SWSteve
Guru
- Location
- Bristol...ish
Uran may have previous with TTs, but it appears he isn't a fan of the slice...comments along the line of it's easy to ride but not outright fast.
Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***
- Thread starter brommers
- Start date
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hoopdriver
Guru
- Location
- East Sussex
My guess? He'll be conservative. He has the ITT as his hole card. He doesn't need to take risks or do any swashbuckling - Sky will control the stage (as best they can) knowing that if Froome has any kind of lead at all - or even a small deficit - he can almost surely ace them at the ITT on Saturday and ride into Paris in yellow. It'll be totally down to the others to unseat him, or try to.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
He'll want a stage win though, and today looks his best bet - he might take time out of his rivals on the TT but I don't think he'll win the stage outright. So if Landa can deliver him to the final 500m today, he'll go for it.
Bardet is also bound to try something as this is his last throw of the dice and it's worth taking chances because he could fall off the podium in the TT anyway.
Aru will also have to try something, but I think he's done and will probably lose more time today.
Uran probably knows he can't take enough time out of Froome, so will save all his efforts for the final sprint in a bid to gain a few bonus seconds.
Martin will go for it but won't succed. He said at the start of the race that he'd learnt his lessons from attacking too much last year, but since the crash he's had too much time to make up to be able to afford to ride conservatively. It's a real shame because he could have been up there with Uran otherwise. Anyway, my hunch is that he'll probably attack with 2-3km left and end up losing over a minute.
Contador played his final card yesterday. Yates is cooked. So is Meintjes.
Barguil will want to seal the KOM competition but the question is whether he does that on the Col de Vars before the serious racing kicks off, or saves his effort to do it in style on the Izoard with the stage win. I'm guessing he won't be in contention at the finish.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
This makes me feel old... I had an audio cassette of a Bill Hicks stand-up show (the Flying Saucer Tour?) with that routine in it. He was great. Much missed.
View: https://youtu.be/KWdxV8JRnUQ
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Anyone watching La Course?
Annemiek Van Vleuten is looking imperious.
Annemiek Van Vleuten is looking imperious.
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Me and yes. Superb attack. She's a classy rider.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Lizzie resurgent!
roadrash
cycle chatterer
- Location
- sitting on the edge of wigan pier
cracking win for van vleuten and a good ride from deignan
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Dave Millar had made some comment early on that Cannondale haven't retained the TT knowledge that the Garmin squad used to have. Also, if Uran doesn't like the Slice, maybe he sabotaged it to get to try the road bike in a fairly short TT?
Uran has done good ITTs but not yet for Cannondale... it's an unknown that will probably make everyone nervous, including Uran.
Interestingly, la Course is employing the very idea that @MikeG came out with about a pursuit with riders setting off with the gaps they gained today. Not everyone though, only the first 21 to cross the line.
In her interview at the end, Deignan mentioned that she might set off and wait for Megan Guarnier and then pursue Van Vleuten together. So exactly the criticisms of the idea we came out with were mentioned straight away. Personally I think it's a dog's dinner of an idea and everyone will bunch and ride together, however, let's see what happens.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/07/19/lizzie-deignan-feels-unsure-la-course-format/
In her interview at the end, Deignan mentioned that she might set off and wait for Megan Guarnier and then pursue Van Vleuten together. So exactly the criticisms of the idea we came out with were mentioned straight away. Personally I think it's a dog's dinner of an idea and everyone will bunch and ride together, however, let's see what happens.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/07/19/lizzie-deignan-feels-unsure-la-course-format/
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
This is the format they're using for the second stage of La Course - a 22km TT/pursuit.
One obvious flaw is that the race has to be kept very short in order for the time gaps to be meaningful, which means that by the time the later riders start, the race will already be pretty much all over.
A longer format would end up effectively becoming a one-day bunch race.
ETA: @Crackle posted while I was typing this.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Am surprised the more knowledgeable have not answered this!
Agreed he deservedly won it - a pile of €€€€s and a pile of (Izoard) rocks on a plinth?
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
She also seemed very blasé - dismissive, even - about the second stage. She certainly didn't seem impressed or excited at the prospect. Nor was it a consideration in her tactical thinking today - she was going for the stage win regardless.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
I missed @brommers post. It's the prize for being first rider to cross the highest point in the Tour - equivalent to the Giro's Cima Coppi. This year, as in so many other years, it was the Galibier, at 2642m.
I'm not sure if any of the other climbs they regularly use in the Tour are higher. The Col de l'Iseran is 2770m but they don't go there so often.
For comparison, the summit of the Izoard is 400m lower in altitude at 2360m.
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