Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

[Fight.The.Power]

Between 13:53 and 14:00 UK time. Beautiful country indeed.

 

[Speicher]

Saint Bonnet was the large village where they showed Head Chef and lots of trainee chefs outdoors around a very large dish.

When I stayed at that hotel, the owner was just starting up his Cookery School.

It was a very relaxed holiday, with guided walks each day, and a very large buffet lunch was brought out to the lunch stop. The countryside was lovely for fairly gentle walks as Saint Bonnet is on a plateau. Looking at the website, I think the Hotel has changed significantly, and it now has an outdoor pool. The preserved railways (Vivarais for one), were also picturesque.

 

[Nomadski]

Nice for ITV to be carrying out scheduled maintenance on their internet servers during todays event.... :/

 

[Crackle]

Nice for ITV to be carrying out scheduled maintenance on their internet servers during todays event.... :/

It could be worse, it could be stage 18.

Anyhow, Mathews and his men have played a blinder so far, let's see if they can finish it. Points race wide open, well more open, if they can.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

It could be worse, it could be stage 18.

Anyhow, Mathews and his men have played a blinder so far, let's see if they can finish it. Points race wide open, well more open, if they can.

And if same plays out on Friday

 

[smutchin]

Points race wide open, well more open, if they can.

There's a maximum of 50 points up for grabs today, which would put Matthews 29 points behind Kittel. Matthews could conceivably bag the intermediate sprint points tomorrow and Thursday as well. Friday's stage has a Cat 3 climb 30km from the finish, which he could also exploit to his advantage.

Have to assume that Kittel will win on Sunday but it could all end up being much closer than anticipated.

 

[mjr]

The whole thing is a bit odd though isn't it ? Nobody can have any idea how the riders of yesteryear could perform in today's conditions, and vice versa. Stage distances, drugs, nutrition, bike technology, especially weight and gear ratios, power meters, team tactics, and road surfaces all make it an impossible question.

Millar did at least nod towards that when selecting Maurice Garin, though. Actually, Garin, Anquetil... didn't Millar's team have rather a lot of cheats and big egos? It would be entertaining for sure but I suspect it could easily become a nightmare rather than a dream team!

Best of last night's features was probably this IMO - I'm surprised no-one's taken it too seriously apart from on one forum:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_savYlnBc

 

[smutchin]

What was Millar's team selection? I missed it last night.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Sprint at 43.5km

 

[smutchin]

Dan Martin gapped! Oh no!

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Martin doesn't look that far behind ?

Edit: jeez 34' now

 

[smutchin]

Martin doesn't look that far behind ?

34 seconds back now and sinking fast. Meintjes is with him and they're both losing ground quickly. With the speed of the lead bunch, that's race over for both of them, I'm afraid. Contador is even further back.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Cmon Bling !!!

 

[roadrash]

cant understand why half the team wasn't sent back to help kittel and half stay with Dan Martin, the cross winds was expected, massive cock up by them in my oppinion

 

[smutchin]

EBH got that?