2017 Tour de France thread

No kidding...on Cyclingnews' "The Clinic" that's all they argue about on the Froome/Sky threads. And some of the regular posters are completely convince that Froome & Sky have some secret, technologically advanced motor program that no other riders or teams have. And when Froome doesn't do well on a certain stage, they always suggest that his motor malfunctioned...and these people call themselves knowledgeable cycling fans. 😂

I watched about the first 100k of that stage and all that happened was a group of nobodies an hour behind break away for about a 6 minute lead and fight over a sprint prize en route. What happened at the end, where is a good site to get news?

What happened at the end? A change in GC; Froomey lost his Yellow to the Fabulous Fabio Aru! Froomey is only down by 6 secs, so no pannick yet, but we "gots" a race now as they ssy. 👍If want good day to day reports with classification standings and comments try CN:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-12/results/

And "The Clinic" is a good forum for power #'s & stats, and controversial doping issues:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewforum.php?f=20

Motorized Bicycles? wrote:

No kidding...on Cyclingnews' "The Clinic" that's all they argue about on the Froome/Sky threads. And some of the regular posters are completely convince that Froome & Sky have some secret, technologically advanced motor program that no other riders or teams have. And when Froome doesn't do well on a certain stage, they always suggest that his motor malfunctioned...and these people call themselves knowledgeable cycling fans. 😂

I'm with you. The mere $ugge$tion of any kind wrongdoing in profe$$ional $port$ is an affront to the moral angelic integrity of the participant$ and admini$tration, who$e $en$e of duty compel$ them to alway$ do the right thing (a$ ha$ been $hown over and over in the pa$t).

Are you aware that there's a malfunction with your computer or phone; it's showing a lot of dollar signs ($) where letters are supposed to be. Not sure if you're aware or not...just thought I would bring it to your attention 😉

Landa looked really good towing Froome up until the attack when Froome cracked and Mikel hesitated briefly. Could see him leaving and being a leader but he needs to improve his TT.

Today may have been the most exciting stage in the Sky era.

Haven't watched today yet but yesterday was awesome. The sky train did their job but froome can't do those types of climbs.

i'd like to see rigo uran on the podium. he was close yesterday and has shown he can climb.

i'm totally enjoying this tour and the commentary. it seems like jens and bob especially are not holding anything back on their opinions on team strategy and UCI decisions. it's great. they don't treat the viewers like idiots like so many other sports commentators do. Paul and Phil balance the whole bunch.

great team overall.

Motorized Bicycles? wrote:

we "gots" a race now as they ssy.

That's like saying we "gots" a hockey game. I doubt there's much discussion of the TdF going on in AAVE right now.

I noticed the occasional black fan watching the horde of white people ride past and wondered what they thought.

not my favorite stage but today's (Saturday) stage14 should be interesting as the elites are finally tired enough for the climbs to be a challenge

not a true summit finish, there's gonna be yet another stupid sprint after riding together for hours but the descent to the finish should be hair-raising and Kittel should be many minutes behind

https://player.theplatform.com/p/BxmELC/nbcsports_embed/embed/select/media/XkeOYuexP94x

https://www.youtube.com/embed/MpWyIgx0eEw

Contador to escape with Quintana while Sky are left babystitting Aru.

Mollema / Zubeldia getting in the early break will likely indicate that the hammer is coming down today.

happy Reto joined the breakaway, so now they are five

not enough to win but enough to make today damn entertaining

pack is way way too relaxed, they need to work for it, the climbs are going to nicely spread them out

are any of the breakaway good climbers?

T. De Gendt 134 LTS

R. Hollenstein 123 KAT

T. Voeckler 171 DEN

T. Roosen 167 TLJ

M. Bouet 212 TFO

so someone explain to me about the teams that remain in the race after finishing in the back of the pack after half the stages are over?

isn't it super expensive for them to be there?

they don't get any broadcast time, so why do they remain?

is it something like the runners that barely make the olympic trials marathon B standards but then proceed to show up and run anyway? It's the prestige and someone else might be footing the bill?

They're paid by their team to race and that includes finishing the Tour. Finishing a grueling 3-week Grand Tour such as the TDF is a big deal. It's also quite an accomplishment for a first time rider who was good enough to get selected by his team for the TDF. And considering the physiological damage done to the body over a Grand Tour, just finishing the race, let alone within the time limits, is an amazing accomplishment. 👍

http://www.bicycling.com/racing/tour-de-france/how-racing-the-tour-de-france-changes-cyclists-bodies

but why wrote:

happy Reto joined the breakaway, so now they are five

not enough to win but enough to make today damn entertaining

pack is way way too relaxed, they need to work for it, the climbs are going to nicely spread them out

are any of the breakaway good climbers?

T. De Gendt 134 LTS

R. Hollenstein 123 KAT

T. Voeckler 171 DEN

T. Roosen 167 TLJ

M. Bouet 212 TFO

Voeckler can climb a little, and it's also his last year as he's retiring. So, if he can pull off the stage win, look out...party time in France!🍷

The last rider to finish a pro cycling race is often known as the Lanterne Rouge, and is actually something of a cult hero for perservering when they could have abandoned. (Back in the day, it could apparently also get a TDF rider a bigger appearance fee at some of the smaller post-Tour races)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterne_rouge

Often some decent riders end up in that spot like Ji Cheng, whose job on the team was to help reel in mid-stage breakaways, and then he'd end up far back because he'd trashed his legs 30-40km before the finish.

oh fascinating, I never knew that

well ha, it could be Kittel today

kidding of course but the climbs are killing his fat ass, he's already fallen behind the peloton, two minutes now

but the pack is also being boring, not working hard except to keep the breakaway always within two minutes for fetching later

down to the last hour now, should be a great ending

wouldn't it be funny if Kittel missed the time cutoff today, especially with all those points?

unlikely but he is a one-trick pony and it hurting bad apparently

I wonder if that has ever happened, a sprinter with so many points failing to make a cutoff a couple weeks into racing