2017 Tour de France

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AUbicycles
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2017 Tour de France

Postby AUbicycles » Tue Jun 20, 2017 3:55 pm

The world's most popular bike race is almost upon us, the Tour de France kicks off on July 1 in Düsseldorf.

Two questions... are you ready and in peak form for the late night viewing?

And who has a chance this year? In other threads it is suggested that Richie Porte has already peaked and also struggles with BMC which are not as strong providing team support. Nairo would be a nice change but is hard to read and has a tough time pulling away. Froomey is not particularly inspiring and characters like Contador have a murkey history.

For points, showman Sagan keeps it enjoyable.

Who are you supporting this year and do you have a plan or strategy for making the distance?
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby MichaelB » Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:07 am

I'd like to hope LRP can prove the naysayers wrong. Whether he'll win or not is another, and I'm hoping for a Podium at least.

I'd like to see a very different podium than in past years and some attacking racing like the Dauphine, but that ain't gonna happen. Just don't want Froome to win or even place. Hope Bertie lights it up somewhere.

Re lasting, I will aim to watch only the full stages where there is likely to be GC action or it's a really lumpy twisty stage. Straight, flat spring stages don't interest me.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby RonK » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:11 am

AUbicycles wrote:Who are you supporting this year and do you have a plan or strategy for making the distance?
I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky, and will record the stages on my PVR to watch at a rational time of day and to skip over ads and boring segments (such as Gabby Gateau).
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby find_bruce » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:31 am

The bookies would have you believe its a race between Froome & Porte, followed up by Quintana & Contador. Fuglsang is the big firmer after the Dauphine. Bardet is the token french hope.

I think that there will be 1 or 2 outsiders on the podium, but I'm not smart enough to figure out who

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby Mububban » Wed Jun 21, 2017 1:11 pm

RonK wrote: I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky
Why the anti-Froome/Sky sentiment? Too boring/predictable? Is he a massive tool?
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby RonK » Wed Jun 21, 2017 1:36 pm

Mububban wrote:
RonK wrote: I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky
Why the anti-Froome/Sky sentiment? Too boring/predictable? Is he a massive tool?
It's like the old AFL retort - I'm barracking for whoever is beating Collingwood.

But perhaps you been under a rock while the Wiggings/Sky/British Cycling controversy has raged. :wink:
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby MichaelB » Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:02 pm

Mububban wrote:
RonK wrote: I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky
Why the anti-Froome/Sky sentiment? Too boring/predictable? Is he a massive tool?
I'll admit he's not as bad as Wiggo, but reminds me too much of Gollum, and have a dislike for Sky in general.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby Uncle Just » Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:26 pm

Re lasting, I will aim to watch only the full stages where there is likely to be GC action or it's a really lumpy twisty stage. Straight, flat spring (sic) stages don't interest me.
This.

Stages that catch my interest: 3,5,8,9,12,13, (maybe 14),17, and 18. I never watch the last stage. If it's close I'll watch the penultimate ITT stage. We're spoilt for coverage now so you can retire at a sensible hour if tired and watch the replay at leisure the next day.

Chances....
Froome - favourite & often boring to watch but also capable of some spirited riding.
Quintana - talented climber but possibly tired from the Giro and was unexciting in the Giro.
Porte - sentimental fav for us but will he fail due to his at times questionable race tactics or his team.
Contador - past his prime but exciting to watch when he animates a race.
French riders - would be great for the French but unlikely. Team depth?
Outsiders eg Fulsgang, Aru, Chaves et al - not likely imo for this 3 week GT; Team strength?

And of course Sagan. Supremely talented and always entertaining.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby AUbicycles » Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:50 pm

Froomey is not a personality who I find very relatable in the bike. He is quite methodical and it comes across and being more about the numbers than the emotion, passion and struggle. This makes it all very distant. In comparison to Cadel Evans who was also not a showman - you could see the struggle and he was the underdog.

