Today was what Le Tour is all about. Pogacar took a hell of a beating today but you never know with him. Tomorrow he could leave the others standing.
Nice to see Bardet finding a bit of form. Thomas had a good day too.
It's been a great tour all round so far. G's doing well to say he's so old. Shame young Pidcock slipped back today, but he is young and not used to this Grand Tour lark and I think he has more chance at GT level than his peers WvA and MvdP.
Shame about Bardet doing do well today, have to keep these French suppressed. G should be able to claw some back on the long Time Trial though. Tomorrow could be a repeat of today, up to Alpe d'Huez after going over the Galibier the other way.
I'd love to have a go at one of these Mountain Passes, but I think the walk of shame would be on, biggest climb I've done is 1,200ft and there aren't any higher round here.
Pity ITV4's coverage started after the Lacets de Montvernier. Ho-hum.
Today was what the Tour was all about, a young Brit winning atop Alpe d'Huez on Bastille Day :) Way to pisser sur French frites ;D
And Bardet drops out of the podium places too. That really was some ride from Pidcock, descending at over 100 kmh and we even got old man Froome in third.
I know you don't really mean it Nick, so I won't rise to it.
Joyeux Quatorze Juillet for yesterday!
Quote from: dom on July 15, 2022, 10:06:16 AMI know you don't really mean it Nick, so I won't rise to it.
Joyeux Quatorze Juillet for yesterday!
Arse >:(
And I fully realise that Pidcock's performance will be appreciated more in France than it is in Blighty. The BBC were more interested in the piss poor performance of a superannuated Seppo than a young Brit winning the Queen stage of the TdF
Epic racing in the Pyrenees. We could be seeing a lot more of Vindegaard and Pogacar fighting for top spot over the next decade
The Alpine scenery's the best of France's mountains, but the Pyrenees makes the best racing.
Epic stage today, WvA came close to winning, he could yet win the next three, although all the Quickstep team stayed with Fabio Jakobsen today to keep him in with a chance of winning on the Champs Elysées. I think Cav could well have missed the cut if he'd gone.
Shame young Pidcock's wheels have come off a bit, but he's done well for his first tour.
All over bar the shouting now.
Interesting how in the ITT that the rider of the Tour WvA came first, then the top three on GC followed behind him in order. A fair result overall.
That's that then. No more watching people cycle through a barren wasteland until next summer - unless the Tour de Yorkshire gets resurrected - apart from the fact that I've picked up a Free 8 day GCN+ pass so I can spend the next week watching some chicks cycling through a barren wasteland :)
Even today's stage had some fun though, with Luke Rowe trying to set up a Ganna attack on the last lap, Ganna and Geraint came steaming through to try and Time Trial to the finish only for Pogacar to come steaming by both of them ;D
4th and 7th place finishes for the French with just the one stage win.
Happy enough with that with no Alaphillipe or Guillaume Martin competing.
I thought Cavendish was unfortunate not to be selected but I can see the logic now. It just wasn't a tour for the bunch sprint
Didn't see any of it, will have a look on the BBC sports news.
Quote from: dom on July 25, 2022, 06:56:57 AMI thought Cavendish was unfortunate not to be selected but I can see the logic now. It just wasn't a tour for the bunch sprint
Lot's of people are still moaning about Cav's non selection, but he wouldn't have made it round. Quickstep even abandoned Jakobsen on one Pyrenean stage, and he made the cut by 15 seconds.
Watched the Chick's Tour de France today. No matter how much the female commentators were bigging it up, it wasn't as good as the Men's. Although that could be because today's stage was a pan flat ride through the barren wastelands of France. Maybe the Vosges - that's Germany really - will liven it up at the weekend.
I also found out how the chicks piss at the side of the road.
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on July 25, 2022, 09:53:20 PMI also found out how the chicks piss at the side of the road.
;D
Despite all the bigging up by the Sisterhood and the terminally right-on, I don't think the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is up to the standards of the men. I did enjoy the vineyard tracks in Champagne yesterday - full on barren wasteland - and there have been some good crashes.
Nice to see that Tadej Pogacar's girlfriend is in the race. She seems to spend most of the time at the arrière of the peleton wiggling her pert little derrière at the camera :)
Now, I will freely admit to being a full on misogynist, but I do find all the banners with "BRAVO LES FEMMES" to be a bit patronising. I don't think you'd get away with "WELL DONE WOMEN" banners in the women's Tour of Britain, it's all a bit Mr Cholmondley-Warner