TDF Stage 17 *spoiler*

dave_1

I just hope Brad rides a great TT as the way things stand today..Froome has caused a serious loss of face to Wiggins and a strong TT by Wiggins will show Froome should not have made a fool of him yesterday and that Sky backed the right leader-Wiggins. In 2010 I see Bradley did a very good final TT so don't doubt he will do so again

rick_chasey

skylla wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

ddraver wrote:

The NOS version of Ned van der Boulting gave Froome a proper grilling last night about this Tour and the Vuelta last year. Froome did pretty well holding off the questions and saying that Bradley had strong legs for both Tours. If he was bullsh1tting then a fantastic career as Tony Blair Mk 2 awaits him after cycling! Part of me suspects that Froome is very good at hiding when he feels under pressure...

I could nt follow the Dutch enough to be sure but the studio pundits were pretty anti-Wiggo tho, epsecially the token hot girl who was going on about this being bad for Sky and Bad for cycling! The Sporza people seems a bit more balanced...

I'm always a night behind the avondettape but by and large, NOS are a lot less interested in the racing than Sporza.

Sporza are what you'd consider real, pure, sports fans. They can appreciate all sides of winning - and are always impressed when someone wins.

NOS are a bit more like us/me. They're more fickle and more interested in whether they're entertained, and they get all excessively romantic about it all. Mainly Smeets to blame for the latter. They spend a lot of time eulogising about the past as much as they do talking about today's race.

Hmm, had a few emails from dutch-land this morning with the same anti-wiggo sentiment - avondetappe die-hards. I'm surprised to be honest. I would have thought them wishing Rabo would take more of a sky approach: northern european efficiency, "cycle by numbers (c)(r)". { sorry, Rick, that's probably not how you would like to see dutch cycling }

Anyway, who was the "hot girl"?

Sheesh, bugger me Karl's giving Tankink a tough time. 45 mins after Schleck gets busted, Tankink gets the grill.

http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1371439

rick_chasey

While I'm at it, take a look at this:
http://www.sporza.be/permalink/1.1363234

The Belgians LOVE Canc like he's their own child.

frenchfighter

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

It is SO clear that Wiggins let him go and try for the win but he didn't for whatever reason.

I hope Froome SUFFERS and gets CRUSHED by Contador. I hope Cobo monsters him to.

rick_chasey

frenchfighter wrote:

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

It is SO clear that Wiggins let him go and try for the win but he didn't for whatever reason.

I hope Froome SUFFERS and gets CRUSHED by Contador. I hope Cobo monsters him to.

Surprised you aren't disappointed Froome wasn't let of the leash!

lostboysaint

frenchfighter wrote:

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

It is SO clear that Wiggins let him go and try for the win but he didn't for whatever reason.

I hope Froome SUFFERS and gets CRUSHED by Contador. I hope Cobo monsters him to.

They're feeding the cows up ready now............

frenchfighter

Rick Chasey wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

It is SO clear that Wiggins let him go and try for the win but he didn't for whatever reason.

I hope Froome SUFFERS and gets CRUSHED by Contador. I hope Cobo monsters him to.

Surprised you aren't disappointed Froome wasn't let of the leash!

All show and no go. Plus he is an unpleasant character. Plus he has come from nowhere to challenge for Grand Tour Podos...that doesn't leave me comfortable supporting him.

ddraver

lostboysaint wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

It is SO clear that Wiggins let him go and try for the win but he didn't for whatever reason.

I hope Froome SUFFERS and gets CRUSHED by Contador. I hope Cobo monsters him to.

They're feeding the cows up ready now............

Couple of these headed to Contador Towers...Purely becasue the meat is better obviously!

frenchfighter

ddraver

Yeah - Aresenal fans suck!

prawny

frenchfighter wrote:

Why cant Froome's wife STFU?

+1!

Calder

frenchfighter wrote:

...... Plus he is an unpleasant character.....

Yes, this. Every time he's interviewed you can tell he's saying "I'm here to support Brad" through gritted teeth, and that he really thinks that he's the man. It's really not endearing.

dougzz

frenchfighter wrote:

All show and no go. Plus he is an unpleasant character. Plus he has come from nowhere to challenge for Grand Tour Podos...that doesn't leave me comfortable supporting him.

But you hope both Cobo and a convicted doper monster him. Mmmmm

dougzz

Yeah, clearly Froome's lady should side with forum warriors against her bloke :roll:
OK, she's probably not helping him, but I'm sure she takes the whole matter a lot more personally than we do.

frenchfighter

Excuse me journos but why cant you ask Froome how he went from zero to hero in less than a year?

Daz555

Dave_1 wrote:

I just hope Brad rides a great TT as the way things stand today..Froome has caused a serious loss of face to Wiggins and a strong TT by Wiggins will show Froome should not have made a fool of him yesterday and that Sky backed the right leader-Wiggins. In 2010 I see Bradley did a very good final TT so don't doubt he will do so again

No-one doubts they backed the right man surely? Froome has been inconsistent his entire career and has been in top form maybe, what, a year? Wiggins has been on form for a decade and reached new highs in 2012.

rick_chasey

Daz555 wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

I just hope Brad rides a great TT as the way things stand today..Froome has caused a serious loss of face to Wiggins and a strong TT by Wiggins will show Froome should not have made a fool of him yesterday and that Sky backed the right leader-Wiggins. In 2010 I see Bradley did a very good final TT so don't doubt he will do so again

No-one doubts they backed the right man surely? Froome has been inconsistent his entire career and has been in top form maybe, what, a year? Wiggins has been on form for a decade and reached new highs in 2012.

