Novice eye wrote:
The tour is over. Froome has it locked.
Could he bonk or crash? Sure, it's possible, but very unlikely.
No reason to watch anymore, even with the stages in the Alps yet to come. The commentary of Phil and Bobke, while entertaining, isn't enough to augment the lack of drama of the inevitable Froome victory.
Froome has cracked before, and his lieutenant Porte took the penalty, so yes it could happen again.
I think we can expect a few things
1. TJ will have an awful day as per usual and lose a gross amount of time. Porte will also have an awful day and lose a lot of time, as per usual. This is the climbers tour after all. So who do we have left?
2. Contador will attack out of no where and gain a whole bunch of time, as per usual. I'm not convinced he couldn't ride yesterday, I think he's limited loss and waiting to attack. A break away day, a cross wind, an epic descent (ala Route de Sud ) Taking the yellow or 2nd podium.
3. Astana will FULLY RECOVER ;) after the last rest day into the mountains and Nibali will claw back for 3rd.
4. This week is made for the breakaway specialists. Gallopin & Hansen will make an epic escape winning a stage and giving us some great entertainment.
5. Even though the Tour has listened to complaints and made the green jersey extra hard for Sagan, he'll still take it, but Andre wont make that easy. This will be the deciding week but the final stage will be a sprint for the gorilla. Cavendish who?
6. I'll continue to cry as long as Martin isn't racing, hopefully he can come back for the Vuelta and be fit for the worlds. Unfortunately Spartacus will probably be out of the ITT :(
7. Last but not least, the final week of the tour will be epic stuff! Stages 17,18,19, & 20!!!
http://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2015-route/All coming down the famous 21 turns of the Alpe d'Huez