TdF 2017: Stage 17 La Mure - Serre-Chevalier 183kms *Spoilers*

imatfaal

Vino'sGhost wrote:

froome better attack uran tomos because he can time trial like a god. We might end up with a down to the wire finish

Nicolas Portal said that Sky wanted a minute gap on Uran going into the TT "just in case" - they expected Froome to beat all other GC contenders but felt that Uran had potential to pull a real performance out of the bag

NB Froome was 50 sec or so quicker than Uran in Duseldorf

milton50

Uran can pull out a good TT performance but his form this year against the clock has been pretty awful.

larkim

Uran's finished ahead of Froome on the road (albeit by tiny margins) in every head to head so far this year. This could go all the way to the end if Izoard isn't decisive.

bobmcstuff

KingstonGraham wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

The adverts and David Millar were the reasons I couldn't deal with the ITV4 coverage.

I would hit mute - but I can't sit here watching it - so the audio is an attention grabber...
Haven't got Eurosport ... don't really want to pay for it either ..

£20 for the whole year on an offer in January was money well spent. They might do it again next year.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire though, Kirby is godawful.

Was reduced to Eurosport today (ipad only) and had to put up with Kirbys utter shite while I was assembling flatpack furniture. He just alternates between shouting at motos and people waving flags on every single climb.

At least Millar can recognise more than three riders.

kingstongraham

There must be a decent non-doper who can recognise some riders though.

ddraver

Boulting and Millar are superb IMO. Really wish they would coverorw than just the tour. Would be great to have them for the Classics.

Vino'sGhost

KingstonGraham wrote:

There must be a decent non-doper who can recognise some riders though.

totally this

The_Boy

Virenque into the top ten

Vino'sGhost

imatfaal wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

froome better attack uran tomos because he can time trial like a god. We might end up with a down to the wire finish

Nicolas Portal said that Sky wanted a minute gap on Uran going into the TT "just in case" - they expected Froome to beat all other GC contenders but felt that Uran had potential to pull a real performance out of the bag

NB Froome was 50 sec or so quicker than Uran in Duseldorf

Would certainly be a turn up if cannondale won the tour

adambruntlett

Vino'sGhost wrote:

imatfaal wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

froome better attack uran tomos because he can time trial like a god. We might end up with a down to the wire finish

Nicolas Portal said that Sky wanted a minute gap on Uran going into the TT "just in case" - they expected Froome to beat all other GC contenders but felt that Uran had potential to pull a real performance out of the bag

NB Froome was 50 sec or so quicker than Uran in Duseldorf

Would certainly be a turn up if cannondale won the tour

Not sure the rest of the Cannondale team can legitimately claim much credit if Uran wins.

above_the_cows

bobmcstuff wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

The adverts and David Millar were the reasons I couldn't deal with the ITV4 coverage.

I would hit mute - but I can't sit here watching it - so the audio is an attention grabber...
Haven't got Eurosport ... don't really want to pay for it either ..

£20 for the whole year on an offer in January was money well spent. They might do it again next year.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire though, Kirby is godawful.

Was reduced to Eurosport today (ipad only) and had to put up with Kirbys utter shite while I was assembling flatpack furniture. He just alternates between shouting at motos and people waving flags on every single climb.

At least Millar can recognise more than three riders.

This is where José Been is galaxies ahead of Kirby.

larkim

Does the performance of Uran and Aru over the last couple of weeks give the lie to how important teams are? Or does it give legitimacy to the accusation that Froome is nothing without the class of superstars he has around him?

inseine

ddraver wrote:

Boulting and Millar are superb IMO. Really wish they would coverorw than just the tour. Would be great to have them for the Classics.

Totally agree with this. Must be a tough job and I can't really image how you'd do it better. Plus on ITV4 you get Boardman (my alltime favorite cyclist and famous non doper for all the moaners)

RonB

SurDave gets the chop.

#barriergate

hypster

hypster wrote:

Sky to steadily ramp up the pressure on the Galibier with Froome lauching an attack some way from the top. Bardet and Uran go with him and they all put time into Aru by the finish.

