Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Off Topic => Sports Arena => Topic started by: Jon Crofts on July 08, 2018, 06:00:34 PM
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In all the excitement of the World Cup I forgot to start this years thread.
2 stages down, Sagan wins the sprint finish today and takes the yellow, a lot of heavy crashes today and riders suffering in the heat, Tony Martin suffered from dehydration yesterday.
Can’t see any further than asthma boy Froome in Paris in 3 weeks time.
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Uaual fraught start to the tour, plenty of falls and crashes on flat stages.
I'd like Yates to do well but can't see past Froome or Nibali. Movistar's three leaders approach should be fun to watch.
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What's the chances of a French winner this year ?
Is it still just Bardet in contention ?
If so, he'd stand a better chance if Jon substituted for him in the Time Trials
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What's the chances of a French winner this year ?
Is it still just Bardet in contention ?
If so, he'd stand a better chance if Jon substituted for him in the Time Trials
Not a chance, my PB for the 10 mile is 22:48, even the worst pro on the pro circuit will be sub 20 all day long and mine is on a course with 115m elevation.
Yellow jersey changes hands again after the team TT, now with BMCs Greg van Avermaet.
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Sagan wins yesterdays Stage 5, Froome and Sky booed at the start and an incident involving Luke Rowe and a French fan holding an anti Sky banner.
Dan Martin wins today's Stage 6 with a perfectly judged attack about 1km from home, G goes with him and gets a bonus point to put him second in the GC.
A flat 231km stage tomorrow should see a few breakaways.
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Le Tour is heading through my town tomorrow. Despite living in France for the best part of 12 years, I've only ever seen the Tour in Paris. It is really impressive to see how the small villages / towns embrace it. The village where my kids go to school has had bunting / cycling paraphenalia on the main street for weeks. The only downside is I'll be at work when they swing through, which is a shame as they'll pass right underneath my apartment window and I'd have had an absolutely unbeatable view of it as they slow down to take a left-hand turn uphill. Always next year !
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Well as soon as it passes through get out there and steal the Tour road signs and get them on eBay!
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Longest stage of the tour done, Van Avermaet still in yellow, G 6 seconds behind.
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Just managed to catch up with five days worth of highlights shows. An interesting first week with a variety of stages. It's good to see a few early stages not dominated by the pure sprinters. I also enjoy the TTT as a measure of a team's strength in depth (one of Armstrong's other lasting impacts on the Tour was because US Postal were so dominant that the TTT got shorter and sometimes dropped altogether. A pity.)
Well done, Dan Martin, on a Stage win - although of course the Tour came back to bite him yesterday. That's cycling.
Cav's looks like his leg's have finally gone. Tactically he and his team are not been doing much wrong, but that blistering acceleration he once had in the last couple of hundred metres is not there. I don't now think he'll achieve the most number of career Stage wins: there's too many new quick kids on the block. And of course Sagan for the more technical or uphill sprints.
I'm looking forward to today's Stage as a spectacle, but I think there is probably too much pave. The Tour is not a one-day Classic. A good Tour itinerary should offer something to every type of pro cyclist, but the cobbles are a lottery and could result in carnage. I don't think anyone's GC chances should be wiped out because of a serious crash, a mechanical where team back-up can't get there quickly. or simply being on the wrong side of a pile-up. We shall see.
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Brutal stage so far, 28km to go looks like a shake up in the GC contenders is on the cards.
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Carnage on the cobbles, proper nails day.
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Not as much change to the GC contenders as you would have thought. I guess they mainly had Classic riders providing support to them rather than going for the stage win.
How much bad luck can you have in one stage Bardet? A tremendous ride from him.
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Porte didn't even make it to the first section of pave.
I didn't see an explanation as to why he went down. However, the post crash video showed a spectator also being treated. Was someone in the road or did the crashing riders fall into the crowd ?
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Beeb article on the lack of a Women's TdF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44831758
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Beeb article on the lack of a Women's TdF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44831758
I haven’t read the article, but seriously a women’s TdF? The longest women’s stage race at present is about 4 stages and around 250 miles in total, I’m all for equality but the suggestion is ludicrous and poorly thought out.
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Not quite right Jon as the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile which has just finished was 10 stages and close to 1000KM long.
