TDF 15

[jesusbuiltmycar]

okgo said:

Impressive from Sky, would have won if not for Roche dragging them down..!

Great result for Sky. According to Froome, Roche didn't "drag them down"

Froome said:

The guys gave it everything, everyone was really motivated for this team time trial, Of course we saw Nico Roche struggling a little bit up that final climb but I mean that’s the nature of the team time trial, he put so much in earlier on. We can’t put it down to him struggling on the last climb. That’s just a team effort and today BMC were better than us.

Nibali moving backwards again, did he only win the tour last year because there was no competition, or will he surprise everyone and turn it around...

[anonymous-user]

Meanwhile somewhere on a beach in Sardinia, Fabio Aru downs another Pinot Grigio amidst laughter...

I thought Sky were unlucky but BMC deserve the win, Sky just wanted to put time in the others. TvG isn't a threat really so half a minute or so on Quintana et al is a great result. As Froome said, he doesn't have to attack at the moment just cover.
Shame that OGE were handicapped today, hopefully the Yates Bros can go for stages this coming week, Martin will be keen too... Should be a good week.

[okgo]

TJVD I would say is his main threat at the minute. He was the only person able to live with Froome in the Dauphine...ish. I know not everyone was riding it but I think he is as big a threat as Contador and Quintana.

[johnxjsc1985]

Think Froome and SKY are looking incredibly comfortable but lets see how that develops when the real stuff kicks off on tuesday.

[S10GTA]

I'm gonna have to do some work today

[v15ben]

Seems to be a bit of a rivalry developing in our house at the minute.
I'm in the Froome camp.
My wife is American and grew up just down the road from TJV!
At Bastille Day gives me chance to catch up with the highlights I've missed, but I'll also have to do some work eventually.

[anonymous-user]

TvG is only a threat at the moment because he is closest to Froome, he can probably hold the others through the Pyranees but those last four mountain stages in the Alps will push him back down the top ten.

[Roger Irrelevant]

S10GTA said:

I'm gonna have to do some work today

Indeed, these rest days are a bit of a pain in the arse. To pass the time, does anybody fancy having a little game of 'Guess when Froome will go bonkers on the finishing climb tomorrow'? I reckon he'll strike out on his own with 3.5k to go and end up putting another 30 sec into Quintana, and considerably more into Contador and Nibali.

[ewenm]

Roger Irrelevant said:

Indeed, these rest days are a bit of a pain in the arse. To pass the time, does anybody fancy having a little game of 'Guess when Froome will go bonkers on the finishing climb tomorrow'? I reckon he'll strike out on his own with 3.5k to go and end up putting another 30 sec into Quintana, and considerably more into Contador and Nibali.

You mean you don't believe him when he said "the others now need to attack, we can defend"?

[S10GTA]

Roger Irrelevant said:

S10GTA said:

I'm gonna have to do some work today

Indeed, these rest days are a bit of a pain in the arse. To pass the time, does anybody fancy having a little game of 'Guess when Froome will go bonkers on the finishing climb tomorrow'? I reckon he'll strike out on his own with 3.5k to go and end up putting another 30 sec into Quintana, and considerably more into Contador and Nibali.

I don't think he will. He's in the driving seat. All he needs to do is cover the attacks from the big boys.

[anonymous-user]

Its a brave man who bets agaisnt a frenchman tomorrow!... It wil be interesting to see who joins the breakaway and how much of a lead the GC teams let them have before they hit the start of the climb.

Froome could very well attack, its his sort of hill with varying gradients, he may well put in a few kicks on the steepest sections of the climb as he has done before.

[okgo]

Part of me thinks he may let one of the others ride themselves into the ground on the first of the hard stages like he did with Contador in the Vuelta that time, and then crush them on stage 3, perhaps.

The thing is, the amount of time he has taken already with the really limited first week stages leads me to think it could be a bit of a domination on the hills. I really think we could be seeing a fight with Quintana and TJ rather than Bertie and Nibali, but its anyone's guess.

[Roger Irrelevant]

S10GTA said:

I'm gonna have to do some work today

Indeed, these rest days are a bit of a pain in the arse. To pass the time, does anybody fancy having a little game of 'Guess when Froome will go bonkers on the finishing climb tomorrow'? I reckon he'll strike out on his own with 3.5k to go and end up putting another 30 sec into Quintana, and considerably more into Contador and Nibali.

[Roger Irrelevant]

I have no idea why I posted that a second time, apologies for that.

I don't think Froome will feel he has a big enough buffer over his main rivals such that he simply has to mark them just yet. If he feels good (and he's certainly been looking good), then he'll take time where he can as insurance against a jour sans later on. Having said that I wouldn't be surprised to see a situation a bit like on Ventoux in 2013 where he and Quintana work together for at least a while to put time into Contador.

[TonyHetherington]

Have finally been able to post in this thread again as I've been catching up witht he cycling after the weekend

Froome is looking so strong - and Nibali and Contador seem to really be struggling when he turns the wick up. Fab!!

Was it with Brad that they got him in yellow then just covered attacks? I wonder if Froome will want to get more time in on a few of the big climbs; it seems like he has a lot of fire power spare.

[okgo]

Brad is 'not' an attacking rider, Froome is, he will want to demolish his opposition if he can.

[johnxjsc1985]

~I can see Nibali having a do or die effort to try and get himself back into the game but I think Contrador and Quintana will bide their time just yet.
Looking forward to the big stages already having withdrawal symptoms with no stage today.

[TonyHetherington]

okgo said:

Brad is 'not' an attacking rider, Froome is, he will want to demolish his opposition if he can.

Ah ok - fair point. Seeing Froome up some of those small climbs already, I simply can't wait until the big stuff

[johnxjsc1985]

Peter Sagan still only 24 years old he seems to have been around for ages.
Just getting my fix on ITV 4 of yesterdays TTT.

[Roger Irrelevant]

okgo said:

Brad is 'not' an attacking rider, Froome is, he will want to demolish his opposition if he can.

This - and following his disappointment last year it seems he really wants to make the point that he's the strongest rider there - hence him riding like a man possessed. I know that you don't get to be a GT contender without large reserves of mental toughness but if Froome puts on a show of strength and gains more time tomorrow then it's only going to be natural for the other contenders to start thinking 'don't let a podium place slip', as opposed to 'how can I win this?'.