Tour de France 2015 Thread

by Azabache Wed 1 Jul - 15:21

First topic message reminder :

1st - A. Contador fully "prepared", just too good and combative on the climbs, TT superb
2nd - C. Froome wonderful tryer, no disgrace
3rd - N. Quintana just found wanting
4th - V. Nibali not quite right

But could all pass to a new generation!

Cavendish wins only a couple of stages (beaten by a couple of beasts always)

by Hammersmith harrier Thu 23 Jul - 18:35

LiamB wrote:I agree on the star performers just ambling through many of the stages & just performing heroically on the mountain top finishes, that give them the time in hand to just relax elsewhere. Not sure on the radio's, sometimes that communication is key in helping develop a race & strategy for teams & riders. Without it, there is also a safety risk, a race might be abandoned mid way or a rider might need warning of an approaching risk it he himself might need to call for emergency aid.

It shouldn't be key in developing a race strategy for teams that's the whole reason they should scrap team orders over the radio. One of the great moments in tour history was seeing Stephen Roche going hell for leather chasing down Delgado and having no idea how much time he had to make up. We know longer have this and riders are aware of far too much, team strategy stays the same throughout the race but epic solo breakaways have a far greater chance of coming off.

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 14:44

whocares wrote:
John wrote:Just thrown £10 on Rolland, see what happens.

good shout , close but no cigar

Maybe second time lucky today, he's gone for the long one has my Pierre. Got him at 18/1 this morning, not sure he will hold on, when Quintana attacks.

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 14:49

Geraint Thomas dropped. Rolland looks good, but Uran is now counter attacking to join up with Rolland. Can't be long before Quintana goes for it.

by Big Fri 24 Jul - 14:55

LiamB wrote:Geraint Thomas dropped. Rolland looks good, but Uran is now counter attacking to join up with Rolland. Can't be long before Quintana goes for it.

Yep, this isn't the 'easy' job I thought it was going to be for Froome! Quintana can just let Nibali/Contador do the attacking and Froome do the chasing for now, may want to leave it a bit longer until everyone is even more tired. Hit them then when he has best chance of doing damage.

by whocares Fri 24 Jul - 15:08

mmm looks like froome is human after all.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 24 Jul - 15:08

BUT HE MUST BE DOPING HE'S DOING WELL

by whocares Fri 24 Jul - 15:10

haha it was only a bike issue that made him lose some ground but Nibali used this to attack

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 15:10

He just unclipped, he's back with Quintana. Certainly nervous times. nibali has attacked & Rolland has two minutes gap with 55km, no chance of holding on

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 15:12

Froome had a mechanical?

Nibali 25+ seconds ahead.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 15:12

Olly wrote:BUT HE MUST BE DOPING HE'S DOING WELL

You;re like a Rafalita.

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 15:13

He just unclipped, nothing serious for Froome.

Pierre doesn't have a two minute lead anymore, Nibali has it down to 1 min 20, guess they will link up after the descent.

by whocares Fri 24 Jul - 15:14

Nibali is not really a contender anymore for the yellow jersey.

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 15:21

John wrote:Pierre doesn't have a two minute lead anymore, Nibali has it down to 1 min 20, guess they will link up after the descent.

Yep, Rolland looks like he will fail again today. Nibali has cut it down to 45 seconds

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 15:31

Don't underestimate my Pierre, holding Nibali at 59 secs. C'mon Rolland!!!!

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 15:43

the best thing Rolland could do is to wait for Nibali & go with him on the descent. Gap down to 25 secs. Movistar/peloton at 2mins

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 15:45

Less than ten seconds now. Your Pierre is in a bit of Sharkey bother.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 16:10

Nibali attacks!

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 16:12

It's all over for my Pierre

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 16:34

Too late for an attack now, terrain all flat from here on in. Hardly surprising, nothing left in froome's rivals. If anything Froome should just attack here at the end just to finish this all off & put everyone out of their misery

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 16:39

Spoke too soon.

by Big Fri 24 Jul - 16:42

Yep, I did wonder if/when it was going to come - but this is fantastic!

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 16:43

Vamos Nairo! Gain some time to make it interesting for 2mo!

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 16:44

For this to get interesting he needs at least to take a minute. Nothing exciting about 15 seconds

by Lowlandbrit Fri 24 Jul - 16:51

Great ride by Nibali. Quintana does just about enough to make it interesting, but you have to wonder if he couldn't have gone earlier and got more.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 16:54

I don't know how much more he had.

by Guest Fri 24 Jul - 16:54

2.38 deficit to Froome?

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 17:00

1.	GBRFROOME Christopher	31	TEAM SKY	78h 37' 34''
2.	COLQUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander	51	MOVISTAR TEAM	78h 40' 12''	+ 02' 38''
3.	ESPVALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro	59	MOVISTAR TEAM	78h 42' 59''	+ 05' 25''
4.	ITANIBALI Vincenzo	1	ASTANA PRO TEAM	78h 44' 18''	+ 06' 44''
5.	ESPCONTADOR Alberto	41	TINKOFF-SAXO	78h 45' 30''	+ 07' 56''
6.	NEDGESINK Robert	131	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO	78h 46' 29''	+ 08' 55''
7.	SUIFRANK Mathias	181	IAM CYCLING	78h 50' 13''	+ 12' 39''
8.	NEDMOLLEMA Bauke	141	TREK FACTORY RACING	78h 50' 56''	+ 13' 22''
9.	FRABARDET Romain	12	AG2R LA MONDIALE	78h 51' 42''	+ 14' 08''
10.	FRAROLLAND Pierre	121	TEAM EUROPCAR	78h 55' 01''	+ 17' 27''

by Mad for Chelsea Fri 24 Jul - 17:03

so Froome makes up a minute over the last 6 km of a climb or so, Quintana makes up 30 secs over slightly less than 4km. Froome must be doping, right? Or he deliberately let Quintana gain some time to make it seem less suspicious?

