Tour de France 2016

Arcalis isn't the hardest climb around and everyone is waiting for the second half of the race. Froome and Quintana are very evenly matched and if the time trials don't split them then it will be very close at the end.

Quintana won't better Froome in a TT. Needs to make the difference on a hill.

You don't say.

X

I'm sure there was another woman topless not long after on Eurosport. Everyone else was hiding from the hail.

I've been wondering why Q's domestiques have been dropping off early compared to the Sky train. You might be onto something there.

You might be onto something there.

Hmm. Look at the comparative palmares of the Sky domestiques versus the Movistar domestiques. Sky are a lot stronger than Movistar, most of the Sky team could be team leaders elsewhere.

If Henao keeps this up he could be on the podium himself this year.

I do feel sorry for Porte though, that mechanical has really screwed him and he looks in great shape.

We should know by ventoux who is the strongest . No mention of anyone having an off day yet . This time last year we all hoped geraint would win so its still wide open .

Not all.

Undeniable, and Sky know this because they know they can win the race on their own efforts. Though it does mean the other teams can sit back and rely on them to do all the work, then pounce later. Quintana definitely looks like he's capitalising on Sky's work. He'd better get a shift on and make his move, though, because he can't time trial like Froome and he's going to need some serious gains on the hills to offset that.

Maybe Quintana has been secretly working on his time trials like Froome did for the descent? 😉

You don't say ;)

Nibbles was fucking loving 'pacing' Aru to the top after he had been dropped. Every time he looked back after half wheeling Aru just said "this is how the big boys ride dickhead". You could just see the satisfaction on his face.

Like Cav has slimmed down his lead out train and used other teams as precursor lead out men.
Like you say Quintana just sits at the back of Sky's efforts like an extra team member.
Or maybe he's just accepted that second will do until Froome retires.

This years tour is mint.
Proper bike racing. Just getting stuck in.

Froome is class. Proper class.
But Adam Yates. What a lad.
And all the rest.

CAV!
And Cummings is the man. The absolute man.

I know the rest days set at the same point every year, but I'm still surprised when they arrive and I'm left with a day of no racing. I'm currently wondering what am I going to do with the rest of my afternoon...

So much this.

Been far better so far than expected.

Maclay deserves a mention too.

I may actually have to have a conversation with my other half tonight, although there will be some highlights on tonight, right?

This years tour is mint.

Yes - it's been gripping

the black hole... not even a single doping story from L'Equipe on the first rest day

Re: doping: Eurosport pointed out the heat-sensor-gun for the mechanical doping, but didn't go into much detail, so I guess there's been nothing too hot.

Sun, bikinis, mankinis, spectators floored and punched, wheelies up the climbs, tubs rolling off, great sprints. It's definitely a great one to watch. But it is kinda boring knowing Sky will control the race. I'd love their team disbanded and watch all those guys battle each other for points.

No cycling, no footy, no tennis, no cricket, that's why I don't like Mondays.

We've always had periods where a team was able to build itself around a tactic that worked.

Lead-out trains for sprint riders is an example of something that is really only a decade or two old phenomenon.

The Sky "neutralise all GC mountain contenders" by setting a punishing pace and delivering their GC contender in a well-supported lead-out train manner, couple with Sky's "win on the TT" is working well.

But it's unlikely to work well forever, other teams will build themselves around that, and Sky will slowly reconfigure as riders naturally get poached or retire.

When one part of the race is dominated, thankfully the other parts are awesome.

I love the sprint battles we saw earlier in this tour. Everyone has a similar tactic now, and Cav has been winning on pure ability, skill, timing, power.

Each discipline seems to evolve at it's own pace, and yeah... Sky still dominate the tactics for GC, but everything else looks fun :)

If only Quintana had a team able to do for him what Sky do for Froome... Sky's tactics would be shown up if they can't dominate the mountains, as their TT advantage would be playing catch-up rather than win.