The Official 102nd Tour de France, thread.

[Bold Seagull]

You have sharp eyes Bold, I missed that totally.

Gonna be a bit of a shoot out on La Toussuire by the looks of things. Quintana has to go early if he wants to get anything out of this, no danger of losing a podium place with Thomas's explosion, so what do they have to lose?

David Miller seems to think that if Nibali had that moved previously planned, or had been preparing it, he may have had to go regardless, it's racing. That said, replays again show Nibali really looking to see what happened to Froome, then went as soon as he saw him stop. I don't know, didn't seem in the right spirit to me, but if Honest Dave thinks it's okay, who am I to argue!?

Sky for the first time looked vulnerable today. They got quite a bit wrong, whereas Movistar still looked well supported in their team. Quintana gained 29 secs in a very short space of time. Nibali, while not racing yellow got 1min 14 secs. Will Quintana be going into tomorrow with just a glint of a chance?


edit....you've answered most of that before I even asked!! clever boy.

 

[Bozza]

Froome's in no doubt that Nibali knew what he was doing.

 

[Bozza]

"Sometimes you're a nail and sometimes you're a hammer. Today I was a cheapie little Ikea nail."

I've really warmed to Geraint Thomas.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Froome's in no doubt that Nibali knew what he was doing.

Well, I thought the same thing live watching it as said in my posts. Replays show him looking multiple times, so him saying he didn't see Froome stop is just a lie. If he needs to lie then he knows he's done wrong really. Racing is racing, and Miller maybe right that if you get all prepared to go, you have to just go.

To be fair to Nibali, he probably was going to attack anyway and planned to try to win the stage, just that the moment he picked was one most riders would have waited to ensure they weren't taking advantage of misfortune for the leader.

 

[Triggaaar]

Good race. I thought it was pretty clear at the time that Nibali was deliberately going for it when Froome had a problem.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

"Sometimes you're a nail and sometimes you're a hammer. Today I was a cheapie little Ikea nail."

.

Quality quote when your knakered

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Froome spat at and hassled again today - do the proved dopers in this race get any grief!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Froome spat at and hassled again today - do the proved dopers in this race get any grief!

No spit headed towards contador or valverde!

 

[Stat Brother]

Stage 19 result

1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 4:22:53
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:44
3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:14
4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:02:26
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo

General classification after stage 19

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 78:37:34
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:38
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:25
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:44
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:07:56
6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:08:55

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Quintana looked good today, may give him the boost to really take it to Froome tomorrow, any chance of Quintana yellow and Froome in Polka dots for Paris.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Quintana looked good today, may give him the boost to really take it to Froome tomorrow, any chance of Quintana yellow and Froome in Polka dots for Paris.

I think quintana will nick another 45 seconds or so off him tomorrow but not 3 odd minutes.

Bardet and purito will battle it over the croix de fer as it's an HC before alpe d'huez and probably wrap up the jersey.

 

[Stat Brother]

Quintana looked good today, may give him the boost to really take it to Froome tomorrow, any chance of Quintana yellow and Froome in Polka dots for Paris.

Even pulling away I didn't think Quintana looked good - good.
Certainly not 3 minutes good.

Tomorrow is a short stage, the Sky boys know it's last chance saloon.
All Froome needs is one last effort from them and they are done.
They only have to ride with Quintana, AVV and Nibali will sort out the rest of the race, in their little battle.

I don't see how Quintana can be 3 minutes better than Froome tomorrow, in a straight fight.

 

[Triggaaar]

Tomorrow is a short stage, the Sky boys know it's last chance saloon.
All Froome needs is one last effort from them and they are done.
They only have to ride with Quintana, AVV and Nibali will sort out the rest of the race, in their little battle.

I think those are key points. If the Sky boys are tired, they should save some energy and let Valverde and Nibali take some time, and just concentrate on Quintana.

 

[Stat Brother]

Tour de France 2015 Stage 20: Modane Valfrejus - Alpe d'Huez, 110.5 km



Stats & Facts

Alpe d’Huez has hosted 28 previous stage finishes, more than any other summit climb.
The man in yellow after the Alpe d’Huez stage often goes on to win the Tour. It’s happened 22 times, against six against. That number will rise to 23 this year.
However, the Alpe stage winner has only ever gone on to win the Tour two times, against 24 who have not. (Lance Armstrong did do it twice before being stripped of his yellow jerseys.

Prognostication

Sky hold it together enough to nullify the Col de la Croix-de-Fer.
Leaving a straight shoot out up Alp D'Huez, which Quintana will win, by less than a minute.

 

[Postman Pat]

Quintana and Nibali looked in good shape yesterday on some tough climbs, after 3 pretty tough weeks. I assume the French press are demanding to see their numbers to ensure its all above board?

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Quintana and Nibali looked in good shape yesterday on some tough climbs, after 3 pretty tough weeks. I assume the French press are demanding to see their numbers to ensure its all above board?

There are mutterings as quintana set the fastest time up the glandon.

If the alpe d'huez record gets broken then they're all definitely juiced!

 

[wakeytom]

Good race. I thought it was pretty clear at the time that Nibali was deliberately going for it when Froome had a problem.

I listened to the telegraph podcast last night and think they made a fair point. With all this marginal gain business now, and such reliance on technology - if you have designed technology with a view to beat your rivals because of it, if it fails is it not just game on?

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I listened to the telegraph podcast last night and think they made a fair point. With all this marginal gain business now, and such reliance on technology - if you have designed technology with a view to beat your rivals because of it, if it fails is it not just game on?

Not when it's something that might have happened to a rider in the first tour! Something jammed in the wheel is not a failure of your extra aero skinsuit!

 

[wakeytom]

Not when it's something that might have happened to a rider in the first tour! Something jammed in the wheel is not a failure of your extra aero skinsuit!

But it is to the high end equipment surely? They will be designing brakes to allow milliseconds on a descent, as such I think its fair game. However don't get me wrong I want Froome to win

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

But it is to the high end equipment surely? They will be designing brakes to allow milliseconds on a descent, as such I think its fair game. However don't get me wrong I want Froome to win

It was a bit of Tarmac stuck between the brake and the wheel so nothing to do with technology. If he punctured you could say it's the fault of these modern, lightweight tyres.