They went down it in 64

My mistake, so they did.

Theres been that many climbs in the Tour to consider its impossible to know them all or how many times they have been used

True, but the Alpe is one of the more memorable ones!

Agreed it is but I have friends who have completed in the Tour from as far back as the fifties through to this years Tour so maybe I have a unfair advantage

Maybe I just look at it all with too much innocence, but to me the easiest story to believe is the one where Brailsford and co masterminded success at British Cycling on the track by revolutionising training regimes, by focusing on technology, by thinking outside of the box compared to what had been done before, using experts from outside of cycling who weren't engrained in what had always been done. In ten years of incredible success on the track there hasn't been even the slightest whiff of doping, not one iota of suspicion.

This successful approach has then been used and adapted for the road. Again novel techniques have been employed but essentially the same approach (because Sky is essentially British Cycling). And by jove, we have success in time. Meanwhile Chris Froome recovers from a parasitic disease which depletes his red blood cell count, undetected for years, and sees his performance improve dramatically.

It all just fits together, makes perfect sense to me. Nothing fishy, not even the smallest doping story over the decade in question, where hundreds of cyclists will have gone through the system. Surely one would have taken the jackpot of a doping exclusive with the papers?

But obviously Sky and Froome are taking a wonder drug (which British Cycling must have kept secret for 10 years), and are in league with the UCI, and most likely WADA as well.

Well the last paragraph is the one that seems nonsense to me.

I really don't get that?

After the PR debacle and mauling they took over the whole Armstrong thing, why would they without pausing for breath merrily leap into doing exactly the same thing again - but more so? Also, why Sky exactly? What does/did a new team from a traditionally not very cycling-centric country have to offer?

I'm starting to feel like a Monty Python sketch ... my 2 main questions are

If not Froome to win, then who is the clean cyclist that can beat him to back?

Why pick Sky to whitewash?

Anyway, looking forward to the time trial today. Hope for some good rides and close results ... although I suppose a steady ride from Froome will be because he has been told to reign it in, and hence proof of dodgy dealings - and if he has a good ride then it will be because he can't reign it in and hence proof of dodgy dealings ...

Am jealous.
That is all.

What I like about the sport is that on the whole even world and Olympic champions are happy to help guide and advise other riders , we all share a bond thats not found in a lot of other sports

Given that Pat McQuaid has shown a long standing animosity towards British Cycling any reasonable analysis would expect Team Sky to be the last people the UCI would want to "help".

There is no real mystery to Sky's success. Continental cycling teams STILL don't do extensive out of competition training. Sky do. Continental teams STILL don't do extensive scientific monitoring and testing. Sky do. Continental cycling bodies don't search the entire country to bring those people with the best natural advantages into the sport. British Cycling do.

You only have to look at how Pierre Rolland was forced by Europcar to appear at the French Nationals to see the entire difference between approaches in a nutshell.

Yes, that's it totally.

Many years ago used to ride at Manchester and more than once shared the space when Team GB were training. They always had time - especially for the youngsters. It's probably why I feel a bit protective of Brad and Cav and I only exchanged an 'how do' with them at most!

Ned Boulting has just tweeted that Chris Froome will be changing bikes once he gets to the top of the final climb! Presumably, he's going to start off with a road bike and then switch to a TT bike.

Quite a few riders are doing that. Tony Martin's apparently going to change his bike at every time check!

Contador's not changing bikes.


Apparently Jean Christophe Peraud, who was 9th overall and the best Frenchman in the race, cracked his collarbone in a crash while scouting the TT course this morning, so he may be out of the Tour.

ETA: Never mind, he is starting the TT. How on earth he's going to get up Alpe d'Huez twice tomorrow is another thing entirely though...

Over at the clinic they're speculating that he might be changing to a motor bike..............

Yahoo commentary is ridiculous - saying Geraint Thomas's ride wasn't good because he came in 5th at the time, 1 min 43 down - but conveniently ignoring the obvious probability that Team Sky (apart from Froome) have been told to take it easy and conserve as much energy as possible for Alpe d'Huez tomorrow, as most of them aren't even in the top 100 on GC so a time trial is completely irrelevant to them Indeed, Ian Stannard took over an hour to complete the course!

They should just re-name that thread 'We hate Froome and Sky, and we totally refuse to hear the other side of the argument... Cheat cheat cheat... PS We think Brailsford is evil.'

Anyway...

Looking at the weather radar 'thingy' on Google Earth. Currently it's clear dry weather at the start and finish of today's stage (24c)

But there are storms to the north and south east.

Porte said as much yesterday, they were going to soft pedal today apart from Chris.

I HATE that lot, I really do. The anti-Sky sentiment on that site as a whole is pretty bad, but the clinic truly is a haven for tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy loons,

Froome's treatment for bilharzia is the latest one to join the list of the 'Froome is a cheating bastard.'

No wonder Brailsford doesn't want to release any data... An 'expert' over there will post a load of gibberish, and the rest of them will all agree that Froome is cheating no matter what.

WADA need to take up Brailsford offer and look at the data and bloods and publish their findings... Get Kimmage involved aswell.

Let's put an end to this tedious whispering game.

Looks like Veelers might get dumped from the Tour based on his TT time.

They'll be reccying the course as well for Chris - when to change gear, road furniture, when to accelerate - all that sort of stuff.

His ride will be him and an accumulation of knowledge.

Isn't David Walsh following Sky at the minute? Surely, he's the best gamekeeper you could ask for at the minute? Can't see him wanting to lose a reputation 10 very long years in the making just to whitewash Sky.

Well at the clinc.. They say because he is employed by News international, and they sponsor Team Sky.

Well you can guess the rest......:yawn:

Not necessarily - cut-off time for an ITT is within 25% of the winner's time. Veelers will only be eliminated if the winner clocks 49 minutes 36 seconds or quicker, which is over 4 minutes faster than the current leading time. That's a lot of time to gain in just over 30km, even for the likes of Chris Froome...

And even if he is capable of it, Froome probably won't go much faster than that - he can't risk eliminating Stannard (who clocked 61 minutes) as he'll need him in the next few days to do the early pacemaking so Kennaugh and Porte don't have to do the work too soon.

ETA: Plus Froome won't want to overcook it and crash, and it might rain later in the afternoon, which could slow down the leaders.

Heavy showers to the S and SW of the course moving slowly NE. 2 hours to Froome, hope it misses but the course is surrounded by rain, the dry area is shrinking.

Jens Voigt making a lot of sense on ITV4 right now about whether to switch bikes: he argues that it's not worth the risk: there are only 8kms left in the stage after the second climb, so you're talking about, maybe, being able to pick up 30 seconds using a TT bike, but then the rules stipulate that you can't have someone standing by the side of the road with a bike. The bike has to be taken off the roof of a car when required. So, the bike switch will take around 20 seconds, even if it goes completely smoothly. Is it really worth it?