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Beeb article on the lack of a Women's TdF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44831758
I haven’t read the article, but seriously a women’s TdF? The longest women’s stage race at present is about 4 stages and around 250 miles in total, I’m all for equality but the suggestion is ludicrous and poorly thought out.
It's not a campaign for a three week women's TdF Jon
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Having watched the finish of today's La Course on the TdF highlights show, I'd say the more we see of women's road racing the better. Brilliant!
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Beeb article on the lack of a Women's TdF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44831758
I haven’t read the article, but seriously a women’s TdF? The longest women’s stage race at present is about 4 stages and around 250 miles in total, I’m all for equality but the suggestion is ludicrous and poorly thought out.
Erm, Giro Rosa?
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Beeb article on the lack of a Women's TdF
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44831758
I haven’t read the article, but seriously a women’s TdF? The longest women’s stage race at present is about 4 stages and around 250 miles in total, I’m all for equality but the suggestion is ludicrous and poorly thought out.
Erm, Giro Rosa?
Is the exception to the rule, it’s the longest stage race on the tour by a very long way.
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Great day for G, bad day for Cav.
No real surprise with Cav, not enough miles in the legs over the past two years. Big surprise that Kittel didn't make the cut, looks right out of form.
Should be fun watching Sky manage Thomas and Froome now.
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Great day for G, bad day for Cav.
No real surprise with Cav, not enough miles in the legs over the past two years. Big surprise that Kittel didn't make the cut, looks right out of form.
Should be fun watching Sky manage Thomas and Froome now.
Once the high mountains arrive there will only be one winner you’d think.
Is Quintana just a lazy bastard or completely devoid of any tactical ability whatsoever?
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Quintana is finished as of today.
G is the first man to wear yellow on Alpe d’Huez and win the stage (Armstrong did but was disqualified for being a ******)
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G is on fire with two stunning stage wins. However, his individual time trial is his achilles heel, so Sky aren't going to abandon their strategy with Froome as the main man anytime soon. Thomas would need at least another five minutes lead for them to do that.
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French TV ratings are way down, spectators are copiously booing Sky riders and there are even some twats trying to land punches on them or push them off their bikes. While I do not condone this behaviour, it is fair to say that the Sky team are seen as moneybags cheating c***s who are ruining the Tour which is now a one-team race where nobody else can compete.
I don't follow cycling so I wouldn't have a clue. What do you think? Lazy, French-bashing responders need not post.
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French TV ratings are way down, spectators are copiously booing Sky riders and there are even some twats trying to land punches on them or push them off their bikes. While I do not condone this behaviour, it is fair to say that the Sky team are seen as moneybags cheating c***s who are ruining the Tour which is now a one-team race where nobody else can compete.
I don't follow cycling so I wouldn't have a clue. What do you think? Lazy, French-bashing responders need not post.
The comments of Bernard Hainault pre the tour haven’t helped and it’s easy to see why the French hate Team Sky who are completely devoid of a French rider in the team at the tour, France also haven’t had a tour winner since Hainault in 1985 so they probably feel it’s long overdue. That said there’s only Bardet as a French GC contender so not sure really who else they think might win it for France. Personally I’ve never been a fan of Froome, there’s still a load of doubt surrounding him and his emergence from the depths of nowhere on the tour of Poland to tour winner via bilharziasis and asthma.
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If Sky was French, would we see these reactions? I’m just interested. Not liking them because they are the best is fair enough, but trying to attack riders seems wrong
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Of course it is wrong, and the twats that do it should get their collars felt.
I don't think it is so much the lack of a French challenger but more the belief that Sky are as bad as US Postal. People believe that Sky are drug-ridden, and the argument that Sky have the best finance/riders/preparation doesn't seem to convince when you see them flying up slopes generating more power than a small motorbike.
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According to Dave Brailsford it’s a French cultural thing.
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Team Sky enfant terrible Gianni Moscon has been excluded by the tour organisers for hitting another rider. Moscon was banned for 6 weeks I think a while back for racial abuse of another rider, sounds like a nice bloke.
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Of course it is wrong, and the twats that do it should get their collars felt.
I don't think it is so much the lack of a French challenger but more the belief that Sky are as bad as US Postal. People believe that Sky are drug-ridden, and the argument that Sky have the best finance/riders/preparation doesn't seem to convince when you see them flying up slopes generating more power than a small motorbike.
Agree with all that. I also think you'd see a hell of a lot more scepticism on here about Sky if they weren't a british team, so the original question kind of works both ways.
