TDF 2017: 13 July - Stage 12: Pau - Peyragudes 214.5kms *Spoilers*

rick_chasey

Just watched this.

1) love how Froome keeps following his teammates whenever they go, even off-road.

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

3) bottle rule is clearly stupid on mountains.

FocusZing

^2

UCI rule 2.3.027 states, “Feeding is prohibited on climbs, descents and during the first 50 and last 20 km.” On Thursday, the jury even allowed riders to take feeds up to the final 10 kilometers.

In fact, there was a feed zone with 12.5km to go in the 214.5km stage.

http://www.velonews.com/2017/07/tour-de ... det_443634

It sounds like some clarification is required regarding the rule.

Meh, don't take a bottle so close to the finish!

Lanterne_Rogue

Rick Chasey wrote:

Just watched this.

1) love how Froome keeps following his teammates whenever they go, even off-road.

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

3) bottle rule is clearly stupid on mountains.

As an adjunct to 1), I love the way Aru follows Froome wherever Froome's teammates go... I reckon Froome must use one of those deodorants you see on TV that try to convince spotty youths that people will instantly fall in lust with you. Only his works.

thegibdog

I was prepared to suspend my cynicism when Demare wasn't penalised for his erratic sprinting. Less so when Bouhanni got a GC penalty for lashing out. When Bardet isn't sanctioned for doing exactly the same thing as other riders who were docked time, it's difficult to believe in the impartiality of the jury.

rick_chasey

underlayunderlay wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Just watched this.

1) love how Froome keeps following his teammates whenever they go, even off-road.

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

3) bottle rule is clearly stupid on mountains.

As an adjunct to 1), I love the way Aru follows Froome wherever Froome's teammates go... I reckon Froome must use one of those deodorants you see on TV that try to convince spotty youths that people will instantly fall in lust with you. Only his works.

Aru didn't on the first Mountain stage of the Tour....

rick_chasey

thegibdog wrote:

I was prepared to suspend my cynicism when Demare wasn't penalised for his erratic sprinting. Less so when Bouhanni got a GC penalty for lashing out. When Bardet isn't sanctioned for doing exactly the same thing as other riders who were docked time, it's difficult to believe in the impartiality of the jury.

Has always been that way mate.

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

So why didn't he attack then? Because, like everyone else in the group, he could not. Froome looked like he was in early stages of fringale. When he took a gel on the climb I thought that was pretty odd, and the way he kept looking around was very unusual. RichN pointed out to me last night that Froome drank a bottle of coke on his warm down

Either they didn't notice, in which case they're all idiots and don't deserve to win anything, or like Froome, they were on the limit.

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

So why didn't he attack then? Because, like everyone else in the group, he could not. Froome looked like he was in early stages of fringale. When he took a gel on the climb I thought that was pretty odd, and the way he kept looking around was very unusual. RichN pointed out to me last night that Froome drank a bottle of coke on his warm down

Either they didn't notice, in which case they're all idiots and don't deserve to win anything, or like Froome, they were on the limit.

Imagine it's partly that, but also partly, why risk an attack with Landa clearly going quite well when you know there's a Muur style sprint to knock 20 seconds into him quite easily?

That's about the gap you'd hope to get with a 2km to go attack on a normal MTF anyway.

smithy21

Good chance they were on the limit but I said just after the stage finished that I bet they wished they had tested Froome earlier. It seemed pretty odd when Landa was riding up there looking bored out of his mind.

rick_chasey

No-one would want to come steaming that hard into such a steep finish...

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Imagine it's partly that, but also partly, why risk an attack with Landa clearly going quite well when you know there's a Muur style sprint to knock 20 seconds into him quite easily?

That's about the gap you'd hope to get with a 2km to go attack on a normal MTF anyway.

But if he attacked 1km from the top of the Peyrsourde he could've easily kept the gap on the descent, and put more time in. Landa would've looked after Froome in that instance so how well he was going is not really relevant

Therefore we can only conclude they could not attack because it was too fast.

Also, if Froome was feeling that bad, that was a masterclass in crisis management

Richmond Racer 2

FocusZing wrote:

^2

UCI rule 2.3.027 states, “Feeding is prohibited on climbs, descents and during the first 50 and last 20 km.” On Thursday, the jury even allowed riders to take feeds up to the final 10 kilometers.

In fact, there was a feed zone with 12.5km to go in the 214.5km stage.

http://www.velonews.com/2017/07/tour-de ... det_443634

It sounds like some clarification is required regarding the rule.

Meh, don't take a bottle so close to the finish!

And the race jury / commies have the discretion to announce for a stage that drinks can be taken in time within that 20km e.g. till 10km to go. They use this when the temps are particularly high

rick_chasey

Pfft, I wouldn't say he was that bad. You're saying he was bonking, not me!

