Paris - Nice 2016 **spoilers**

[Crackle]

Cracking article on Geraint Thomas in Wales Online. I particularly like the last bit.

In the Tour summer, he was knocked off his bike on a high-speed descent, smashed his head into a telegraph pole and fell down a ravine. Instead of quitting, he climbed back on his bike and rode the rest of the stage as hard as he could in an attempt to limit his losses.

Think of that when you next see a footballer rolling around "injured" on the floor.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...homas-deserves-11035807#ICID=sharebar_twitter

 

[400bhp]

It's hard not admire the way Dirty Bertie rides,

Completely. I cannot imagine a scenario where Sky would attack off the front with 50k to go.

And if you watch him on the Col D'Eze it was like watching a conductor of an orchestra. He was running the show. I would imagine he would be very pleased with that performance.

In my view Froome is the best rider in the world but Contador is the best cyclist.

 

[oldroadman]

Completely. I cannot imagine a scenario where Sky would attack off the front with 50k to go.

And if you watch him on the Col D'Eze it was like watching a conductor of an orchestra. He was running the show. I would imagine he would be very pleased with that performance.

In my view Froome is the best rider in the world but Contador is the best cyclist.

Explain???
For example, best stage race rider - neither feature much in the classics.

 

[User169]

From Inner Ring:

"But as he [Contador] thinks of July there might be the nagging feeling that he couldn’t beat Chris Froome’s domestique."

Ouch!

 

[rich p]

I'm not suggesting anything nefarious at all but I like the GC riders to show their faces and compete in the early season. Wiggins did and won everything in THAT year, as did Froome before his first win. Bertie, Nibali and Valverde are all racers and love to compete.
I don't approve (ha!) of Froome's strategy this year. Training in SA, Teide etc - it smacks of the way Armstrong used to target the TdF to the exclusion of all else and diminshes the sport in some small way. In my humble etceteras...

 

[Crackle]

I don't approve (ha!) of Froome's strategy this year. Training in SA, Teide etc - it smacks of the way Armstrong used to target the TdF to the exclusion of all else and diminshes the sport in some small way. In my humble etceteras...

It's hard not to draw parallels but Froome is more of a specialist GC rider and I don't know the reasons for him staying at home this year but I guess the birth of his daughter might well have influenced him plus Sky needing to satisfy the needs of a strong squad of talent?

 

[rich p]

But some of the specialist GC riders train by doing shorter stage races. Froome is different particularly this year although you may well be right about his child.

I don't know the reasons for him staying at home this year

Home? Is it Monaco, South Africa or Tenerife?
I wonder where he stays when he pops over to the UK?
Premier Inn, Manchester?

 

[smutchin]

I like the GC riders to show their faces and compete in the early season. Wiggins did and won everything in THAT year

Wiggo's early season programme in 2012 was as follows:
Volta ao Algarve (finished 3rd)
Paris-Nice (won)
Volta a Catalunya (DNF)
Tour de Romandie (won)
Criterium du Dauphiné (won)

This is Froome's schedule for this year leading up to the Tour:
Herald Sun Tour (won easily)
Volta a Catalunya
Tour de Romandie
Criterium du Dauphiné

So really the only difference is that they chose a different race to start their season, and Froome skipped Paris-Nice, which he has publicly admitted is because he doesn't like the cold and wet. Neither Wiggins nor Froome have ever been ones for showing their faces at the Spring Classics. Froome will be facing quite a few of his main rivals at Catalunya - including Quintana, who hasn't exactly been putting his face about much this year.

I suppose that if you go back before Lance, most of the big names would ride all the GTs, and Lance is largely responsible for changing that, but these days, Froome and Wiggins are by no means alone in targetting the Tour and skipping the Giro. Chapeau to Bertie for attempting both last year but we all saw how that turned out.

 

[rich p]

Wiggo's early season programme in 2012 was as follows:
Volta ao Algarve (finished 3rd)
Paris-Nice (won)
Volta a Catalunya (DNF)
Tour de Romandie (won)
Criterium du Dauphiné (won)

This is Froome's schedule for this year leading up to the Tour:
Herald Sun Tour (won easily)
Volta a Catalunya
Tour de Romandie
Criterium du Dauphiné

So really the only difference is that they chose a different race to start their season, and Froome skipped Paris-Nice, which he has publicly admitted is because he doesn't like the cold and wet. Neither Wiggins nor Froome have ever been ones for showing their faces at the Spring Classics. Froome will be facing quite a few of his main rivals at Catalunya - including Quintana, who hasn't exactly been putting his face about much this year.

