2017 Tour de France thread

How about Esteban Chaves coming in at 5-5, 119. And don't forget little Niaro Quintana. A lot of these GC guys are basically jockeys on bikes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esteban_Chaves

The Polish rider Rafa Majka, crashed on a decent and out.

Tour de Diminutive? wrote:

How about Esteban Chaves coming in at 5-5, 119. And don't forget little Niaro Quintana. A lot of these GC guys are basically jockeys on bikes.

The average of the top 100 marathoners is 5'6", 120 lbs.

I'm actually surprised that some big guys like Kittel hang on as well as they do. Yes, I know he sucks at climbing, but he doesn't suck as much as I'd think.

btw, today's stage was a dud. 2 man half-hearted breakaway. Sprint finish with Kittel winning. Yawn.

LM wrote:

Also, note the ":i.e.". It's not an exhaustive list. Phil is not the only rider to profess such sentiments.

Are you aware that i.e. is not e.g.?

viz. wrote:

LM wrote:

Also, note the ":i.e.". It's not an exhaustive list. Phil is not the only rider to profess such sentiments.

Are you aware that i.e. is not e.g.?

At one point perhaps, and obviously now am I. As you guessed, when I wrote that, nope.

That was the first finish of a stage of the TDF I've ever seen and it was crazy exciting. I don't know about why some people can just dominate others in the final 1k but my gosh was it fun to watch.

Maciej Bodnar is my freakin' hero

What a fight the whole way instead of just hiding in the pack

Led for 200km, lost by 200m because no-one else was brave enough to join him

tomorrow for stage12 I think the sprinters will finally be defeated again, I have a growing dislike for Kittel with every win and he is up to five now, just sitting in the pack for hours being pulled to the end to do his tiny sprint

video of Maciej Bodnar fighting the last fight on the last 1km and finally being caught and crushed by Kittel and the pack, you have to keep in mind he was up to several minutes ahead during the previous 200km

https://youtu.be/o4wmX1vADdA

oh wait, here is the last 14k

http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x5tbuej?autoplay=1&info=0&logo=0&related=0

I'm watching the Turd right now and pissed off how fast their bikes go. I timed them over 15 minutes at 43.6kph average.

I know part of the speed is from drafting but it makes me want a fast road bike instead of an everyday fat tire bike where I can sustain 30kph if the wind is right.

omg today was so full of awesome, it just got better and better

Froome going completely off course, failing on the hill climb and Kittel of course is destroyed in the mountains, absolutely no-one is capable of pulling his fat ass up the mountains and it would be pointless anyway with a summit finish because high watts don't matter unless it's flat to negate weight

desperately want to save at least the last hour of stage12, I really hope someone posts it somewhere

last km, but really, you want to re-watch at least the last hour at some point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pr7lwjgSXA

you know who is impressing the heck out of me this year is Simon Yates at only 24 y/o

apparently he is an identical twin too, would be interesting for vo2max and other studies

I've got a soft spot for anime boy (Kittel) because he seems like a good guy who wears hit heart on his sleeve and has a nice sense of humor. But he's so Cav version 2.0 that I'm bored with his wins.

One of the reasons why Sagan has as many fans as he does is that while he doesn't have the top end speed of a Cav or Kittel, he is able to mix it up and is far more interesting over the course of a stage.

Darn it, Sky is just so Imperial Empire that they've left me cheering for an Astana guy, something I've been reluctant to do in the past because of their really big pharma history.

Uran was breathing through his nose, and would have had the stage if Arue rode straight. I think Uran will take the overall.

That said, today sucked. Bring back the nitro drugs. This high tempo crap has made the TDF worse than soccer. Oh, and SKY is on drugs already. No way can that team do what they do, day after day like this. No way.

Uran by maybe 20 seconds when it's all said and done. Froome third.

Here's hoping tomorrow is another free-for-all with a treacherous downhill. Sure doesn't see like these are the best riders in the world with the way they fall down on flat stages. Bring on the madness, and crashing, and someone with a broken rear mech hammering into the finish alone, gaining time on SKY.

you know the controversial dimpled skinsuits sky is wearing?

I noticed Orica Scott team also uses dimpled suits but only in TT and seem to switch to a flat design otherwise

you can see it on the HD highlights

maybe Sky got approval for it on the TT and then pushed their luck using it fulltime

however the way teams work in tdf, 25 seconds is kinda meaningless

in individual time trials or solo breakaways it could help though, in fact it could make the difference in a breakaway succeeding or being caught in the last 1km like what happened on stage11 yesterday

if I could buy the tech inexpensively, I would

beachmouse wrote:

Darn it, Sky is just so Imperial Empire that they've left me cheering for an Astana guy, something I've been reluctant to do in the past because of their really big pharma history.

Why not cheer for Rigo or Bardet then?

but why wrote:

Maciej Bodnar is my freakin' hero

What a fight the whole way instead of just hiding in the pack

Led for 200km, lost by 200m because no-one else was brave enough to join him

That's not really how it works. The teams generally know how hard they need to go to reel in the break in the last 10k or so. Only reason Bodnar made it so long is that they underestimated him. A group of more people would not have been given that much room (remember the gap from the front group of 3 was down to 30" before Bodnar went solo).

i chose D2 wrote:

beachmouse wrote:

Darn it, Sky is just so Imperial Empire that they've left me cheering for an Astana guy, something I've been reluctant to do in the past because of their really big pharma history.

Why not cheer for Rigo or Bardet then?

Because Aru seemed to have the best chance of taking yellow from the Storm Troopers. And I'm also of the opinion that even dopers don't deserve to die too young, and also sentimental enough to buy into a bit of 'in memory of Michele Scarponi' that Astana is probably still feeling.

Only reason Bodnar made it so long is that they underestimated him

oh I totally get that, which is what makes it so awesome, being underestimated, especially solo, I mean even in running that makes a hero (being underestimated and over-achieving)

imagine if they didn't have radios or Bodnar had a dimpled suit (after all he is a TT specialist)

of course the bigger the breakaway the pack knows they have to catch them sooner than later, if it hits ten riders they are virtually guaranteed unless something goes wrong or they suddenly decide to stop cooperating

I just like the lesser-known underdogs getting some attention

running needs something like this so "also rans" can get some spotlight

maybe summit finishes for marathons, lol

Good seeing Froome get buried in the final few hundred meters. Now if it will just happen to the MoBot later this summer.