Tour De France 2018

Most definitely.

I find the same playing pool

Ha exactly this. Both pool and cycling are enhanced by either two pints or tramadol

Proper LOL when the guy climbs the tree

I don't know if you recall the late snooker player Bill Werbeniuk: -

Alcohol consumption
Werbeniuk was noted for the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed before and during matches – at least six pints before a match and then one pint for each frame. In total, he drank between 40 and 50 pints of lager per day.[1][3] Doctors advised Werbeniuk to drink alcohol to counteract a familial benign essential tremor.[4] Later in his career he also took propranolol, a beta blocker, to cope with the effects of his alcohol consumption on his heart.[5]

Bill was also famously reported in the UK tabloid press as successfully claiming the cost of 6 pints of lager before every match as a tax deductible expense.[2]

Some of Werbeniuk's most famous feats of drinking include: 76 cans of lager during a game with John Spencer in Australia in the 1970s;[1] 43 pints of lager in a snooker match/drinking contest against Scotsman Eddie Sinclair in which, after Sinclair had passed out following his 42nd pint, Werbeniuk was reported to say "I'm away to the bar now for a proper drink";[6] 28 pints of lager and 16 whiskies over the course of 11 frames during a match against Nigel Bond, in January 1990 – after which Werbeniuk then consumed an entire bottle of Scotch to "drown his sorrows" after losing the match.[1]

laughed to much when he said "The rocket launcher team were also very impaired." not sure why.

Bill Werbeniuk died aged 56.

Also what is the situation for Thomas/Froome? Will Thomas be allowed to attack him, is there any possibility that they will start attacking each other? If Froome is still behind Thomas on the TT, could he lose more time?

My 2p's worth: Froome must be going for the 3 grand tour wins in one year, so Thomas isn't going to get a look until it gets to a point where Froome is so far out pf the picture that it becomes silly (and considering his brake away ride in the Giro that may be quite a big silly).

Hopefully they will try and get Thomas in the yellow jersey for a few stages though.

And didn't win much.

56 is winning.

With that lifestyle yeah. Yeah it is.

How will Froome claw back the 59 seconds he has lost to Thomas, especially if the latter takes yellow today as expected?

I think Sky will try and ensure both stay in contention for as long as possible, as it increases their chances of winning the Tour.

By attacking first and leaving Thomas to cover the counter attacks.

Or Thomas cracking/falling down/slipping chain as per usual?..

I suspect Thomas will be allowed to cover moves and attack other GC riders to protect his position rather than attack Froome directly.

They all are riding the same road though? :)

I'm presuming that at a point Thomas will be told to sacrifce himself riding for Froome so that he can get a stage win/grab some time and thus the 59 seconds will disapper 'naturally'. Although you are right in that they will keep them both in contention for as long as possible; I just think that if it comes to having to choose (and times are similar) Froome will get it on the chance that he can have a crack at the Vuelta and go for the triple.

Can we put this Froome to ride the Vuelta to win nonsense to bed right now, there is no way he can be competitive at the Vuelta.

Yeah that dude, what a beast he was. My pool playing probably peaks somewhere between the second and third pint and then goes into a long, slow decline

Both Knaven and Froome seem to think the leadership is beyond debate, Thomas doesn't seem to think so. Sky are best to stay cagey, the Giro/Tour double in recent years has been seen to be undoable, although you can perhaps say that is because if you win the Giro, you then have to beat Froome in the Tour.

But then Froome did the Tour/Vuelta double, and then doubled down on that with the Giro as well. Winning four GTs in a row? If anyone can he can but I think a lot of his competition will be looking for fatigue and that jour sans. And they will be looking to pounce, but if they do they still have Thomas to negotiate. However I do not think either Thomas or Sky's DSes will sacrifice his chances for Froome.

The riders have to cross the line 27mins after the first rider to finish to stay in. It's going to be a tough day for the sprinters.

Didn't Cav and Kittel dodge it by a few seconds yesterday?

Cavendish, Groenewegen & Kittel (and 8 others) all finished 33 seconds before cutoff yesterday.

#marginalgains

Barguil in the break and his earpiece already out...

and Alaphilippe on the attack despite