Nice!
I had slim hopes that today it could've been similar, but was completly caught up at some 200 meters.
I had slim hopes that today it could've been similar, but was completly caught up at some 200 meters.
Cycling 2017
- Thread starter Barbara Charles
- Start date
Didn't catch the end of today's stage, but if you're talking about a bunch of riders getting the same time then that's the rule if riders finish within 3 seconds of the rider(s) in front. Basically there needs to be a gap of 3 seconds for it to be noted as an actual time gap. Used to be 1 second but the wise heads of the Tour thought a 3 second rule would make the sprints less chaotic.
Kittel bombing through these stages, as he should I guess without his 2 main rivals, but thought Greipel would of took one at least so far, maybe he nabs Paris from him..
Yeah, I was really expecting Greipel to challenge more than he has, he was looking great in the lead up to the Tour.
Kittel seems so comfortable now, he can just launch from any wheel of his choosing rather than being dependent on his own lead out.Tom Cleverley with the first reply!
Oh wait, Calverley.
Oh wait, Calverley.
So, at around 100 km to go there are dozen or so guys with 6 minutes of advantage over peloton. Still far too many miles left to get excited about prospect of them winning?
EDIT: 80 km now and the advantage is 6:30. I can't help it, getting excited. Come on Tête de la Course!
50 km, +4'15''.
EDIT: 80 km now and the advantage is 6:30. I can't help it, getting excited. Come on Tête de la Course!
50 km, +4'15''.
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30 km and just two minutes. :/
Sweet scenery though, no fog anymore.
15 km and still two minutes!
Froome and Aru almost crashed out.
Well, that was a bit too dramatic with what actually happened. Just on one corner three of them went straight! Froome and Aru I guess followed the guy who went first and not the road. But stopped immediately, and went back on track. Road.
Sweet scenery though, no fog anymore.
15 km and still two minutes!
Froome and Aru almost crashed out.
Well, that was a bit too dramatic with what actually happened. Just on one corner three of them went straight! Froome and Aru I guess followed the guy who went first and not the road. But stopped immediately, and went back on track. Road.
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Just got home in time to watch the last 10 km. I see the sky train is working well.
Gotta say i'm loving the ITV4 coverage, gives my ears a rest from the ramblings of Carlton Kirby.
Keep staring at your handle bars Froomey!
Good ending. Does this mean Aru taking the yellow?
Froome looked spent there, once he lost his team mate he had nothing in the tank
Wow. Bardet takes the win. Aru gaps Froome and Aru takes yellow. That finish was brutal.
Too steep and explosive a climb for him. Landa and Nieve did a great job, but maybe Froome was banking on his rivals having nothing left to attack.
I am liking Aru and Bardet, they are both explosive climbers.
Aruuu, fecking get in!
Landa leaving Froome behind was brilliant as well. Did to him what Froome couldn't do to Wiggins.
Landa leaving Froome behind was brilliant as well. Did to him what Froome couldn't do to Wiggins.
So from what I can gather, Sky set up the pace for Froome to end up losing the jersey? Were they chasing down Aru or just Cummings? I mean, in the sense did he just lose the jersey by less time, so a good move, or a bad move to up the pace.
From what I saw in the final ten km they were trying to ride the legs off his rivals with Nieve and Landa setting a ferocious pace. Didn't work obviously!
We have a race on our hands! Finally. Pity Aru doesn't have a strong team around him and Fugslang being knackered doesn't help. Aru will have to attack again though. Froome will beat him easily in the final individual time trial. Pity there aren't more mountain top finishes. However, I think Bardet might get away down the final climb tomorrow as he better going down than the rest of the GC contenders
Just saw the finish, that looked very steep.
That was brutal. This will go to the wire. Could the next time trial decide it?
It's relatively short but it could definitely come down to this 22km ITT. Aru will need more than 6 seconds on Froome to have a chance though.
Expecting some decent racing today - should be good.
I'm expecting a lot of fireworks in today's stage. If you have a bad day or get isolated early here, you could lose several minutes. Aru will have to watch out as his team has looked relatively weak. With pretty much the last 25 km downhill, Bardet will really fancy his chances. He could be in yellow by this evening.
Is it a technical descent? Neither Froome nor Aru are bad at descents so I don't see Bardet earning 30" or more on them in a descent. The problem is that both of them don't have a strong enough team to isolate Froome from the first col onwards. The %'s from the third col today look tough as feck though and I think Aru (and probably Bardet) can gain significant time on Froome there if yesterday's ending is a reliable indicator. I think the differences will all be within one minute at the top and if Froome falls behind there he'll descent like a crazy fool to gain some time back on them, we've seen him do that before. Short stages like this are really interesting.
Should be a better stage today after the borefest yesterday. Aru, Bardet and Uran (and maybe Dan Martin if he's recovered) will fancy their chances at rattling Froome after seeing him falter yesterday, and a short, explosive stage invites aggressive riding.
It's a quite intriguing setup this year with several riders on roughly the same level (as well as time) but so far Froome's competitors have been driving so conservatively. Shame about all the crashes, I'm particularly gutted about my compatriot Fuglsang who looked like he could have made the podium.
It's a quite intriguing setup this year with several riders on roughly the same level (as well as time) but so far Froome's competitors have been driving so conservatively. Shame about all the crashes, I'm particularly gutted about my compatriot Fuglsang who looked like he could have made the podium.
I haven't seen anything of the descent yet so I couldn't say. I can see Bardet opening a gap on the climb and staying away, just because he looks the strongest out there right now. Froome can descend like a madman but he looks very vulnerable at the moment, so he could be some way behind by then. I really fear for Aru's lack of team support. If he gets isolated he'll have to counter attacks and that could be deadly. And we probably shouldn't forget Uran either, who looks surprisingly strong. But a stage like this is very hard to predict, so my scenario may well be spectacularly wide of the mark.
Aru will just hop on to the Sky train like they all did yesterday.... If they can. Sky won't ride any different if years gone by are anything to go by.
Of course Sky won't change tactics but Aru and Bardet have seen enough signs of weaknesses from Froome to encourage them to attack.
100 km today? Now, that's just lovely. Hopefully ends before Federer.
Been a trend lately in the other Grand Tours. Short, explosive stages seem to inspire more aggressive racing. Hopefully we'll see the same today, another stage like yesterday would make it the most depressing Pyrenees ever.
No chance, they only just started and I think they're expecting to arrive at 16h20 GMT.
indeed, migth take a bit longer than I thought.
Could be a few changes near the top by the end of the day.
One more hill to go.
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Man, France is beautiful outside of big cities.
I think it's more like 10,000 feet.
They even call it a wall.
They even call it a wall.
So, what are the chances of this gap (or something around it, lets say 2 minutes) staying until the end of today race? Some 27 kilometers is descent...
Could Landa grab a yellow shirt after?
Looks very steep on image...
Could Landa grab a yellow shirt after?
Looks very steep on image...