Tour de France 2015

Yeah but Etixx is a classics team that also does a bit of leading out.. Giant Alpecin pretty much just do sprints, and Lotto are the same.

Demarre, was it?

Eh? Giant-Alpecin won 2 monuments this spring, Lotto have been winning on all terrains all season.

Please could someone record and upload the Alpecin adverts (any of them would do) - I wanted to show a friend in Germany but my phone refuses to record video right now.

Tell him to watch Eurosport in Germany - they're showing them in every single ad break.

Degenkolb pretty much acts as a sole agent in the classics stuff - without a team. It's not a team of classics stars and diesels working over everyone else like Etixx.

What are Lotto at the tour to do, other than win sprints? Maybe they get lucky and Gallopin wins a stage too..

FTR - I am not excusing Etixx. They should have it sorted it out by now.

Meh, Cav has said they didn't do too much wrong, and he's not shy about calling out his or his teammate's mistakes. Just said he was beaten by faster guys today.
Mind you on twitter he looks to have acknowledged that he went a bit early again, so ho hum. Hope he gets a stage, love seeing his little face light up like it's christmas.

I read yesterday that Greipel was riding SRAM wireless, but it definitely looked wired. Anyone know?

SRAM?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/gallery/pro-bike-gallery-andre-greipels-ridley-noah-sl_376643

Thats a better pic than the one I saw, thanks.
Campag, the SRAM wireless is on AG2R

Sagan finishing speed was nuts

Strong headwind, he'd been hiding behind bodies and shot out like a champagne cork I suspect.

"Speedbull" finish
https://twitter.com/petosagan/status/618849113904390144

Are we talking about his sprint on his extra-curriculur activities?

Velon vid of the big crash and the sprint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ACotZJ6Svc

I reckon Cavendish would be wise to look for a team with some lead out men next season. I don't think he's lost his edge but Renshaw looks like his judgement is off/not what it was.

Just rewatched and not sure Cavendish had confidence in him when he hit the front with 7/800m to go. Way too early again.

Greipel is going like a train - he really is a sight to behold.

Crazy how the motorbikes still try and push their way through even in carnage.

Kwiatkowski nearly 3 mins down. Did he crash?

Edit: He was in the train at 3km to go. You'd maybe expect him to lose a minute, but three?

Some days you don't have it

My bet is no more than one stage. We shall see.

Brave man, out.

What you talking about, Cav wasn't even on his wheel. He's hardly gonna brake and wait for him with 600 to go. I need to watch the replay but the brief bit I saw cav was bullied off his train.

I'm not sure Cav thought his wheel was the right time place to be - that's what I mean.

Anyway - you can pick it to pieces all you want, Greipel's bang on form.

The asset Cavendish has had in the past, which is why he's been so successful, is that his form seems to degrade more slowly than his rivals. He's rarely won early in the Tour, but then cleans up in the second 2 weeks.

It'll be interesting to see if this happens this year.

That said, that's twice when he's gone too early so fixing that should be the priority.

OGE down to six riders. Albasini out. Matthews hanging by a thread.

850m at 7% before the sprint today.

Just gonna throw this one out there, but setting up a perfect lead out around a bend, that doesn't get ruined by other revved up riders, without hitting the deck, at those kinds of speeds is really bloody hard / nigh on impossible. So many variables and hardly enough time to make decisions.