The Official, 103rd Tour de France, thread

[gregbrighton]

European cycling fans need to stop being such ****ing idiots. They are a big part of the problems in the mountains.

It reminds me of that old show, 'It's a Knockout' (Jeux sans Frontieres) with cartoon characters dodging bouncy castles, people throwing buckets of water and pee to put them off and penguins on bicycles trying not to fall onto each other on the wobbly conveyor belt. All that is missing is Stuart Hall doing his inane 'laughing policeman' impression and Eddie Waring announcing the times on the 'marathon' game...

 

[Bozza]

[tweet]753618589031227392[/tweet]

 

[Bozza]

Boardman suggesting they could give Froome and Porte Mollema's time. Would seem as simple a way as sorting that out as any.

That's what they've done.

 

[martin tyler]

They have done the only sensible thing. They have still lost a few seconds but at least it appears to be the fairest way this was to be dealt with.

 

[Hillian1]

It reminds me of that old show, 'It's a Knockout' (Jeux sans Frontieres) with cartoon characters dodging bouncy castles, people throwing buckets of water and pee to put them off and penguins on bicycles trying not to fall onto each other on the wobbly conveyor belt. All that is missing is Stuart Hall doing his inane 'laughing policeman' impression and Eddie Waring announcing the times on the 'marathon' game...

And here come Belgium,

 

[Triggaaar]

Common sense wins

 

[Bold Seagull]

Common sense wins

There is nothing to moan about when common sense wins. I was looking forward to a right royal fall out to take my mind off politics, but instead we have a sensible resolution to something that appears to be pretty fair to all. BOOOOOO.

 

[Triggaaar]

There is nothing to moan about when common sense wins. I was looking forward to a right royal fall out to take my mind off politics, but instead we have a sensible resolution to something that appears to be pretty fair to all. BOOOOOO.

The decision after the farce seems like the most sensible one, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't moan about the organiser allowing the crash to happen, which has cost Froome time. He obviously would have finished quicker if they hadn't crashed and the three of them were fighting to the end.

 

[pb21]

So were those behind not held up in the melee that followed?

 

[Bold Seagull]

So were those behind not held up in the melee that followed?

To be fair, they were, but probably less so than Froome, Porte and Mollema, so their delay in real terms was not far off equal given they didn't eat tarmac or the back of a service bike.

 

[Seagull58]

The decision after the farce seems like the most sensible one, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't moan about the organiser allowing the crash to happen, which has cost Froome time. He obviously would have finished quicker if they hadn't crashed and the three of them were fighting to the end.

Quintana was very lucky today. Froome rode straight away from him and, I fancy, would have taken another15 to 20 seconds out of him in the last 1.2 km.

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh I was going to prognosticate Froome running up the mountain, then getting on a clown bike, finally ending up on a teeny tiny one.

Imagine how much of a ninny I feel right now.

 

[martin tyler]

So were those behind not held up in the melee that followed?

They were but they were also further than 19 seconds behind at that stage. None of them have lost further time in fact it was a fairly decent result for them

 

[Stat Brother]

Wow that was nuts.

Just the image of the yellow jersey running up a mountain, through no fault of it's own, is jaw dropping and very embarrassing for the sport.

Irrespective of the wrongs and wrongers, without even mentioning just how many times this exact incident has been predicted, gotta love the spectacle*.

Quintana got very lucky out of all this crazy nonsense.
He was clearly going to end the stage considerably more than 54 seconds down.
But on the other hand he finally put some cards on the table and had 8 high.






*I promised myself this year I would make mountains out of mole hills, as tour unfolded.
12 seconds one day doesn't make much difference when 10 days later the race is won by 5 minutes.

 

[1066familyman]

Just finished watching back the recording of the live stage. Only needs one word to describe today really...

Farcical.


Watching the highlights programme now to see what decision has been made, if any, by the organisers.


What a crock of shit this is.

 

[Surf's Up]

Just finished watching back the recording of the live stage. Only needs one word to describe today really...

Farcical.


Watching the highlights programme now to see what decision has been made, if any, by the organisers.


What a crock of shit this is.

Totally agree - they've got to put barriers up.

 

[mreprice]

Did you see me there? I was back in Gordes. Not part of the problem but it was still ridiculous how close they are.

 

[Stat Brother]

You wouldn't have thought there was enough whitewash:-



1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 4:31:51
2 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data 0:00:02
3 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:14
4 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling 0:00:40
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
6 Bertjan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:52
7 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:03:13
8 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:03:26
9 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Fortuneo - Vital Concept 0:04:23
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:05
11 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:05:24
12 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
13 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida
14 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
16 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:31
17 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
18 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:05:36
19 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:05:05
20 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:06:30
21 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
22 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin
23 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:06:45
25 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:05:05

But:-

General classification after stage 12

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 57:11:33
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:00:47
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:56
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:01
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:15
6 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:39
7 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:44
8 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:54
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:56
10 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:02:11
11 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:22

 

[Motogull]

The Shadow really needs to pull his finger out. He can't rely on Froome falling off and braking his hands again.

 

[Stat Brother]

This all seems somewhat insignificant now that France has, once again, been tragically reminded this is just a bicycle race.

Stage 13: Bourg-Saint-Andéol - La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc, 37km (ITT)



Dumolin
Dennis
Martin.