Tour De France 2018

Grand Tours always ebb and flow. The flat stages are always processional until the last 30k, but you have to have them to attract the top sprinters. I love a sprint a stage as it winds up and the peloton starts to really charge.

Sagan may as well be given the green jersey from the start, it really his to lose which is a shame because there have been some great battles for green in the past which always serve as a good sub-plot to the GC. But then it is Sagan and you want him in the race.

The loss of Porte and Nibali has drawn a lot of the sting from the GC battles, and with the loss of the Movistar trident. Not that they are out of the race, more than they may as well not be there. Roglic and Dumoulin are providing a good challenge still, a lot of racing left. After Thomas practically anointed winner yesterday I wouldn't be surprised if one of them manages a late raid, possibly in the TT. One crash, one mechanical, and the race can turn on its head.

Maybe I don't have the patience for GT racing then? Guess I will stick to watching one day racing and shut my cakehole.

Out of all remaining ass-draging sprinters in this Tour, I hope Laporte wins in Paris. I've listened to Km 0 issue of The Cycling Podcast recently, and it was with their current DS (or GM?) Cedric Vasseur. I started feeling a lot more empathy towards Cofidis :)

I'm telling you... Running Man format next year.

Or Death Race 2000

always processional

echelons disagree

Watch the highlights? Once you fast forward through all the advertising and recaps you only need pay attention for 15min a day.

Lawson Craddock (is he still racing?) with his arm in a sling, gets a gap and holds it after 'resting up' for the entire Tour.

Lol, yeah, hides in boutiques for one lap, noone notices, starts back in front of the peloton, gives his stage winning purse to the velodrome he's supporting

Yep - A bit like the foam pits in Cross.

If anything I feel like there's been so much drama this year that it may overshadow Thomas (G)'s win, especially if he doesn't win it again.

Movistar's multiple leaders all looking a little under cooked, Nibles crashing, all the sprinters out, more crashes hampering those that didn't have to pull out, punctures ruining it for Bardet, Barguil joining a worse team, everyone getting tear sprayed, all the main GC riders having to go for wins because they lost too much time too early. It's been good watching but it has become Sky vs Dumoulin. Even Froome looks too shagged to do any decent attacks.

The best part about this tour so far has been Alaphilippe and the race for polka dots.

Alaphilipe has been excellent.
Yes the GC race would have been better if Porte and Nibali hadn't crashed but the tour overall has still been most enjoyable. And it's not over yet.

Even Froome looks too shagged to do any decent attacks.

He looked beyond fucked yesterday in the warm down. Like a shell of a skeleton or something. Hats off to him for giving such a well composed interview.

Basically I like him when he’s not winning

I think you just have to be content with watching the countryside a lot, unless as Hippy says, you just boil it down to the action.

Personally I have a huge passion for castles, ruins and other monuments, so I often pause and rewind good looking ones, google them, and make a note about visiting them. There were some amazing ones in the Vendee and Normandy.

David Millar, much as I dislike him, really does his research, and his information on the revolutionary history of the Vendée was fascinating.

Well Eurosport mentioned so I did end up reading up on it, was surprised I hadn't heard about it before but they say history is written by the victors and that is an epoch of which I doubt the French are very proud of, truly bloody.

Wasn't there a Harry Potter book about these creatures?

When Nibali won the tour, Contador and Froome crashed out, Porte had an epic bad day, so clearly the best of the rest with no major bad luck, same as Thomas this year. There is still a sense that he only won because Froome and Contador crashed out. (probably true given their form in 2014)

Still looking forward to seeing what Roglic can do in the last mountain stage and TT, he looks proper mean when he's attacking (angry eyes)

Imagine if Dumoulin was at Team Sky. It would be the most boring winningest team ever.

I've bookmarked some of the natural features they flew over. That road alongside the river canyon thing. There was a natural rock bridge and some canoes. Can't remember name but it's in my Google maps list of places to fall off a bike at.

Oh and the Massif Central was a-mazing, and the Tour rarely visits there.

I think of the Tour as a 3 week long advert for a holiday in France with some bike racing thrown in.

Yeaah that was the Massif Central! Ride along the road and then throw yourself in the river to cool down.

Caverne du Pont d'Arc

Lawson Craddock on the attack!!!

I agree, Massif Centrale region is lovely.
Shame they don't go up Puy de Dome any more.

I'd like it if they went nuts and sent the tour to La Reunion islands (its officially a part of france with Euros etc) so they can do these:

https://www.strava.com/segments/2192136
https://www.strava.com/segments/14428150

he's been sandbagging all tour

Wow what a road