Tour de France Stage 7 *spoiler*

Yellow Peril

That was exciting. It was the first roll of the dice for all GC contenders and some just got blown away. The TT will be interesting but moreover I hope that Sky have learnt their lesson from last year's Vuelta. they don't want to end up with a couple of runner up medals with Evans guesting as Cobo. As the race goes on and if Froome also pulls back time they should back their strongest man even if it isn't Wiggo.

DeadCalm

Bradley Wiggins ‏@bradwiggins
Honoured to be in yellow made possible by an incredible group of guys, big thank you and huge congratulations to Mr Froome

cal_stewart

Good result today. As for Wiggins he looked good as he not good on the steep stuff. All this what happens if they go early on Wiggins on a 20km climb, the same a spain last year he TT's and catches and passes them a km later. Froome's a different type of GC rider than Wiggins, he will be a better rider next year and probably a better shout against Bernie in a more hilly tour with less TT miles, As for Froome beating Wiggins in the TT in Spain well Wiggins had a bit of a bad one going out to fast and Froome rid the TT of his life.

I'm I the only person who would like to see cav sent up the road tomorrow?

cal_stewart

Also a lot of talk ref people beating samu etc, to be fair samu's been going down hill for a few years its more to do with the GC riders coming to the end of there racing lives a changing of the guard so to speak.

RichN95.

Turfle wrote:

As impressive as the Sky duo (and Evans) were, has to be said that most of the pre-Tour favourites were pretty atrocious. Most of them beaten by the likes of Taaramae, Zubeldia, Roche, Monfot, Brajkovic. Good climbers all, but not who you' d expect to be beating Samuel Sanchez on that finish.

A lot of them were beaten by Cancellara

bigmat

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

rick_chasey

For my most hated tactic, the UPS ride em all off in one big train, I did enjoy that. It was big name bingo.

Ride of the day is Canc.

When you see him go uphill with the proper climbers you see how bloody massive he is.


On holiday a few days ago I overheard a guy on his phone saying that sky were ridiculously strong. Too right.

Turfle

RichN95 wrote:

Turfle wrote:

As impressive as the Sky duo (and Evans) were, has to be said that most of the pre-Tour favourites were pretty atrocious. Most of them beaten by the likes of Taaramae, Zubeldia, Roche, Monfot, Brajkovic. Good climbers all, but not who you' d expect to be beating Samuel Sanchez on that finish.

A lot of them were beaten by Cancellara

Gallopin too!

Regardless of how strong the top 4 were, it's safe to say the majority of climbers didn't cover themselves in glory. Some were obviously hurting from yesterday, and others like VDB and Valverde were unlucky with mechanicals at just the wrong time.

rick_chasey

BigMat wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

He has to learn to stay upright. He's almost as bad a liability as Gesink.

Lars Boom wasn't very complementary about Froome's ability to steer.

slim_boy_fat

Was swim teaching today so just finished watching the whole of the Eurosport coverage which I had Sky+. What a stage, great ride by Sky on the front, amazed so many people struggled. The tour finally comes alive. Can't wait for tomorrow now.

DavMartinR

BigMat wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

I think SKY could have the same dilemma they had in the Vuelta. Froome looks strong again, so if the GC riders work Wiggins over in the high mountains, will they give Froome free rein to see if he can hold out with the GC riders? Or will they get him to pace Wiggins back on? I hope Wiggins can hang on to the jersey, but his toughest days are ahead of him.

Jez mon

GC after today's stage


1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 34:21:20
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:16
4 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:00:32
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team 0:00:54
6 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:59
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan 0:01:09
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:22
9 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:01:32
10 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:01:40

Spaghetti Man Mr Nibbles is still in contention, along with Cuddles. There is plenty of talent further down in the GC, but by the looks of today, not much form.

If Froome is to usurp Wiggo, he needs to gain back time on him in the TT on Monday, and hope that other serious contenders start mixing it up a bit more.

Turfle

The top 3 and Froomey were head and shoulders ahead today, but there's still a whole lot of racing to go. Only one test is out of the way. Menchov still a big danger.

