Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[HF2300]

... If they eliminated the podium nonsense, they could still do the rest of the job.

What's more, removing that element of the role would open the position to those who don't fill the current criteria of looks and age but could otherwise be very capable of doing the job. In any case, it's a one-off job for three weeks, not a career with prospects...

It's also the case that the people who do these jobs often do them in a variety of contexts other than the Tour / podium girls, and can have really quite high powered roles in various fields. Many are degree qualified or multilingual. It's unlikely that taking them off the podium would make any difference to their employability or income.

 

[coffeejo]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport...ike-flavour-french-tell-froome-20150727100507

 

[jarlrmai]

The whole podium girls thing has a whiff of Sepp Blatter/FIFA style "the women players should wear short shorts" about it.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Today on BBC Radio 4 did a brief article on the Froome doping innuendo stuff at around 8am this morning. Pierre Sallet and Cookson were interviewed. The link isn't on the web site yet but it should come up here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0638xbb

I'll have to go back and listen to it again as I wasn't awake enough to follow Sallet's English. I got the impression that it was all pretty familiar territory so it'll only be ''for the record'' listening for many.

EDIT: it's up now, feature starts 2:09:55 in.

 

[BrumJim]

I reckon the Wide-Mouthed-Frog joke was based on Greipel.

Richie Porte and Marianne Vos also seem to have unfeasibly large mouths. Does it give them a physiological advantage in getting more air into their lungs?

 

[mjr]

I like Mr Rowe being proud of carrying 15 bottles. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jul/26/luke-rowe-tour-de-france-2015-team-sky

 

[BrumJim]

The stage was rubbish duller than dull. Three weeks of very exciting racing topped off with a non race. Complete waste of time.

Not every sporting contest ends in a nail-biting finish for the champion. In cricket, day 5 of a test match can be seriously dull, as one team finally bats or bowls their way to the inevitable result. F1 can also end in non-races, still keenly contested, but having no bearing on the overall World Champion.

Clearly ASO want a show-piece finish at the centre of France (economically, culturally, politically), and if this means that all except the sprinters are just in it for the ride, then its time to enjoy the experience rather than expecting an edge-of-the-seat event.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I grumbled about Nicole Cooke being forgotten when Wiggins was the "first British winner of the TdF" so I'll have a similar grumble about Froome being the first"British" two time winner and Cooke being similarly forgotten.

 

[400bhp]

You need a sprinters stage at the end otherwise you would have half the riders abandoning-those riders who are sprinters or pure sprint teams.

 

[Incontinentia Buttocks]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXCN1DhHTZA

16 seconds in, my salut to Romain Bardet....

 

[winjim]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXCN1DhHTZA

16 seconds in, my salut to Romain Bardet....

TMN to Eurosport I think!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

But how can this happen? Only a sprinter is ever going to win a sprint stage, and sprinters are never going to be near the top of the GC in a three week race, never ever ... so unless they make the last stage a mountain stage it is never going to be won on the last day. It is always "won" on the day before, like this year, in the Alps ... or, more usually with a time trial which is a really significant show of an individual's strength on the bike.

For the stage win, yes, but if you had, say, 2 or even 3 good all rounders who have been biting away at each other *timewise*throughout the tour, and..... Basically, how close does it really have to be before they throw 'tradition' out the window?
Also, what if something was to happen to the leader on the final stage and you in fact won.... But you didn't because it had been neutralised because of 'tradition'..... I bet you would be just a tad wistful at least.
I can't beleive for a minute that all these super competitive guys just lamely roll over and take it each year because its 'Da roolz'.

Richie Porte and Marianne Vos also seem to have unfeasibly large mouths. Does it give them a physiological advantage in getting more air into their lungs?

That guy on Eurosport who presents along with Greg Lemond.... The last time I saw a mouth like that it had a fish hook in it!

 

[Hont]

Johnny Foreigner's too damned emotional. Nothing wrong with a firm handshake.

Or a good hard matey punch to the shoulder.

 

[Va Va Froome]

I grumbled about Nicole Cooke being forgotten when Wiggins was the "first British winner of the TdF" so I'll have a similar grumble about Froome being the first"British" two time winner and Cooke being similarly forgotten.

Noticed a similar comment on a Guardian article yesterday.

I must confess I was unaware of a women's TdF. Now I know about "The Grand Boucle" - shame it was scrapped. And reading up on it, a shame that The Tour didn't seem to be too welcoming of it.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I hate it when spectators do that to their favourites on those crowded mountaintops, it must really hurt. No other sport allows people to hit the athletes as they go past, even if they do mean it to be encouragement.

Yeah and I bet a 'dead arm' is really welcome too!