#1343

Tomorrow’s stage should see some echelons, but that’s yellow wrapped up for Froome if Sky ride like they did on Tuesday

#1344

Lulz

#1345

Little rejig, Aru dropped a place and Uran lost time to Bardet and Froome

#1346

Barguil’s the worthiest kom in some time

3 Likes
#1347

First French rider to win two mountain stages and polka jersey in a tour

#1348

would love it if dan martin could get on the podium somehow, but can’t see it from here

#1349

Sorry, since Voeckler in 2012

#1350

2.30+mins in a TT. Doubt it

#1351

What has everyone made of this year’s Tour? As excitable as journalists have been about the closeness of the GC battle, I must admit I’ve found it a bit of a dull race overall. It seems to have been defined by withdrawals, shit commissaire’ decisions and boring stages. Is it only me that thinks this?

(Should add that my opinion is probably worth jack-shit as I quite enjoyed the 2014 and 2015 races which no-one else seemed to like. The 2014 cobbles stage! Classics-style opening week in 2015!)

#1352

GC Race has actually been interesting this year and the mountain stages have been bloody great.

Having said that, there’s not been much else of interest. Think if they’d replaced a few of the bunch sprint stages for a couple of hilly ones, or just some more uphill finishes it would’ve been much more interesting to follow.

#1353

Impossible to see past matthews from here

1 Like
#1354

Pretty much agree. For such a tight gc battle on paper, the looming tt and knowing froome will put time into everyone else, has made it Pretty dull.

#1355

It’s been a race of two halves. An incredibly dull first week or so until stage 9. Then a half of really engaging, clever, tactical racing. Seen a yellow jersey tussle, but not a fight for it. Froome not looking at his best but still seeing off a spirited challenge says something about the state of his rivals than Froomes condition though.

Not enough ruthless racing though really. AG2R had a chance to bury Froome on Sunday’s stage, and they couldn’t capitalise on that broken spoke. Uran has seemed happy to follow moves and gain time through bonifs and not attacking. Aru has lost his form in the final week (probably not enough racing in his legs after his knee injury in May). The Landa subplot was intriguing while it lasted.

The race has really missed Sagan. I don’t subscribe to the notion that one man is bigger than a race, but he really adds something to the mix. The fact that we’ve spent more time talking about jury decisions than racing at times is a worry though.

Nice to see tactics pay off for Sunweb and the green jersey (obviously kittels abandon plays a lot in that, but Matthews winning 2 stages and heading out in the breaks, ala Sagan and hushovd, to gain intermediate sprint points is good to see). Obviously Barguil has been great. A proper climber winning the Polka dots is nice. Just a shame he didn’t have a proper fight for it.

It’s been much better than the processions of 3015 and last year though. The fact the race, technically isn’t over yet is a great thing, but the lack of TT Kms and the fact is comes as the penultimate stage is a big factor as to why Froome hasn’t walked this tour yet. He’ll still have a healthy winning margin (if he gets to Paris ok).

Add in the tetchy Steve Brailsford moments, the lack of test day yellow jersey pressers, it’s been business as normal for Sky.

7/10 TL, DR

#1356

Disappointing today.

They should have ganged up on Froome- nowhere near enough pressure was put on him. Uran has ridden possibly the most passive 2nd place (for that is where he will finish) I can remember (although his stage win was glorious).

The organisers went for a route that would create the chance for Cavendish to have a go at the stage wins record; instead all the sprints ended up being a procession for Kittel. They also designed the route to make it less suited to the kind of climber Froome is, and to favour the two French GC contenders. Ironically, though it has been close, I think one or two more big summit finishes might have seen Froome out of yellow needing to recapture it in the time trial. Just as the green jersey race became really gripping, Kittel abandoned.

Almost, almost an epic tour. But no.

#1357

Not ASO’s fault Cavendish crashed out though is it. Cav wouldn’t have been able to get close to Kittel in any of those sprints in all fairness

#1358

No … just bad luck… the epic sprint showdowns they anticipated when they made the course got ruined by Cavendish’s illness and by the Sagan incident.

#1359

The problem I’ve found with the GC battle this year is just how sluggish all the attacks have looked. Each seems to have lasted a matter of metres, coming back together because the attacker has ran out of puff rather than due to the chasers speeding up. It quickly took the excitement out of anyone going up the road as you knew nothing was going to come of it.

#1360

And there in lies the problem with clean(er) racing

#1361

Think you can blame sky’s high tempo pacing for most of that.

#1362

As per

1 Like