TdeF 2018, July 25, Stage 17: Bagnères-de-Luchon > Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet

equivariant

Inquitus wrote: »

Can this stage rescue a desperate Tour?

"desperate"????

Its been really good. How many tours have had 3 riders with a real chance of winning by stage 17? There have been several good stages - Roubaix, Alpe d'Huez, ..., probably going to have a new winner, and we have at least 3 stages left that could shake up the GC

Probably the best Tour in the last 6 or 7 years and it has potential to be an all-time great Tour if the next few stages go well.

Hurrache

There may be 3 riders within reach of the top of the podium, but the reality is that there's no real race to see who gets there first, it's a procession really.

equivariant

Hurrache wrote: »

There may be 3 riders within reach of the top of the podium, but the reality is that there's no real race to see who gets there first, it's a procession really.

I don't believe that at all. Dumoulin is almost certainly going to take substantial time in the TT. If he can get 20/30 seconds back on Thomas in the mountains he has a real chance. Also Thomas is the most inexperienced of the 3 riders in terms of winning a GT. If Froome was in yellow with 1' 50 on Dumoulin then I might agree (even still..) but I still think that Dumoulin has a chance here.
If Thomas cracks (I hope he doesn't) and Froome has 11s on Dumoulin going into the TT then Dumoulin will win.

dastardly00

equivariant wrote: »

I don't believe that at all. Dumoulin is almost certainly going to take substantial time in the TT. If he can get 20/30 seconds back on Thomas in the mountains he has a real chance. Also Thomas is the most inexperienced of the 3 riders in terms of winning a GT. If Froome was in yellow with 1' 50 on Dumoulin then I might agree (even still..) but I still think that Dumoulin has a chance here.
If Thomas cracks (I hope he doesn't) and Froome has 11s on Dumoulin going into the TT then Dumoulin will win.

Regarding Froome v Dumoulin...
Dumoulin only gained 13 seconds on Froome during the 34 km ITT in the last week of the Giro this year.

There are no guarantees that Dumoulin would overcome the current 11 second deficit in the ITT.

check_six

check_six wrote: »

When you see a stage like this you've got to wonder: What would Contador do?

It would definitely be interesting whatever it was.

He would eat a big steak for breakfast and then go solo for the entire stage and win

Lusk_Doyle

dastardly00 wrote: »

Regarding Froome v Dumoulin...
Dumoulin only gained 13 seconds on Froome during the 34 km ITT in the last week of the Giro this year.

There are no guarantees that Dumoulin would overcome the current 11 second deficit in the ITT.

You've used a 13 second winning margin to argue against overcoming an 11 second deficit.

equivariant

dastardly00 wrote: »

Regarding Froome v Dumoulin...
Dumoulin only gained 13 seconds on Froome during the 34 km ITT in the last week of the Giro this year.

There are no guarantees that Dumoulin would overcome the current 11 second deficit in the ITT.

definitely no guarantees, but I would make Dumoulin a strong favourite over Froome-11s. I think TD has looked very strong in this race - moreso than the Giro.

dastardly00

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

You've used a 13 second winning margin to argue against overcoming an 11 second deficit.

Yeah I know.

I think it gives an illustration that there is very little between the two riders during an ITT towards the end of a GT.

MPFGLB

I agree the positions are interesting and the lack of certainty of who will win ....mostly the difference between the top 3 were achieved in the first or 5th stage

But the cycling has been very controlled

SKY controlled ...so not very exciting

Even the breaks with the exception of one or 2 have been inevitable when you see who is there

equivariant

MPFGLB wrote: »

I agree the positions are interesting and the lack of certainty of who will win ....mostly the difference between the top 3 were achieved in the first or 5th stage

But the cycling has been very controlled

SKY controlled ...so not very exciting

Even the breaks with the exception of one or 2 have been inevitable when you see who is there

I agree that Sky controlled the GC on most of the Alpine stages, but we always expected Sky to be strong in the mountains - we have yet to see if they will pay for that effort in the Pyrenees

Also the stages have had lots of good racing - Alaphillipe has had 2 really good stage wins and the Alpe d'Huez stage was a classic I think, even if the GC gaps for the top 3 were small there was a lot of attacking and counter attacking on the climb and I think that was the stage where Thomas really established himself as the main main for Sky. Also I think
that this tour has finally shown that Quintana is not good enough at the highest level. When the pressure came on he wasn't able to stay with the best climbers.

eagle eye

Imo this has been a great tour so far and today's stage has the potential to shake up the whole GC battle.
I think Dumoulin has looked really strong as has Thomas.
Thomas keeps tracking Dumoulin and has taken time out of him by doing that. If I'm honest I expect more of that today at the front of the race with Thomas taking the stage for more bonus seconds.
Realistically anything could happen today. This is a short cruel stage and it's possible that if somebody was on fire today that they could take up to five minutes out of the rest.

Lumen

Grid system, wut?

I don't like change. STOP HAVING IDEAS.

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

Grid system, wut?

I don't like change. STOP HAVING IDEAS.

A LeMans running start would be good... maybe a 3km run to start... and maybe tag one on the end also the break up the finishing groups.. say 5km off the bike.

Chips Lovell

Leave their bikes in a massive pile at the start line. Everyone has to run 100m to the pile, pull their bike out and get going.

Hurrache

mloc123 wrote: »

A LeMans running start would be good... maybe a 3km run to start... and maybe tag one on the end also the break up the finishing groups.. say 5km off the bike.

Aren't they call duathlons?

mloc123

Hurrache wrote: »

Aren't they call duathlons?

Should I have included a troll face in my post

Lumen

It's like a cycling race format phoned in by someone who has never seen a cycling race.

This is a sport where the participants pee together out of courtesy.

Hurrache

mloc123 wrote: »

Should I have included a troll face in my post

I knew what you were at, I was trying to play ball :pac:

Chips Lovell

Lumen wrote: »

It's like a cycling race format phoned in by someone who has never seen a cycling race.

Is Carlton Kirby a consultant for ASO now or something?

mloc123

Hurrache wrote: »

I knew what you were at, I was trying to play ball :pac:

damn.. :pac:

Froome had already set a precedent here, covering part of that stage on foot... I still laugh when I think about it

dastardly00

Eurosport need to do some sort of grid walk with Juan Antonio Flecha à la Martin Brundle on Sky for the F1 :pac:

fat bloke

I wonder if the lad at the back feels a bit of a t1t today

neris

Where's the grid girls??? Surely the riders could do with a young 1 holding a umbrella to shade em

Soulsun

Who will win this stage!!!!?

Eamonnator

5

Eamonnator

4

Eamonnator

3

Eamonnator

.......

Mint Sauce

This is quite bizzare!

De Bhál

Soulsun wrote: »

Who will win this stage!!!!?

I predict Froome by 20secs