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Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:05 pm
by MichaelB
And MM out. Pity. Was hoping to see him take a stage or two

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:45 am
by fat and old
Lawson Craddock comes in with the same time as Cavendish, Groenewegen and Kittel. No shame in that.

And what's up with Matthews? He's never really got as far as he appeared to be capable of in his time at Orica. Sure, he inherited the Green last year, but seems to drop off when there's hard work to be done?

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:24 am
by MichaelB
He was sick and reportedly had gastro. Didn’t start the stage.

That stack of Gesbert could have been really nasty !

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:33 pm
by MichaelB
Great ride by Dan Martin last night, and some more losses for some of the GC hopefuls. Interesting.

Seems like my prayer for rain on the Roubaix stage will again be left unanswered :?

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 12:52 pm
by fat and old
I guess all things being equal Doumalin has lost an important dom. Dan Martin aye? Keeping the dream alive, just like TJ only with backbone

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 12:55 pm
by fat and old
So is Movistar cooked? Quintana and Landa have no chance of matching Geeeeeeeee and Froomay in the TT. Valverde is no high mountains man. Will be entertaining watching this.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 5:06 pm
by MichaelB
Roubaix stage and 1st hills after rest day will give the 1st real indication of where some of the key players (and their teams) are at.

Tonight’s stage is another rest day for me and won’t even bother watching it. I’ll aim to watch the Roubaix stage though till the end !!!

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:40 am
by warthog1
Changing of the guard in the sprint stakes so far this year.
The old stalwarts are being upstaged by the new breed.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:10 pm
by fat and old
Not even 5 k’s in!!! :(

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:54 pm
by g-boaf
fat and old wrote:Not even 5 k’s in!!! :(
I'm think I know what you are referring to. Terrible luck.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:16 pm
by MichaelB
PFBB. Really feel for him.

Hopefully GvA can salvage a win today and TJvG can live up to his promise

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:57 pm
by warthog1
That sux.
Not to be again.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:07 am
by fat and old
MichaelB wrote:PFBB. Really feel for him.

Hopefully GvA can salvage a win today and TJvG can live up to his promise
Yeah, TJ did. 5:10 down on the day. And the French won the WC. Bad night all round.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:00 pm
by MichaelB
fat and old wrote:
MichaelB wrote:PFBB. Really feel for him.

Hopefully GvA can salvage a win today and TJvG can live up to his promise
Yeah, TJ did. 5:10 down on the day. And the French won the WC. Bad night all round.
Actually, the frogs winning the WC was a bonus for me - won the sweep at work and pocketed $100. About the only bright spot of the night.

TJvG seemed to have all sorts of trouble staying on the peloton and then crashed. At a few times where I saw him, there were no team mates with him, so have they given up on him ?

Is NQ the only GC guy that hasn't crashed yet ?

Saw the article (but didn't read it) about "Sky having only one leader" - trying to douse Geee's aspirations and pull him into line ?

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:07 pm
by djw47
MichaelB wrote:PFBB. Really feel for him.

Hopefully GvA can salvage a win today and TJvG can live up to his promise
TJ must be one of the most over-rated riders of all time. Every year he's hyped as a GC contendor, every year he's miles off the pace - he was cowardly yesterday in his approach to the race, knowing that he could have been promoted to the GC contender for his team. As for Porte, lovely guy, but either he's cursed, or he's lacking the spatial awareness/positional sense required to be a genuine GC rider - see also Gerrans and Geraint Thomas.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 2:20 pm
by biker jk
djw47 wrote:
MichaelB wrote:PFBB. Really feel for him.

