Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

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Crackle

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The rest day is speculation day. My speculation is that Froome is a cut above everyone else, with a caveat. There aren't many riders who could have got back on yesterday with AG2R riding so hard and not many teams with the riders to bridge that gap. So he effectively rode away from everyone else going full gas, if they'd been level, so I'm expecting him to blow the race apart on stage 18. The caveat is, he's always weaker in the third week.

Bardet for all his good work, could come undone and off the podium in the final TT, so he really needs minutes going into it and I can't see him doing that. Uran is looking good for a podium if he can hold his form. Landa too, if he continues his unreal form. I don't think Martin can hold on in the alps and Yates will probably go past him. Quintana always goes well in week 3 but who knows now. Aru is looking good so far but again the TT could do for him.
 
Pale Rider

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Dave Davenport said:
Yep, it's Sky thing. 'F**k Sky' was painted on the road where we were in Cherbourg last year and anything Sky branded was getting booed, what with the murky TUE debacle and Dave B's less than convincing performance, I expected it to be worse this year (I'm not saying it's ok by the way).
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I can't imagine bellowing abuse at a cyclist because of what's written on his jersey, but we've seen tantrums thrown on here at the mention of Sky, so I'm sure you are on the right lines.

Seems to me Sky - rather like Manchester City - can buy whoever they want.

One might think a team in search of young talent would look closely at the emerging French riders.

It will be interesting if Sky buy Bardet to see if he gets abuse next year when he rides past the knuckle draggers in his Sky branded yellow jersey.
 
Dave Davenport

Dave Davenport

Guru
Location
Hampshire
Pale Rider said:
I can't imagine bellowing abuse at a cyclist because of what's written on his jersey, but we've seen tantrums thrown on here at the mention of Sky, so I'm sure you are on the right lines.

Seems to me Sky - rather like Manchester City - can buy whoever they want.

One might think a team in search of young talent would look closely at the emerging French riders.

It will be interesting if Sky buy Bardet to see if he gets abuse next year when he rides past the knuckle draggers in his Sky branded yellow jersey.
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I think quite a few of the French see Sky as the new US Postal/Discovery (including the pharmaceutical element). I'd have loved to see Froome jump ship and join a French team or, as has been mentioned, Sky to sign a French (future?) GC contender (Lilian Calmejane?).
 
OP
OP
brommers

brommers

Years beyond my wisdom
Location
Clacton-on-Sea
Crackle said:
Bardet for all his good work, could come undone and off the podium in the final TT, so he really needs minutes going into it and I can't see him doing that. Uran is looking good for a podium if he can hold his form. Landa too, if he continues his unreal form. I don't think Martin can hold on in the alps and Yates will probably go past him. Quintana always goes well in week 3 but who knows now. Aru is looking good so far but again the TT could do for him.
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Looking ahead to the TT, apart from Froome, most of the GC men aren't very good time trailers. In fact I was surprised to see that Simon Yates was the best of the rest.
 
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Crackle

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brommers said:
Looking ahead to the TT, apart from Froome, most of the GC men aren't very good time trailers. In fact I was surprised to see that Simon Yates was the best of the rest.
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Indeed. It could make for an interesting fight for podium places, depending on how the alps shake things out. Even Contador could still be in with a shout.
 
Aravis

Aravis

Putrid Donut
Location
Gloucester
Dogtrousers said:
I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that an ideal ingredient for a grand tour is intra-team rivalry, with riders attacking their team leader, or each other or whatever. The 1959 French riders (intra-national in that case), Roche/Visentini, Hinault/Lemond, even Froome/Wiggins.

Prudhomme should employ rumour-mongers to spread discontent and distrust in the major teams before each tour.
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They've certainly made for compulsive viewing. Riis/Ullrich in 1996/97 could be added to that list.

Maybe intra-team rivalry is the best strategy. Apart from 1959 when Anquetil's objective was sabotage, in all these cases the team has ended up winning. That's a bit counter-intuitive - you'd think that a divided team would be making itself vulnerable, but I'm strugging to think of a case where this had happened.

In 1990, I remember that Indurain continued to be Delgado's faithful team-mate long after it was obvious he was the stronger. I don't know if he could have won that year but the strategy certainly didn't give the team its best chance.

The 1981 Giro was an interesting one - the Bianchi team with Prim, Contini and Baronchelli should have had the strength to win, but they tried to do things democratically and missed out.
 
hoopdriver

hoopdriver

Guru
Location
East Sussex
Dogtrousers said:
Didn't Bertie and Armstrong have a falling out in Astana in Armstrong's comeback too. (And he won, too)
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Big time, yes.
 
smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
roadrash

roadrash

cycle chatterer
Location
sitting on the edge of wigan pier
Marmion said:
I reckon each team should have a proper Wildman, a complete nutjob who could be used to protect the rest of his team from spectators; they could ride along with wooden clubs strapped to their bikes and wallop spectators if they got in the way or looked a bit dodgy. A sure-fire winner.
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you could add another dimension to pro tour punditry, bonus points for whos Wildman pick decks the most spectators :crazy::boxing::ninja:
 
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