Rest day 1 11/07/2016

jimmythecuckoo

Seeing as Eurosport and ITV will be milking the rest day for a round up, I thought I would give a thread a crack.

So what do we think so far?

I reckon its been a pretty decent Tour so far with the exception of a couple of boring stages.

The form of Cav and Sagan has been really good to see and I hope we see Dan MaClay get his hands in the air before we get to Paris.

The scenery has been epic in places with the Mont St Michel and some of the Massif Central being the stand out.

TV coverage has been ok so far as well. No P&P has been a real bonus.

Rider of the race so far is a difficult one to call, but for me it has to be Adam Yates.

specialgueststar

Seems well posed at the moment as the top 11 are still within a minute of the GC- however the Ventoux and a tt the next day will shake things up - trouble is no one is going to be allowed to go - even if they are unlikely for GC in Paris - so it remains a bit of a procession until then?

jimmythecuckoo

I still don't fancy Froome to win. Nairo seems far to calm and collected right now.

philbar72

Think Dan Martin will fade next week and maybe try for a stage win or 2. Yates looks very very good, Quintana keeping his powder dry, and Froome, well, Ventoux again?

jimmythecuckoo

Incredible that Contador going home isn't been seen as a major disaster by many.

bobmcstuff

We only get 1 stage thread but 2 rest day threads - bonus

professeur

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

I still don't fancy Froome to win. Nairo seems far to calm and collected right now.

Nairo was 2 mins down on the first rest day last year (and in 2013) so he's actually as close as he's ever been to Froome (at this point of the race). Froome did seem a little unimpressive yesterday, given that he went ballistic on the first MTF last year, but perhaps he's being more cautious to strengthen his 3rd week (relative to Nairo).

mrfpb

This is the first time I've followed the tour closely, and it's quite hard finding a single decent source to keep an eye on while working. I'm enjoying the daily threads here. I usually tune in to the 5 Live coverage but that doesn't start till 3.00 or 3.30.

Any ecommendations for mobile apps - I have the Race Centre coverage already as my main

As for the actual event, I'm enjoying Cav's "comeback" and hoping he makes it to Paris.

jscl

professeur wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

I still don't fancy Froome to win. Nairo seems far to calm and collected right now.

Nairo was 2 mins down on the first rest day last year (and in 2013) so he's actually as close as he's ever been to Froome (at this point of the race). Froome did seem a little unimpressive yesterday, given that he went ballistic on the first MTF last year, but perhaps he's being more cautious to strengthen his 3rd week (relative to Nairo).

I said this in the Stage 9 thread yesterday, but I'll mention it again in here.

With the weather at yesterday's finish, there was little point in going all out. The risk of illness isn't worth it when there's still two weeks to go. Yesterday was damage limitation for everyone. Only really Dan Martin and Bauke went on the attack... I think that says all that needs to be said really. They aren't the two that are going to be riding up the Champs in Yellow.

bobmcstuff

professeur wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

I still don't fancy Froome to win. Nairo seems far to calm and collected right now.

Nairo was 2 mins down on the first rest day last year (and in 2013) so he's actually as close as he's ever been to Froome (at this point of the race). Froome did seem a little unimpressive yesterday, given that he went ballistic on the first MTF last year, but perhaps he's being more cautious to strengthen his 3rd week (relative to Nairo).

Much has been made of Froome's change in training this year to avoid his previous 3rd week fades, so I'm not sure Froome's performance yesterday is much of a problem for him.

salsiccia1

Purito has announced his retirement at the end of 2016:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/joaquim-rodriguez-announces-that-he-will-retire-at-the-end-of-2016/

r0bh

Cycling "journalists" do love scraping the barrel don't they. Apparently Froome's lack of attacking on the climbs this Tour is because he had a motor last year!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/rac ... cks-258362

jscl

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Purito has announced his retirement at the end of 2016:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/joaquim-rodriguez-announces-that-he-will-retire-at-the-end-of-2016/

Big shame. Have been waiting for Purito to light up a stage and hope he gets a stage win at this years tour.

r0bh wrote:

Cycling "journalists" do love scraping the barrel don't they. Apparently Froome's lack of attacking on the climbs this Tour is because he had a motor last year!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/rac ... cks-258362

It's just disgusting. Why can't people just accept that it's possible to perform without cheating?

top_bhoy

Currently based in the Southern hemisphere - the rest day couldn't come soon enough for me. After watching the tour and then Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, went to bed at 2.30am or so and got 4 hours sleep before I cycled out to work. All too familiar to previous nights/mornings.

Overall, I've enjoyed the tour so far with the exception of...the friggin idiots who take it upon themselves to ruin everyone elses viewing and enjoyment by running like maniacs only to usually impede the cyclists and force them off their intended path. The crowds are a spectacle in themselves and needs care taken not to remove this theatre but something needs to be done.

josame

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Incredible that Contador going home isn't been seen as a major disaster by many.

Tis a disaster that we will all have to overcome via our humdrum lives..

The_Boy

This nonsense about bike racing is all very well, but I'm in a hospital facing the very real possibility that my son's middle name will be Journée de Repos.