I just thought it was revealing that he had to slow down the coach horses a bit. After a while you see some wheels overlapping in the group. I then thought "hmm, maybe Froome won't have a great day today" and so it proved.

It was just an observation; not a flag in the ground.

And I still maintain you stand to lose more in a very steep finale by going in too hot than you stand to gain by going early.

DeVlaeminck

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

So why didn't he attack then? Because, like everyone else in the group, he could not. Froome looked like he was in early stages of fringale. When he took a gel on the climb I thought that was pretty odd, and the way he kept looking around was very unusual. RichN pointed out to me last night that Froome drank a bottle of coke on his warm down

Either they didn't notice, in which case they're all idiots and don't deserve to win anything, or like Froome, they were on the limit.

They didn't attack earlier because Sky still had Nieve and Landa to pull back anyone that did. That and as Rick says there was a hard final km which offered an opportunity to take time as well as lose any lead gained from a longer range effort.

If Froome was suffering, and who knows if he'd have been able to respond over a longer pursuit as he often does, it wasn't obvious given he often looks on the brink of collapse before riding away.

FocusZing

Cheers for the info RR2.

Vino'sGhost

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

2) Froome called for a slower pace towards the top of the Peyrsourde so I can imagine Aru was licking his lips already.

So why didn't he attack then? Because, like everyone else in the group, he could not. Froome looked like he was in early stages of fringale. When he took a gel on the climb I thought that was pretty odd, and the way he kept looking around was very unusual. RichN pointed out to me last night that Froome drank a bottle of coke on his warm down

Either they didn't notice, in which case they're all idiots and don't deserve to win anything, or like Froome, they were on the limit.

I was looking at them all Landa went real deep yesterday and i think they were all pretty much on the limit.

blazing_saddles

I hadn't realised that 3 days ago, the finish looked like this:-



I think this is a great photo of it.

Richmond Racer 2

^Lordy!!

DeVlaeminck

Don't think I'd fancy being in a plane landing on that - still probably doesn't look as bad with your eyes closed!

iainf72

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Don't think I'd fancy being in a plane landing on that - still probably doesn't look as bad with your eyes closed!

Landing at Alpe d'Huez is quite the experience

smithy21

^^erm no thanks. I'll land somewhere flat and drive for miles to get there if that's ok.

dinyull

Pross wrote:

Pleased to see Uran doing well, I keep seeing a Cannondale rider there at the end and wondering who it is - ridiculous that he isn't the team leader and has no support while Rolland gets a free reign to waste time in doomed breaks.

Cannondale's team, at least on paper, is pretty strong. And yet they've done almost nothing for Uran.

rick_chasey

Sounds like they reversed y'day's bottle decision.

kingstongraham

Rick Chasey wrote:

Sounds like they reversed y'day's bottle decision.

Vaughters has tweeted it, for Uran and Bennett.

Uran at only 35s then, and a good time trialler.

yourpaceormine

Rick Chasey wrote:

Sounds like they reversed y'day's bottle decision.

That would be good for the race.


In some ways it would have been nice to see the 'first team to hold the yellow jersey from start to finish record' go, but in racing terms that would have been dull as ditchwater. Looks like we finally have a race

fat daddy

iainf72 wrote:

Landing at Alpe d'Huez is quite the experience

It looks epic ..... I have taken the Helicopter there a few times when jumping between resorts and sat and watched the planes come in over a beer whilst waiting for my ride back

The landing looks ok, its amazing how quickly a plane stops when going up hill ...... the take off to me looks dodgy though they seem to get airborne way before they reach speed

above_the_cows

smithy21 wrote:

It seemed pretty odd when Landa was riding up there looking bored out of his mind.

Landa is just Quintana's Easter Island Statue cousin.

smithy21

The French bottle it on Bastille day

dabber

KingstonGraham wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Sounds like they reversed y'day's bottle decision.

Vaughters has tweeted it, for Uran and Bennett.

Uran at only 35s then, and a good time trialler.

Good that they've done this (better than nothing) but still manipulating the rules to favour Bardet.

dinyull

fat daddy wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Landing at Alpe d'Huez is quite the experience

It looks epic ..... I have taken the Helicopter there a few times when jumping between resorts and sat and watched the planes come in over a beer whilst waiting for my ride back

The landing looks ok, its amazing how quickly a plane stops when going up hill ...... the take off to me looks dodgy though they seem to get airborne way before they reach speed

Brother had flying lessons weekend just gone, said (on a flat runway) the plane was airborne in less than 100m. The instructor was saying the power to weight ratio in light aircraft is phenomenal so I'd imagine hurtling down a hill aint no ting.