It's possible to have two team leaders.

prawny

Rick Chasey wrote:

Daz555 wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

I just hope Brad rides a great TT as the way things stand today..Froome has caused a serious loss of face to Wiggins and a strong TT by Wiggins will show Froome should not have made a fool of him yesterday and that Sky backed the right leader-Wiggins. In 2010 I see Bradley did a very good final TT so don't doubt he will do so again

No-one doubts they backed the right man surely? Froome has been inconsistent his entire career and has been in top form maybe, what, a year? Wiggins has been on form for a decade and reached new highs in 2012.

It's possible to have two team leaders.

I reckon after the Vuelta they've decided to put all their eggs in one basket and just leave them there.

There's been no need to argue about who's going to be leader there's a big gap between them both in the GC and Brad hasn't shown any sign of cracking before the opposition.

Agree with others that yesterday looked bad though, Brad had gapped Froome a couple of times, he does manage to come back strong. I don't know why he wasn't doing the work for Brad back down the mountain.

Pross

Dave_1 wrote:

why did Wiggins take the front for a lengthy spell on the final climb was what I was wondering ?

Froome looked in danger of cracking at that point (just as he had on the other stage where he dropped to the back and then rode away from Wiggins). However, those who continue to insist that Froome is the best rider in the race seem to have selective vision when that happens. Also, the way people are talking you would think there has never been a domestique as strong as / stronger than their team leader in the TdF before and who may have sacrificed time / position on GC or a possible stage win to do the job they are paid for. It's almost as if Indurain & Delgado in 1990 never existed and this is just a weird British thing to wait for your team leader.

lostboysaint

frenchfighter wrote:

Excuse me journos but why cant you ask Froome how he went from zero to hero in less than a year?

Are you implying that it's because he started using the same butcher as Bertie?

ddraver

ITV podcast intonating that Froome WILL ride the Vuelta this year...

greasedscotsman

frenchfighter wrote:

Excuse me journos but why cant you ask Froome how he went from zero to hero in less than a year?

You do realise that talking to a photo isn't the same as talking to a real person?

keydon

Daz555 wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

I just hope Brad rides a great TT as the way things stand today..Froome has caused a serious loss of face to Wiggins and a strong TT by Wiggins will show Froome should not have made a fool of him yesterday and that Sky backed the right leader-Wiggins. In 2010 I see Bradley did a very good final TT so don't doubt he will do so again

No-one doubts they backed the right man surely? Froome has been inconsistent his entire career and has been in top form maybe, what, a year? Wiggins has been on form for a decade and reached new highs in 2012.

But he couldn't get up a hill a few years ago, Lance and him have a lot in common!!

TMR

Rick Chasey wrote:

It's possible to have two team leaders.

It's not realistic though. There should only be one leader, the riders need to know exactly who is in charge and calling the shots.

keydon

Daz555 wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

ok, IMO Sky stopped Froome from gaining about 2 minutes of time.

Wiggins has let Froome rest on a number of occasions - which is fine and a good tactic by Sky - Froome has been working bloody hard! Had there been a need we could perhaps have seen Wiggins drop Froome on those occasions.

We'll never know though, so meh.

The only time they have actually raced each other is in the TT and Wiggins is better by a good margin. Saturday's TT result will be down to what Wiggins decides to do rather than Froome's performance.

So how you know Froome hasn't been detuned for the ITT's as well??

tremayne

frenchfighter wrote:

Let me just state that I am selling Froome and buying Wiggins both as a rider and a character.

Loving this comment. A genuine Quality post!

If you could only put Bertie on the transfer market also....

kanto

frenchfighter wrote:

haha, nice caption, but it remains unknown if that was due to him getting excited, or wanting out of there.

No_Ta_Doctor

ddraver wrote:

Yeah - Aresenal fans suck!

The two Sp*rs fans alongside are wearing The Emperor's New Spurs Kit, as designed by Harry Redknapp.

moray_gub

Pross wrote:

Dave_1 wrote:

why did Wiggins take the front for a lengthy spell on the final climb was what I was wondering ?

Froome looked in danger of cracking at that point (just as he had on the other stage where he dropped to the back and then rode away from Wiggins). However, those who continue to insist that Froome is the best rider in the race seem to have selective vision when that happens. Also, the way people are talking you would think there has never been a domestique as strong as / stronger than their team leader in the TdF before and who may have sacrificed time / position on GC or a possible stage win to do the job they are paid for. It's almost as if Indurain & Delgado in 1990 never existed and this is just a weird British thing to wait for your team leader.

this

Heras and Lance on way to Plateau de Beille 2002 springs to mind.