The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Bold Seagull]

Looks like TvG moves to the right not appreciating Barguil is there forcing Barguil off line forcing him to crash into Thomas.

Probably because TVG doesn't think anyone could be so stupid ahead of that corner. If you're going full tilt in a group you'd never for a second imagine some will try to take you on the inside. I bet with Molina and Sagan both nearly coming off there 18mins before, all the riders in the yellow group would have had a warning from their race directors ahead of that corner, just a heads up to be wary.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Full Results

1 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida 4:30:10
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:30
3 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM Cycling 0:00:36
4 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:40
5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing
6 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka 0:00:53
8 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:00
9 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:22
10 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar
11 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:01:54
12 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
13 Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN - Qhubeka
14 Michal Golas (Pol) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:55
15 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:19
16 Marco Haller (Aut) Team Katusha 0:02:40
17 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:27
18 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:04:07
19 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka 0:04:14
20 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida
21 Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:06:13
22 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 0:07:09
23 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:08:44
24 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:17:44
25 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:18:12
26 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
27 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
28 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
29 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
30 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
31 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
32 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
33 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin
34 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:18:50
***35 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky***

General classification after stage 16

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 64:47:16
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:10
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:32
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:02
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:23
6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:05:32
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:06:23
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:07:49


***I included Wouter as his cracking team mate ride has got lost in Barguilgate.

He was clearly blowing it out his arse, at the top of the climb, but still managed to do the descent right.
Cover Froome, then pick up G and bust a gut to cut G's loses.

I loves cycling when it's like that.

Especially when you consider what it could have been like. I genuinely feared for G when his head appeared to smack into that pole.

 

[pb21]

If you're going full tilt in a group you'd never for a second imagine some will try to take you on the inside.

To me itlooks like TvG is about to go on the inside of Gesink?

 

[Triggaaar]

Should Barguil not have stopped to check Thomas was ok? He made a mistake, and raced off unaware of whether he'd killed GT or not. I'd have thought the least he could do was check GT was ok, and if he was, helped him home.

 

[Pantani]

So you'd banish Barguil to the back of the field today and have him lose 13 minutes on GC? Maybe that would be a lesson harsh enough to make him think twice about doing something similar again.

There may well be a very reasonable case for that happening, but don't think it ever has, and doubt it ever will.

G's own comments on sanctions for it are interesting:

"I don’t know why people can’t just stay in one line, sit where you are. What’s the point in fighting for position on a descent like that that’s known to be treacherous, so that’s annoying."

Thomas was referring, of course, to Barguil, but speaking on the steps of the Sky bus shortly afterwards, he dismissed the notion that the French youngster should face a sanction for his part in the incident.

"No, no. There’s nothing you can do there," Thomas said. "Hopefully he just learns his lesson."

Maybe not the full 13 minutes, but at least the amount G lost. Anything else is an injustice. Don't think anyone can argue with that.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I think I'm even more irritated about Warren Barguil than I was yesterday! To not just put his hands up and admit he got it totally wrong just shows what he's about. I don't think TVG touches him, certainly not enough to effect his line or his braking, but Barguil has decided to blame that rather than his own shoddy riding.

That he himself knocks Thomas down a bank, PLUS 2 or 3 spectators and doesn't even for a second check to see if they're all okay, I actually find that particularly disgraceful. To then blame it on another rider, well I think we all know the kind of character Barguil is now, as the French would say trou du cul!

It's a rest day, so I think I'm entitled to keep on ranting about it!

 

[strings]

The more I see of Thomas, the more I love him. Genuinely my favorite guy in the peloton. I think the Commonwealth games last year was when this mancrush started.

[tweet]623402922676719616[/tweet]

I would love to see him make the top 5, or dare I say... get onto the podium. probably a bit too much to ask now, though. I would like to see him given a shot by Team Sky in the Giro next year. With proper support, I recon he would do well. My only concern is his ability to attack on climbs - can he do it? He can certainly reel attacks back in - he has show that over the last 2 weeks - but can he attack himself?

 

[Stat Brother]

I think I'm even more irritated about Warren Barguil than I was yesterday!

I find that hard to believe.

To not just put his hands up and admit he got it totally wrong just shows what he's about. I don't think TVG touches him, certainly not enough to effect his line or his braking, but Barguil has decided to blame that rather than his own shoddy riding.

