Tour de France 2016 **SPOILERS**

[smutchin]

Moments after the initial crash, from cyclingnews.com - you can see the moto behind running into Froome's bike. He's lucky it was only the bike that got mangled and not his legs...

 

[Roadrider48]

And why not? I expect he'll also have to submit to a dope test, also seriously.

No problem with it being checked. Just doesn't sit right, considering being accused of cheating seems to be part of Froomes cycling career.
If you're a fantastic climber you automatically come under suspicion.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Great quote on Twitter -

"Ban disc brakes on motorbikes".

 

[albion]

Twitter says Trek Segafredo have submitted a protest against the decision. Not sure if that's true as it wasn't Trek Segafredi themselves

If true they really need to wake up and smell their coffee.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Another thing: did I imagine it, or was Porte really about to stop to offer Froome his bike until he remembered he's no longer on the same team?

I said to our lass it would have been funny if he had got off his bike and gave it to Froome.

Richie Porte - Sky's number 10

 

[Crandoggler]

Well initially I was pissed off with the result before the highlights started. But Jesus wept! What a race.

Quintana is absolutely nowhere. It gave me deep joy to watch him drop off the back of Froome and Porte. Such a shame that the full impact of the race didn't play out. I can imagine Quintana being a hell of a long way down.

 

[ManiaMuse]

Don't think anyone has mentioned this already, but I've just seen elsewhere that the reason Froome wasn't able to ride the neutral service bike was because it had Look pedals and he uses Shimano. The only other option is a bike with flat pedals and toeclips, apparently.

I know the service bikes don't get called into use very often but I can't believe it has never occurred to them before that this might be an issue. FFS.

Problem is if the neutral car carried bikes with all pedal systems (Shimano/Look/Speedplay/Flats+toeclips) in at least 2 (ideally 3) bike sizes each they wouldn't have enough space to put them all on the roof!

Really it's just a sponsorship car for Mavic, as proven today it's never going to useful in the time you could just wait for your team car if you are already at the front. Although it's occasionally useful for quick wheel changes if you get a puncture. At some of the classics they sometimes have motorbikes carrying a couple of spare wheels over the cobbled sections which get taken fairly often.

 

[smutchin]

Really it's just a sponsorship car for Mavic

This crossed my mind - and I presume the reason they choose Look is because that's who they have their commercial deal with rather than rider considerations, although I guess quite a high proportion of the peloton probably do use Look.

Interestingly, while most of Sky use Shimano, Elia Viviani uses Speedplay, so he'd be no good for Froome as a bike swap partner (not that he's ever likely to be in that position, not least because he's also a fair bit shorter than Froome).

 

[HF2300]

Yeah, Quintana can count himself lucky..

Doubly lucky, I think. Given Mollema also crashed, that whole group have effectively been penalised around 15 - 30 seconds, and according to Bruno Valcic the Quintana group was credited with the time of the Yates group as they 'were possibly held up a bit by the crash', so Quintana's benefited from a few more seconds there.

Don't think anyone has mentioned this already, but I've just seen elsewhere that the reason Froome wasn't able to ride the neutral service bike was because it had Look pedals and he uses Shimano. The only other option is a bike with flat pedals and toeclips, apparently. I know the service bikes don't get called into use very often but I can't believe it has never occurred to them before that this might be an issue. FFS.

It's something that's definitely been discussed before, but I think was given up on as too difficult to solve given the variation of systems in the peloton. Realistically since they can't possibly cope with the range of bike variations (sizes, pedal systems, etc.) needed to accomodate all the riders in the peloton, the neutral service vehicles are only really of use for wheels (and not always then) and the bikes are pretty useless for anything more than a last ditch effort while the team car catches up.

Moments after the initial crash, from cyclingnews.com - you can see the moto behind running into Froome's bike. He's lucky it was only the bike that got mangled and not his legs...

Really they all got away with it pretty lightly. That could easily have been 3 riders abandoning due to broken bones. Think ASO will be breathing a big sigh of relief tonight.

 

[HF2300]

Yes, you already said that. I replied to describe some trees near the commentary positions that were thrashing around even without helicopters.

Ah, sorry. I thought you'd read it as me saying it wasn't really windy, whereas I was just amused at Boulting taking downwash as evidence of the weather conditions.

 

[SWSteve]

Quintana cracked, he looked lost when Froome and Porte bounced off the front. Porte looks to be in great form, it's a shame he lost that time at the start as he could be stirring the GC right up.

 

[jarlrmai]

Ventoux delivers again most dramatic stage and they didn't even go to the top, the sight of the yellow jersey legging it up the Ventoux will live long in the memory.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

From what I can gather it wasn't the initial crash that broke Froome's bike, but after he went down one of the following motos rode over it. While you may excuse the lead moto who had no choice but to stop (Though you could question why he had to be so close to the riders) the second one had no business sitting on the wheels of the riders.

If the life of Demoitié and the continued coma of Broekx were worth something, if the UCI had taken control of the situation, then that moto rider following should be publicly named, shamed and thrown off cycling events for life. In the event it looked a bit like it ran over the bike stays and broke that and not the legs, life, or cycling career of a cyclist but the rules applied to motos have to accommodate the what-ifs. I can understand the first moto having to make an emergency stop given the crowds but not the following bike being too close to stop in time. Unforgivable.

 

[Andrew_P]

Have they tested Froomes Cleats yet, for illegal motors.

Awful as it was I did lol, only thesecond day I have been to avoid seeing the result before settling down to the highlights! I get so much more work done when the TdF is on lol

 

[Smokin Joe]

If the life of Demoitié and the continued coma of Broekx were worth something, if the UCI had taken control of the situation, then that moto rider following should be publicly named, shamed and thrown off cycling events for life. In the event it looked a bit like it ran over the bike stays and broke that and not the legs, life, or cycling career of a cyclist but the rules applied to motos have to accommodate the what-ifs. I can understand the first moto having to make an emergency stop given the crowds but not the following bike being too close to stop in time. Unforgivable.

The moto into which Porte crashed was itself held up by two or three other motorbikes in front of it. WTF do they need so many of them on the race for?