Tour de France

Just watched the Ladies race today. . Exciting finish.

Looking forward to the final stage of the TDF.  Its a great atmosphere in Paris when Le Tour arrives. A few years ago we flew into Paris for the weekend of the last stage. Stood at Tivoli Gardens and had a great view of the race.  Still one of the best cycling spectaculars in the world.

K

Just watched the Ladies race today. . Exciting finish.

Looking forward to the final stage of the TDF.  Its a great atmosphere in Paris when Le Tour arrives. A few years ago we flew into Paris for the weekend of the last stage. Stood at Tivoli Gardens and had a great view of the race.  Still one of the best cycling spectaculars in the world.

K

Write your comments here...Correction -----the gardens are not called Tivoli -- post had timed out so cannot edit.

K

Well, I do agree that ASO won't block his entry in future Tours. They are a commercial organisation, in it for the money, not for the history and tradition.

They regularly make courses more suited to the riders that they're trying to court. They did it in the past, to encourage cycling as a sport in the USA (Andy Hampsen, Greg Lemond and a certain Mr Armstrong). They even contemplated having stages in the US!

Their current target appears to be the UK, with courses designed for Brit contenders (2012 with all its time trialling and lack of mountains, being a good example).

So no, Cav will not be banned because he's a 'good earner' for ASO. But yes, traditionalists will rightly believe that he has disrespected the sport and the event that has made him a millionaire.

Surely this year's course was designed with Quintana in mind, not Froome, with mountain TTs & the back end loaded with high climbs, when Quintana has previously proved that he has it over others!!

Well done Chris Froome......on current form I can see at least another two Tour wins for him.

I don't get all this praise for the Sky team though. I get the feeling that he would have won whichever team he was on. Other than Wouter Poulls, the rest of the team were fairly poor.

In particular, why do ITV4 insist on lavishing praise on Geraint Thomas and interviewing him all the time?

He provides some support one day and then takes a rest day......not what a potential Tour contender can do. He was a protected rider this year and yet he still fell back as soon as they hit the mountains.......exactly as he did in previous Tours.....exactly as he did in the Tour de Suisse, when they gave him leadership of the team. 

He's a run of the mill domestique........and in no stretch of the imagination a 'super domestique' as Ned Boulting refers to him (when not being corrected for the umpteenth time by David Millar).

Froome's performance today was exceptional.......especially after the efforts he's put in so far in the Tour.

I really do hope that he is an exceptional athlete......and that his team are not simply exceptional in other 'activities'.

(I did note that Porte's comeback in one of the mountain stages last year, after he had been blown out once, was rather unbelievable. He was with Sky then).

Assuming everything is bona fide.......well done Chris. The Tour is yours for the taking.

Why is that it you keep inferring that certain cyclist are still using prohibited substances? You have no more idea that they are or are not than you have that those such as Merckx, Indurain & Hinault won their GT races while taking or not taking similar substances.

Trolling Nellie, that's all it is, trying to nudge others into disharmony, instead of celebrating a great win for Team Sky, Chris Froome and others who have done well this year. Few aspects of the Tour seem to have pleased one or two who post on here, from the winner down to the commentators. Personally, I think it has been a good Tour, different, full of incidents, dominated by team tactics, some great sprinting, some good breakaway wins. At first I missed Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, but aside from Ned getting a touch over excited in places, I think they will develop into a good team. David Miller provides some very good insights into team riding and tactics, and is working hard to find out more about some of the fabulous locations. Bring it on I say!

Well done to Andre Greipel for his spectacular stage win yesterday. Excellent tactics.

Well done to Froome for winning Le Tour. -----The Sky team carried out their job of making it easy for Froome to cycle along without having to challenge anybody on a one to one basis for the whole tour. Which, to their credit is what they were told to do. Good tactics, although makes for a dull and boring tour for cycling fans.

I do hope that there are no instances of cheating found  when the rider's samples have been analysed.

Looking forward to next year's tour already. ----There was a lot of good up and coming stars of the future riding in this years tour.  

 Might also get a better commentary team, as this year they were lacking.

K 

I see that Quintana is giving the olympics a miss......apparantly he has an allergy, or something.

(Allergic to wasting his time on third rate competitions, perhaps? )

And so......the final results were - 

1st - Chris Froome - Goldie

2nd - Romain Bardet - Take the Dog Along

3rd - Nairo Quintana - IanH

4th - Adam Yates - nobody!

5th - Richie Porte - SteveL

13th - Fabio Aru - Runrig

23rd - Warren Barguil - Nellie the Hooker

29th - Tejay van Garderen - HughR

166th - Marcel Kittel - Pliers (but 2nd in the Green Jersey)

DNF - Alberto Contador - Kennine

So, a few surprises, a few disappointments. Great to see a Frenchman on the podium (Bardet), disappointed that Warren Barguil didn't do a bit better and that Thibault Pinot wasn't able to finish the race.

Major disappointment that Contador had to retire so early after his big fall early on.....he would probably have livened the race up. Speaking of which, the lack of attacks in the mountains was very disappointing. Quintana reckons he had some sort of allergy that was affecting his strength - it certainly showed.

Adam Yates was a surprise and has the added benefit of coming across as a good bloke. It would be interesting to have seen him race with his brother (inhaler exemptions permitting, of course!)

And what would have happened if Richie Porte hadn't punctured early on? My view is that he isn't a Tour winner, but we will never know of course.

So well done to Chris Froome - he certainly deserved to win as he was by far the strongest rider. 

And so now looking forward to the Vuelte - see the separate thread - get your bets in early! 

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