Tour de France Stage 5 Ypres-Arenberg *Spoiler*
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Anyone seen Cheng Ji today?Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs0
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Why is Froome not sat on Contador's/Nibali's wheel?
No shame in following on a day like today...0 -
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Just turned TV on. It's still warm and sunny here in Sheffield
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Well that's one of my e/w bets for the day dropped.Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy0
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The last cobbles section0 -
JROD dropped.Contador is the Greatest0
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They should have left all the cobbled stages in
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Greipel also dropped.....Contador is the Greatest0
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JROD taking it easy in a small manageable group, more like.frenchfighter wrote:JROD dropped.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Kristoff, Demare and Greipel out of contention for the stage."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
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JROD just looks knackered / not quite recovered from his earlier crash. What are his objectives in the race, stage finishes / riding for form for vuelta?0
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The_Boy wrote:Above The Cows wrote:The_Boy wrote:Above The Cows wrote:Pross wrote:I really don't get this attitude that the cobbles don't belong in a GT. They are as much a part of being an all round cyclist as being able to climb or TT, arguably more as the race probably went over cobbles before someone introduced the 'circus act' of sending bike riders over huge mountains. The big difference seems to be that in the last 20 years riders have decided to specialise rather than ride what gets thrown at them so virtually no GT contender has ridden cobbles. That's their choice and as a result they are less complete bike riders than in a previous era where cyclists won P-R or RVV as well as GTs. Who decided that GTs should be all about the person who can climb best whilst minimising their losses in a TT?
That said, the decision to remove sectors looks sensible if they are flooded. It's one thing to have the skills to spot hazards and negotiate them but sending riders over cobbles they can't see would be a step too far.
I agree with this to some extent, but I also don't think it necessary to see riders crashing and getting hurt in order to be entertained. You can say that riders should be able to ride everything but the reality is these days that they are specialists. To then make these specialists do things they are not prepared for and run the risk of injury in order to increase the entertainment factor and advertising revenue is a little perverse.
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It's probably one for another thread, but if they're unprepared for the pave then they only have themselves to blame. The parcours has been known for a year, and every team in the pro peloton recces the stages these days. And nobody is stopping them riding in some of the minor cobbled races.
It's a bit like saying climbers shouldn't be expected to be able to TT or whatever (only a bit, mind).
But there is a difference between recceing the pave and making your entire cycling career about trying to win on cobbles. There's also a difference between recceing and racing and racing in the dry and racing in the wet. Between racing in a cobbled race with a bunch of specialists and racing on the pave with a GT peloton. There's also the way the sport is structured these days. You can say that the GT specialists can go and ride a cobbled race but will the teams and their sponsors want to run the risk of losing their GT thoroughbred in a crash on some cobbles? No.
I would love to see real all rounders like in yester year but I also recognise that that is not how the sport works anymore. It's the idea that we have to have these 'spectacular' stages that actually annoys me. I want to watch a whole GT with the best people, not for half of those people to disappear due to someone's desire to increase TV viewers. There's the normal attrition of a three week GT and then there's going out of your way to engineer some drama. Cycling is exciting enough as it is, you don't need to make it crazy golf.
I'm not that bothered about a return to all-rounders of yesteryear tbh. But the fact is that Andy Schleck managed to gain time on his rivals the last time the Tour used the cobbles. Andy ******* Schleck. Cobbled races are no more of a lottery than any other stage, and GC contenders can crash out on any other stage, or any "shoot, small race".
Did Frank break his collarbone because of the cobbles, or did he break in a racing incident same as any other broken collarbone? And speaking of the Schlecks, did you also agree with when they said that we shouldn't have races decided by descents?
Is there an equivalence between a descent and pavé. I wouldn't say there is. In order to make that argument I'd have to agree that there is equivalence. I don't think there is equivalance.
I just think these stages, like the silly stages recently in the Giro are designed not for racing reasons but in order to engineer some desired drama. Now you can argue that that is what cycling was always designed to do, but as I said there's a thin line and I hope that this stage doesn't cross it.
And it rightly p*sses me off when some hypocritical self-appointed commissaires of the peloton are quite happy to call out others on being weak one minute when it suits them while they will happily neutralise a stage the next. Naming no names, cough Cancellara cough.Correlation is not causation.0 -
What sh*te was Hinault just talking on Eurosport... the cobbles shook all his minerals out... :shock:0
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mfin wrote:curium wrote:Why is Froome not sat on Contador's/Nibali's wheel?
No shame in following on a day like today...
Probably doesn't want Contador bringing him down again.
Or perhaps he's learning how to ride from a Master. If he manages to go more than 1 minute without falling off of course.0 -
Mooro wrote:JROD just looks knackered / not quite recovered from his earlier crash. What are his objectives in the race, stage finishes / riding for form for vuelta?
