Tour de France 2016

wow got back on the grupetto

Why? The descent of the Peyresourde is one of the easiest out there, bar some hairpins at the top and a couple halfway down, it's virtually straight all the way down.

I'd say he caught them napping and had a go for the hell of it.

Cav makes it I'm hearing

Genuine lol...!!!

You are probably right. It was just very different to what we are used to from Sky or Froome. It was also unusual to see him push the pace a couple of times on the climb without distancing almost everyone else. I'm probably reading too much into it.

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/751803200404131840

Froome punch

Yeah, he noticed them all ease up and go for food and drink, and just when they had bottles in hand he went for it and fully committed.

But he must've had that thought before cresting the top, because he didn't take a bottle himself.

That was an astonishing descending action - I don't know how he managed to stay on the bike on some of those corners!

Think so.

I think he was just testing the waters today and that descent was actually a pretty brilliant move in terms of making his rivals think twice about what he's doing from now on. I think he's worried about Quintana in that 3rd week, so sowing a bit of uncertainty is probably good for Froome.

Whatever the cause it was exciting to see him attack on the descent - nice to see new sides of riders, confounding the received wisdom that he can't descend.

I'm sure he's been practicing that pedalling on the top tube technique.

Seems unlike him to try something like that at the Tour without practicing first.

Looooved Road Rash so hard

Geraint Thomas said after the finish that Froome is a bit of a nutcase when it comes to descending, says he takes more risks than him when they are out training.

Yeah I thought that, reckon he's been fine tuning that for a while. He said it was spontaneous but I reckon he was itching to do it and show off the skillz

His flag was inches away from Froome's front wheel, so he did it as a precaution apparently.

Not a bad move from a man with stick insect arms.

It was a big man and it looked like Froome did some damage

Brailsford said that Kwiatkowski had been giving Froome downhill lessons

Anyone see Rolland cheese-grating himself off that wall coming out of a corner too wide on the descent?

Looked fucking painful...

French commentators were pissing themselves at Froome's descending technique until about 400m before the line when they realised he'd stolen the stage and it was another British stage win.

yeah I saw the massive hole in his shorts and wondered where he got it

Portal interviewd on Eurosport said something along the lines of "he's been practising this" plus the 54T seems to make CF's "nothing planned" look like more head games

I look forward to seeing a gif of Froome's new descending technique.

Descending in that position feels unstable to start with. It must feel sketchy as fuck when pedalling as well, and at what - 90kmh?

yeah I'm calling bullshit on that.

Geraint's Paris-Nice downhill win as the prototype. Down is the new up.