Tour de France

Yet another stage in which boring Sky led the way. Same old, same old, what!!

And another Brit wins a stage and pulls on the Yellow Jersey. Great ride by Chris Froome, who really fooled them all on this stage. BMC seems to be having problems about who their leading GC contender is. Surely it should have been Richie Porte who sacrificed himself to try and catch CF and benefit TJV.

Write your comments here...Sorry NTH - Froome is not British. 

He is a good competitor though and I was delighted to see at least one of the Sky riders break away from the boring formation they have persisted in since the start of the tour----- Well done Froome !!!

As an retired time trialist, I like the time trial stages. It is probably the purest competition to assess the abilities of  individual riders

K 

A great win by today on a mountain stage by a time trialist, K. Tom Dumoulin rode a well planned race, and could well be a GC contender in the future.

Froome & Henao did the same again today as they did yesterday, only it was at the head of the peleton and not at the front of the field. Wonder why Quintana did not tried to gain a few seconds on the Yellow jersey. Perhaps he & his Movistar team are letting Sky do all the riding down of the breakaways, and will try and grab a bit of time when the race gets to the Alps.

Porte showed Teejay how to do it today. He's looking more like a winner than his team leader is at the moment.

Well I hope Quintana has a plan for the Alps. I have to say though, at the moment he looks too much like 'the nice guy' and that he doesn't have what it takes. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Porte has about as much chance of winning as I have......none.

Some of the top riders will be at the olympics because their sponsor hs insisted on it. As a cycling event, the olympic road race is 4th division stuff. Track cycling is amateur league and for those who cannot make it in proper cycling.

If 'living in the past' is wanting cycling to be more exciting and dynamic, rather than a bunch of riders following whatever their team's computer has decreed and all sticking together in a bunch, to decide the race on a time trial.......then bring on the past! 

And at least Froome does ride more as an 'old style' cyclist and he will go on a break. The Sky computer probably exploded when he went yesterday 

Anyway.....yes, it was a great race for the Kenyan, Froome.

I don't know why BMC would have any confusion about their leader, clearly it should be Teejay.  Porte is fine for the odd stage as a domestique, but he's no team leader and no Tour winner.

I seem to remember that it was on a mountain stage last year that Froome gained his time over the rest of the field, and not in a time trial.

In your idale world we would have to go back to the time when there were only about 6 countries that bothered riding on the tour. Road cycling is now a world wide sport and one of the ways to spread it's popularity is to showcase it at the Olympics. All team managers realise this and so are willing to release their riders to participate for their respective countries. Tom Dumoulin has stated that he has been targetting the Olympic time trial all season, and Niboli the same for the road race. So not really a 4th grade event.

Some of the top riders will be at the olympics because their sponsor hs insisted on it. As a cycling event, the olympic road race is 4th division stuff. Track cycling is amateur league and for those who cannot make it in proper cycling.

Ian, with the greatest respect, come on? I can not imagine there will be many elite athletes being so up their own rears, not want an Olympic medal on their palmares.
It might not match a TdF jersey, but will be up there alongside a rainbow or individual classic.
Of course Cav & Demoulin want Olympic medals.

Once Sagan has an unsurpassable lead in the points competition, the only reason Cav would stay in the TdF would be for a win on the Champs-Elysee. But he has a few of those already, he does not have an Olympic medal. If he thinks murdering himself over the alps will damage that chance he will retire before Ventoux.

And a few die-hards will think that dissrespectful, so what?

Not half as dissrespectfull as suggesting track specialists could not make it in "proper" cycling.

Sorry Ian 

Anyway, bring on both TdF and Olympic road races.

I am not at all suprised at Quintana's tactics.
It is clear Movistar are not as strong as Sky, and would struggle to defend Nairo if he did attack now and take Yellow.
No, better to stay on Froomes wheel, hope Sky wear themselves out defending Froome and countering every move. Stay in touch and attack on the last or penultimate stage in the Alps.

In the days when professional cyclists had to earn a living, they would enter criterium races in towns. These were 'show' events where the cycling fans could see their heros in action.

The riders would decide in advance who was going to win - often a local rider or a big star of the time. After all, there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.

Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).

And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.

 there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.

Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).

And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.

Eh?

Can you imagine the conversation between Peter Sagan and Greg Vam Avermaet as they approach the finish line in Rio.

"Go on Greg, off you go. You take gold, I am saving myself for Fleche Wallonne next year"

Somehow, I don't think so.

In the days when professional cyclists had to earn a living, they would enter criterium races in towns. These were 'show' events where the cycling fans could see their heros in action.

The riders would decide in advance who was going to win - often a local rider or a big star of the time. After all, there was no point killing yourself for an unimportant event.

Same thing undoubtably happens today, in secondary events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Yorkshire (and many others across Europe).

And I dare say also in an unimportant event like the olympics.

Yawn!!!!

Just read several 100 books about cycling history and then try to comment.

On a separate point......Chris Froome giving a left hook to an idiotic guy running at the side of him.......excellent!