I suppose that if you go back before Lance, most of the big names would ride all the GTs, and Lance is largely responsible for changing that, but these days, Froome and Wiggins are by no means alone in targetting the Tour and skipping the Giro. Chapeau to Bertie for attempting both last year but we all saw how that turned out.

Oh, píss off, Smutch, with yer facts and figures.
Whatever happened to gut feeling?
I don't really count the Sun Tour tho!
I almost included Quintana in my original post as being awol but I concede you have a point. I suppose it also depends on what the GCers' programmes are from now on too - I exclude the Giro from a race that any TdF hopeful would ride.

 

[themosquitoking]

Last year quite a few of them went to the Vuelta, that might start becoming a thing now.

 

[Crackle]

The Volta a Catalunya is looking quite tasty this year

 

[400bhp]

Explain???
For example, best stage race rider - neither feature much in the classics.

Froome - best ability for the GT's. Contador, best tactical nouse.

Perhaps Nibali is better than both as he does have a go at one dayers and does reasonably well. Perhaps to his GT detriment though?

 

[400bhp]

Wiggo's early season programme in 2012 was as follows:
Volta ao Algarve (finished 3rd)
Paris-Nice (won)
Volta a Catalunya (DNF)
Tour de Romandie (won)
Criterium du Dauphiné (won)

This is Froome's schedule for this year leading up to the Tour:
Herald Sun Tour (won easily)
Volta a Catalunya
Tour de Romandie
Criterium du Dauphiné

So really the only difference is that they chose a different race to start their season, and Froome skipped Paris-Nice, which he has publicly admitted is because he doesn't like the cold and wet. Neither Wiggins nor Froome have ever been ones for showing their faces at the Spring Classics. Froome will be facing quite a few of his main rivals at Catalunya - including Quintana, who hasn't exactly been putting his face about much this year.

I suppose that if you go back before Lance, most of the big names would ride all the GTs, and Lance is largely responsible for changing that, but these days, Froome and Wiggins are by no means alone in targetting the Tour and skipping the Giro. Chapeau to Bertie for attempting both last year but we all saw how that turned out.

Perhaps Quintana is the best example of someone who stays away and concentrates on the GT. It's well known he likes to stay close to his home in Colombia.

 

[Asa Post]

Which seems to say what @Hont explains ("According to article 2.6.015, in case of equality of individual GC times, the fractions of a second recorded from the prologue will be reincorporated in the total time to separate the racers ..."), except I don't recognise "ex aequo" as French.

"ex aequo" is Latin, meaning "equally".​

Not that I'm OCD or anything , but I had to check the UCI regulations to try to satisfy myself that I understood how the rule works. I've slightly re-ordered the relevant rules so the flow makes more sense:​

STAGE RACES
2.6.001 Stage races shall be run over a minimum of two days with a general time classification. They shall be run in road race stages and time trial stages.

ONE-DAY RACES
2.3.041 All times recorded by the timekeeper-commissaires shall be rounded down to the nearest second.

INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIALS
2.4.015 Finishing times shall be taken to the nearest one-tenth of a second at least.

STAGE RACES
2.6.015 Where two or more riders make the same time in the general individual time placings, the fractions of a second registered during individual time trials (including the prologue) shall be added back into the total time to decide the order. If the result is still tied or if there are no individual time trial stages the placings obtained in each stage, except team time trial stages, shall be added and, as a last resort, the place obtained in the last stage ridden shall be taken into consideration.

Which (I now think) means what @Hont said.

As an example:
A rides the ITT in 56:25.78 while B takes 57:06.03.
The times are rounded down to 56:25 and 57:06, and at the end of the race A and B are equal on overall time of (say) 27:12:45 for the GC.
But A has had .78 of a second shaved off his time, and B has had only .03 of a second taken off his. A has benefited to a greater degree from the rounding down of times.
Remove that rounding, and A finishes in 27:12:45.78 and B finishes in 27:12:45.03.
B wins the GC.

Sorry @Crackle .​

 

[Slaav]

Have you not got that round the wrong way? Or am I being dumb (a regular trait) ?

Fractions added back in not rounded down.... So a more accurate outcome surely?




Hang on, I think we agree on this? After reading it again?