Tour de France 2017

Ok good I see the logic in it now, better than the Radio 5 summary that questioned the tactic heavily

I don't think I've said it, in all the shit I've typed today, but it was great to see Barguil get a stage win today. He's been one of the stars of the race so far, so a stage win is just reward. Hopefully he can win the polka dot jersey too.

I wanna see some sky riders like Landa go on attacks. I like it that Sky aren't limited to being the race-police like the stages so far. The reality will hit the other teams really hard when they can't rely on team moneybags to sit on the front and pull them all to the line.

Could turn out to be an interesting few stages ahead. I'd prefer Froome stays out of yellow (until he earns it, ideally at the last minute) so that the other teams are forced to light up the race.

I think tomorrow's stage will be fairly uneventful, but Sunday's looks the kind of stage that could really shake it up, so I think Sky will be pleased that they can use their strength offensively rather than defensively.

It'll be interesting to see who helps Aru out, as his team is completely lacking in decent climbers now Fuglsang is out. Today UAE stepped up to the plate, ostensibly to protect Meintjes' GC position from Contador, but that work helped Aru as he was completely isolated.

Yea it was good. Well deserved.

No BMC today..

Does Aru need the help? He seems to be protecting himself pretty cannily so far. His unpredictability (and the unusual stages) is helping make the race exciting. Aru's break attempt when Froome had a mechanical was just what was needed; some spice. It seems to have forced Sky to come out to play and the game of poker today with all the leaders eying and testing each other was absolutely fantastic to watch. Hope for more like today.

Aru has not had his bad day yet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR31n5jlfDg

Why is Uber Gruber not saying 'finally my Columbian boy was on fire today'? Or was that NQ affection during Giro only there to oppose the common man crush on Dumoulin?

Have you seen him crack that badly before and lose yellow?

I understand that you're a massive Sky fan but that was not a good day.

Allez aroooo then he lost 7 minutes and the team didnt wait.

Dont worry - this year he has no team.

Unfortunately I spent most of today up a 9meter high ladder trying not to shoot myself in the face with a temperamental nail-gun so have not seen more than the last 10km.

Anyway, if you're as avid a follower of my posts as you sound you'll have realised that Nairo is something of a let down after promising the Giro/Tour double and 5 weeks in has delivered very little compared to big ring heros like Calmejan, Barguil and Meintjes. Still, I'd rather he win it than Tin-Tin.

Taylor's dad was a lad

Losing time on a 20% freak show finish like that is indicative of nada

Landa FTW

Hergé would be spinning on his turbo in his grave at that reference.

Je vois juste ... où faire le reste du monde va au moins 90 secondes sur Froome pour survivre contre la montre finale en jaune.

Moonved?

So another noob question - is it correct to say that the TT stage next Saturday is where the Tour is decided and even if the difference is down to seconds still as an outcome, absolutely nothing can/will happen with GC standings in the final stage?

The final stage is usually a procession before a mad sprint. While you could attack, it's not the done thing.

The TT stage will be where froome should secure yellow, he's the strongest tester in the gc., If he's not already in yellow by then.

Anyone else seen a Bahrain merida rider recently?

Can say the same of bmc