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The Pro Cycling Thread (Part 2)


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Old 23-07-2015, 16:02
cmq2
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Jakob Fuglsang is today's unlucky man.

In the lead group but then is involved in an accident with a motorbike.

Thankfully ok.
It looked like the camera bike that nearly took out Hesjedal a few seconds earlier: https://twitter.com/Romain_Tmb77/sta...788544/video/1
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Old 23-07-2015, 16:48
Mark F
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Guess at least it wasn't Chris Froome - that might have caused a stir or two!

French win then as Bardet makes up for losing a great chance to win the other day.
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Old 23-07-2015, 17:16
cmq2
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The GC contenders would probably sit up and wait if the bike took out the yellow jersey. Fuglsang is calling it a scandal. He lost the opportunity to follow Bardet. Better video: https://twitter.com/TV2SPORTdk/statu...108096/video/1

The ITV pundits were struggling to say that, without an exceptional loss of form, the GC race is anything other than a Norwegian Blue. Though, if any of the top half dozen are on their last legs they will not be able to bluff tomorrow or Saturday. They will be FOUND OUT! as Carlton oft tells us.

Mark Renshaw withdrew early in today's stage leaving Cavendish without his final lead-out on Sunday's last stage.
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Old 23-07-2015, 20:43
grassmarket
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It looked like the camera bike that nearly took out Hesjedal a few seconds earlier: https://twitter.com/Romain_Tmb77/sta...788544/video/1
Think that guy will down the Labour Exchange tomorrow morning. Great win for the man they are calling Brigitte Bardet. Just as well they didn't go down that hairpin climb though.
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Old 24-07-2015, 08:51
walterwhite
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Good use of On A Ragga Tip on the highlights show on ITV4.
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Old 24-07-2015, 13:33
MR. Macavity
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The GC contenders would probably sit up and wait if the bike took out the yellow jersey. Fuglsang is calling it a scandal. He lost the opportunity to follow Bardet. Better video: https://twitter.com/TV2SPORTdk/statu...108096/video/1

The ITV pundits were struggling to say that, without an exceptional loss of form, the GC race is anything other than a Norwegian Blue. Though, if any of the top half dozen are on their last legs they will not be able to bluff tomorrow or Saturday. They will be FOUND OUT! as Carlton oft tells us.

Mark Renshaw withdrew early in today's stage leaving Cavendish without his final lead-out on Sunday's last stage.
Maybe he won't notice - hopefully he'll use Greipel as his lead out
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Old 24-07-2015, 16:12
Mark F
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Nibali certainly going to be moving up..

Very strong performance.
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Old 24-07-2015, 16:28
cmq2
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Thomas is 13 minutes down on Nibali.
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Old 24-07-2015, 16:48
CBFreak
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This is more stressful then it should be
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Old 24-07-2015, 16:50
cmq2
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Nibali needs 4mins from Valverde to reach the podium
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Old 24-07-2015, 17:02
jcafcw
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It was laughable the way both Eurosport and ITV were over dramatising the Quintana move. He still needs to take another 2:30 tomorrow.

And Froome can basically ignore Valverde and Contador now and just concentrate on Quintana.

Having said that I wouldn't be too disappointed if Quintana won it.
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Old 24-07-2015, 17:10
Mark F
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Think Froome was pretty cross at losing some time so will be out to ensure it doesn't happen again.
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Old 24-07-2015, 17:29
ihatemarmite
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some moron spat at Froome on his way up to the finish.
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Old 24-07-2015, 18:01
Edward_Sloley
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Whatever you make of Nibali doing a Froome on, er, Froome (Wiggins was dropped on today's final climb in 2012), he's achieved something in this Tour - which didn't look likely after his performances earlier in the race.

Quintana is the strongest rider right now, but it may be too late for him to divest Froome of the maillot jaune. That said, tomorrow's stage should be a cracker; the sprinters must be dreading a fourth consecutive stage in the mountains, though!

All the work that Thomas has done has finally caught up with him, but his performances until today have been impressive.
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Old 24-07-2015, 18:16
cmq2
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some moron spat at Froome on his way up to the finish.
Froome says he did not see the spit, The bike camera got a clear image of his face. Hopefully there will be consequences for the spitter.

