Tour de France 2019 **SPOILERS**

[nickyboy]

I'm hoping for a French winner because it's like a British winner at Wimbledon. It transcends sport
Like @Adam4868 says, the fact there is no one dominant team this year makes for great racing. Best Tour I've seen for ages
Pinot looks great. If he can keep this up he will comfortably overhaul those ahead of him. My guess is he will be in yellow for Stage 20

 

[Dave Davenport]

For fans it's a great prospect for the final week;
Alaphilippe could possibly hang on to Paris which, whilst not looking likely would be brilliant
Thomas could be riding into form and come good in the Alps to cement his status as a GT rider
Pinot builds on the great form he's shown and never has to buy a drink in any bar in France for the rest of his life
Someone else wins
Quintana & Landa stop and have a punch up halfway up a mountain*
Quintana attacks with panache and determination on all three remaining mountain stages sealing overall victory with the winning time bonus on the final one*

N.B *one of those last two scenarios is pure fantasy

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Still the good guy!!


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[themosquitoking]

Maybe DB is having 5 of the 7 riders look like they're cooked on purpose and then in the last three stages it'll be like when DV revealed that the DS2s defences were fully operational.

 

[Beebo]

Still the good guy!!


=68.ARD9rZK0zJohUPR4J8ILvsVJxkymYpkEAN7hbMY46CbhGyoReduVFrXUjJkxsk4ZP5hwTJvcIJ3RkdasqUBD0uWAD4ml2oDpKhls_omsYWEQeiV6f-UkMFDy5Ct19FXRrdUxhAUxj9WbfQnqwxIQLxnB6QcN1jXa_RNn7s2MI50aRckq-dATc54249g-sSie5VHkQfEAe1_LCx9r3zLA2zJKL-fDrXkFvpNXgBphvuhhRWfA49f1qUq6uDNHKjd1oNU-yEe0oqf02P32rupth7_Im1tON4Yp1CDIJL6KZRAtYeMxT5qpi2kGOXGhDDUlNhlI2dBjbZxIyCfjhO3lCshxGkW2-QEX]View: https://www.facebook.com/CyclingHubTV/videos/470030147012072/?__tn__=kCH-R&eid=ARCWeyP41AuCxJidqZ5pgVPdZWID9RusslQHtBZXRda2kZAarjbrfRz_zDXI6JSD1VFap7jwsFVn-DNL&hc_ref=ARQ3aG6CfM8mjATsKBgE8ZVp2v0kJuzFoEkiuLUr26OXeEH1_Cpk_Y5WnKv3UTqBDSk&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARD9rZK0zJohUPR4J8ILvsVJxkymYpkEAN7hbMY46CbhGyoReduVFrXUjJkxsk4ZP5hwTJvcIJ3RkdasqUBD0uWAD4ml2oDpKhls_omsYWEQeiV6f-UkMFDy5Ct19FXRrdUxhAUxj9WbfQnqwxIQLxnB6QcN1jXa_RNn7s2MI50aRckq-dATc54249g-sSie5VHkQfEAe1_LCx9r3zLA2zJKL-fDrXkFvpNXgBphvuhhRWfA49f1qUq6uDNHKjd1oNU-yEe0oqf02P32rupth7_Im1tON4Yp1CDIJL6KZRAtYeMxT5qpi2kGOXGhDDUlNhlI2dBjbZxIyCfjhO3lCshxGkW2-QEX

Love it, but the signature didn’t look very impressive.

 

[nickyboy]

Just ruminating on how small margins can potentially affect the overall results.....

On the crosswinds stage, Pinot group got within 12 seconds chasing back on to the lead group (with Thomas, Bernal and Alaphillipe). They then blew up and shipped, I think, about 1min 40s to the lead group

Basically Pinot has been spending the rest of the Tour chipping away at this.

If his group had bridged those 12 seconds, he would be within 10 seconds of Alaphillipe now and well ahead of the others. I hope he wins and doesn't have to look back at that 12 second gap as the thing that lost him the Tour

 

[rich p]

Expert opinion has it that if the team leaders, Pinot, Fuglsang etc had used their domestiques better, rather than burning them off, they'd have lost far less time
Either way it's a self-inflicted racing tactical bollox and not a crash or a mechanical

 

[Shadow]

Just ruminating on how small margins can potentially affect the overall results.....

On the crosswinds stage, Pinot group got within 12 seconds chasing back on to the lead group (with Thomas, Bernal and Alaphillipe). They then blew up and shipped, I think, about 1min 40s to the lead group

Basically Pinot has been spending the rest of the Tour chipping away at this.

If his group had bridged those 12 seconds, he would be within 10 seconds of Alaphillipe now and well ahead of the others. I hope he wins and doesn't have to look back at that 12 second gap as the thing that lost him the Tour

You are absolutely correct. And as spectators with hindsight this is a natural thing to do.
However, would TP have attacked in quite the same way over the last 2 days if he had not shipped that time in the crosswinds?
We shall never know and so all pure speculation for threads like these!

Good summary, as usual by Inrng here.

 

[Crackle]

Gawd I hate rest days. The last one is a reminder that this time next week I'll be having withdrawal symptoms from Le Tour.

 

[Dogtrousers]

You can tell this is a good edition, because we're not spending our time inventing ways to improve the Tour - you know, 200k individual mountain time trial; ban spectators; ban power meters; back to Desgrange basics: ban gears; and so on.

 

[Adam4868]

Expert opinion has it that if the team leaders, Pinot, Fuglsang etc had used their domestiques better, rather than burning them off, they'd have lost far less time
Either way it's a self-inflicted racing tactical bollox and not a crash or a mechanical

Or a more simplistic view have Luke Rowe up front whenever there's wind ! All what ifs and part of racing.Theres every chance Pinot will crack yet.Id say seeing Allaphillipe yesterday anyone of the 4/5 behind him could win this.Was suprised how Mas was ? I'm still thinking rest day and then flat,Sir Dave's going to be kicking some arse...

 

[woodbutcher]

Or a more simplistic view have Luke Rowe up front whenever there's wind ! All what ifs and part of racing.Theres every chance Pinot will crack yet.Id say seeing Allaphillipe yesterday anyone of the 4/5 behind him could win this.Was suprised how Mas was ? I'm still thinking rest day and then flat,Sir Dave's going to be kicking some arse...

Whatever happens tomorrow those guys are going to suffer more than just a little...it is 38c here today and tomorrow the wind should be from the SE
hot and strong, bonne chance à tous !

 

[Beebo]

You can tell this is a good edition, because we're not spending our time inventing ways to improve the Tour - you know, 200k individual mountain time trial; ban spectators; ban power meters; back to Desgrange basics: ban gears; and so on.

I also haven’t seen the usual endless complaints about the silly adverts and banal commentary from Eurosport

 

[Crackle]

I also haven’t seen the usual endless complaints about the silly adverts and banal commentary from Eurosport

No but out of interest, has anyone booked a Viking river cruise?

 

[Dogtrousers]

I also haven’t seen the usual endless complaints about the silly adverts and banal commentary from Eurosport

I'm not sure which channel it is (I'm a tart, I flip between Eurosport and ITV4) but that "Peloton" advert has failed to make me want to go and buy an expensive indoor stationary trainer, even if it does have "world class instructors".