Tour de France 2018 - General Thread

equivariant

retalivity wrote: »

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsford-blames-tour-de-france-roadside-reactions-on-a-french-cultural-thing

Some great trolling by dave brailsford that nearly guarantees more trouble for sky on the roadside

You couldn't make it up. I reckon they must be having meetings on how to troll French cycling fans even more You can imagine them coming up with this stuff "Let's punch one of their riders and then blame it on their culture .... tomorrow we can all wear "cheese eating surrender monkey" t-shirts and insult their wine"

Anyway, at least the race has been quite good this year. 5 stages (of racing) left and there are 3 riders with a real chance of winning. I think if Dumoulin can somehow get 30 seconds back on Thomas before the TT he can win. Its hard to see how Froome wins from this position though.

CrowdedHouse

It's nearly like he's hoping all the riders will be attacked....hmmmm..

wpd

Good man Brailsford you have really stirred it up now

If you think the race organisation is so bad perhaps you should quit, i dont think many
cycling fans would be crying if you did

CramCycle

equivariant wrote: »

You couldn't make it up. I reckon they must be having meetings on how to troll French cycling fans even more You can imagine them coming up with this stuff "Let's punch one of their riders and then blame it on their culture .... tomorrow we can all wear "cheese eating surrender monkey" t-shirts and insult their wine"

Anyway, at least the race has been quite good this year. 5 stages (of racing) left and there are 3 riders with a real chance of winning. I think if Dumoulin can somehow get 30 seconds back on Thomas before the TT he can win. Its hard to see how Froome wins from this position though.

If I didn't know any better, its PR for a failing regime, we cannot win over everyone, so time to win over the hardcore. There are sky fans all over the place who will lap this up.

RobertKK

Brailsford is an idiot, it is like everyone should ignore the elephant in the room involving the Sky team.
Spitting or pushing the riders while cycling is wrong, but people have the right to boo to show how they feel so the rubbish with certain drugs being used in a questionable way ends.
I hope the boos are louder this week and we need the guy with the giant inhaler to appear.

MadYaker

What time is it kicking off in carcasonne tomorrow? I’m in the area and wouldn’t mind checking it out.

CrowdedHouse

The publicity caravan leaves at 930 and the race at 1140 so I presume there will be activity from early.

brocbrocach

equivariant wrote: »

You couldn't make it up. I reckon they must be having meetings on how to troll French cycling fans even more You can imagine them coming up with this stuff "Let's punch one of their riders and then blame it on their culture .... tomorrow we can all wear "cheese eating surrender monkey" t-shirts and insult their wine"

Anyway, at least the race has been quite good this year. 5 stages (of racing) left and there are 3 riders with a real chance of winning. I think if Dumoulin can somehow get 30 seconds back on Thomas before the TT he can win. Its hard to see how Froome wins from this position though.

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

Lusk_Doyle

Since when was it a crime to hate the British?

mloc123

brocbrocach wrote: »

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

Um, Contador got quite a lot of abuse from what I recall

Hurrache

He got chased by a giant steak on a stick one mountain stage if I remember correctly.

equivariant

brocbrocach wrote: »

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

Agree. It does spice things up a bit though. But the tour wouldn't be the same without the crazy crowds of drunk fans getting way too close to the riders. It's part of the spectacle.

harringtonp

brocbrocach wrote: »

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

Wouldn't be a fan of Brailsford but agree with you here. No point saying the fans are cute and great with all this going on. May as well spell it out, I can't see what he has got to loose. It would be good to see some of the French riders come out and say they don't like it too... in a way that isn't giving sky a carte blanche of course. Put it this way, is GT any more guilty of anything than other riders in the peloton.

jimbobaloobob

harringtonp wrote: »

Put it this way, is GT any more guilty of anything than other riders in the peloton.

I don't understand this part, can you explain it?

Lumen

The G disease spreads.

harringtonp

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

I don't understand this part, can you explain it?

I suppose was trying to get at something like:

With froome there is the salbutamol saga but with Thomas is there any more reason to suspect foul play than with any other rider in the peleton ?

mloc123

harringtonp wrote: »

I suppose was trying to get at something like:

With froome there is the salbutamol saga but with Thomas is there any more reason to suspect foul play than with any other rider in the peleton ?

He rides for Sky...

I think it is as simple as that. The fans see the entire team as tainted following on from the Wiggins TUEs and now the Froome saga. If Thomas was riding for any other team and had the same results, people would cheer him on instead of booing him.

1bryan

mloc123 wrote: »

He rides for Sky...

I think it is as simple as that. The fans see the entire team as tainted following on from the Wiggins TUEs and now the Froome saga. If Thomas was riding for any other team and had the same results, people would cheer him on instead of booing him.

exactly, no british riders from any other team are getting any flak from the crowds.

brocbrocach

Ah lads, Astana make their merry way around Europe with no one bothering them ffs.
It'd be less if Sky was British and if their rotten style wasn't strangling races.