Meanwhile the cyclingnews forumites have now passed "denial", and are somewhere between "anger" and "bargaining". They'll get there in the end.

alwaystoohot

Brad 'blowing up':

"We’ve really trained to the demands of this year’s Tour so one of the areas we’ve worked on was the steeper climbs. It was one of the areas I wasn’t comfortable with in the past. I had a lot of rehab to do last year after I broke my collarbone and one of the things that was flagged up in the Vuelta last year, that I had no upper body strength, especially on the side that I broke my collarbone on. It was something that I worked on in the gym and I really improved all my core strength and upper body strength. We’ve covered every area."

oldwelshman

Just finished watching the race on sky plus.
cav must be happy lol Gibby said Cav was 100m off the back of the lead group yesterday and was on radio to team car and theye did not send even one rider to get him back on, then today he was on bottle duty he wont mind really.
Great ride by sky, EBH did huge effort over 6km , leading into climb and bottom section stringing out and dropping loads, he is so strong currently.
Porte did well also considerring injury and rodgers and they still finished resonable time.
As for the Wiggo froome debate, Wiggo was close to limmit on the one part which was 20% but where will you get long 20% sections for froome to get advanteg he would need to open gaps.
Still think Brad had advantage now he is back on top TT form, unlike Vuelta last year. As someone else said Froome will have his chance in hillier TDF in next coule of years.
Evans looked good and at least tried to attack but he looked worse than wiggo after his attack and was barely turning his gear, that finish was well suited for Froome, oh and wiggo did not shout at froome to ease so he did not loose time, was for froome to have bit left to finish and win!!
SKy will have to control race but BMC will also chip in with race so close.
Not sure NIbs comments were misquotes as the french are pretty good at translating things into what they want to write and Nibs always seemd decent guy and know his stuff, but to claim wiggo cant climb and he was better was a bit silly when you see how easy wiggo caught him in the tour de swiss.
I dont think wiggo will loose time on long climbs in fact think he wiol go better but will not attack, will just stay with evans and use TT to increase gap. May not be exciting but is best tactic for him.
Long way to go but best chance ever for brit tdf winner.

dave_1

Rick Chasey wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

He has to learn to stay upright. He's almost as bad a liability as Gesink.

Lars Boom wasn't very complementary about Froome's ability to steer.

Rick, I didn't know about his bike handling problems. However, the main danger to Chris Froome is his own team in some respects. Sky lost Chris Froome the Vuelta in 2011 when they kept wasting his energy on the front for Bradley. I think Froome should jump much earlier in the next mountain stages and not do these long pacing type efforts that Evans commented on yesterday. If Wiggo TTs 90 seconds faster than froome on Monday then yes, froome should go back to the front, but he should be reserved for attacks tomorrow, not pace setting, as he is not domestque

TMR

Rick Chasey wrote:

Lars Boom wasn't very complementary about Froome's ability to steer.

Lars Boom being the arbiter of good bike handling?

fleshtuxedo

Well unless Wiggins loses time today, he's likely to be 2 mins ahead of Evans and a bit more ahead of Froome after tomorrow. Sky won't be doing anything different and Froome will continue to be a domestique. Can only see it changing if Wiggins blows up on a mountain and loses a load to Froome.

phreak

DavMartinR wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

I think SKY could have the same dilemma they had in the Vuelta. Froome looks strong again, so if the GC riders work Wiggins over in the high mountains, will they give Froome free rein to see if he can hold out with the GC riders? Or will they get him to pace Wiggins back on? I hope Wiggins can hang on to the jersey, but his toughest days are ahead of him.

With Froome and Rogers in the top 10, they could do what CSC did in 2009, ie send Froome out up the road and get Evans et al to chase, towing Wiggins to the top.

dave_1

I see Jani Brajkovic's data shows 5.8 w per kg yesterday losing 46 seconds to Wiggo, and Wiggo's Dauphine Joux plan- 1684 m/h was the VAM, equal to 5.92 watts/kg.

I don't find Sky's strength that sinister when we remember 6.4 watts per kg was what LA and co were banging out pre Bio Passport.

Froome dropped nearly 2 seconds per km in the prologue to Wiggo so Monday will be very exciting I think

mroli

All this talk of sending people up the road by sky. Does anyone really think that they're going to do anything different from what they've done all year?

RoadPainter

greasedscotsman wrote:

RoadPainter wrote:

Just below 2nd hairpin having lunch, will be strolling past greasedscotsman soon (I have Union flag as cape). Glad to hear there's some Schatje-ing going on!

Just got a maillot a poids, life is good.

The climb is v steep, the ramp about 500-600m from start of it is really evil.

Could be v good racing, if enough riders feeling OK

Oops, looks like I missed you! I moved up towards the 3km banner as there were some French kids trying to jump on my bike! Very impressed with the park n' ride they had there, did you use it? How was it?

Yeah, used park + ride - it was excellent. Free busses would've been, what, about 5er each back home?

We walked to top, then up to peak to look down on ski slope + finish area.

