Tour de France 2017

Might be misremembering but didn't Wiggins (who was in yellow at the time) slow everyone down for Cadel Evans once because he punctured?

I'd suggest F1 as a better analogy than a 3rd choice goalkeeper in football though.

Yeah probably. I don't really follow other individual sports.

That 'street' view is stunning!

Also, I'm pretty sure the form is, if you attack, and then someone has an issue, you are fine to crack on. The big thing here is attacking because someone has an issue. It looked pretty obvious to me that Froome put his hand up and then Aru attacked, not the other way around. Key difference.

This being the key point. If he'd gone before, fair play, he knew exactly what was going on. Obviously reads the Nibali rules of cunning at bedtime.

I'm trying to understand who made it

This was the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCI89VaFwU

It has since been blocked due to a copyright claim by ASO.

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1 Attachment

Yep, two stages he might have got involved in and didn't really, hoping for something further down the line

Might be misremembering but didn't Wiggins (who was in yellow at the time) slow everyone down for Cadel Evans once because he punctured?

Yes. 2012. There was an attack on the Tour by some nasty idiot throwing tacks on the road. Wiggins was ahead; Evans in the group behind. Wiggins, once he was told on his radio, neutralised the race. A decent and proper thing to do under those circumstances.

Hasn't crashed yet AFAIK. Clearly the winner so far.

He sounded cooked after Stage 8, which was the one people expected him to do something in.

I guess the TT and the Nationals are two days when you can give it all and know it's over shortly after.

Being out for so long he probably hasn't got the level back for day-in day-out effort the Tour requires.

Apparently stage 8 was a 50kmh+ avg for a while at the start, while the breaks tried to go and were pulled back.

Majka is out

https://www.bora-hansgrohe.com/en/news/pressemeldungen/keine-brueche-bei-rafal-majka--dennoch-muss-der-bora-E28093-hansgrohe-leader-die-tour-de-france-aufgeben-/11213651

Given all this chat about respecting the yellow, I'm surprised noone has brought up chaingate, when Schleck attacked Wiggins just after he dropped his chain.

Oh, now they have.

You might want to refresh your memory on that one.

It was Schleck Contador, no?

edit: and I think the uproar against Contador for that that is one of the contributors to the current situation

So during poo-gate, they attacked because tom had his hand down his bibs?

I still think Contador did nothing wrong then. It's one thing to attack the leader when he's resolving a mechanical and his team have been riding tempo, like yesterday, quite another to be responding to an attack by the race leader only for him to drop his chain because he fucked up his front shift.

Fwiw, I think the unwritten rules of cycling are important and should be respected. I can't see how they can be codified by the UCI, as the flexibility they allow for is important in race situations, and those nuances would never be captured correctly.

During stage races the leadership of the race comes with responsibilities, and all teams understand and respect those. Sky spent yesterday ensuring that not only Froome, but all the other GC contenders, remained in contention for the win. At the time Froome had his problem, the cause of which is irrelevant, Sky were riding tempo so GC racing wasn't on, and Aru was wrong to attack. If he'd attacked and then Froome had an issue then he should carry on.

Surely the leaders' team rides tempo because they have the most to defend. What alternative do they have? They aren't doing it for the greater good of all GC contenders.

The unwritten rules of cycling are socially conservative. What else to expect from a sport typically populated by sons of peasants.

I do like the consternation caused when Southern Europeans violate the so called rules though, particularly when nations with no real cycling heritage get exercised about it.

Getting genuinely pissed at another ITV4 competition prize bike having Campagnolo on it.

At least you won't get stuck in 53-11

Aru has been exciting so far anyway, putting the cat among the pigeons. Is he a genuine threat to win this year or will he drop back?

I'd like to see more tactical pressure on Sky. All the other teams just let them do all the work every stage. The team can't sit on the front all day every day, it would be a good tactic to wear them down. Either they will let breaks get away and accidentally lose time to an underdog, or push themselves into fatigue by the third week, allowing others to claim bonus seconds.

Genuine question, what other tactic could succeed?

I guess Aru or Bardet could win, but they probably need at least a minute going into the final TT. I guess they would need an isolated Froome to have a problem for that to happen.

^ Didn't you like AG2R's tactics in the stage on Sunday?

Astana have a one two punch - let Fuglsang attack and see if he can draw Froome out into the red.

Could be worse .. could be SRAM®