Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

[hoopdriver]

That's an interesting point...

 

[SWSteve]

That sounds plausible.

I was wondering if he might have had carbon wheels swapped for alloys, and therefore had the wrong type of brake pads, but that's just a complete guess and I don't know how much difference it would make anyway.

Aren't carbon specific pads very hard, so they probably wouldn't do much. Have heard 'normal' pads get torn to shreds on carbon wheels

 

[jarlrmai]

Looking at photos the neutral wheels are carbon braking surface.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

"After his bad crash yesterday in one of the downhill sections, the BORA – hansgrohe leader suffers from heavy contusions and lost a lot of skin. Together with his BORA – hansgrohe Team, Majka decided to leave the Tour de France. After some rest to recover, he will refocus and prepare for the rest of the season."

 

[mjr]

That sounds plausible.

I was wondering if he might have had carbon wheels swapped for alloys, and therefore had the wrong type of brake pads, but that's just a complete guess and I don't know how much difference it would make anyway.

Any road up, Dan Martin fails Bikeability Level 1 for not testing his brakes before riding off!

 

[Tynan]

I think he was in a hurry

Is it just me or does he give Porte a real offs look as he gets up and starts to pick up his bike?

Any news on Porte's bike last seen heading down a tree littered ravine? There might a bit more than the front brakes wrong with that one.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I think he was in a hurry

Is it just me or does he give Porte a real offs look as he gets up and starts to pick up his bike?

Any news on Porte's bike last seen heading down a tree littered ravine? There might a bit more than the front brakes wrong with that one.

It looked like he was about to have a right moan at him but then he realised that Porte wasn't getting up and rightly got on with his race. Would be great if he could get on the podium, but I think he will have to settle for a top 10.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Majka deffo oot

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

So Majka took out Trentin and Thomas, all 3 now out of the Tour.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

It's hard to avoid concluding that the commercial interests of groupset manufacturers, looking to showcase ever more ludicrous bottom gears, is causing the situation where Grand Tours are won or lost by crashes rather than climbing ability. As the race organisers look for ever steeper climbs for the groupset interests, by their nature, the steeper roads are likely to have descents that are steeper, narrower, and more sinuous. All of which make crashes more likely.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

There does seem to be a bit of a driver v rider battle on the roads of France; a few "high profile" events e.g. Offredo being assaulted with a baseball bat and a blade earlier this year. Demare also tweeted that his cousin was knocked off his bike earlier this week by someone aiming a car at him, I think on the same day as Demare won a stage (or the day before/after)

The French need to follow the example of the RTTC. TT venues identified only by code (the K37 was my local), start times at 6 in the morning, (or even earlier for some of the longer events I rode !), and riders dressed in regulation black alpaca. Then they could ride time trials to their hearts content while not attracting the attention of the local drivers or constabulary. Worked for us.

 

[smutchin]

It's hard to avoid concluding that the commercial interests of groupset manufacturers, looking to showcase ever more ludicrous bottom gears, is causing the situation where Grand Tours are won or lost by crashes rather than climbing ability. As the race organisers look for ever steeper climbs for the groupset interests, by their nature, the steeper roads are likely to have descents that are steeper, narrower, and more sinuous. All of which make crashes more likely.

I was discussing this with a friend earlier. I came to the conclusion that Porte is a big doofus.

Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for him - I don't like to see anyone crash like that, not even Vinokourov. It looked really nasty. But it was a bike handling error on his part. Entirely his own fault. Nothing to do with his gearing or what brand of shifters he was using.

Porte lost time on the opening stage time trial, if you recall, and the reason he gave in the post-race interview was that he didn't think it was worth risking the whole race for the sake of gaining a handful of seconds. You have to ask why he didn't apply the same philosophy on the descent of the Mont du Chat. If you're not as confident or capable a bike handler as your rivals, don't try to take the same risks. Simples.

It's worth looking at Fuglsang for a comparison - he had a bit of a wobble and it clearly knocked his confidence, and after that he took it much more cautiously. It cost him a bit of time, but hey, he's still in the race.

Also, could you please tell me what groupset Bardet was using that allowed him to descend like that? Because if that's what the right groupset can do for you, I'm going to buy one tomorrow.

 

[Adam4868]

Star of the show for me so.far has been Kwiatowski,always liked him as a rider.After yesterday's awesome ride for Froome he decided to help a injured Rafal Majka to continue as best he could.Polish mafia ! He has to be a future contender ?

 

[brommers]

I wonder if Dan had been riding discs would he have been able to complete the stage without taking a massive time loss.

He only lost just over a minute

 

[smutchin]

He only lost just over a minute

He would have won the stage if that nobber hadn't knocked him off.