Hopefully GvA can salvage a win today and TJvG can live up to his promise
TJ must be one of the most over-rated riders of all time. Every year he's hyped as a GC contendor, every year he's miles off the pace - he was cowardly yesterday in his approach to the race, knowing that he could have been promoted to the GC contender for his team. As for Porte, lovely guy, but either he's cursed, or he's lacking the spatial awareness/positional sense required to be a genuine GC rider - see also Gerrans and Geraint Thomas.
I do wonder how much of the crash was Porte's poor positioning, as you say, but note that it seemed that BMC had split the team between supporting GVA and Porte, unlike Sky who were all riding for Froome.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:23 pm
by MichaelB
djw47 wrote: ... As for Porte, lovely guy, but either he's cursed, or he's lacking the spatial awareness/positional sense required to be a genuine GC rider ....
Lots of others have crashed (experienced GC guys at that) in the last 9 days. Reckon just about all of them have had some issue. Notice it's more et the TdF than at the Giro or Vuelta ....

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:44 pm
by RobertL
I do wonder how much of the crash was Porte's poor positioning, as you say, but note that it seemed that BMC had split the team between supporting GVA and Porte, unlike Sky who were all riding for Froome.
I'd like to know more about the crash, and what role the injured spectator played. Was the spectator encroaching on the course? Or just caught by "friendly fire"?

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:48 pm
by adsjax
MichaelB wrote:
djw47 wrote: ... As for Porte, lovely guy, but either he's cursed, or he's lacking the spatial awareness/positional sense required to be a genuine GC rider ....
Lots of others have crashed (experienced GC guys at that) in the last 9 days. Reckon just about all of them have had some issue. Notice it's more et the TdF than at the Giro or Vuelta ....
Could be that massive chain Porte has swinging around his neck throws him off balance

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:49 am
by MichaelB
So who's gonna crack on tonight's stage ?

A bit of climbing to do. Finally !!!

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:36 am
by fat and old
RobertL wrote:
I do wonder how much of the crash was Porte's poor positioning, as you say, but note that it seemed that BMC had split the team between supporting GVA and Porte, unlike Sky who were all riding for Froome.
I'd like to know more about the crash, and what role the injured spectator played. Was the spectator encroaching on the course? Or just caught by "friendly fire"?
me too! Things are strangely quiet on that.

Anybody else surprised by drug scum Oacheiowiz (yeah, he doesn't deserve to have his name spelled correctly) quote on Porte? His bag is waiting in Annecy?

https://twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/ ... 0612927488

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:16 am
by biker jk
fat and old wrote:
RobertL wrote:
I do wonder how much of the crash was Porte's poor positioning, as you say, but note that it seemed that BMC had split the team between supporting GVA and Porte, unlike Sky who were all riding for Froome.
I'd like to know more about the crash, and what role the injured spectator played. Was the spectator encroaching on the course? Or just caught by "friendly fire"?
me too! Things are strangely quiet on that.

Anybody else surprised by drug scum Oacheiowiz (yeah, he doesn't deserve to have his name spelled correctly) quote on Porte? His bag is waiting in Annecy?

https://twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/ ... 0612927488
I guess Och was irritated with Porte signing with Trek-Segafredo despite CCC replacing BMC. No GC rider in the new team but I don't see how they could have afforded Porte and GVA.

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:42 am
by fat and old
I suppose Porte should be glad the ink's dry on his new deal :lol:

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:45 pm
by biker jk
adsjax wrote:
MichaelB wrote:
djw47 wrote: ... As for Porte, lovely guy, but either he's cursed, or he's lacking the spatial awareness/positional sense required to be a genuine GC rider ....
Lots of others have crashed (experienced GC guys at that) in the last 9 days. Reckon just about all of them have had some issue. Notice it's more et the TdF than at the Giro or Vuelta ....
Could be that massive chain Porte has swinging around his neck throws him off balance
No, it was Valgren's chain that caused the crash.

"Everyone was talking about the nervousness and the cobbles on Sunday, but the crash, in which among others Richie Porte and I got caught up, had nothing to do with that. Michael Valgren had a chain problem and that caused the crash," explained Keukeleire in a team press release.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/injurie ... de-france/

Re: 2018 TdF route

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:24 pm
by Thoglette
biker jk wrote:
adsjax wrote: Could be that massive chain Porte has swinging around his neck throws him off balance
No, it was Valgren's chain that caused the crash.
One could say: "an unusual chain of events" :mrgreen: :mrgreen: