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The Guardian don't half publish some shite don't they? This from William Fotheringham hits a new low;
He starts of claiming his feelings are based on logic, then makes loads of assumptions to back up his feelings. Froome will decline because he's 32, which isn't unreasonable, but one of his main challengers will be Nibali, who is also 32. Wait, what?
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I read that, too, and just thought that a strong year after a weak(er) year is perfectly possible.
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I'm not sure a team will work out how to beat Sky, they've had 6 years to suss it out and no-one has really put them under proper pressure at the Tour. They way Sunweb raced at the Tour, you'd think they might come up with something, but they'll likely be led by Dumoulin, and his best chance would be served by locking the race down in the mountains and using the TTs to make race winning gains.
Ultimately what will beat Froome is having a rider who is stronger than him. Which returns us to Dumoulin I'd think.
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Yeah but will Sunweb go to the Tour with Dumoulin targeting yellow and Matthews targeting green? If so unless Dumoulin is ridiculously powerful they will struggle to match Sky. Its not hard to suss out Sky: they just don't fuck about, no-one in breakaways hunting stages, no-one targeting green or polkas, just focused on yellow. The other teams struggle to match that professionalism and single-mindedness. They want stage wins and having riders in the break.
I hope to fuck Dan Martin either leaves Quickstep or gets much better support than he did this year. Quickstep may not have Kittel next year but the likelihood they will have Gaviria, which once again they will target stages.
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I doubt he even believes his own bs. Even if Froome were flagging the machine behind him is as slick as ever whilst other teams look ... not their best. FDJ can't pick the right gearing for a critical TT.
The Guardian don't half publish some shite don't they?
Yeah. I finish articles there, before realising ... it's just ... nothing. Not a thing. Didn't need writing.
It used to be solid, I actually won't be too bothered when they fold.
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I heard the argument made, can't remember who, that Sky not only didn't use EBH to his best advantage, but furthermore that they had sort of broken him due to over-use. It's true he was doing poorly for a season or two before the switch to DD, but does it warrant a claim of a 'they shoot horses don't they' attitude towards the rank and file?
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Could be as much a cultural thing as an athletic one.
See our portly friend Senor Betancur and his travails at AG2R for reference. Or Sagan at Tinkoff. Or Gilbert at BMC. Or Quintana even who is getting the life humped out of him in some kind of post-colonial hangover at Movistar it would seem.
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Who knows. EBH was very good in his first few years at Sky, then he just stopped winning in 2013 and 2014. Perhaps it was because Sky were a bit crap at the classics, perhaps because Sagan emerged as an even better all-round talent. Some athletes are phenomenal when young and then just seem to lose their way.
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Oh and it may have been Kimmage: he flat out asked Brailsford in 2013 or 2014 in front of EBH at a press conference why someone who once was described as the new Merckx was crap now.
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Just reading some frightening figures from the French: there is a single French win in ITT at world Tour level since 2000, and the last French win in a TT at the TdF was 32 years ago. That's fucking shocking, is it because there's no panache in a time trial?
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Is Sebastian Paddags the new Tim Krabbé?
Die 3. Etappe begann für Wagi und seine Jungs relativ entspannt, da sie einerseits nur 600 Meter vom Start entfernt im Hotel waren (in einem sehr guten noch dazu - und das ist bei der Tour nicht immer so!) und andererseits war der Start der Etappe zu 80 Prozent identisch mit dem der Ster ZLM Tour von vor einigen Tagen. Ausschlafen und wissen, was einen erwartet, war also zunächst angesagt und am Vorabend gabs für Wagi auch noch mal Besuch von der Familie. Somit waren die Rahmenbedingungen also schon mal super und das Wetter spielte obendrein auch noch mit - trocken und angenehm warm.
Wer mal wieder nicht mitspielte, waren dann leider wie so oft die anderen Kollegen in den bunten Trikots: "Auf den ersten 15 Kilometern haben wir uns alle wieder schön gegenseitig die Fresse poliert. Eigentlich waren schnell drei Mann inklusive Nils (Politt) weg, aber dann wollten da unbedingt noch mal drei Mann hin - aua!
Da das Feld heute den ganzen Spaß auch sehr stark kontrolliert hat, kamen die Jungs vorne auch nie mehr als zweieinhalb Minuten weg. Bis die Ausreißer das aber realisiert haben, ist leider eine Weile vergangen und so fuhren die Burschen vorne ewig am Anschlag, aber wir hinten ebenso. Kneesi & Co. hatten folglich schön zu tun an der Spitze des Feldes. Da ich selbst heute im Finale natürlich absolut keine Aktien hatte, war für mich klassisches Helfen angesagt und ich holte öfters mal ein paar Flaschen von hinten. Leider war ich auch grade mit Flaschen beladen, als dann rund 60 Kilometer vor Schluss noch mal drei Fahrer nach vorne dazu gesprungen sind...und da kommt dann natürlich auch immer Freude auf.
Die letzten 50 Kilometer waren somit heute wieder einmal ein Beweis dafür dass die Tour nicht ohne Grund so besonders ist. Härter wäre es einfach nicht gegangen. Nach dem Rennen haben auch alle wieder gejammert, weil es es ja so schnell war...Aber genau die Jungs sind es dann, die morgen wieder attackieren! Willkommen in meiner Welt!
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Not at the Tour, but Malori and Pinotti won at the Vuelta and Giro.
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Should do, and Chavanel is decent in aITT, may have misread, but Bardet has been saying he doesn't like it so he hasn't trained at the discipline much. He lost more time in the TTs than he he lost the Tour by. Sane for Pinot in the Giro, lost over four minutes to Dumoulin in the time trials.
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About
Tour de France 2017
Posted by
@andyp
I'd watch that.