For the ex-dopers or alleged dopers - without knowing the exact circumstances and understanding that there is a margin for error - when stories are too far fetched such as "only doped once" or "I was attacked by a mad cow", then they are tainted.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby DavidS » Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:18 pm

I'll be watching, but I normally go to bed around 1pm anyway.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby rodneycc » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:26 pm

Mububban wrote:
RonK wrote: I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky
Why the anti-Froome/Sky sentiment? Too boring/predictable? Is he a massive tool?
As much as I dont cheer for Froome, I do respect what he has done. And even though he has the most expensive team around him I looked at last years race and thought he did try and attack and make it interesting. My opinion of him changed when he attacked downhill last year in one of the stages where nobody would of thought of attacking ( remember him straddling the downtube flying downhill). He is not all Tech but a little bit of strategy as well which I like. He has trained his butt off to get every bit of advantage out of himself too (nobody gets that weird-arse body shape without major effort).

I will be backing the BMC boys but I have my doubts. Would like to see Quintana pull something out after a disappointing race last year (we just waited and waited for an attack and then it was all too late - hope he has learnt something from that).
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby Derny Driver » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:35 pm

We will never again see those stages where guys attack each other up the bergs like Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque used to do. Drugs, RPE and risk have been replaced by the Powermeter. Expect to see what we saw in the Dauphine - riders riding to numbers up the hills. Boring as bat droppings.
I will probably be more interested in the final kilometres of the flat stages, I love watching the teams and riders positioning themselves, and seeing how the sprints unfold. I get off on that stuff.
Stem staring up the hills like Porte did in the Dauphine?
Yeah -nah

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby fat and old » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:01 am

I'm hoping for a Pantani like suicidal attacka by Contador. One that hopefuly turns into shifty collaboration with Movistar to isolate and crush Froomay....like in last year's Vuelta. I'd love to see LRP win, just to stick it to the English-centric cycling press and fans who think he's a one week man. Which means I hope that GVA is a good team player. I hope to see Quintana show some flair, and accept that he's not a TT'er, never will be a TT'er and needs minutes on the climbs, not seconds. It'd be great to see Thomas become an ineffectual 20th or so. I'd like to see Martin win stage 1. Cycling without German powerhouses is boring.

And anything better than 15th by a Frenchie will be greatly disappointing. I'm hoping Hinault lives his purgatory another 20 or so years.

Oh....my way, way outside hope. That Matthews shows some form and challenges Sagan for green.

TBH, it's just not the same since Floyd rolled the Morzine. Gilbert's win in the Ronde was probably one of the better things I've seen in a few years (barring Sagan, who is almost always entertaining if only in post race interviews)

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby Mububban » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:24 am

RonK wrote: It's like the old AFL retort - I'm barracking for whoever is beating Collingwood.

But perhaps you been under a rock while the Wiggings/Sky/British Cycling controversy has raged. :wink:
Yeah I pretty much exist under rocks these days :D

It's a shame the taint of drugs spoils the memories of the Armstrong/Pantani/Ulrich era, watching Lance et all attack each other up the climbs was great sporting theatre and is what got me hooked on watching the TDF. Nowadays it all seems far less exciting.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby RonK » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:46 am

Derny Driver wrote:We will never again see those stages where guys attack each other up the bergs like Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque used to do. Drugs, RPE and risk have been replaced by the Powermeter. Expect to see what we saw in the Dauphine - riders riding to numbers up the hills. Boring as bat droppings.
I will probably be more interested in the final kilometres of the flat stages, I love watching the teams and riders positioning themselves, and seeing how the sprints unfold. I get off on that stuff.
Stem staring up the hills like Porte did in the Dauphine?
Yeah -nah
My sentiments exactly. Powermeters should be banned.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:00 am

RonK wrote:
Derny Driver wrote:We will never again see those stages where guys attack each other up the bergs like Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque used to do. Drugs, RPE and risk have been replaced by the Powermeter. Expect to see what we saw in the Dauphine - riders riding to numbers up the hills. Boring as bat droppings.
I will probably be more interested in the final kilometres of the flat stages, I love watching the teams and riders positioning themselves, and seeing how the sprints unfold. I get off on that stuff.
Stem staring up the hills like Porte did in the Dauphine?
Yeah -nah
My sentiments exactly. Powermeters should be banned.
Along with race radios.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby RonK » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:08 am

biker jk wrote:
RonK wrote:
Derny Driver wrote:We will never again see those stages where guys attack each other up the bergs like Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque used to do. Drugs, RPE and risk have been replaced by the Powermeter. Expect to see what we saw in the Dauphine - riders riding to numbers up the hills. Boring as bat droppings.
I will probably be more interested in the final kilometres of the flat stages, I love watching the teams and riders positioning themselves, and seeing how the sprints unfold. I get off on that stuff.
Stem staring up the hills like Porte did in the Dauphine?
Yeah -nah
My sentiments exactly. Powermeters should be banned.
Along with race radios.
Oh yes, forgot about them...
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby ball bearing » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:15 am