Looks like I called it pretty close. Shame about Dan Martin but he did a lot better than I feared.

I must say I'm not a fan of Uran's tactics and I thought he and Bardet should have pressed home their advantage a bit more when they dropped Aru two or three times on the Galibier and then slowed down and let him back on. Landa did well as well to finish in that group after getting dropped and showed that he is helping Froome (whilst still preserving his ambitions). Doing a Valverde maybe?

Froome also seems to be cutting things a little close I think but he did look strong today.

Still, tomorrow's another day...

okgo

larkim wrote:

Does the performance of Uran and Aru over the last couple of weeks give the lie to how important teams are? Or does it give legitimacy to the accusation that Froome is nothing without the class of superstars he has around him?

Who has made that accusation? Presumably only a total idiot.

RichN95.

I think Froome is saving his attacking for tomorrow - he didn't put one dig in today. There will be more barriered off from the crowds and it's a MTF. Today wasn't really suitable for a solo attack, groups had the advantage.

Vino'sGhost

adambruntlett wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

imatfaal wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

froome better attack uran tomos because he can time trial like a god. We might end up with a down to the wire finish

Nicolas Portal said that Sky wanted a minute gap on Uran going into the TT "just in case" - they expected Froome to beat all other GC contenders but felt that Uran had potential to pull a real performance out of the bag

NB Froome was 50 sec or so quicker than Uran in Duseldorf

Would certainly be a turn up if cannondale won the tour

Not sure the rest of the Cannondale team can legitimately claim much credit if Uran wins.

lol im sure theyll be happy to have their share of the prize money and the parade into Paris. anyway thats my prefered option now. its been a great tour so far

RichN95.

Slovenia's first ever stage winner

blazing_saddles

I see Henao rolled in with the bus.
Would have been better off bringing little Pete.

Pierre Latour in the bus, too, which is a surprise.

Froome's thanking his awesome team speech is really wearing thin.
He's happy going into the TT with the current gaps

gsk82

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Froome's thanking his awesome team speech is really wearing thin.
He's happy going into the TT with the current gaps

At least they are wholly deserving of his thanks. I cringe when sprinters thank their teams just because it's the done thing.

bobmcstuff

KingstonGraham wrote:

There must be a decent non-doper who can recognise some riders though.

See I don't really care about that for commentating. I also suspect finding good ex cyclists from that era who also make good commentators but who were also 100% clean (lol) is going to be a very small pool of candidates.

Presumably we should also stop Roche and Kelly commentating too if we're going down that route?

Sun Dodger

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I see Henao rolled in with the bus.
Would have been better off bringing little Pete.

Pierre Latour in the bus, too, which is a surprise.

Froome's thanking his awesome team speech is really wearing thin.
He's happy going into the TT with the current gaps

Pete K or Poels on form would have made a big difference. I thought Sky might be saving Henao for this week - seems not. Kwiato has been awesome - makes you wonder if he could contend in a GT...?

blazing_saddles

The ought to swap the train order and keep flower power for last man to Landa.

Anyhows

mfin

gsk82 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Froome's thanking his awesome team speech is really wearing thin.
He's happy going into the TT with the current gaps

At least they are wholly deserving of his thanks. I cringe when sprinters thank their teams just because it's the done thing.

Damn right, like that Cav tw*t.

No_Ta_Doctor

mfin wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Froome's thanking his awesome team speech is really wearing thin.
He's happy going into the TT with the current gaps

At least they are wholly deserving of his thanks. I cringe when sprinters thank their teams just because it's the done thing.

Damn right, like that Cav tw*t.

Jesus, can we not even have a third week mountain stage, in a tour Cav has gone out of in the first week, without this stuff? We know you don't like him, no need to be so in your face about it everywhere.

above_the_cows

Have I told you I miss LRP?

tailwindhome

Have I pointed out this is a great route?

The_Boy

TailWindHome wrote:

Have I pointed out this is a great route?

Pfffft. I called it when it was first announced an everyone was saying they wouldn't even bother watching [/hipster]

Still need a couple of sprint stages to be swapped out for some nice middle mountains tho, like.

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