Tour de France 2015 Stage 17 Digne-les-Bains - Pra Loup *contains unmasked spoilers*

MPFG

Frooem & Quintana defnitley strongest but nothing in

spock.

Roche was 7th at 3'02

Eamonnator

LeoD wrote: »

Everyone riding tempo is a non event.

I'm watching the TdF.
What race are you watching?

PowerToWait

G'wan Quintana

REBELSAFC

Roche finished 7th 3 mins down

dastardly00

Well Richie Porte doesn't look like he fell down the side of a mountain.

Darkglasses

If you weren't entertained by that I don't know what you want. Was watching it muted on my phone and was glued to it.

Talib Fiasco

Contador looks hurt...really struggling

Eamonnator

Froome is going to be very hard to beat. He was able to cover everything today.

dastardly00

Nico must have descended the Col d'Allos and climbed Par Loup very well to finish in 7th place.

kenmc

great ride by roche. 7th up that hill is impressive.

LeoD

Eamonnator wrote: »

I'm watching the TdF.
What race are you watching?

I was watching the race where one contender abandoned due to illness (not very entertaining) and another lost two minutes on a descent due to crash it seems (not very entertaining either). The only attack that looked like it might stick from Quintana took place 1km from the finish but it fizzled out after 200m. A stage that promised a lot about an hour ago but fizzled out to nothing.

Talib Fiasco

Reports saying Conatdor crashed into Mick Rodgers or vice versa. Looking at that gif, it would appear true.

dastardly00

Stage win number five for ze Germans.

DDC1990

All Irish riders with top 10 finishes.

Martin with 2 2nds and a 4th

Nico with 7th

Sam with 10th

Brilliant tour for the Irish lads. A stage win over the next couple of stages would really cap it off.

omri

So far its one of the most boring tours Ive seen so far when looking at the GC guys. Apart from an odd tumble here or there it looks like either Froome is too strong orthe rest isnt strong enough. Before every "decisive" stage the media create this hype that something is going to happen on a climb or descent. And nothing happens. Unless the little race to gain a second at the finish line. I really cant see upcoming stages to make much difference. If these guys are indeed the "big guns" as theyre called then they should grow some balls and attack. But so far we have same thing. Its the guys who have nothing to win but the single stage seem to battle the most. The GC guys in top 10 the way it is now have nothing to loose except the 1st place on the podium. If they dont start racing they will loose anyway and hard to believe Froome is going to to let go of his advantage unless the crash or mechanical.

kenmc

DDC1990 wrote: »

All Irish riders with top 10 finishes.

Martin with 2 2nds and a 4th

Nicole with 7th

Sam with 10th

Brilliant tour for the Irish lads. A stage win over the next couple of stages would really cap it off.

lol

Darkglasses

dastardly00 wrote: »

Stage win number five for ze Germans.

And all without Marcel Kittel! The Germans are kicking ass tbf.

Eamonnator

LeoD wrote: »

I was watching the race where one contender abandoned due to illness (not very entertaining) and another lost two minutes on a descent due to crash it seems (not very entertaining either). The only attack that looked like it might stick from Quintana took place 1km from the finish but it fizzled out after 200m. A stage that promised a lot about an hour ago but fizzled out to nothing.

Because a competition ends in a draw, doesn't mean, that what went before is boring

Talib Fiasco

kenmc wrote: »

lol

He was being called Nicola a lot by Paul Kimmage as well.

Moflojo

Judging by these threads I feel like I'm the only one watching Le Tour on TG4, so I entered their online competition thinking my chances were pretty good. Every day when they announce the winners they seem to be exclusively from Connemara!

What do you mean, "What's your point?" - don't you get it? It's obviously a scam. Wake up sheeples. The Gaelgóir Illuminati are at it again.

*Returns to accepting loss gracefully*

LeoD

Eamonnator wrote: »

Because a competition ends in a draw, doesn't mean, that what went before is boring

No but it doesn't mean it was exciting either. This looked promising for a while but ultimately was quite boring. No one taking chances.

kenmc

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

He was being called Nicola a lot by Paul Kimmage as well.

I think it's a silent "S" due to him being a bit French. But definitely not Nicole

MPFG

I actually think Roche could have gone earlier

Geschke beat all these top climbers on a climber stage
Chapeau to him ...he went for it while the others waited
Great ride from him ...one of the best in this Tour so far IMO

DDC1990

kenmc wrote: »

I think it's a silent "S" due to him being a bit French. But definitely not Nicole

Ah feck off, on the bloody phone! :P

Koobcam

omri wrote: »

So far its one of the most boring tours Ive seen so far when looking at the GC guys. Apart from an odd tumble here or there it looks like either Froome is too strong orthe rest isnt strong enough. Before every "decisive" stage the media create this hype that something is going to happen on a climb or descent. And nothing happens. Unless the little race to gain a second at the finish line. I really cant see upcoming stages to make much difference. If these guys are indeed the "big guns" as theyre called then they should grow some balls and attack. But so far we have same thing. Its the guys who have nothing to win but the single stage seem to battle the most. The GC guys in top 10 the way it is now have nothing to loose except the 1st place on the podium. If they dont start racing they will loose anyway and hard to believe Froome is going to to let go of his advantage unless the crash or mechanical.

That's a bit harsh. I think in fairness, they have been trying, but Froome has matched each attack so far. That's bike racing, sometimes you get one guy who is just stronger than the others. I wouldn't say its quite over yet though-Froome was on his own going up the last climb today, surrounded by three Movistar riders and a couple of others. If that scenario repeats itself in the coming days, he will definitely be stretched. Quintana is looking strong and I think he will take time on one of the days, though probably not enough to win.

dastardly00

MPFG wrote: »

I actually think Roche could have gone earlier

Geschke beat all these top climbers on a climber stage
Chapeau to him ...he went for it while the others waited
Great ride from him ...one of the best in this Tour so far IMO

As in Nico should have attacked on the lower slopes of the Col d'Allos or in the valley before the climb like Geschke did?

