The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Triggaaar]

From 1 min in, is it Stannard telling someone to 'stop grabbing our f*cking wheel'...not sure I would mess with him to be honest...

Isn't grabbing wheels the whole point of cycling?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Isn't grabbing wheels the whole point of cycling?

Well it is, but you can still get annoyed if someone from another team is causing your team leader in yellow a bit of grief.

 

[Triggaaar]

Well it is, but you can still get annoyed if someone from another team is causing your team leader in yellow a bit of grief.

Yes, understood.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Isn't grabbing wheels the whole point of cycling?

Always respect the jersey!

 

[lost in london]

Merckx comparison doesn't quite compare as they were all juiced back then!

I think the only thing Sky can try and do is go full "Pinot" and release years and years of power files. Pinot's went back to his junior years and showed his steady progression - no one even slightly suggested he was doping but its entirely possible. The power estimates are so accurate now that you might as well release the real data and be done with it.

Genuine question - was the Merckx era that heavy on doping? I watched that documentary on Hinault and Le Monde the other day and thought the serious, game changing stuff came in the early 90s? I always assumed Merckx / Hinault and before were on caffeine / speed / brandy, but not the smarter, game changing drugs like EPO.

Is Sky's argument on releasing power data that it doesn't help or answer any questions, other than allow people to interpret the numbers in whatever way they want? I guess it's also valuable data for opponents to use ie x can do y watts for z period of time, let him do that, then attack etc (massively oversimplifying I'm sure!)

 

[Triggaaar]

Can't sky just go through the data with the doping agency, rather than release it to everyone?

 

[teaboy]

Can't sky just go through the data with the doping agency, rather than release it to everyone?

They could, but it wouldn't stop any of the questioning. I don't think anything would, to be honest. Other riders put the data straight onto Strava, so I'd go with that approach in races for everyone. Training is a bit different.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Genuine question - was the Merckx era that heavy on doping? I watched that documentary on Hinault and Le Monde the other day and thought the serious, game changing stuff came in the early 90s? I always assumed Merckx / Hinault and before were on caffeine / speed / brandy, but not the smarter, game changing drugs like EPO.

Is Sky's argument on releasing power data that it doesn't help or answer any questions, other than allow people to interpret the numbers in whatever way they want? I guess it's also valuable data for opponents to use ie x can do y watts for z period of time, let him do that, then attack etc (massively oversimplifying I'm sure!)

Blood doping was already around, as well as "Belgian mix" - booze, cocaine and speed!

Epo was definitely game changing as you can see by the climbing records - they're all from the mid 90s.

Data would only be useful if also able to see it real time during a race, and probably not even then. Everyone knows how many watts/kg is needed to win the tour but not many people can produce it.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Loving the views of todays stage - the Col d'Aspin is one climb I would love to tackle. Don't know why, but its always been my favourite, over the likes of the Tourmalet, Alpe d'Huez etc. One day......

 

[Hamilton]

Froome is having an amazing Tour thus far, but far more impressive for me is Sky as a whole. G is looking so strong, as is Porte, and my feeling is that riders like Stannard and Kennaugh are just saving themselves for stages later in the Tour. Hats off Nicolas Porte and Dave Brailsford.

 

[Stat Brother]

Some ride by Dan Martin, I certainly wasn't expecting to have a second go after that case down.


I wonder what the odds are on Nibali reaching Paris, hell, starting tomorrow?
I bet in a couple of weeks time it'll be announced he's got a 'virus', and that'll be the end of that.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Some ride by Dan Martin, I certainly wasn't expecting to have a second go after that case down.


I wonder what the odds are on Nibali reaching Paris, hell, starting tomorrow?
I bet in a couple of weeks time it'll be announced he's got a 'virus', and that'll be the end of that.

What are the odds on it no longer being a surprise to say, 'and the surprise is Pinot has cracked'.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Loving the views of todays stage - the Col d'Aspin is one climb I would love to tackle. Don't know why, but its always been my favourite, over the likes of the Tourmalet, Alpe d'Huez etc. One day......

Seeing them go up the Tourmalet, and down it, today, was quite emotional for me - it was in l'etape last year, and I still find it hard to believe that I rode it.

Sorry, personal shit, bigging myself up, but what a beautiful climb. Just brilliant.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Bloody Hell!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/raci...s-on-the-tourmalet-182729#dcKq0PsillT3Ggr9.99

 

[Motogull]

Seen the max speeds competition on twitter? And the squealing tyres of the chasing cameramen on the motorbikes. Mentals descents.

 

[1066familyman]

So many decent riders just going backwards and some surprising DNFs as well in this Tour. Rui Costa was one of those today, but that was mainly due to never recovering from an earlier crash I think.
Will be no surprise to see Nibs step off the bike tomorrow as well. I can see Bardet joining him as well.
Amazing ride from Dan Martin today, but if he could have gone with the Majka break rather than bridging to it alone then he could probably have won that stage.

 

[Stat Brother]

Stage 11 result

1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 5:02:01
2 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:00
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:01:23
4 Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN - Qhubeka 0:02:08
5 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:03:34
6 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

Mountains classification

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 57 pts
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 40
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 32
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 32
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 28
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 27
7 Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN - Qhubeka 26
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 24
9 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 23
10 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 22

 

[Stat Brother]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 12 preview: Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille, 195 km






Stats & Facts

Plateau de Beille makes its sixth appearance in the Tour de France since its debut in 1998, when Marco Pantani won the stage.
This stage has the second-highest number of points for the King of the Mountains competition – 75. The most is stage 20, with 85.
It’s also the stage with the second highest number of climbing kilometres, with 47.1km in total on the classified climbs. The most is stage 19 with 61.5km

Prognostication
GC battle up the final climb, but resulting in an eventual stalemate.

 

[Pantani]

Live coverage on Eurosport already.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Dowsett abandoned. Shame for him, but it was a nasty crash on Stage 4, and he only just beat the broom wagon home yesterday.