Va Va Froome
Veteran
- Location
- Blairgowrie, Perthshire
I'm really intrigued to see how van Avermaet handles the mountains. I don't really know how he has managed them in previous Grand Tours. Is he expected to go all the way in this?
Tour de France 2018 **SPOILERS**
- Thread starter rich p
- Start date
-
- Tags
- tour de france
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Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
what a fantastic photograph. Froome and others crash. From the bbc website.
Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
He's not a climber; he'll lose the yellow jersey on Tuesday with the first Alpine stage, and be doing well if he's in the top 50 coming out of the Alps.
brommers
Years beyond my wisdom
- Location
- Clacton-on-Sea
What's interesting about that?
brommers
Years beyond my wisdom
- Location
- Clacton-on-Sea
He won't be wearing yellow this time on Tuesday
Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
Just that he is viewed by many as a genuine grand tour contender, yet has never even won a stage of any grand tour.
Fight.The.Power
Well-Known Member
Absolutely thrilled for Degenkolb. Can see how much it meant to him and how much the injury could have wrecked his career. Should see a resurgent John in next years classics hopefully 
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Hasn't Porte just copied Froome in crashing out on the cobbled stage before reaching the first cobbled sector? So he's behaving like a contender...
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
Aye, so the shame is that the British talent squad were blind.Born in Birmingham, grew up in Tamworth. Chose to take on his mother's Irish nationality when the British talent squad overlooked him.
Fight.The.Power
Well-Known Member
Not sure what all this stuff about Porte is. He was a definite contender for this years tour and I’m sorry to see him go.
But surely everyone knows you can win a tour without ever winning a stage. Ever. Right
But surely everyone knows you can win a tour without ever winning a stage. Ever. Right
Anyone think yesterdays stage was too much? Too many cobble sectors. The cycling press is full of those comments this morning, as it always is after a controversial stage but even so, I was thinking there was just a few too many cobble sections for a GT race and the biggest disappointment for me is seeing Uran slip back, not so bothered about Porte, though sad to see, I thought at least one stage would do for him.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
I also felt sorry for Uran. I had high hopes for him in this Tour and that's a big setback. Didn't see what actually happened to him though - did he fall off or was he caught behind someone else's crash? Or was it mechanicals?
Bardet had some rotten luck yesterday too - five punctures, was it? AG2R need to have a word with their tyre suppliers. Still, he and his team did phenomenally well to make sure he didn't lose any time.
Nibali was conspicuously inconspicuous yesterday. I wondered if he might try something* but he's obviously keeping his powder dry - and most importantly, keeping out of trouble.
Don't know about fairness or otherwise of the cobbles. It made for an entertaining stage. Probably tougher in some ways than Paris-Roubaix because it was that much shorter that it made for more intense racing from the start. Very different kind of racing in the context of a stage race rather than a one-day race too. It was good to watch, but a bit chaotic.
*late change of mind in the punditry saw me change my third pick from Degenkolb to Nibali. Doh!
Bardet had some rotten luck yesterday too - five punctures, was it? AG2R need to have a word with their tyre suppliers. Still, he and his team did phenomenally well to make sure he didn't lose any time.
Nibali was conspicuously inconspicuous yesterday. I wondered if he might try something* but he's obviously keeping his powder dry - and most importantly, keeping out of trouble.
Don't know about fairness or otherwise of the cobbles. It made for an entertaining stage. Probably tougher in some ways than Paris-Roubaix because it was that much shorter that it made for more intense racing from the start. Very different kind of racing in the context of a stage race rather than a one-day race too. It was good to watch, but a bit chaotic.
*late change of mind in the punditry saw me change my third pick from Degenkolb to Nibali. Doh!
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Ag2R's tyres probably aren't to blame. It seemed only Bardet punctured so much and I suspect it was because he kept heading for the sharp-filled gutters instead of the crown of the road, which usually works on Belgian cobbled roads but is not good for the farm track sectors of Paris-Roubaix where if there's no dirt path alongside (Arenberg forest?), it's better to stay in the middle. It's why PR is so much harder on the bikes than Belgian races.
Uran fell just before Landa but had already burned most of his teammates chasing back after being caught behind both Porte and Froome crashes, while Movistar hadn't yet had to chase.