I find the most top level racing to be boring. Money and predetermined team golden boys spoil it for me. It usually comes down to two or three possible winners and everyone else provides a windbreak.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby rodneycc » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:31 pm

I think its just old age creeping in when you get cynical and want to harp back to the glory years for what it was like when you were young and first got hooked on the Tour. Sport moves on - higher faster, longer. The Tour has always been about the Team and its golden boys (just like the Hinault and Lemond saga when I first starting watching it).

As for Armstrong, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque, Riis (even I dare say Indurain) that was all fueled by the craziness of the drugs making them feel invincible. Might have been great viewing but very much tainted.

I would of loved to have seen Eddy Merckx ride in his time with the same coverage they have now. Some say that was the golden era. I just think the golden era moves with age in all sports.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby RonK » Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:22 pm

rodneycc wrote:I think its just old age creeping in when you get cynical and want to harp back to the glory years for what it was like when you were young and first got hooked on the Tour.

...I would of loved to have seen Eddy Merckx ride in his time with the same coverage they have now. Some say that was the golden era. I just think the golden era moves with age in all sports.
I don't think so. People are inspired human traits - boldness, daring, dogged determination, courage, pathos. It's these things which win their attention and inspire their admiration, not the grinding analysis of the numbers.

In twenty years time will this era of stem watching be remembered as the golden age? I don't think so. Will there even be any fans?
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby MichaelB » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:08 pm

I just want a competition where different riders try and some succeed rather then getting a certain lead and then using the strength of the team to steamroller and squash the opposition.
Dauphine was a great example.
I can only hope ....:-?

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby rodneycc » Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:16 pm

Yeah I agree with that. All great eras have great rivalries splashed in there for good measure and that's what this year's Tour really needs.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:46 pm

rodneycc wrote:
Mububban wrote:
RonK wrote: I'll be supporting whoever is beating Froome/Sky
Why the anti-Froome/Sky sentiment? Too boring/predictable? Is he a massive tool?
As much as I dont cheer for Froome, I do respect what he has done. And even though he has the most expensive team around him I looked at last years race and thought he did try and attack and make it interesting. My opinion of him changed when he attacked downhill last year in one of the stages where nobody would of thought of attacking ( remember him straddling the downtube flying downhill). He is not all Tech but a little bit of strategy as well which I like. He has trained his butt off to get every bit of advantage out of himself too (nobody gets that weird-arse body shape without major effort).

I will be backing the BMC boys but I have my doubts. Would like to see Quintana pull something out after a disappointing race last year (we just waited and waited for an attack and then it was all too late - hope he has learnt something from that).
While Froome straddling the down tube while pedaling might look faster it isn't compared to straddling the top tube and not pedaling. Moreover, Froome gained only 23 seconds from his downhill attack but won the TdF by 4 minutes and 5 seconds, so his victory was achieved by the usual time trialing and mountain climbing advantages.

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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby rodneycc » Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:54 pm

Sure true. But yeah he attacked in the first instance. That's what I'm getting at. Didn't just sit back. If your compare say Nairo's race.
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Re: 2017 Tour de France

Postby MichaelB » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:07 pm

As a side note, I got the obligatory TdF guide published by Ride. Was in a rush that day and didn't have a good browse. Disappointed to find out that this year for some reason, the climb profiles are not in the guide ?

For those that are interested, Velorooms (scroll to bottom of Page 9) have a link to download the official TdF Roadbook which has ALL the details (and more that you'll never need) as a downloadable .pdf Warning though, it's a huge file - two options are two pages to a page (118MB) or a single page version at 113MB.

Wish I'd taken the time and saved $16 :|

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