Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

[hoopdriver]

I'm not sure that would make me like him any better

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I know we're supposed to get over it and not mention it, but the absence of at least three, possibly four of the sprinters Cav, Sagan, Demare ... Renshaw) hasn't exactly enlivened the pancake stages.

(Although even if Cav had stayed upright, it's possible that he may have been eliminated along with Demare after Mont du Chat, especially given that he wasn't 100% fit)

And, still, Bouhanni is fecking nowhere

 

[smutchin]

I guess it makes it that bit easier to reel them in when it comes to the business end of the stage, and therefore less likely for a miscalculation in the chase that allows the break to succeed.

...and still they sometimes nearly manage to cock it up!

 

[roadrash]

,

And, still, Bouhanni is fecking nowhere

Boohoohani should be on his way home after hitting yesterday, fekin nob

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

,


Boohoohani should be on his way home after hitting yesterday, fekin nob

it was the weakest slap ever, he must be a crap boxer as well

 

[themosquitoking]

I thought he looked at him once with disdain.

I assumed the reason was that he caused the crash, my assumptions were backed up by one of the car men giving the fallen bloke a new bike and just pointing at the road.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I hope we see teams attacking Sky in the next couple of stages and applying pressure; they need to batter away, and keep battering.

 

[Adam4868]

I hope we see teams attacking Sky in the next couple of stages and applying pressure; they need to batter away, and keep battering.

That's all they can do.I think Bardet ag2r will push it.Plenty more twitchy descending to.come

 

[Tynan]

The peleton will only let certain riders escape. If the group is too dangerous they won't let them go. So the breakaway is basically self selecting.a big group of heavy hitters is unlikely to escape.

Suppose but rather like Eurosport today kept saying, surely someone has to try something to shake it up, even if you can only increase the pace to see what happens, has to be better than trundling along so the sprinters can have a giggle in the last km and the regular fellas all roll over the line together.

if the yanks ever get interested, they'll come up with something, joker cards for shortcuts or 5 minute tows from your team card, shake it up

 

[ColinJ]

I doubt it is genuinely the most boring Tour route ever, we're just more exposed to the filler bits because of the start-to-finish TV coverage.

I am watching the 1 hour highlights shows which feature about 20 minutes of adverts and only about 40 minutes of content but I use fast-forward so often that I am watching those sprint stages in about 10-15 minutes. It really IS one of the most boring routes that I can remember since I started watching in 1989!

 

[mjr]

Another nice little run-in for the sprinters tomorrow(!)

 

[Bonus]

We're leaving home to go and watch today and staying over in Saint-Girons for tomorrows stage. It's 80km from home to where we want to watch today - but it will take 2hrs 40 min to get there thanks to those pesky mountains!

 

[MikeG]

Suppose but rather like Eurosport today kept saying, surely someone has to try something to shake it up, even if you can only increase the pace to see what happens, has to be better than trundling along so the sprinters can have a giggle in the last km and the regular fellas all roll over the line together.

if the yanks ever get interested, they'll come up with something, joker cards for shortcuts or 5 minute tows from your team card, shake it up

I suggested in another thread that once or twice during the tour there are pursuit days, where the riders get set off at their over-all time. So the leader would go first, followed, at the moment, by Aru 18 seconds later, Bardet 33 seconds after him, and so on. The leader on the road is the leader of the GC, and sprinters wouldn't get the chance to be anywhere near the front of the race if they hadn't kept their over-all time within reach of the front of the race. If nothing else, it would force a change of tactics by the teams in the days leading up to the pursuit day, because they couldn't afford to have big gaps between their riders if they wanted to work together.

The thing is, so many people see the Tours as perfect as they are, and even mentioning the prospect of doing something to break up the Sunday-club-ride-with-sprint routine is seen as an anathema. Watch the snide comments follow........

 

[hoopdriver]

That's a nice idea - reintroducing the idea of actually racing...

 

[Adam4868]

There's nothing stopping them 'racing'.As I'm sure you'll see today.It's sky's race to try and control/defend and everyone else's to attack !