Let's be honest, most of the gap to Quintana came before they ever made the mountains, on the flat (looking increasinly stupid from Movistar to get caught out on a stage where everyone knew there was a risk of cross-winds) and TTT.

Set for an interesting day tomorrow, but 2:38 is still a heck of a huge gap to make back, would need Froome to have an off-day IMO.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 17:06

I think Porte and Thomas will be there for him tmo for a longer time.
If he is isolated he could lose time but can't see it being much.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 17:14

Antoine VAYER retweeted
Tour de France 2015 Thread - Page 4 ZT-Fyy6U_bigger

ammattipyöräily ‏[ltr]@ammattipyoraily[/ltr] 3m3 minutes ago
Nairo Quintana set a new record time on La Toussuire. #TDF2015[img(13.900000035762789px,14px)]https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/tourdefrance2015_v2/TDF.png[/img]

by CaledonianCraig Fri 24 Jul - 17:14

Solid ride by Froome to lose a small part of his lead. Great ride by Nibali though and by Rolland.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 24 Jul - 17:24

Mad for Chelsea wrote:so Froome makes up a minute over the last 6 km of a climb or so, Quintana makes up 30 secs over slightly less than 4km. Froome must be doping, right? Or he deliberately let Quintana gain some time to make it seem less suspicious?

Let's be honest, most of the gap to Quintana came before they ever made the mountains, on the flat (looking increasinly stupid from Movistar to get caught out on a stage where everyone knew there was a risk of cross-winds) and TTT.

Set for an interesting day tomorrow, but 2:38 is still a heck of a huge gap to make back, would need Froome to have an off-day IMO.

Well purely by the fact he's beaten froome he must be doping MFC that's how it works in cycling.....

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 17:37

Did you see Nairo getting the fastest ever time on the climb?

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 17:39

Faster than a certain Rasmussen...

Let's celebrate everyone, each and every rider in this tdf is clean! Yay let's hug a tree.

by Hammersmith harrier Fri 24 Jul - 18:01

Without any form of proof then yes they are all clean.

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 18:02

by Lowlandbrit Fri 24 Jul - 18:14

LuvSports! wrote:Faster than a certain Rasmussen...

Who wasn't that fast on that particular climb. Fastest before today was Sastre, who he beat by about 20 seconds:
Tour de France 2015 Thread - Page 4 CKnoQbRWIAENP5A

Tour de France 2015 Thread - Page 4 CKnoQbRWIAENP5A

by Hammersmith harrier Fri 24 Jul - 18:32

Sastre, Evans and Wiggins have at no point been implicated in any doping scandals so all three of them must have been doping despite absolutely no evidence to suggest so.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 24 Jul - 18:52

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Sastre, Evans and Wiggins have at no point been implicated in any doping scandals so all three of them must have been doping despite absolutely no evidence to suggest so.

I agree. Winning means you're doping so these guys should be struck from the record books

by LuvSports! Fri 24 Jul - 18:58

Neither did Big Mig...

by Hammersmith harrier Fri 24 Jul - 19:02

It goes without saying that Indurain was unique, unparalleled physiology, if everyone is doping why is it an issue?

by LuvSports! Sat 25 Jul - 2:28

Have you ever thought any cyclist was doped?

by Hammersmith harrier Sat 25 Jul - 12:02

It's not something I think about, if you're forever concerned about who's doping you'll never enjoy what you're watching, until proven guilty everyone is innocent in my eyes.

by CaledonianCraig Sat 25 Jul - 12:18

Froome could wrap up the win today but it will be a classic stage up Alpes D'Huez.

by LuvSports! Sat 25 Jul - 12:51

Hammersmith harrier wrote:It's not something I think about, if you're forever concerned about who's doping you'll never enjoy what you're watching, until proven guilty everyone is innocent in my eyes.

Well that is your view. I love the sport and am going into the sports journo industry despite what I believe to be a pervasive doping culture across a vast array of sports.
I still appreciate they are insanely talented athletes but sport is a business and it is about winning at all costs.

by LuvSports! Sat 25 Jul - 12:51

CaledonianCraig wrote:Froome could wrap up the win today but it will be a classic stage up Alpes D'Huez.

He will wrap it up. Nobody does anything on the last stage. No way he loses 2min 38.

by LuvSports! Sat 25 Jul - 13:59

QUINTANA GOES!

by CaledonianCraig Sat 25 Jul - 14:25

LuvSports! wrote:QUINTANA GOES!

And nothing comes of it. The move covered by Froome alone and Team Sky regroup and all are back in the peloton.

by LuvSports! Sat 25 Jul - 14:31

Haha, i know. I am watching.

by CaledonianCraig Sat 25 Jul - 14:40

LuvSports! wrote:Haha, i know. I am watching.

Like I knew Quintana had gone as well for the same reason. Wink

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