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It seems a policeman removing protesting farmers from the road managed to pepper spray half the peloton. The race was stopped and restarted.
The policeman managed to spray himself in the face too apparently.
Thomas certainly looked like he got some.
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Bloody hell, Gilbert has abandoned but just to get back on the bike showed true grit. He's nails.
Good to see the concern in the peleton as they rode past him.
Alaphilippe is having a grand tour, he may well have caught Yates even if he hadn't gone down.
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Bloody hell, Gilbert has abandoned but just to get back on the bike showed true grit. He's nails.
Good to see the concern in the peleton as they rode past him.
No idea how he rode on with a broken knee cap. Seeing the later footage of where he landed. He actually got off lightly
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Thomas looked strong today and extended his lead, looked like Froome could have done with his inhaler on the climb at the end of the stage.
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Be fair to Froome, he's won the Tour Vuelta and Giro in succession on top of the palaver off the bike. Not bad going when you compare to Quintana's efforts over the past 12 months for example.
All for G now.
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Thomas looked strong today and extended his lead, looked like Froome could have done with his inhaler on the climb at the end of the stage.
Either Sky has decided it is G's now to setup for the handover and maybe for the visuals, or Froome thinks he can get it on the TT on the penultimate day.
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I'm hoping Dan Martin can perform a miracle and put 10 to 12 minutes into all of them on Friday. I know it won't happen.
I wonder how close he would be if his team could time trial and he hadn't had the accident and puncture.
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I take it all back, Quintana actually made an effort rather than sucking on someone else’s wheel all day.
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Froome talking up the team angle as he has to but he must be hurting as the competitor he is. What's Thomas like at time trialling? Surely he's got enough of a cushion?
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Froome talking up the team angle as he has to but he must be hurting as the competitor he is. What's Thomas like at time trialling? Surely he's got enough of a cushion?
I think tomorrow will be pivotal, G will be attacked time and again in the mountains, has Froome got enough to carry G through a tough day? Gs TT is OK it’s nowt special.
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I'm nearly as nervous today for Thomas as I was for the Fulham game. Seems to be a top man, I really hope he can do this.
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Also wonder will Froome attack? He's 2:30 down on G and won in 2016 on a descent rather than a climb, todays stage finishes with a technical descent, it wouldn't surprise me.
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Froome talking up the team angle as he has to but he must be hurting as the competitor he is. What's Thomas like at time trialling? Surely he's got enough of a cushion?
I think tomorrow will be pivotal, G will be attacked time and again in the mountains, has Froome got enough to carry G through a tough day? Gs TT is OK it’s nowt special.
I'm hoping that it's Bernal who looks after G. He's looked very good so far. Reminds me of when Landa was riding for Sky
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Also wonder will Froome attack? He's 2:30 down on G and won in 2016 on a descent rather than a climb, todays stage finishes with a technical descent, it wouldn't surprise me.
He also did similar in the Giro as well. For all the attack on the stage 19 climbs, it was his decent that shook the chasing bunch as well.
Although I think it is G's to lose now on mechanical or on a fall rather then another rider out-riding him. Sagan goes to show how even the best can make mistakes when it is in the bag and was lucky he continued.
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Great ride from G, if he can pull a decent TT out tomorrow it's his.
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Congratulations to Thomas. Another British winner! Incredible.
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Congratulations, G. An impressive achievement from a fabulous all-round cyclist.
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He pissed it all Tour. Total domination of the whole race. Fantastic!!! Top bloke.
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Yes, fully deserved and a solid TT to take the win.
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Brilliant performances in the saddle and an incredibly modest athlete! Well done G!
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Just a shame that Froome's times were messed up so he didn't get the stage win. Even Dumolin was shocked in his "winners" interviews.
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Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, delighted for Thomas. Top rider, top man.
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Very pleased for Thomas. He has been in control of the Tour all the way through and has shown great calmness when attacked.
Thoroughly deserved win.
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Just a shame that Froome's times were messed up so he didn't get the stage win. Even Dumolin was shocked in his "winners" interviews.
Seen nothing official but supposedly a policeman stood on the timing mat which caused the timing error.
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Frome was robbed of the stage win.
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Didn’t realise that not only was G the first man to win Alp d’Huez in yellow he was also the first British rider to win on Alp d’Huez.