MPFG

dastardly00 wrote: »

As in Nico should have attacked on the lower slopes of the Col d'Allos or in the valley before the climb like Geschke did?

Yeah ...but not just Nico. A few others left Geschke go...mistake

omri

Koobcam wrote: »

That's a bit harsh. I think in fairness, they have been trying, but Froome has matched each attack so far. That's bike racing, sometimes you get one guy who is just stronger than the others. I wouldn't say its quite over yet though-Froome was on his own going up the last climb today, surrounded by three Movistar riders and a couple of others. If that scenario repeats itself in the coming days, he will definitely be stretched. Quintana is looking strong and I think he will take time on one of the days, though probably not enough to win.

Im not sure if its harsh cant remember which stage was that whe Quintana got few seconds ahead over Froome close to finish then he eased just to be taken over by him. This was before the rest day
I think - why he couldnt go flat out couple ofhundred meters I dont know - I dont think this would affect him in next stage. If it goes like this they will run out of stages to try and win with Froome.

MPFG

https://twitter.com/reneemeijer02/status/623877032611594240

MPFG

https://twitter.com/reneemeijer02/status/623878716091928576?replies_view=true&cursor=AYBWd6N3qAg

smurphy29

omri wrote: »

why he couldnt go flat out couple ofhundred meters I dont know

I can certainly think of no phyiscal barrier whatsoever to going all out on those 200m. Like what's wrong with these guys? Why can't they just ride away from each other?!

omri

smurphy29 wrote: »

I can certainly think of no phyiscal barrier whatsoever to going all out on those 200m. Like what's wrong with these guys? Why can't they just ride away from each other?!

Sagan could go flat out in Tour of California..

YeahOK

Bertie will either pull out citing illness / injury from a crash and take a run at the Vuelta or go all out from 1km tomorrow.

BadCharlie

Sams tour is over

MPFG

smurphy29 wrote: »

I can certainly think of no phyiscal barrier whatsoever to going all out on those 200m. Like what's wrong with these guys? Why can't they just ride away from each other?!

There were loads of attacks by GC teams at start of race today that we didn't see. Not just attacks ot go n the breakaway but to put SKY under pressure

SKY have the strongest team and strongest rider

But still I think we will see more from Quintana & Contador

velo.2010

Mick Rogers says Contador may have hit a bump in the road. So that's the second year running on a descent. He always seems to ride with his hands on the hoods when descending - less stable than riding in the drops, obviously.

Talib Fiasco

velo.2010 wrote: »

Mick Rogers says Contador may have hit a bump in the road. So that's the second year running on a descent. He always seems to ride with his hands on the hoods when descending - less stable than riding in the drops, obviously.

To be fair last year he had no hands on the bars flying down the descent and hit a bump.

manwithaplan

In fairness, Movistar's plan to isolate Froome worked. The problem was that he was just too strong for them. Tinkoff Saxo had a similar plan but it went tits up for obvious reasons.

spock.

https://twitter.com/GiantAlpecin/status/623896069282398208
:pac:

Leroy42

Just on that tweet, why do the partners feel they need to get involved?

She is the wife of the DS, why is she giving out team stuff over t'internet?

JK.BMC

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

He was being called Nicola a lot by Paul Kimmage as well.

It's the correct french pronunciation actually

But you probably have a problem with french too while you are at it!

MPFG

Sagan confirmed Mijka told to stop but Majka ignored it

Seems not the first time he ignores orders ...must have been reading these boards where he is very overrated

omri

Leroy42 wrote: »

Just on that tweet, why do the partners feel they need to get involved?

She is the wife of the DS, why is she giving out team stuff over t'internet?

They must be dead bored after so many hours sitting infront of the TV out of the pure loyalty to their providing partners.

Or they must feel very very bad for Contador being left alone.

Or its just cool to tweet and have that tweet retweeted a lot of times. Little lick of celebrity...

Leroy42

Can you imagine if your partner started tweeting about stuff that happened in your job!!

@youcares - So Jimmy said he'd make the tea, but left the milk open. Dave is right, Carla did sleep with Rodney, my hubby is the executive assistant to the junior trainee manager and he said so.

OK, that probably is more than 140 characters

MPFG

Nicolas Roche listed as SKY leader for San Sebastian

But Froome listed as riding the Vuelta (along with Nico) so no leadership there it would seem

Eamonnator

MPFG wrote: »

Nicolas Roche listed as SKY leader for San Sebastian

But Froome listed as riding the Vuelta (along with Nico) so no leadership there it would seem

Link, please.

MPFG

Eamonnator wrote: »

Link, please.

http://www.pelotonwatch.com/calendar/2015/worldtour/clasicaciclistasansebastian/startlist.html

Procyclingstats are listing La Vuelta

Arrow in the Knee

Why are people saying that Quintana looks strong. So far Froome has comfortably covered all of Quintana's attacks.

If we're saying that he is strong to stay with Froome fine but I can't see him getting anything more than a handful of seconds on Froome.

Todays stage early on looked like a belter when Contador attacked but fizzled out and like the other 'big stages' the status quo remained.

Déjà vu

odyssey06

MPFG wrote: »

Sagan confirmed Mijka told to stop but Majka ignored it... Seems not the first time he ignores orders ...

Not least among Sky's marginal gains is man management - getting the number 2 and 3 riders on their team to genuinely ride for the leader... compare and contrast with this, Movistar, Astana...