Pro-cycling thread

Well the neutered the GC so it should be.

Pissweak.

Stage 15 was a cracker, especially the last 20km

The one when aru gurned for Italia.

Maybe they should be a bit more creative with the final stages of grand tours. Not suggesting you need to abandon the convention of having a stage where GC isn’t challenged.

But at the same time, why should guys who’ve been brutalised in the mountains for the last three weeks have to race a fucking crit?

Because the same guys racing the 'crit' also dragged their arses over the same mountains and because it's a 3-week GT, not a 2.9week we're not racing the last bit GT.

Also a commercial decision I am sure. A shit ton of spectactors, lots of events in the city, you get to see the riders come past multiple times, lots of extra sponsors etc

Well I just watched 14, so 15 is next

Borat-on-a-bike. I always get a naughty thrill watching Aru crack. I’m not very partisan usually.

Ok never been a Froome fan. He comes with so much baggage: his strange story and transformation to GT dominance, his lack of discernible character in interviews, his rabid wife, the stories of stealing rabbits to feed his python, his crab-like riding style, the weird seated high-cadence, the Sky slow-strangulation-method of winning, jumping countries...but fuck me he’s done a thing.

That thing remains with an asterisk as the Guardian reporting was at pains to point out, but it is still a thing. A good thing. A testament to tenacity and bravery and my old favourite, sheer-bloody-mindedness. I’m of a mind the AAF for sabultamol doesn’t really change the thing. Chapeau Froome you disquieting, odd, and completely fearless little man.

I haven’t watched it yet but like Tiralongo’s reaction to Froome’s 80k breakaway win when it was likened to Landis.

I think that was stage 15! He is soft pedalling

Glass cranking . All the excuses . Mean i know but i dont get bored of his dummy spitting . Much like their current economy

Watching stage 15: Yates’ performances certainly come with an asterisk given how badly he bonked in the third week. He said he was just laying it all out there and I suppose it speaks of a naivety he will grow from. Unless he got sick?

Did Chavez feature at all in the second half of the race? He came dead last in Rome and I think even got lapped by the sprinters' group.

his rabid wife

Can you show me three examples of this?

The continued abuse of Michelle Cound, based on virtually zero evidence, always strikes me as being thinly veiled misogyny.

Wasn’t the whole thing started by Bradley Wiggins’ wife?

If I were Froome’s wife, I’d be pretty salty on Social media given the huge amount of shit/hate he gets, and in turn she gets.
Most of which I reckon is undeserved even if he was doping.

He’s not the most likeable guy in cycling, but he comes across as polite and respectful, which apparently is worse than Armstrong’s behaviour.

Team Sky WAGs show the strain as the Tour hots up… on Twitter

The battle of the cycleWags: How the feud between Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome has extended to their partners

Wasn’t the whole thing started by Bradley Wiggins’ wife?

I'm not sure that's any better.

I think the a lot of the hate for Froome originates from his perceived backstabbing/grand-standing at not being let off the leash when riding for Wiggins which made him seem disloyal. Wiggo not getting to defend his title in Froome's favour also came across as pretty cold.

I think his wife poured a lot of petrol on that fire with her quite offensive twitter politiking, but since she's since deleted that AndyP now has a platform for 'thinly veiled misogyny and zero evidence' luls. Truth is, nobody involved in that debacle came off well, neither Wiggo, Froome, Cath or the Cound, and how you perceive it is likely going to come down to which side you favour.

And it’s the prerogative of the sprinters not to participate at the sharp end of stages on a pre-agreed time cut off acknowledged by the whole peloton.

So pretty much the same as the climbers not wanting to get their knees down in a crit today.

Tiralongo's beyond reproach right enough.

AndyP now has a platform for 'thinly veiled misogyny and zero evidence' luls.

The misogyny thing is bollocks. Might as well call AndyP a misogynist when he gets salty about Jess Varnish

I love froome, dunno why. He just seems like a good guy, while being merciless in a race. Wiggins/Froome beef is before I was into cycling beyond commuting so dgaf really, also Wiggins is pretty irritating, though again, dunno why.

Not a fan of the phrase ‘his rabid wife’ for a number of reasons.

Nullifying the race for the GC is not the same as sprinters making sure they finish before the time cut.