Nibali said Froome's words to him for attacking during his mechanical were too harsh to repeat,

Quintana would be better guarding Valverde's podium place from Nibali than trying to eliminate a 2:38 deficit on Alpe d'Huez.
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Old 24-07-2015, 18:51
divingbboy
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Nibali said Froome's words to him for attacking during his mechanical were too harsh to repeat,
I don't blame Froomey. At first, my reaction was that it didn't really matter because Nibali is plainly no GC threat. That said, the fact remains that NIBALI thought it mattered that he attack Froome at that point. Froome had an obvious mechanical and Nibali's instant, instinctive reaction was to take advantage and attack. What a prick.
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Old 24-07-2015, 19:44
Playamonte
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I don't blame Froomey. At first, my reaction was that it didn't really matter because Nibali is plainly no GC threat. That said, the fact remains that NIBALI thought it mattered that he attack Froome at that point. Froome had an obvious mechanical and Nibali's instant, instinctive reaction was to take advantage and attack. What a prick.
Excuse my ignorance (really) but why was it bad form ? as this is my first year watching the tour. ............. beats F1 hands down.
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Old 24-07-2015, 19:57
grassmarket
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Excuse my ignorance (really) but why was it bad form ? as this is my first year watching the tour. ............. beats F1 hands down.
It's a convention, you don't attack the leader if he has a mechanical, a puncture or a pee break or during the feeding station etc etc. These things have a way of evening out, revenge will be taken sometime.
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:00
divingbboy
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Excuse my ignorance (really) but why was it bad form ? as this is my first year watching the tour. ............. beats F1 hands down.
In short, it's considered unsportsmanlike to take advantage of your competitor's punctures, mechanical issues, etc by attacking (accelerating and trying to distance yourself), the idea being that you want riders to compete on physical skill rather than luck and misfortune. A famous recent example was in 2012 when saboteurs lined the road with nails and many riders punctured. Bradley Wiggins, who was wearing the yellow jersey at the time, slowed down the pack to allow the affected riders to get new wheels and catch back up before allowing the race to proceed normally.

There's quite a lot of etiquette and unspoken rules in cycling and the Tour de France in particular. The most obvious example of this is the fact that the battle for overall victory actually finishes on the penultimate day of the Tour. No one challenges the rider in the yellow jersey on last day of the Tour. Technically, someone COULD attack the leader of the Tour on the final day and try and win, but the other riders wouldn't let it happen and would do everything to thwart any such efforts.
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:04
John259
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Another famous example: on a major climb Andy Schleck had a problem with his chain. Contador carried on regardless and was heavily criticised for doing so, but to be fair he was in front, exerting maximum effort, and couldn't risk looking behind to see what had happened.
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:07
grassmarket
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I

There's quite a lot of etiquette and unspoken rules in cycling and the Tour de France in particular. T.
One of the reasons Peter Sagan finds it hard to win races over this last couple of years is that he was such an arrogant **** a couple of years ago that no-one wants to do anything for him now.
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:38
swingaleg
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I was flicking between Eurosport and ITV4 today and was on ES at the time of the Nibali attack

Carlton was pretty insistent that Nibali had already started to attack just before Froome had the mechanical........I couldn't really tell to be honest
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:50
Party Animal
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Nibali certainly going to be moving up..

Very strong performance.
Nibali's team car should also get a prize for helping him along with the endless bottles of water that suddenly propel him up the hill 20mph faster than he normally goes up as he gets a super boost by the so called sticky bottle

this getting a helping hand from the team car is all well and good igf they have bike trouble in the Valleys but on the final climbs I think it does the sport a disservice

a few days ago Christoff Peruad had a nasty accident and was 6 minutes behind the Peleton at 57km to go - the commentators on both Eurosport and ITV4 commented it was inpossible for him to get back to the pack when they doing 50kmph - yet by the time the peleton were at 46km he was safely back in the pack and getting praised for his heroic efforts - what a joke he was later fined for his team car pushing him back into the pack

I really can live with cases like his after a crash or breakdown in the Valleys but Nibali today I thought it was obscene getting endless tugs from the team car going up the climbs - and adding to that he saw Froome have a bike problem and attacked immediately which was not nice
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Old 24-07-2015, 20:56
cmq2
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I was flicking between Eurosport and ITV4 today and was on ES at the time of the Nibali attack

Carlton was pretty insistent that Nibali had already started to attack just before Froome had the mechanical........I couldn't really tell to be honest
Reviewing the video, it is quite incriminating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JykTgUoNMN8

Froome drops back and Nibali rides round him as he adjusts the back brake quick release. He then has two good looks back before deciding to accelerate. He also can see Poels stalling and looking back from the front of the group.

Nibali could have legitimately argued he was not attacking the yellow jersey as he was too far back on GC. Or, he could have said he did not know why he was going back. "I did not see him" does not cut the ice.
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Old 24-07-2015, 21:07
swingaleg
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Nibali was ahead of Froome when Froome pulled up ?

But he was looking back and must have seen him pull up

so it does look from the pictures like he took advantage
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