TDF Stage 16 *SPOILER*

mattshrops

couple of people noticable by their absence since wiggins rode past froome and closed nibali down.

some people would suddenly love wiggins if he launched a huge attack won the stage and then finished 10th or someyhing.HEAVYWEIGHT. My shiny sh@tting wrinkled bumhole.

I seem to remember contador having a lead on schlek and then just sitting on him, cos thats all he needed to do???
We always knew when my nan was feeling good cos she'd be moaning her f@cking head off.Few secret lovechilds on here?

iainf72

OCDuPalais wrote:

What's going on with Szmyd lately? - of all the climbing domestiques on all the teams, I reckon he'd be the very guy to do the very job that Liquigas would most want a climbing domestique to be doing right now. He singlehandedly decimates the entire field in any other race he does: why stop now in the most important one?

Uninspiring leader? Don't think I have ever seen him perform well for Nibs

Blueberry farmer did a good impression of Sly today

TheBigBean

iainf72 wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

What's going on with Szmyd lately? - of all the climbing domestiques on all the teams, I reckon he'd be the very guy to do the very job that Liquigas would most want a climbing domestique to be doing right now. He singlehandedly decimates the entire field in any other race he does: why stop now in the most important one?

Uninspiring leader? Don't think I have ever seen him perform well for Nibs

Blueberry farmer did a good impression of Sly today

Who or what is the blueberry farmer?

iainf72

TheBigBean wrote:

Who or what is the blueberry farmer?

Basso

GentlemanBear

afx237vi wrote:

I'm not even convinced Zubeldia exists. It's ASO testing to see if anyone is paying attention.

Has anyone ever even seen a picture of him?

iainf72

GentlemanBear wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

I'm not even convinced Zubeldia exists. It's ASO testing to see if anyone is paying attention.

Has anyone ever even seen a picture of him?

Never ever say his name 3 times while standing in front of the mirror.

You'll be saying tranquilo in no time.

GentlemanBear

iainf72 wrote:

GentlemanBear wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

I'm not even convinced Zubeldia exists. It's ASO testing to see if anyone is paying attention.

Has anyone ever even seen a picture of him?

Never ever say his name 3 times while standing in front of the mirror.

You'll be saying tranquilo in no time.

The Eurosport pundits couldn't even agree on how to pronounce his name today - ZubelDIA drew a blank from Hayles - ZuBELdia got him back on track.

RichN95.

The greatest trick Zubeldia ever pulled was convincing the peloton he doesn't exist.

fleshtuxedo

OCDuPalais wrote:

What's going on with Szmyd lately? - of all the climbing domestiques on all the teams, I reckon he'd be the very guy to do the very job that Liquigas would most want a climbing domestique to be doing right now. He singlehandedly decimates the entire field in any other race he does: why stop now in the most important one?

...and where was Michael Rogers today? I watched the entire stage and I'm sure I never saw him once. Did he just stay in bed and get his teammates to tell everyone he did the stage. "Yeah he was there, between Boassen Hagen and Porte, same as always" etc.

jibberjim

FleshTuxedo wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

What's going on with Szmyd lately? - of all the climbing domestiques on all the teams, I reckon he'd be the very guy to do the very job that Liquigas would most want a climbing domestique to be doing right now. He singlehandedly decimates the entire field in any other race he does: why stop now in the most important one?

...and where was Michael Rogers today? I watched the entire stage and I'm sure I never saw him once. Did he just stay in bed and get his teammates to tell everyone he did the stage. "Yeah he was there, between Boassen Hagen and Porte, same as always" etc.

He was there, but Basso did the stint that would've been his and he either couldn't go with the pace or was called to back off to save himself for tomorrow when Basso was doing the work. In any case that's when he disappeared.

davidof

Rogers did a bit of work on the start of the Peyresourde then went off the back. Saw him on the French coverage.

Daz555

From what I've seen today Wiggins has removed any doubts about whether he is the best rider. He is at least the equal of Froome on the climbs (and today I thought he looked stronger) and is of course far far stronger in the TT.

Barring an accident Wiggins will effectively win the tour tomorrow.

Happy days.

dave_1

from what I could see, Wiggins did two separate efforts in the last 5km to pull back Wiggins and Froome too..but it didn't look to me like Froome could explain his struggle to hold on in the last 500 meters of the climb by having done a lot more work. But I could be wrong. It's important because it shows Yates may have been right to hold back Froome in the Alps. Wiggo had 2 minutes 07 seconds lead plus could claim quite reasonably that he also has 1 more minute in the bank in the final TT so effectively a 3 minute lead for Wiggo..and thus Froome should have been held back, provided Wiggo is proving in the pyrenees he does not need Froome to wait on him, which it looks like Wiggo doesn't.