1bryan

brocbrocach wrote: »

Ah lads, Astana make their merry way around Europe with no one bothering them ffs.
It'd be less if Sky was British and if their rotten style wasn't strangling races.

personally I can't stand Astana. But they don't go mouthing off the way Sky do. That's what get people's goat up. It's why they don't mind Contador but can't stand Lance or Froome. If Sky kept their gobs shut they'd do themselves a lot of favours.

joseywhales

brocbrocach wrote: »

equivariant wrote: »

You couldn't make it up. I reckon they must be having meetings on how to troll French cycling fans even more You can imagine them coming up with this stuff "Let's punch one of their riders and then blame it on their culture .... tomorrow we can all wear "cheese eating surrender monkey" t-shirts and insult their wine"

Anyway, at least the race has been quite good this year. 5 stages (of racing) left and there are 3 riders with a real chance of winning. I think if Dumoulin can somehow get 30 seconds back on Thomas before the TT he can win. Its hard to see how Froome wins from this position though.

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

You are right, they should all be booed

brocbrocach

joseywhales wrote: »

You are right, they should all be booed

They're all lovely girls.

equivariant

Thomas now the bookies favourite (at least on Paddy Power).

CramCycle

brocbrocach wrote: »

He's had his riders and staff spat at and jostled for a fortnight to be fair to him. It probably will backfire but it must feel good to land a punch back. Contador and Valverde, to name but two of the confirmed positives, have raced through France and had very little hassle in comparison. There's very few saints in that peloton and the public should know that. There's probably a grain of truth in what he says.

harringtonp wrote: »

Wouldn't be a fan of Brailsford but agree with you here. No point saying the fans are cute and great with all this going on. May as well spell it out, I can't see what he has got to loose. It would be good to see some of the French riders come out and say they don't like it too... in a way that isn't giving sky a carte blanche of course. Put it this way, is GT any more guilty of anything than other riders in the peloton.

mloc123 wrote: »

He rides for Sky...

I think it is as simple as that. The fans see the entire team as tainted following on from the Wiggins TUEs and now the Froome saga. If Thomas was riding for any other team and had the same results, people would cheer him on instead of booing him.

The thing is, it is not an anti British thing, it is a simple fact that unlike all the other unclean teams in the peloton, they went above and beyond to hide it. Most teams cry unfairness or its not true but barely, they generally accept the ban/fine and move on. Sky have not only made a point of their holier than though attitude towards performance improvement but time and time again they are caught out and they cannot stop lying.

It shows the fans that if you have enough cash, you can buy your way out of anything, which is the issue of the Lance era as well. It is not fair on the riders who cannot buy their way out, its not fair on the fans, and god, it is awful to watch.

This said, I don't agree with the physical abuse in any way (although it has been minor and certainly no worse than any other years despite what the British media would have you believe). Turn your backs, boo, this is respectful and peaceful protest, anything else is inexcusable.

Brailsford is a snake oil salesman who has been caught out one too many times, he is also, just like Sutton, a bigot and a nasty bit of work as it happens. I feel bad for the riders, they, for the most part, are no different than riders from other teams, rider has gotten to put food on the table.

1bryan

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

I don't understand this part, can you explain it?

well he called Dan Martin, British, before the 2014 tour, so there's that.

Macy0161

brocbrocach wrote: »

It'd be less if Sky was British and if their rotten style wasn't strangling races.

Sky from the get go said they were ethically different, wouldn't employ "cycling" doctors, zero tolerance etc etc. They said they wouldn't join the MPCC (for whatever that is really worth) due to sky having higher ethical standards, when they clearly weren't when it came to corticosteriods. They set themselves a higher bar, and it's their own stated standards they're being held too.

Having said that, I do think it's harsh on Thomas (including in threads on here). There's not really any smoke, he's been making pretty steady progress over the last number of years. He's being compared to the Froome transformation which is total nonsense - Thomas has been in demand as a GC leader for other teams the last number of years, has shown in week long stage races. Froome before that vuelta had shown nothing in any races, was being let go by sky with no offers on the table. It's not a like for like comparison imo.

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

The fans see the entire team as tainted following on from the Wiggins TUEs and now the Froome saga.

The negative roadside stuff began way before the TUE thing came out.

Tour de France 2015: Chris Froome 'appalled' by spitting claim
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/33659893

Compare to UKAD investigation timeline, which doesn't start until late 2016.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/timeline-of-ukad-investigation-into-team-sky-and-british-cycling/

Was there much else before then?

brocbrocach

Macy0161 wrote: »

Sky from the get go said they were ethically different, wouldn't employ "cycling" doctors, zero tolerance etc etc. They said they wouldn't join the MPCC (for whatever that is really worth) due to sky having higher ethical standards, when they clearly weren't when it came to corticosteriods. They set themselves a higher bar, and it's their own stated standards they're being held too.

Ah sure they all have to give that party line. Wasn't Lance the cancer jesus before he messed it up. Barcelona publicise Unicef. Tiger Woods used to do good deeds, presumably in the morning. Usain Bolt is some class of charity fundraiser too.

Cycling fans know the game.

equivariant

brocbrocach wrote: »

Ah sure they all have to give that party line. Wasn't Lance the cancer jesus before he messed it up. Barcelona publicise Unicef. Tiger Woods used to do good deeds, presumably in the morning. Usain Bolt is some class of charity fundraiser too.

Cycling fans know the game.

+1. Loads of teams go on about being "a new type of team, zero tolerance, total transparence, blah, blah, ..". Sunweb ((formerly Giant-Alpecin) did that. I think even Mapei did it back in the 90s (lol). It means nothing. Not saying that Sky is better/worse than anyone else, just that loads of teams spout the whole line about being "super clean/transparent".

equivariant

double post