Tour de France 2016 **SPOILERS**

[rich p]

It always makes me chuckle when people say the GC is dull and predictable "now" - like it was always gripping stuff going down to the wire "then"...

Who is saying that?
Just that given all the great stages, it would be a properly classic race if there was at least one challenger to Froome.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I know people have started moaning about Sky buying up the best support riders by throwing their money around but it doesn't really seem that way to me.
Henao, Nieve, Thomas, Poels, Rowe, Stannard were hardly stellar road riders when they were hired. Poels was considered fairly left field when he was hired. Henao was virtually unknown, Thomas a trackie largely. Rowe and Stannard classics wannabees...

The Kenyan Barloworld bloke was hardly "on fire" when he went to Sky.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Who is saying that?

Dicks. Not you. But dicks in general.

 

[smutchin]

The Kenyan Barloworld bloke was hardly "on fire" when he went to Sky.

Symptoms of schistosomiasis [bilharzia]
• a high temperature (fever) above 38C (100.4F)

 

[Crandoggler]

It's not dull. If Froome is willing to train as hard as he obviously has done, then the other teams need to do the same. This is a business at the end of the day, they need to step up and make it exciting. Otherwise Froome will just keep doing what he does best.

 

[smutchin]

Could have been a different story this year except for puncture Porte got.

Puncture schmuncture. Porte always finds an excuse to lose time one way or another.

He actually lost a bigger chunk of time on the first time trial. And although he was unlucky to puncture when he did on stage 2, there's no excuse for not having a team mate nearby to help. He needn't have lost as much time as he did.

 

[mjr]

Everytime I see Froome roll down that start ramp I think of that TT crash from his Barloworld days.


View: https://youtu.be/7DCe4QVO0PE?t=15

That his under 23 crash? He wasn't even pro then, yet alone on his second team of Barloworld.

 

[brommers]

Stage 19 starts with a climb straight from the off at about 8.5km at 6.3% uncategorised! Looks like a tough category 2 to me.

Stage 15 had a category 2 climb - 8.8km at 5.6%

 

[gavroche]

Feels a bit like Froome is becoming the Schumacher of cycling.

I hope he doesn't take up skiing then.

 

[perplexed]

Is it just my imagination (I have only seen this occasionally so far), but are there more kids running alongside the riders now?
I don't remember seeing kids doing that, only adults, and yet, yesterday and today, I have seen one or two kids doing it.

I do wonder if they are starting getting kids to do it now so that if Froome lamps them or whatever then he'll be in deep sh*t!

No, you're not wrong - I thought the same, and I find it somehow deeply unpleasant. Drunken pillocks doing it is bad enough, but when it's children, often quite young ones at that, screaming in the face of an adult, no. What the hell are the parents doing allowing it? They clearly can't control their children, or they are condoning it - and this is post Ventoux events, it's not like they don't know what can happen.

A couple of days ago, a skinny kid was running alongside a rider for a good 100 metres - thankfully, another spectator in a AG2R top yanked him to one side - I've wondered since if the kid's father went lumbering up the hill, saying 'Oi, get yer 'ands off our lad or al batter yer...'...

Some little snot made a fake 'lunge' at Froome yesterday, with fists clenched - he must have been all of 11 or 12 at the most.

 

[coffeejo]

No, you're not wrong - I thought the same, and I find it somehow deeply unpleasant. Drunken pillocks doing it is bad enough, but when it's children, often quite young ones at that, screaming in the face of an adult, no. What the hell are the parents doing allowing it? They clearly can't control their children, or they are condoning it - and this is post Ventoux events, it's not like they don't know what can happen.

A couple of days ago, a skinny kid was running alongside a rider for a good 100 metres - thankfully, another spectator in a AG2R top yanked him to one side - I've wondered since if the kids father went lumbering up the hill, saying 'Oi, get yer 'ands off our lad or al batter yer...'...

Some little snot made a fake 'lunge' at Froome yesterday, with fists clenched - he must have been all of 11 or 12 at the most.

If we're talking about the same runner who was pulled out of the road by another spectator, I'd describe him as a young man rather than a kid, which to my mind implies 12 and under.

 

[perplexed]

If we're talking about the same runner who was pulled out of the road by another spectator, I'd describe him as a young man rather than a kid, which to my mind implies 12 and under.

I think we may be thinking of a different one, it was certainly a child - although I've no doubt you're quite correct, I'm sure adults have been hoiked off too.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

A couple of days ago, a skinny kid was running alongside a rider for a good 100 metres - thankfully, another spectator in a AG2R top yanked him to one side - I've wondered since if the kids father went lumbering up the hill, saying 'Oi, get yer 'ands off our lad or al batter yer...'...

Was that the one where the spectator managed to grab his flailing arm so that the kid's momentum swung him round away from the cyclists? Exceptionally good catch that.

 

[perplexed]

Was that the one where the spectator managed to grab his flailing arm so that the kid's momentum swung him round away from the cyclists? Exceptionally good catch that.

Yes, that's the one - deftly done I thought. Can't recall who the rider was.

 

[coffeejo]

I think we may be thinking of a different one, it was certainly a child - although I've no doubt you're quite correct, I'm sure adults have been hoiked off too.

Fair enough.