He's going for stages later in the race. Seems to be just cruising around for these early days. Got no GC ambitions.0 -
RichN95 wrote:For next year's Wimbledon, maybe they might consider holding the second round on an untended municipal court full of pot holes, puddles and weeds.
Think of the ENTERTAINMENT though Rich. The ENTERTAINMENT. And the $$$$$$$$Correlation is not causation.0 -
Did Kristoff crash? I was getting smug about picking him for PTP with the bad weather and cancelles cobblesBlazing Saddles wrote:Kristoff, Demare and Greipel out of contention for the stage.0 -
dish_dash wrote:What sh*te was Hinault just talking on Eurosport... the cobbles shook all his minerals out... :shock:
I think he means fillings no?Correlation is not causation.0 -
Yeah, a crashFJS wrote:
Did Kristoff crash? I was getting smug about picking him for PTP with the bad weather and cancelles cobblesBlazing Saddles wrote:Kristoff, Demare and Greipel out of contention for the stage.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Ad breaks on ES are appalling....my world for some French coverage.
Cannondale stringing it out for the last 15km. Working to get a spot in the new team no doubt.Contador is the Greatest0 -
Above The Cows wrote:The_Boy wrote:Above The Cows wrote:The_Boy wrote:Above The Cows wrote:Pross wrote:I really don't get this attitude that the cobbles don't belong in a GT. They are as much a part of being an all round cyclist as being able to climb or TT, arguably more as the race probably went over cobbles before someone introduced the 'circus act' of sending bike riders over huge mountains. The big difference seems to be that in the last 20 years riders have decided to specialise rather than ride what gets thrown at them so virtually no GT contender has ridden cobbles. That's their choice and as a result they are less complete bike riders than in a previous era where cyclists won P-R or RVV as well as GTs. Who decided that GTs should be all about the person who can climb best whilst minimising their losses in a TT?
That said, the decision to remove sectors looks sensible if they are flooded. It's one thing to have the skills to spot hazards and negotiate them but sending riders over cobbles they can't see would be a step too far.
I agree with this to some extent, but I also don't think it necessary to see riders crashing and getting hurt in order to be entertained. You can say that riders should be able to ride everything but the reality is these days that they are specialists. To then make these specialists do things they are not prepared for and run the risk of injury in order to increase the entertainment factor and advertising revenue is a little perverse.
.
It's probably one for another thread, but if they're unprepared for the pave then they only have themselves to blame. The parcours has been known for a year, and every team in the pro peloton recces the stages these days. And nobody is stopping them riding in some of the minor cobbled races.
It's a bit like saying climbers shouldn't be expected to be able to TT or whatever (only a bit, mind).
But there is a difference between recceing the pave and making your entire cycling career about trying to win on cobbles. There's also a difference between recceing and racing and racing in the dry and racing in the wet. Between racing in a cobbled race with a bunch of specialists and racing on the pave with a GT peloton. There's also the way the sport is structured these days. You can say that the GT specialists can go and ride a cobbled race but will the teams and their sponsors want to run the risk of losing their GT thoroughbred in a crash on some cobbles? No.
I would love to see real all rounders like in yester year but I also recognise that that is not how the sport works anymore. It's the idea that we have to have these 'spectacular' stages that actually annoys me. I want to watch a whole GT with the best people, not for half of those people to disappear due to someone's desire to increase TV viewers. There's the normal attrition of a three week GT and then there's going out of your way to engineer some drama. Cycling is exciting enough as it is, you don't need to make it crazy golf.
I'm not that bothered about a return to all-rounders of yesteryear tbh. But the fact is that Andy Schleck managed to gain time on his rivals the last time the Tour used the cobbles. Andy ******* Schleck. Cobbled races are no more of a lottery than any other stage, and GC contenders can crash out on any other stage, or any "shoot, small race".
Did Frank break his collarbone because of the cobbles, or did he break in a racing incident same as any other broken collarbone? And speaking of the Schlecks, did you also agree with when they said that we shouldn't have races decided by descents?
Is there an equivalence between a descent and pavé. I wouldn't say there is. In order to make that argument I'd have to agree that there is equivalence. I don't think there is equivalance.
I just think these stages, like the silly stages recently in the Giro are designed not for racing reasons but in order to engineer some desired drama. Now you can argue that that is what cycling was always designed to do, but as I said there's a thin line and I hope that this stage doesn't cross it.
And it rightly p*sses me off when some hypocritical self-appointed commissaires of the peloton are quite happy to call out others on being weak one minute when it suits them while they will happily neutralise a stage the next. Naming no names, cough Cancellara cough.
See, I think their *is* to a degree. And I don't think these stages are always about engineering drama. But we'll just have to disagree to agree.
Except on your last paragraph. In full agreement there.Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy0 -
Kittel crash.
Plus another crash just earlier.Contador is the Greatest0 -
