Inside dope control, thanks to Mr Greipel's selfie:

 

[robertob]

I find it difficult to read anything he writes without thinking or saying out loud "oh boo-hoo you, poor Nico"

Ah well, probably will shed one or two tears tomorrow while reading through the then supposedly emotional lines. Go Nico, go, let it all out - do a proper soul striptease. But I do really like him, honestly. He'll be an excellent support for Froome in the mountains.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Ah well, probably will shed one or two tears tomorrow while reading through the then supposedly emotional lines. Go Nico, go, let it all out - do a proper soul striptease. But I do really like him, honestly. He'll be an excellent support for Froome in the mountains.

I developed a dislike (probably too strong a word as I do still like him, but I can't think of another word to use and it's too late for thinking) for him due to reading his autobiography; but I also developed a liking for Blel Kadri.

 

[robertob]

The same kind of liking you developed for Herr Kittel?

Nico Roche has written a biography?! That completely sailed past me! But then, you wouldn't expect that from a 30 year old professional cyclist, would you? I mean he is no rockstar by any stretch of the imagination. Though he is obviously Irish, which counts for allot as we know, particularly after this weekend where the green island is the emotional naval of the world thanks to Mr. Conor McGregor.... but that's a different sport. Back to cycling... is the book any good?

Edit: I found it... easy, thanks Amazon. 3.9 stars out of five. Not too bad...

 

[400bhp]

Inside dope control, thanks to Mr Greipel's selfie:

Is the guy in the middle wearing a horse rider's hat? Looks wrong.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Is the guy in the middle wearing a horse rider's hat? Looks wrong.

He's the Ketamine tester

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Back to cycling... is the book any good?

Aye, it's a not bad read - his evaluation of his ability is a bit off the mark and there is a bit of self-pity and "poor me" in there - but I think he's worked through the ability side of things and has found a role to match his ability at Sky; I think too much focus on "being a GC rider, just like Da" has been replaced with a more realistic goal. He was never really a GC contender.

 

[Bollo]

Inside dope control, thanks to Mr Greipel's selfie:

Uncanny, isn't it?

 

[Berk on a Bike]

So I didn't know UCI have a rule on when to hold a TTT within a stage race. They say it should take place in the first third of the race to give teams the best opportunity to field a full strength squad (and avoid the necessity for depleted teams like Orica to phone it in). Well I never!

 

[400bhp]

So I didn't know UCI have a rule on when to hold a TTT within a stage race. They say it should take place in the first third of the race to give teams the best opportunity to field a full strength squad (and avoid the necessity for depleted teams like Orica to phone it in). Well I never!

Yeah I heard that they had to get special dispensation to have the TTT on the Sunday. Fair enough I suppose. Wonder what would (realistically) happen if a team could only field 4 riders?

And what happens to the time of a rider that's dropped off the team line at the finish? I take it they get the actual time they finished, otherwise you could have a few riders taking the pee? But is there a 3km crash/incident rule?

 

[mjr]

It's not a sprint stage, so it'd be a 1km rule, but I doubt it.

 

[Berk on a Bike]

Yeah I heard that they had to get special dispensation to have the TTT on the Sunday. Fair enough I suppose. Wonder what would (realistically) happen if a team could only field 4 riders?

And what happens to the time of a rider that's dropped off the team line at the finish? I take it they get the actual time they finished, otherwise you could have a few riders taking the pee? But is there a 3km crash/incident rule?

The 3km rule doesn't apply in either of the TT stages nor does it apply when there is a summit finish.
There was social media discussion yesterday over the time limit. OGE took their time and there were concerns they might ALL finish outside the time limit. I wonder if the commissiares would've exercised their discretion in that case. As it happened, they were only 5 minutes down.

 

[The Couch]

Too many people quick to write people off too quickly. Just because others have gotten to a level to match or beat cav doesn't mean cav is sh1t or past it. It's two years as he crashed out on first stage last year, just an easy way to try and make someone look shoot unfairly.

Greipel has been written off (here) in the past as well and I am sure that back in the day people had written off Evans as a TdF winner before he managed to win it, so can't agree more with that statement

Wonder what would (realistically) happen if a team could only field 4 riders?

And what happens to the time of a rider that's dropped off the team line at the finish??

If a team can only start with less riders, it's the time of the last rider (in your example the 4th) that counts. So in such an instance you really don't have any other option then making sure you stay together

 

[Berk on a Bike]

Anyone else get a bit "twitchy" when it's a rest day...?

 

[Crackle]

Anyone else get a bit "twitchy" when it's a rest day...?

Yeh, I'm reduced to reading the, why don't you post in scp thread and it's all the rest day's fault.