I also liked how he sat right behind Froome to watch what he would do on Peyresourde ..no letting Froome play tired behind..am certain Wiggo will have private doubts about Froome and say, if Nibali got a good gap, Froome could justify saving the tour if Wiggo had to drop off a bit and abandon wiggins right there at 50km to go. I don;t think Froome would wait if anyone else in the race were strong enough. Thank good Contador on his doping regimen isn't there as a carrot for Froome to go after...Wiggo would struggle bad with Contadors dope fueled accelerations on climbs.

dave_1

sorry, slightly lengthy posting. From what I could see, Wiggins did two separate efforts in the last 5km to pull back Wiggins and Froome too..but it didn't look to me like Froome could explain his struggle to hold on to wiggo in the last 500 meters of the climb by having done a lot more work than wiggo. But I could be wrong. It's important because it shows Yates may have been right to hold back Froome in the Alps. Wiggo had 2 minutes 07 seconds lead plus could claim quite reasonably that he also has 1 more minute in the bank in the final TT so effectively a 3 minute lead for Wiggo..and thus Froome should have been held back, provided Wiggo is proving in the pyrenees he does not need Froome to wait on him, which it looks like Wiggo doesn't.

I also liked how he sat right behind Froome to watch what he would do on Peyresourde ..no letting Froome play tired behind..am certain Wiggo will have private doubts about Froome and say, if Nibali got a good gap, Froome could justify saving the tour if Wiggo had to drop off a bit and abandon wiggins right there at 50km to go. I don;t think Froome would wait if anyone else in the race were strong enough. Thank God Contador on his doping regimen isn't there as a carrot for Froome to go after...Wiggo would struggle bad with Contadors dope fueled accelerations on climbs.

alwaystoohot

Great stage yesterday, some might say boring as there were not enough attacks but the truth is Sky held such a strong pace throughout the struggle was to stay with the peloton, never mind attack off the front. Tommy V had a cracker so chapeau.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiggo and Froome have made a deal to give the Vuelta to Froome for his efforts then possibly reverse the spoils next year. There's enough gravy to go round.

A crackin' day, Sky were awesome, BMC bonked again and apart from isolated players, not many could maintain a challenge.

Greeat stuff and can't wait for today's stage.

Daz555

I think I read that Wiggo is not even entering the Vuelta this year. As for 2013 Tour - if Wiggins takes yellow I think it safe to assume he will lead Sky next year regardless of the route.

alwaystoohot

Why would he not cap off the best year of his life by not entering the Vuelta?

jibberjim

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Why would he not cap off the best year of his life by not entering the Vuelta?

'cos he wants a break?
'cos it would overshadow Froome and deny a place to other riders
'cos he's run out of blood to transfuse?

who knows, but lots of reasons not to do it.

blazing_saddles

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Great stage yesterday, some might say boring as there were not enough attacks but the truth is Sky held such a strong pace throughout the struggle was to stay with the peloton, never mind attack off the front. Tommy V had a cracker so chapeau.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiggo and Froome have made a deal to give the Vuelta to Froome for his efforts then possibly reverse the spoils next year. There's enough gravy to go round.

A crackin' day, Sky were awesome, BMC bonked again and apart from isolated players, not many could maintain a challenge.

Greeat stuff and can't wait for today's stage.

You call it a great stage, then promptly give the reason why it wasn't.
Break set with 15kms, no GC attack until 15kms out. Nearly 170 kms of tempo riding and climbing.
Hard? Sure, but the stage design left a lot to be desired.
Pretty much, all we could expect.

Neil McC

Seems to me that it's a good job Sky had two riders up there yesterday. If it had just been Nibs and Froome, then Froome would have been dropped. He could cover Nibbles' first dig but not the second and given the gaps and Nibali's descending Froome would have lost his second place imo.

As for Wiggins we won't know if he could have covered both attacks by himself.

Daz555

Neil McC wrote:

As for Wiggins we won't know if he could have covered both attacks by himself.

His strong response on the last attack gives me the impression that Nibs just ain't got the legs to trouble Wiggo.

Pross

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Great stage yesterday, some might say boring as there were not enough attacks but the truth is Sky held such a strong pace throughout the struggle was to stay with the peloton, never mind attack off the front. Tommy V had a cracker so chapeau.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiggo and Froome have made a deal to give the Vuelta to Froome for his efforts then possibly reverse the spoils next year. There's enough gravy to go round.

A crackin' day, Sky were awesome, BMC bonked again and apart from isolated players, not many could maintain a challenge.

Greeat stuff and can't wait for today's stage.

I'd have to disagree with the bit in bold. When Sky were on the front the time gap to the break barely changed. The front 1/2 riders only lost 2 minutes between the top of the Tourmalet and the top of the final climb. The main contenders only really found it hard when Basso went to the front and then when Nibs attacked. Sky's pace at the front was the bare minimum they needed to do and I suspect they were relieved to have a relatively trouble free day.

frenchfighter

alwaystoohot

I missed those two shagging, bleedin' ESPN.......

ocdupalais

frenchfighter wrote:

Getty

Poor old Nibs: he's going flat out while Brad's got the brakes on.