Tour de France *Spoilers*

[Strathlubnaig]

@Pedrosanchezo
You don't help your case by refusing to admit that Nibali's transformation from mule to superstar in the last 6 weeks is at least eyebrow raising.
None of us, even the witchfinder sceptics, know if he's juiced, but we reserve the right to harbour suspicions given his lack of form this year.
He has proved to be a good rider previously and he may well be clean; the opposition isn't what we expected, but the untroubled way he rides gives enough doubt for some to air their suspicions given cycling's recent history.
Ulissi, Santambroggio, Ricco and many others from the Italian stable have been nailed been nailed since the 'so-called' clean era.
Unproven - as they say in Scotty land.

@Pedrosanchezo
You don't help your case by refusing to admit that Nibali's transformation from mule to superstar in the last 6 weeks is at least eyebrow raising.
None of us, even the witchfinder sceptics, know if he's juiced, but we reserve the right to harbour suspicions given his lack of form this year.
He has proved to be a good rider previously and he may well be clean; the opposition isn't what we expected, but the untroubled way he rides gives enough doubt for some to air their suspicions given cycling's recent history.
Ulissi, Santambroggio, Ricco and many others from the Italian stable have been nailed been nailed since the 'so-called' clean era.
Unproven - as they say in Scotty land.

Mule ? The guys record pre-Astana is quite impressive, he was being written up as a future GT contender when he was a Junior. With regards to this season, it is not an uncommon tactic to wind up the season form to peak at Le Tour, not winning every race in the lead up like say Dauphinée or PN like some folks have done in the past before going to dominate Le Tour as well. A lot of riders will use races as training and build up to peak form.

 

[400bhp]

Not to put a downer on the rising frenchies and some of the other but are we just seeing a bit of a mediocre scrap for placings because the top 4 or 5 riders in the world are so far ahead of the rest. With just nibbles of the 5 there and so far ahead of the rest we are focussing more on them than normal?

 

[raindog]

Personally, I'd rather see a "mediocre scrap" than the Sky train crushing the race on the last ascent of every mountain stage.
On the French telly last week, a question put to Jalabert was "is the Tour now over with Froome and Contador out?" and he replied that it was now more open and would lead to more exciting racing than otherwise. He was right.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Not to put a downer on the rising frenchies and some of the other but are we just seeing a bit of a mediocre scrap for placings because the top 4 or 5 riders in the world are so far ahead of the rest. With just nibbles of the 5 there and so far ahead of the rest we are focussing more on them than normal?

Personally, I'd rather see a "mediocre scrap" than the Sky train crushing the race on the last ascent of every mountain stage.
On the French telly last week, a question put to Jalabert was "is the Tour now over with Froome and Contador out?" and he replied that it was now more open and would lead to more exciting racing than otherwise. He was right.

I do think there are some exciting talents shining through, and yes they look a little more impressive with the absence of Contador, Quintana and Froome. A 3rd place finish for any of these youngsters would be an amazing accomplishment regardless of who is competing. It would seem a shame that people might suggest that such a high placing would be unlikely should the big guns still be in the race.

One would have to agree to a point though that if The top 4 were the usual suspects then the youngsters mentioned above might be scrapping for top 10 places and not podium spots.

I still think it makes for exciting racing. The Sky train is a mightily impressive thing but it's nowhere near as exciting as the man for man racing we are seeing in todays Tour.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

I still think it makes for exciting racing. The Sky train was a mightily impressive thing but it's nowhere near as exciting as the man for man racing we are seeing in todays Tour.

Fixed your post.

 

[raindog]

Not only does it look as if Simon Yates will reach Paris, he says he'll still be trying to pick up a win during the last week!
http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/debutant-yates-impresses-again-in-stage-14-break
gerrin, lad
Hope everyone noticed he lasted longer than Geraint and Nieve yesterday? Incredible considering his age, lack of preparation and the fact he's never raced more than 8 consecutive days before.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

Interesting metéo today, risk of hail, thunderstorms, mostly light winds but gusts of 70 km/h

 

[tug benson]

Going to give the live race a miss today, going to watch the F1 instead, will catch the highlights on eurosport later...I feel a bit dirty

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Elimiger (IAM) and Bauer from Garmin are 6.02 ahead in the first breakaway of the day.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

They appear to be having broadcasting issues due to the weather in Nimes

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Adrian Petit of Cofedis just had a puncture and needed a new bike....


....... With 100km to go, the lead is 6.03

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I actually thought I heard the ITV announcer just say ''Let's go over to Coventry." I had to work out that he'd said commentary.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

'And here are some riders for AG2R La Mondiale.... At one time they were the breakaway specialists, but now they are starting to become real contenders for Tour wins...... And who would have thought that that little old AG2R would be 38 minutes ahead of Team Sky, it wasn't all that long ago that they were relying on wild card entries, but are now well established!'



Said just before the Sherwin and Ligget show started.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I've just choked thanks to Liggett, when they cut to some abbey and Sherwen did his usual tour book stilted reading with his finger going along the line and said "I do believe that this is the <whatever it was> Abbey" and Liggett exclaimed "IT IS!" as if it held some great personal attachment to him. Stupid old git.

 

[jarlrmai]

Tailwind is insane gonna be a fast time today.