That he himself knocks Thomas down a bank, PLUS 2 or 3 spectators and doesn't even for a second check to see if they're all okay, I actually find that particularly disgraceful. To then blame it on another rider, well I think we all know the kind of character Barguil is now, as the French would say trou du cul!

It's a rest day, so I think I'm entitled to keep on ranting about it!

and yet there it is

 

[Triggaaar]

The more I see of Thomas, the more I love him. Genuinely my favorite guy in the peloton. I think the Commonwealth games last year was when this mancrush started.

More than Cav

 

[Bold Seagull]

More than Cav

It's the mood swings, the difficult prickly conversations, the massive highs followed by days of skulking around. He's not ideal for a man crush.

 

[pb21]

I don’t get all the hate towards Barguil! In truth it was a racing incident, a result of 10+ guys bombing down a mountain after several hours racing some of whom are better descending than others.

If you want to apportion blame I’d start with TvG changing his line to take the inside line around Gesink at the last moment, then Barguil possibly coming through too fast. But IMO I don’t think that anyone is to blame outright or rode in an irresponsible manner.

 

[strings]

More than Cav

Absolutely. [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION] understands!

 

[Triggaaar]

It's the mood swings, the difficult prickly conversations, the massive highs followed by days of skulking around. He's not ideal for a man crush.

All sensible points, but love is blind. We can't choose who we fall for.

 

[Triggaaar]

I don’t get all the hate towards Barguil! In truth it was a racing incident

As I said. A racing incident that he was to blame for. Shit happens. What I object to was him dumping GT off the edge, and then riding on as if nothing had happened.

 

[Bold Seagull]

As I said. A racing incident that he was to blame for. Shit happens. What I object to was him dumping GT off the edge, and then riding on as if nothing had happened.

2 or 3 spectators too!

 

[pb21]

As I said. A racing incident that he was to blame for. Shit happens. What I object to was him dumping GT off the edge, and then riding on as if nothing had happened.

He wasn’t to blame, in the sense he wasn’t responsible; the race was to blame.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I don’t get all the hate towards Barguil! In truth it was a racing incident, a result of 10+ guys bombing down a mountain after several hours racing some of whom are better descending than others.

If you want to apportion blame I’d start with TvG changing his line to take the inside line around Gesink at the last moment, then Barguil possibly coming through too fast. But IMO I don’t think that anyone is to blame outright or rode in an irresponsible manner.

We seem to be the only ones defending Barguil! Much worse stuff happens in the peloton every day, there's crappy riding that causes wheel touches and massive crashes in the pack - the perpetrator doesn't stop and check anything. These incidents happen all the time and Barguil didn't set out to hurt G, he has apologised and merely explained why he moved his line.

You can't just slam on the anchors doing that kind of speed, approaching a corner like that in the heat. His best chance was the slow in a controlled manner and take his foot out - if he had panicked then the back wheel would have gone and he would have slid through about 4 of them, sending them all off the road.

 

[Triggaaar]

He wasn’t to blame, in the sense he wasn’t responsible; the race was to blame.

If that's the case, then fair enough. It wasn't how I read it, but no doubt you've all watched it more times than I have.

 

[Postman Pat]

He wasn’t to blame, in the sense he wasn’t responsible; the race was to blame.

He was to blame, purely on the basis he had no reason to be descending like a madman on a descent like that. He wasn't going to win the stage, he isn't going to win the tour, Gallopin had been gapped - what exactly was he trying to achieve?

He could have sat on Poels wheel to the bottom of the descent and rolled in with that group.

 

[Bold Seagull]

He wasn’t to blame, in the sense he wasn’t responsible; the race was to blame.

I think you are reading this all wrong. Barguil at the time isn't even in the top 10, he is trying to gain places in a group containing the Yellow and White jerseys, and the top GC riders, the top 7 of which are all 7mins or more ahead of him at the time. Yet he takes a massive risk to gain a place or two, and potentially could have transformed this race through nothing more than reckless bike handling. Respect the jerseys! Imagine if he'd hit Froome or Quintana or both. You could have the TdF won by someone else because of an idiot.

Quintana summed it up for me by branding Barguil 'irritating' for this type of riding when he's not involved in the GC race.

If he was a F1 driver he'd be blue flagged so as not to effect the front of the race. The race wasn't to blame, he most certainly was and the least he could have done was checked both Thomas and the spectators were all okay before jumping back on his bike. Would have cost him 10 more seconds just to have checked.