2017 Tour de France

[scott43]

I dunno..I didn't have that much of an issue with the descent. There was a flat after and the group caught Bardet..so I don't think it was THAT big an issue. But yeah, seems I'm in the minority..Armstrong and Martin apparently both thought it was stupid.

 

[UGASkiDawg]

Let's all ride around for 3 weeks to watch Froome stare at his power meter and drink champagne on the Champs d'Elyse. We can all toast to Bilharzia! Snoozefest the Tour has become.

 

[scott43]

Let's all ride around for 3 weeks to watch Froome stare at his power meter and drink champagne on the Champs d'Elyse. We can all toast to Bilharzia! Snoozefest the Tour has become.

Well and it was hilarious I see Froome "rounding up the troops" to catch Bardet..I'm thinking, why would they help Froome!! AND THEY DID!!! Weird... It's like they've already given up and anointed him champion!

 

[Yo Momma]

I was psyched when AG2R took it to them on those downhills. They were taking some serious chances to test everyone's bike handling skills!

 

[graham418]

I was psyched when AG2R took it to them on those downhills. They were taking some serious chances to test everyone's bike handling skills!

Its their home turf , apparently, and they know the roads quite well. Good on them for attacking

 

[graham418]

Yawn, and ho-hum. Kittel wins another sprint, Froome keeps yellow, nobody changes position.This really is turning out to be a boring tour. Again, I hope something happens when they get into the Pyrenees. Would like to see Aru make up some time. And even though Contador is out of contention, he could still bring some excitement to the race. It may all be wishful thinking, Froome has lots of gas in the tank it seems.

 

[fatbob]

Sunday was a great day's armchair cycling. Lots going on, thrilling attacks, a great final push by Bardet and a heartbreaking photo finish for Barguil after a brilliant bit of sitting on sandbagging.

The skipping around the country is a bit weird Sunday finish in the Alps so they then ride the Dordogne and over to the Pyrenees before returning for the big day in the Alps. But I'm quite liking the format, shaking things up a bit.

Green is a bit messed up with 2 out the big guns out early, Lotto not really firing for Greipel and Demare not making the autobus.

 

[Tom K.]

Without Cav, Sagan, and Demare, the sprints have become a yawner, as @graham418 noted, above.

Kittel mostly just rides away, even when he kind of misjudges the finishing setup, as he did today.

 

[Tom K.]

Without Cav, Sagan, and Demare, the sprints have become a yawner, as @graham418 noted, above.

Kittel mostly just rides away, even when he kind of misjudges the finishing setup, as he did today.

I'm just quoting myself, since this also applies identically to today's stage.

Big mountains tomorrow, though!

 

[Muleski]

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good one. Could be a very interesting stage. Last two were pretty lackluster for me. Green to Kittel was done a while ago. With the sprint field done,there is some talk of his setting the stage win record at eight. Not sure if that is doable. I would say no.

Will be interesting to see how Team Froome closes out the day. It's them against the rest, or sure seems that way. He looks very strong. Best rider, best team, best organization with the most money. Will be hard to beat.

Not that riveting, IMO. Back to an older discussion, I enjoy Lance referring to Sagan as the "biggest name in the sport", over and over. Must be his American perspective.

Would have enjoyed this with both Sagan and Cav still riding. And, I would love to see a tight GC race till the finish. Now that it's in the "real" Pyrenees, we'll see, I guess.

 

[Tom K.]

^^^ Regarding Froome, sometimes when things look certain in sport, a monkey wrench shows up.

I'm hoping for some kind of (safe) drama tomorrow.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Froome have a bad day tomorrow, and having to claw his way back before Paris.

 

[Ken_R]

So far the Tour has been below average in excitement although there has been some drama (mostly tour ending crashes, not the type of drama one wants to see really) but overall it has somewhat sucked. Tomorrow looks promising though so hopefully we will see some good action.

 

[Tony]

Today's finish was great!

 

[Muleski]

Wow. Surprises today. Really fun to see. This was a big stage, and I think it means that we have a real GC race on our hands.

I would have pretty much bet the farm against this one. Can't say that I'm not glad to see how it turned out today.

Bring it on!

 

[LKLA]

Aru, Bardet,...should have attacked much earlier. They should have teamed-up with Contador who after all is over 5 minutes back, and tried to pull away in the first or second climb. It was clear Froome did not have it today. They could have put one or even two minutes on Froome.

Sky team is very strong though. They had four or five guys out of the 14 in the front group.

Keep an eye out for Rigoberto Uran, I think he might make a push for the top three. He is an excellent time trial rider.

 

[Muleski]

Uran on the podium will make a friend of mine VERY happy. I think that's very possible, @LKLA.

Sky has a great team. I was shocked today to see Chris Froome. which now makes it interesting. I agree that Bardet and Aru could have put much more time on Froome today. I imagine that they, their directors, etc. were equally shocked about Froome. When Froome and Aru went off the road on the descent on the right hand turn, I was wondering what was going on. Probably not a factor, but I wonder.

Lucky for Froome that he cracked so close to the finish, so that the loss was mot bigger, IMO.

This turns things around for me, and makes it so much more fun and interesting, Top four in the GC are close, and Froome being out of the yellow at this point is not something that he is used to. He needs to kill it in the TT.

At any rate.......a lot lot mote interesting in just one stage!

Chapeau to Bardet {and Aru}.

 

[graham418]

Finally , a stage with a little more happening . Props to Bardet. He pulled it out at just the right time. I thought Aru was going to take it. And Froome totally lost it . He must have lost 20 secs in the last 500m!
Now the sharks have tasted the blood in the water, it might make the last week exciting . Lets hope!

 

[Tom K.]

!!! YES !!!

I'm still not sure I'd bet against Froome on the top step in Paris, but now it's a RACE!

 

[markojp]

Unless Froome is ill, the ITT is his to NOT crush the opposition with... he'll beat Aru with a baseball bat if he's anywhere near 'normal'.

 

[LKLA]

Froome is still the run away favorite.

As I said before, he either wins or he does not finish.

But at least we now have what I thought was the most realistic entertainment left in the race after so many of the favorites dropping out and seeing the great shape Froome and the Sky team are in. And that is the fight for second and third place with riders like Aru, Quintana, Bardet, Uran, Martin...There are at least five or six guys in the fight for the the other two podium spots and that is what is going to make the rest of the stages worthwhile watching.

Btw, seems like it's been a bit of a disappointing showing by the Americans this year. Talansky in 40 something place, not bad. Just thought that we might crack the top 20.