Tour de France 2018 **SPOILERS**

[Crackle]

Slightly cynical!

They commented on it on ITV4 as well.

In the meantime. What does everyone think of the 8 rider teams? Doesn't seemed to have stopped the crashes. A few saying there's a lot less aggressive riding with teams knowing they can't waste riders in a break. I dunno yet, waiting to see what happens in the mountains, it certainly doesn't seem to have encouraged more instinctive riding, with riders thinking there might be less chance of an organised chase but let's see.

 

[mjr]

8 rider teams has made the crashes worse because it means no sprinter has a full train any more so they're often all freelancing which is sketchier, plus a higher percentage of the peloton is now team leaders, so there's slightly more chance of a leader being next to a crash.

 

[BrumJim]

I think that Chris Froome is playing the long game, as per The Giro. He now knows that, with a TT almost at the end, he can afford to go into the last few stages with 4 minutes deficit or more, as he can pull that back in one mountain stage and a TT compared to his rivals, who are less able time triallers, and too cooked for the last mountain stage having fought to gain seconds in the ones immediately before. So he will let GT take the yellow jersey this week, rather than grab it early on and have to defend it every day on Giro-fatigued legs.

Just my theory.

 

[suzeworld]

I think that Chris Froome is playing the long game, as per The Giro. He now knows that, with a TT almost at the end, he can afford to go into the last few stages with 4 minutes deficit or more, as he can pull that back in one mountain stage and a TT compared to his rivals, who are less able time triallers, and too cooked for the last mountain stage having fought to gain seconds in the ones immediately before. So he will let GT take the yellow jersey this week, rather than grab it early on and have to defend it every day on Giro-fatigued legs.

Just my theory.

This is probably right.
Just at a really visceral level my reactions to Froome are so negative, his interviews always make me feel repulsed. I love to cherish a little dream of him coming unstuck and G getting to triumph.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I can understand he's not everyone's cup of tea but 'repulsive', really?

 

[kingrollo]

Not sure what - but think the organisers need to do something to spice up the TDF - The giro to me often seems to produce a better race. Don't really like the cobbled stages as I don't like seeing people fall off bikes which seems to be the idea - In general all the cobbles do is introduce a stage where no one attacks.

 

[suzeworld]

Slightly cynical!

He’s not wrong, though, is he? Bardet kept getting back on after every puncture. He must have been drafting and yeah, usually the filming would have been done at the back, but this time it wasn’t

I feel sorry for Dumoulin.

 

[suzeworld]

Ask Cath Wiggins

And me! Yes I find him repulsive

I know it’s “mad” in the sense that I don’t know him at all - but his face/voice/body on TV interviews literally make me creep inside. Bleugh!
.

 

[suzeworld]

I mostly love them all. I even noticed that watching last night’s summary show I said something warm/enthusiastic about ever fellah they showed. Even whiney voiced Richie Porte evoked some sympathy ... I know!

I support anyone who can beat Froome. If there is anyone!

 

[PK99]

And me! Yes I find him repulsive

I know it’s “mad” in the sense that I don’t know him at all - but his face/voice/body on TV interviews literally make me creep inside. Bleugh!
.

Ummm...if a man said that about a female athlete....

 

[smutchin]

if such an idea were plausible

Hmmmm. It’s a bit like suggesting that Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling should fight it out among themselves to see who can score more goals without any interference from the rest of the team.

 

[smutchin]

I think Geraint Thomas's best chance of overall victory came - and very rapidly went - in 2011. When Wiggo crashed, Geraint waited for him and by the time they worked out that Wiggo couldn't carry on, Thomas had lost too much time to be worth considering as a Plan B.

Coming back to this for a moment, I suspect this hints at the real reason why Thomas is being given his chance. Froome is still team leader, but having already done the Giro it's not clear how well he will cope with the Tour, so Sky are keen to have an insurance policy in place in case Froome blows up.

The next three days should sort out the true pecking order in the team though.

Personally, I have no strong feelings about Froome but I don't think it's good for the sport for one rider to be so dominant, so I'd like to see someone different win it this year. I'd really love that to be Bardet or Uran but I suspect it's more likely to be Nibali.

 

[Crackle]

Definitely Uran for me. I can't think of another rider I'd like to see win it more but I think he might have blown it on that cobbled stage. Nibali is conspicuous by his absence at the front of the race.

Today should show us who's got the legs though.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Not sure what - but think the organisers need to do something to spice up the TDF - The giro to me often seems to produce a better race. Don't really like the cobbled stages as I don't like seeing people fall off bikes which seems to be the idea - In general all the cobbles do is introduce a stage where no one attacks.

The idea of cobbled stage is for people to not fall off; maybe that's where the problem lies in that some riders do think it's the idea

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I'm not a big watcher of cycle racing, I do like to drop in/out of the classics when it's available to watch on terrestrial TV but I do find I can condense 4-6 hours of racing down to 20 minutes. There's far too much waffle in there, but I watched the Roubaix stage the other day & thought it was out of place, would you expect F1 cars to have to do a Rally stage, the motorbikes were throwing up so much dust I'm surprised the riders could even breathe, let alone see where they were going. Far too Mickey Mouse for me, if competitors want to race over that type of terrain then there are specific races, yes the roads were like that 50 years ago, but by the same token you could make the riders ride bikes from 50 years ago for the whole race if that is what they are trying to achieve.