Tour de France *Spoilers*

[The Couch]

I still hope Pinot and/or Bardet do him tomorrow but it's looking unlikely.

Yeah, he does seem to have a good grasp of his limits, not afraid of dropping off, making sure he doesn't loose much time (unlike when others have to let go)
Still... the Pinot from in the Alps should be able to take some time from him on Hautacam

And he'll probably do better than them in the TT.

You're probably right about that... he is pretty rubbish when he isn't fully committed, but he does seem to have a pretty decent TT when he puts his mind to it (like e.g. in a GT). Pinot ain't great at all, but not absolutely shabby (and probably has more left in the tank, which plays a part that deep into a GT). Bardet (from the little I know of him) is terrible

I think best case scenario (for the Valverde "dislikers") Peraud gets 2nd place and Pinot 3rd place

 

[KennaughKickIt]

Set for a great showdown today. Pinot must be a little worried about Peraud and I'd expect him to go into full attack mode on the final climb. JCP will probably match him all the way but here's hoping he'll be able to gap Valverde.

Also expecting an attack from TVG on the descent of the penultimate climb.

 

[HF2300]

Set for a great showdown today. Pinot must be a little worried about Peraud and I'd expect him to go into full attack mode on the final climb.

...and Bardet will want to stick with or better both of them, though whether he'll quite have it in him I'm not sure.

Can't help feeling Nibbles might want to come away with another win as well, and I guess Majka will want to seal his KOM.

 

[coffeejo]

I'm going round to a friend's this afternoon to watch it live, first time since it left the UK. Hoping that the fact it's the last day in the mountains means the attacks don't stop.

And for what it's worth, I think Pinot may become one of my favourite pro cyclists if he really did have such a battle to regain his confidence on the descents. Not sure how much has just been blown out of proportion by the media but I like it when sporting "heroes" turn out to be real people with their own demons to defeat. It's one of the reasons I warmed to David Millar after reading his autobiography - that honesty goes against the glistening, glamorous idol status we affix to people who are good at sports.

 

[HF2300]

I'm going round to a friend's this afternoon to watch it live, first time since it left the UK. Hoping that the fact it's the last day in the mountains means the attacks don't stop.

Given the closeness of 2nd to 5th, how many others have something to prove and the way things have gone so far I suspect (hope?) there will be more attacks, not fewer.

+1 on Millar.

 

[smutchin]

he does seem to have a pretty decent TT when he puts his mind to it

Winning the Spanish national TT recently shows that he's been working on it...

 

[The Couch]

Machado in the breakaway... nice to see him (somewhat) recovered from the crash he had in the Vosges

 

[HF2300]

Breakaway: Mikel Nieve (Sky), Jesus Herrada and Jon Izaguirre (Movistar), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Alessandro De Marchi and Marco Marcato (Cannondale), Lars Boom (Belkin), Jan Bakelants (OPQS), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Daniel Oss (BMC), Bryan Coquard, Kévin Reza and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel and Marcel Wyss (IAM), Bartosz Huzarski and Tiago Machado (NetApp) and Florian Guillou (Bretagne)

 

[KennaughKickIt]

Breakaway: Mikel Nieve (Sky), Jesus Herrada and Jon Izaguirre (Movistar), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Alessandro De Marchi and Marco Marcato (Cannondale), Lars Boom (Belkin), Jan Bakelants (OPQS), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Daniel Oss (BMC), Bryan Coquard, Kévin Reza and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel and Marcel Wyss (IAM), Bartosz Huzarski and Tiago Machado (NetApp) and Florian Guillou (Bretagne)

Has this guy missed a breakaway in the tour? What a machine.

 

[jarlrmai]

Tony Martin with a new rear wheel almost looked excited to have to bridge back to the group.

 

[HF2300]

He can just TT back though, doubt it holds any horrors. He & Cocquard will be swapping places.

 

[HF2300]

. Grupetto starting to develop

 

[tug benson]

would love it if Nieve did something..Hell Sky need him to do something

 

[HF2300]

They do, but realistically it probably won't happen.

Is the peloton going to get close enough for Majka to score serious points on Tourmalet?

 

[The Couch]

Sagan needs to slow down or he'll be dropping Porte and JVDB