Tour de France 2016

Did anyone see where Mclay finished?

At the finish line, most likely.
#inb4schick

^ nice

Silver?

Ettix never seem to be able to get leadouts right, despite their resources..

#lerep

So does Cav climb off now, or does he stay and try to get to the Champs
d'Elysees? On this evidence a fifth win is likely, and leaves only 3 for Merckx's record. Which is bonkers quite frankly.

Lefervre must be gutted, and wondering why the hell he didn't let Cav ride track more before trading him in for an inferior model #trollol

I dunno, Kittel's working well as Cav's leadout man

Great stuff. Does this mean Cav will leave the tour now. Second in the all time rankings 😊

Wanted to say the same thing!

I wasn't talking about Cav.

Check what moves Sagan makes and his acceleration to get to 3rd again. He has to work so much, I think with a leadout he would well be able to challenge the pure sprinters.

Then again, he could work a bit more on his wheel-choosing tactics

Trains aren't what they used to be in the Argos or Highroad days, indeed

Off to tomorrow's stage on the colombier get in!

No one had a big train today apart from Lotto and Etixx, and look where their sprinters placed. Kristoff was very magnanimous in his post-race interview, conceding that the pure sprinters like Cav will always have that little extra speed in bunch sprints. I suspect Sagan would say something similar, albeit while pulling a no-handed endo.

I think positioning and timing trumps the train at this tour so far. Not to say Sagan isn't an amazing talent. It's also noticeable how much work he puts in, getting into breaks over hills, going full gas for intermediate sprints like he did today, and surging clear at the end of stages to take the win. Very telling the other sprinters just rolled over behind for the intermediate, and for the rest of the racing they are back in the bunch or grupetto. If Sagan conserved his energy like them maybe he'd win bunch sprints, but it would be a very dull Sagan all back of the bus.

I get it, but if Froomey can reinvent himself, why couldn't Sagan? ;-) He'd be no less entertaining to me, just an even more complete and successful rider.

I don't think speed wise Sagan is quite there vs. Cav, Greipel, Kittel, although with timing and tactics he could get wins. He is scarily improving year on year.

Cav seems to be a sprint tactics prodigy, and wins despite not pushing out as many watts as his competition. I'm not sure what kind of training Sagan does, but he's unlikely to be doing as much specific sprint training as his competitors.

Sagan should train on the track with Cav's mates, I'd love to see him bunny hop over the line on a sprint.

Also, so so so glad Cav is cycling not working for Addison Lee.

I'm sure if Sagan put his mind to it, and trained for it he would be a top class sprinter. I mean I wouldn't rule out him becoming a mountain goat if he dropped weight and trained specifically for it. He just has that amazing all-round talent and Martyn Ashton-esque skill on the bike. Has there ever been a more natural-born cyclist?

But Cav is a phenom, 30 stage wins is INSANE, and you have to wonder how he had such a comparative slump when at Etixx, because he is as good now as he has ever been. So small, the whippet to the big boy's greyhound, he finds such big holes to ride in behind them, and gives them fuck all in return.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08QntWy_FfI

British knight, cheering the lads on

2 Attachments

Amaze

Sagan's top speed in todays sprint was actually higher than that of any other sprinter. Guess there's something else lacking.

Aero He ain't

Seem to remember @Velocio saying this one was gonna be tricky to post.

Stage 15 - for all the info you could desire head to inrng.com where I've picked this snipped from.

"Up and down all day and it’s live on TV from start to finish. This is a promising stage on paper given the hilly terrain suits a breakaway and the novel finish with the Grand Colombier climbed twice".

1 Attachment

road is pretty tight again up there in the hairpins (lacets), hope all goes well and the 'fans' will behave

1 Attachment

160 kms from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz, over some little known medium mountains before tackling the Col de Grand Colombiere.

2 Attachments

Today's stage has Romain Bardet written all over it. The GC riders are running out of days to attack Froome so hopefully we'll see some action today.