Anyone else here pumped for this years tour? Could be a classic this year with more contenders than usual. Froome's not happy with the parcours, Nibali was pants in the Dauphine but will he find his form? Contador attempting to double up with the Giro - really difficult in this competitive field, the parcours would seem to suit Quintana or can Teejay step up. How good are the young French guys Bardet and Pinot - and that's just the GC, the white jersey should be super competitive too. Can't wait
Le Tour 2015
- Thread starter tony
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I would agree with you about Contador but he has just won the Giro and the double is notoriously difficult to pull off. He is also crap on the cobbles so watch out for stage 4, he lost nearly 3 minutes to Nibali on a similar stage last year blaming his gears, but not replacing his bike! Also not sure he will have the strongest support in the mountains, as Saxo Tinkoff are also going for the green jersey with Sagan. Really don't fancy Froome either as Sky are bound to lose time in the team time trial and there are some really dodgy decents in this years course which gives the others especially Nibali an advantage. I think this is a great chance for Quintana
So, why didn't they allow the lads who were ahead of the crash to keep going and take advantage of the chaos behind them..? Is that normal? Seems like they should be allowed to take advantage of the opportunity (unless there are very serious injuries behind them, of course).
The race commissaires made the decision to stop the race, there are masses of support cars race official cars and press and tv bikes and cars which the doctors would have to get past on very narrow roads so it was understandable under the circumstances.
Absolutely immense but then all the sky boys rode out of their skins, it must have been dispiriting for Quintana to lose the time bonus to Porte and Thomas said he could have rode away from Teejay earlier and had plenty in the tank. Be interesting to see how Froome comes out of that effort tomorrow.
Cue lots of sniping about doping after that performance.
They are really having a go at him,
“It seems that someone stuck a speed limiter on Vincenzo,”
Although Vinokourov is winding his neck in now saying all is well. They are though going to make Nibali ride the Vuelta later.
Down to the nitty gritty now, this stage was used in the Dauphine in June and the descent from the penultimate climb was very very dodgy with lots of hairpins and a very dodgy road surface - set up for Nibali to try and get more time back like Monday. The climbs aren't difficult so the descent could be where Contador attacks as well.
This is absolutely terrific - http://www.theguardian.com/sport/ng...de-france-the-climb-of-alpe-dhuez-interactive
Those Dutch fans on one of the switchbacks set up a techno disco and bar - it really is one of the most colourful and noisy sights to see on the tour! Unless Froome has a bad day today, this will be the last chance for Quintana to attack. Be interesting to see how Valverde is today he was dropped on the big climb yesterday.
Doesn't matter what Quintana does today. He could scale alpe d'huez on a fucking moped, and there would Froome be, fucking nonchalantly cajoling his way up the mountain, not a bead of sweat on his head, not a fucking puff of breath emanating from him. All done at a fucking ridiculous v02 level, without a shred of remorse about him. With Brailsford hanging out the window brandishing some illusionary excel spreadsheet.
Not one fucking single part of me believes that those cunts are doing this legit. It's cheating, they just haven't been caught.
Not one fucking single part of me believes that those cunts are doing this legit. It's cheating, they just haven't been caught.
You work for a French newspaper? How do you know the vo2 levels? What are you talking about,all the riders including Froome are clearly close to the limit every day and covered in sweat. For me I think it is highly unlikely he is doping, one stage and he was only a minute ahead of Quintana, someone has to be the best rider. Ok so Quintana might be doping - well I prefer to give them all the benefit of the doubt, like Porte who zoomed past him. Even Contador - convicted doper, Valverde - convicted doper, Astana team - 5 bans this year! and Scaponi- convicted doper, Hesdjahl - doper, Trentin - doper, the list goes on and on and if I was as cynical as you I would save my opprobrium for them. The gaps in the mountains have been minimal and no one as far as I can see is miles better in these mountains - Quintana lost 2 minutes on the flat second stage when echelons formed in the wind and he was caught in a crash.
David Walsh, the journo who brought down Armstrong, has been embedded in the Sky team for a 13 week period, and if he thinks Froome is clean then that's good enough for me. Shame about the controversy really because its been a fascinating race.
