Tour de France 2016

And Yates!

ah yes, meant to include that young pup too.

Why would Sky/Froome target anything other than the tour?

Why wouldn't they?

They want tour wins, anything else has to be a second tier priority right?

Right.

Sure, but they're still priorities and they're still things that they target.

One of their main sponsors is Sky Italia, so generally they have a decent dig at the Giro (ten stage wins, top ten finishes etc). Vuelta is usually a significant target if they come up short in the Tour (2011, 2014). A bit like Armstrong, winning the TdF ensured maximum exposure back home, but Sky have slowly started to make real improvement in the classics and one day races, so I would hope they start to make a more serious tilt at winning other GTs, to firmly establish Froome as a great GC rider, rather than someone who only bothers with the TdF, winning it by bringing the best team money can buy.

That said, people complaining it was processional miss the nuance of Sky's approach: no sprinter, no-one in breakaways, no-one hunting stage wins. Doms for the flat, doms for the climbs, doms given days off to sit back of the bus to recover for key stages. Wout Poels looked very impressive but he would have been doing sweet FA during transition stages, sitting in the bunch out of the wind, saving energy until the mountains. Although it was processional, Sky's win was very clever.

Good points well made.

I think the podium is probably the last of your concerns if you're a gay pro cyclist. The peloton is a cold place for a gay rider: at least, we can only presume it is as there has never been an openly gay pro cyclist ever, which is statistically highly unlikely verging on impossible.

So the 'what can a gay rider bring onto the podium' debate is a little premature.

It's well established that Brailsford and Kerrigan believe that riding the Vuelta is a key component to winning the Tour the following year. Froome has only missed it in 2013 since he began winning GTs, and it was why Thomas rode it last year, despite having had a long season.

I think you can all but guarantee that Froome will be on the start line, whether he finishes or contends for the win is another matter.

Agreed.

You've also got to look at the quality of the domestiques, Rowe, Thomas and Stannard are all capable of leading the team through the cobbled classics, Poels won Liege this spring, Nieve won a stage at the Giro and the KoM jersey, Landa finished third in the Giro last year, and probably would've bettered that result this year if he'd not been ill, Henao is a consistent performer (and stage winner) in week long stage races and Kiryienka is the reigning World TT champ.

Basically, any single rider on the Sky Tour team could realistically lead a team elsewhere.

Everyone goes on about their budget, but both Katusha and BMC have similar budgets, yet they have nowhere near the amount of success that Sky have, so that budget is used wisely.

Interesting: I had forgotten that detail. In that case I do hope they send the core of the Tour team at least, but whether they will be competitive or not is another matter.

What is the natter about the Vuelta? Contador is all but confirmed, Nibbles I imagine will sit it out. Aru didn't ride the Giro so I imagine he'll be there. Little Richie Porte? I'd imagine he'll go, and hopefully have a BMC built around him, rather than the confused BMC squad at the Tour. I think one of the key things you do if you want to win the Tour is go in with one defined leader. Both Movistar and BMC have foundered with the whole 'decide the leader on the road' malarky, and both teams with the resources to compete with Sky.

I wonder what Yates might have done had he had a team behind him, with Chaves and his brother there for the climbs (although arguably Chaves would be leader in that scenario). Instead OBE went there like they always do, with a combination of sprinters and puncheurs to nab stage wins, and Yates had virtually no support in the mountains. It makes his 4th all the more impressive.

Obree?

Pellizoti or someone ? Or was that just a staged photo of two dudes in bed? I can't remember the context of the article. It might've been 'for the LOLs'.

Contador will definitely ride. Movistar presumably will take Quintana, with Valverde surely sitting it out. Katusha will be all in for Rodriguez in his final Vuelta. Chaves will lead OGE with Simon Yates alongside him.

I'm not sure what BMC are doing, Porte's been racing since the TDU so it might be a step too far with him, and he was only on a one year deal so it may depend if he renews or goes elsewhere. No idea if Van Garderen will look to save his season there. FDJ will take Pinot by all accounts. Astana are giving Miguel Angel Lopez his first GT ride, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares (I think he's a future GT winner in the making). Aru may get sent as punishment with the goal of saving his season.

I think the start list will become clearer after the Olympics.

OGE have been clever in how they've started as a sprint team and organically developed their own GT capability. They recruited Ruben Plaza and Amets Txurruka for this year, but have Jack Haig and Robert Power (if he recovers from illness) as additional support for GC riders. I'd be surprised if they don't give Haig his first GT ride at the Vuelta, but you'd think they'll be looking to recruit a couple more mountain domestiques for next season, now they have at least two riders capable of challenging for GT wins.

I'd like to see Tao at Orica next year.

Froome was really pushed at the TdF, his worst bits being the crash and fall. So whats stopping him from having a propper go at the Vuleta ? Sure he's just ridden the Tour but hasn't everybody else as well and right now he's better by a wide margin. Maybe just rose tinted over enthusiasm on my part but new improved super attack Froome, why not ?

Obree never really became a pro cyclist - he signed to Le Groupement but never made it to the first team meeting and was promptly sacked (his account being that he was asked to dope and wouldn't). He outed himself years later anyway so even if he had been in the pro peloton he wouldn't have been out. I had an interesting conversation with him about this actually.

I haven't seen the Pellizotti (presume that's who you mean, Franco?) article but have never heard that and Google doesn't come back with anything.

I'm sure there have been gay pro cyclists, but as far as I can establish there's never been an out one.

I think Tao can pretty much go where he chooses.

The good thing about a GT is when one finishes, the next one can be looked forward to. I don't get people that said it was boring, you get to watch cycling everyday for 3 weeks! The Vuelta is shaping up to be a seriously good race. Maybe we'll get the showdown we missed out on in the Tour. Froome may go there for form, but he is a born racer, he'll get involved if he can.

Yeah, I hadn't considered that: Sky went full tilt at GTs and have developed other aspects, and OBE did it the other way around. Would be interesting to see OBE defending the leaders jersey in a GT, it's hard to imagine. You'd just expect them to be all Aussie and stop for a beer, barbie and a sing song with the fans halfway up a mountain.

#notstereotyping #wellnotmuch

Fox, I can't think of any openly gay male cyclists, but Judith Arndt and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg are both out. Why it should be easier for women than men, I don't know.

Pippo Pozzato - not Pelizotti