Tour de France 2016 **SPOILERS**

[HF2300]

Eurosport seem to have rechristened Contador 'Alberta'

 

[HF2300]

21 riders in the lead
Alejandro Valverde, Winner Anacona, Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Diego Rosa, Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Rafal Majka, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-LaMondiale), George Bennett (Lotto-Jumbo), Mathias Frank, Stef Clement, Jérôme Coppel (IAM), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Tom Dumoulin (Giant), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Rui Costa, Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida), Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Dani Navarro, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis).
Peloton at 2.05 at km 38.

 

[coffeejo]

The TDF tracker says Sagan caught up with the leading group on the descent. Dare I ask how he rode?!

 

[Tin Pot]

What happened to Cav yesterday and what was this talk of getting in a bus?

 

[coffeejo]

What happened to Cav yesterday and what was this talk of getting in a bus?

Cav doesn't like the Pyrenees, specifically going up them on a bicycle. He threw up several times yesterday from the effort, which should put off anyone who ever wants to touch one of his bikes as an act of reverence.

As for the bus, it's the autobus, a slang term for the group of riders clinging on at the back of the race, all hating the mountains (whether because they're not climbers or because they're ill or injured) and desperately trying to stay within the time limit to avoid getting eliminated.

 

[HF2300]

As for the bus, it's the autobus, a slang term for the group of riders clinging on at the back of the race, all hating the mountains (whether because they're not climbers or because they're ill or injured) and desperately trying to stay within the time limit to avoid getting eliminated.

You might also hear it called the grupetto or laughing group. Part of the idea is they'll get over the mountains better as a group working for each other, part of it is that if there are a lot of them and they do go over the time limit for the stage, the organisers won't be able to eliminate them as they'd lose too many of the peloton.

There's also a real bus, or minibus; the voiture balai, or broom wagon, so called as it follows the race and sweeps up riders who've abandoned. No-one wants to get in that if they can avoid it.

 

[mjr]

They've jumped to a segment on Nibili, but said they will be back to the race once they get out of the neutral zone (is that the correct term, or have I slipped back into Star Trek?)

Well, Nibali did get disqualified for being a cling on...

 

[HF2300]

"I did my work uphill, it was Nairo Quintana's job to follow Froome".

 

[HF2300]

Well, Nibali did get disqualified for being a cling on...

Took you far too long to think of that one...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Valverde seems to have dropped back to the peleton as his presence in the breakaway was proving unpopular (he is too high up in GC for Sky not to catch a breakaway with him in it).

 

[lutonloony]

To prove that my morning coffee is kicking in, I've just remembered that the coverage on ITV4 starts at one today instead of two o'clock.

Cheers for that

 

[mjr]

Took you far too long to think of that one...

I was messing with bike bits this morning not reading CC.

France 3's break bumpers make the Skoda "aren't cyclists nobbers?" ones on ITV seem positively sane. They seem to consist of groundhog pop/rock bands boogieing.

 

[brommers]

Will the peloton bother to hunt down the breakaway group?

 

[HF2300]

Peloton at 4 minutes now, but all the stragglers and grupetto are back in it bar Voeckler, Howard and Fonseca, according to the tracker.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Doesn't look like a good day for Dirty Bertie...

Tinkoff's sport director Sean Yates told Francetelevisions from his team car: “Alberto [Contador] had a bit of fever this morning. He told us at the beginning of the race that he wasn't feeling super and it's obvious. We've told him to stay quiet. Now the peloton is going slower, which is better for his recovery after the fast start this morning.”