Pro Cycling 2018

Gilbert didn't start today. He finished the stage, including the two remaining climbs, with a broken kneecap yesterday :wenger:
 
I'm fully in favour of power meters and the likes being dropped for racing. Makes it way too systematic.
 
How far behind at most do you have to finish to be eligible to start next day? Sagan crashed, and losing a lot of time, don't want him to miss out on Paris.
 
They must’ve accidently switched the doping bags for Froome and Thomas this Tour. Fecking Sky.
 
Brilliant stage today, fantastic from Quintana, Martin and Thomas, really hope Thomas can win it because Froome doesn’t look like he can.
 
What happened there, some twat knock him off?

Ah, i see it was mistaken identity by the police, also a fan grabbed Geraint’s arm and nearly pulled him off the bike, bunch of fecking idiots.
 
Brilliant from Poels, Bernal and G! I desperately want Thomas to.win.and bloody hell I think he just might! He and Dumoulin look the strongest with G having that edge.

Come.on Geraint!
 
I might be a fan, indeed. But still some sort of cyclist newbie, so, my fanship is still forming. ;)

Alaphillipe was very cool last few days as well.
 
Stage we've all been waiting for!

stage-18-profile.jpg


Umm, maybe not.

I prefered Giro.

mountains
mountains
ITT
hills
mountain finish
mountains
mountains
flat (final stage)
 
Yeah I don't see the need for a stage like that at this point. If they want to give the GC riders a breather, they still could've made a route with enough hills to give the breakaway a better chance. This is just boring crap, all the more so because the best sprinters have gone home (and Sagan probably won't compete due to his fall yesterday). Next.
 
Tomorrow will be decisive. Will Froome attack as he said today they ride for Geraint now? And will Tom and the rest attack because only Tom can challenge Sky on ITT.
 
I had a damn good day when I did very similar to that route. I genuinely feel you can hold your pace on the three stepped route to Aubisque quite comfortably, so any attack on the Tourmalet might....might just hold. Not truly sure who it comes from is the issue though, Quintana probably can't hold any time he could gain on descents, he'd need it to be other way round...and if it were, I'd fancy him to reel in a couple of minutes....which would be lost on the TT anyway.

Froome's the other capable of it that shown it....he's not gonna go all Hinault now on Thomas though. Thomas needs to crack for that to happen, and theres minor potential for that still in my opinion, especially if those top 8 relentlessly attack him.

If Contador was in that top 8, he'd be attacking like 8 times tomorrow, sees some dude who's never been in the top 10 before....in yellow....crack him or make him. Already miss Dirty Bertie, one of the few who seemingly didn't live by the old power meter in todays age.
 
I don't see anyone attacking on the Tourmalet, +-100 km from the finish. It'd be suicide against the Sky train. Sky's entire climb train will survive right up until those final climbs. The only way I could see this stage being remotely interesting is if Thomas cracks (not impossible as you say) or Froome decides to pull something after all. Dumoulin is no risk taker like Contador or Nibali who dare(d) to go all-in, he's far too calculated. The "battle" for the GC in this Tour has been extremely disappointing and I expect that to continue in this stage. The Tour has become increasingly boring compared to the other grand tours and this year is the pinnacle of tedium. It's been one gigantic exercise in futility, at least for anyone other than Sky.
 
Ainu said:
I don't see anyone attacking on the Tourmalet, +-100 km from the finish. It'd be suicide against the Sky train. Sky's entire climb train will survive right up until those final climbs. The only way I could see this stage being remotely interesting is if Thomas cracks (not impossible as you say) or Froome decides to pull something after all. Dumoulin is no risk taker like Contador or Nibali who dare(d) to go all-in, he's far too calculated. The "battle" for the GC in this Tour has been extremely disappointing and I expect that to continue in this stage. The Tour has become increasingly boring compared to the other grand tours and this year is the pinnacle of tedium. It's been one gigantic exercise in futility, at least for anyone other than Sky.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with your point. First bold already answer by 3rd bold i reckon. The only viable remaining challenger is Tom and he is so much looks alike with Froome, almost identical in many aspect. Thats why he is not a good contender for Sky if he on the pursuer. If Nibali still remain on Tour and still on 1 or 2 mins margin, we can bet he will attack but not Tom.

Second bold, Sky has too much manpower left even without Moscon because we only left with one mountain stage. If only they attacked Sky relentlessly after Moscon DQ last stages i imagined some different result. But no, nobody dare to attack. So dissapointing. Shame because this Tour has more stars in line up than Giro but Giro managed to put a great show than Tour.
 
How much time do we think Dumoulin could realistically take off Thomas in the ITT, given he's the superior time trialist?
 
The problem is the likes of Bernal, Thomas, Froome and even Dumoulin all ride at a very high but steady pace that they know they can maintain all the way to the top. A potential attacker has to use up a huge part of his energy reserves to create a gap, to actually maintain that against such riders is virtually impossible. Such an attack can only work if it's done by a world class climber on one of his finest days. Sky's resources coupled with the extremely disciplined and calculated style completely suffocates every mountain stage. You can't blame them, it's just so efficient and effective. But for us spectators it's just terrible.

GeorgieBoy said:
How much time do we think Dumoulin could realistically take off Thomas in the ITT, given he's the superior time trialist?
Click to expand...
If Thomas has a good day, he won't give up that much. Maybe between 30 seconds and 1 minute. A TT at the end of a grand tour is always difficult to predict though. We've already seen in the past that Dumoulin can handle it, I'm not completely sure about Thomas. On paper Thomas is an excellent time trialist though.
 
GeorgieBoy said:
How much time do we think Dumoulin could realistically take off Thomas in the ITT, given he's the superior time trialist?
Click to expand...

Not that much. If Tom can take 1 mins of Thomas in ITT that would be amazing given Thomas himshelf is an ITT Champs. Tom needs times both in mountain and ITT not one or another. Thomas and Froome is the worst match up for Tom given they have similiar strength.
 
Ainu said:
If Thomas has a good day, he won't give up that much. Maybe between 30 seconds and 1 minute. A TT at the end of a grand tour is always difficult to predict though. We've already seen in the past that Dumoulin can handle it, I'm not completely sure about Thomas. On paper Thomas is an excellent time trialist though.
Click to expand...

vangagal said:
Not that much. If Tom can take 1 mins of Thomas in ITT that would be amazing given Thomas himshelf is an ITT Champs. Tom needs times both in mountain and ITT not one or another. Thomas and Froome is the worst match up for Tom given they have similiar strength.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
Sagan is struggling, I think he's really feeling his fall of two days ago. I'd be surprised if he makes the time limit, which is a huge shame. Seeing Kristoff take the green jersey would be pretty farcical.
 
Well, crap...

Bora-Hansgrohe’s sport director Patxi Vila told France Televisions from the team car about Peter Sagan: “He told me that he suffers a lot. After a crash, the hardest time is always 48 hours later. Peter is having the hardest day of his cycling life ever so far. He wants to make it across to the grupetto but it all depends on the reaction of his body.”
 
You must log in or register to reply here.