In reality, he seems to have changed his mind about coming out, but it was a genuine worry at 1 o'clock this morning.

Crozza

An enjoyable tour so far, very nicely poised going into Ventoux where I hope things really kick off.

On reflection though the racing has been fairly dull, livened up for me because of the heavy Brit participation and success.

One thing's for sure, the threads are lacking in photos this year...

RichN95.

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Incredible that Contador going home isn't been seen as a major disaster by many.

It didn't happen suddenly though. It was gradual decline from top contender to outsider to also-ran to liability to DNF.

pottssteve

bobmcstuff wrote:

We only get 1 stage thread but 2 rest day threads - bonus

Yes. I got mine in first but jimmy is a popular guy, while nobody likes me..

jscl

Keisse & Lampaert renew with Etixx.

adr82

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Incredible that Contador going home isn't been seen as a major disaster by many.

I was expecting him to fall out of contention at some point, just not this quickly (or to abandon for that matter). He's now crashed (all by himself, nobody bringing him down) at 4 Tours in a row, with 2 of them resulting in abandons. It's not a great record. I will miss his excuses, but I don't think he'd have been in the top 3 this year even if he'd stayed on his bike.

r0bh wrote:

Cycling "journalists" do love scraping the barrel don't they. Apparently Froome's lack of attacking on the climbs this Tour is because he had a motor last year!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/rac ... cks-258362

Hilarious... presumably his battery was flat on AdH last year then? Or did Quintana just have a bigger motor? :roll:

philwint

I missed most of the first week as i was doing my own mini Tdf





But I managed to get to the various hotels to watch the last few Km's most days.

Really enjoyed seeing Cav & Sagan winning. I got some odd looks from the locals as i was shouting and cheering

It's still very close, and i think the GC won't explode until they hit the Alps.

Having done Ventoux now i can't imagine how they will race up it! I barely did it at a crawl!

philbar72

wondering if J-Rod drops a bit more time he'll be given the chance for a win up Ventoux? that'd be nice.

epc06

RichN95 wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Incredible that Contador going home isn't been seen as a major disaster by many.

It didn't happen suddenly though. It was gradual decline from top contender to outsider to also-ran to liability to DNF.

Yep, arguably out of contention by the time the Dauphine had finished

supermurph09

Really enjoyed the tour so far, really great to have things so nicely poised. You've got Froome seemingly wanting to stamp his authority, Martin on form, Yates riding a belter and then Quintana, he's the one that's hard to read. Is he on the limit or just keeping the powder dry?

On top of that Cav, Cummings and also McClay, what a great tour so far!

ugo.santalucia

Good Tour so far... nice to see Cav in green... Froome's descent was genius... Pinot has found his right dimension as Virenque impersonator... and still quite a few riders who can do very well in the GC. Haven't looked at the course, but Quintana looks very easy on the pedals, wouldn't be surprised if he dropped everyone up Ventoux...

milton50

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Purito has announced his retirement at the end of 2016:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/joaquim-rodriguez-announces-that-he-will-retire-at-the-end-of-2016/

He will be missed. Has got something like 8 top 5 finishes in Grand Tours but still no win.

I think the big question in everyone's mind is whether Froome is keeping something back for the third week or came into the race a bit undercooked. If he isn't then we could be in for a very tight race right to the finish. The ideal scenario is if Froome can gain say 40 seconds on Quintana in the longer TT and Quintana is slightly stronger in the third week.

Can Yates hold on for third?

Crozza

just remembered what happened the last time they raced up Ventoux

you'd be well advised to skip lunch until after Froome's attack

Shadowrider

JSCL wrote:

professeur wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

I still don't fancy Froome to win. Nairo seems far to calm and collected right now.

Nairo was 2 mins down on the first rest day last year (and in 2013) so he's actually as close as he's ever been to Froome (at this point of the race). Froome did seem a little unimpressive yesterday, given that he went ballistic on the first MTF last year, but perhaps he's being more cautious to strengthen his 3rd week (relative to Nairo).

I said this in the Stage 9 thread yesterday, but I'll mention it again in here.

With the weather at yesterday's finish, there was little point in going all out. The risk of illness isn't worth it when there's still two weeks to go. Yesterday was damage limitation for everyone. Only really Dan Martin and Bauke went on the attack... I think that says all that needs to be said really. They aren't the two that are going to be riding up the Champs in Yellow.

Froome said he's aimed to be better in the third week, to not peak to early for the olympics.

hypster

There's something about Quintana that I just don't like. He's touted as a great climber but how often have we seen him actually destroy the field and really take GC threatening time consistently? He can't time trial and he can't descend but he can follow a wheel as he ably demonstrated yesterday and on several other occasions.

Another from the Nibali/Evans mould in my opinion who just hangs around and can only win when all other useful contenders drop out.

milton50

hypster wrote:

Another from the Nibali/Evans mould in my opinion who just hangs around and can only win when all other useful contenders drop out.

Are you serious? Nibali is one of the most attacking riders in the world.