Wandered down to see them go past at 1.99 km to go (start of fenced area)

Good day and great result.

Yellow Peril

phreak wrote:

DavMartinR wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

Froome was obvious last Autumn. He will win the TDF

I'm starting to think you might be right. Probably not this year though, unless there's a big surprise in the next tt - if Wiggins has a good gap coming into the rest day, I think it'll be his to lose.

I think SKY could have the same dilemma they had in the Vuelta. Froome looks strong again, so if the GC riders work Wiggins over in the high mountains, will they give Froome free rein to see if he can hold out with the GC riders? Or will they get him to pace Wiggins back on? I hope Wiggins can hang on to the jersey, but his toughest days are ahead of him.

With Froome and Rogers in the top 10, they could do what CSC did in 2009, ie send Froome out up the road and get Evans et al to chase, towing Wiggins to the top.

Thats not such a bad tactic. Evans then tows wiggo and the rest of Sky get a day off. I'd give that a go.

iainf72

Yes, because other teams will let Sky send someone up the road.

dave_1

I don't think sky will want to gamble with exhausting Froome..surely Mick Rogers will be sent up road?

frenchfighter

Hmm. So Froome did well today esp given he was riding front. However this is the first good thing he has done since the Vuelta. Glad to see it wasn't a flash in the pan.

Once again Cobo (Vuelta GC) winner got whacked. Straight up doping last year.

Some big time gaps and once again the gaps are increased further sucking the life out of this Tour.

Nothing impressive from Wiggins today. He just rode on the back of four teammates powering out in front. That being said, all the others need to do is sit behind him also and that wasn't managed to a greater and lesser degree.

Note that a ton of these GC guys are battered from crashes and from havin to chase yday - something neither Wi, Fr, Ev or Nibs had to do.

This climb was a tt type effort, something that wiggins is fine on. Show me a mountain then we can see.

Can't post photos now as am iPhone but the ones of W&F on the podo are noteworthy for two reasons. Wiggins hair on his sideburn area is revolting and froomes legs are sooo long, skinny and covered with shorts down to his kneecaps. At least he had nice shoes.

Not happy that this stage had more points for kom then all others combined.

This race lacks Andy and it definitely lacks Contador. Worst TdF in years so far.

iainf72

frenchfighter wrote:

Hmm. So Froome did well today esp given he was riding front. However this is the first good thing he has done since the Vuelta. Glad to see it wasn't a flash in the pan.

You know Froome has been ill, right?

phreak

iainf72 wrote:

Yes, because other teams will let Sky send someone up the road.

They shouldn't have let Sastre go that year either. Suppose either way though if it means other teams do the chasing to bring them back it saves the rest of Sky having to do the work.

timoid.

frenchfighter wrote:

Hmm. So Froome did well today esp given he was riding front. However this is the first good thing he has done since the Vuelta. Glad to see it wasn't a flash in the pan.

Once again Cobo (Vuelta GC) winner got whacked. Straight up doping last year.

Some big time gaps and once again the gaps are increased further sucking the life out of this Tour.

Nothing impressive from Wiggins today. He just rode on the back of four teammates powering out in front. That being said, all the others need to do is sit behind him also and that wasn't managed to a greater and lesser degree.

Note that a ton of these GC guys are battered from crashes and from havin to chase yday - something neither Wi, Fr, Ev or Nibs had to do.

This climb was a tt type effort, something that wiggins is fine on. Show me a mountain then we can see.

Can't post photos now as am iPhone but the ones of W&F on the podo are noteworthy for two reasons. Wiggins hair on his sideburn area is revolting and froomes legs are sooo long, skinny and covered with shorts down to his kneecaps. At least he had nice shoes.

Not happy that this stage had more points for kom then all others combined.

This race lacks Andy and it definitely lacks Contador. Worst TdF in years so far.

Right in the middle of your speech you hit the nail on the head. I've yet to see Wiggins remain right up there at the sharp end of a really long final col in the Tour. But then again it's usually the absent Contador and skinny Schleck that leave him behind. I really think this Tour is missing an inform Andy.

Also I found the fact that 5 Sky riders rode everyone off their wheel to be a little bit sinister. EBH is now a climbing great? And squeaky clean Rogers? If this was a non-UK team the reaction on this board would be outrage.

plectrum

frenchfighter wrote:

This race lacks Andy and it definitely lacks Contador. Worst TdF in years so far.

Andy Schleck is a gangly loser with the positive mental attitude of Eeyore and Contador is a filthy doping cheat. Have no interest in seeing either ride again. Contador was pretty average in his last tour where he was clean(ish)