Cycling Thread: Bernal wins the TDF

[mse326]

11 hours ago, kempus said:

I hope Sky let Froome go beserk today. Attack half way through the stage again. Put Dumoulin under serious pressure. The worst that can happen is Froome cracks and drops out of the top 3, which I doubt he cares about. Would put every other team under serious pressure and give Thomas an ally up the road of it came to it. I can't see any way Sky lose if they employ that strategy.

I want to see that too, but that could pose team issues. What if he doesn't crack and holds strong. He can easily end up passing Thomas if they aren't careful and the media that would follow that would be insane.

[kempus]

Froome looked spent on today's stage. He lucky he didn't lose more time to other guys. I think he's destined for the 4th spot. Riding 4 GTs in a row has taken it's toll, imo.

It's Thomas' to lose, as it's been for a while. He's been the best rider at the Tour and I will be shocked if he doesn't finish it in the TT tomorrow. However, Dumoulin and Roglic are the top two time trialists in the world, so it will definitely be interesting.

[kempus]

3 hours ago, mse326 said:

But doesn't Dumoulin's form say otherwise. Obviously he isn't winning either, but it isn't because he didn't have the form to win both. Ultimately someone just did a bit better (and this would be much closer if it wasn't for that mechanical costing him over a minute).

Perhaps, but the fact that he's in great form, but was beaten in both (likely) is fairly damning. Froome is clearly spent from his Giro efforts, or the accumulation of 4 GTs in a row. Two GTs in a year is tough. Girl/vuelta is the most doable, imp. With Tour/Vuelta second and Giro/Tour as the hardest double. It takes a superhuman to win two in any year regardless.

[kempus]

Great rides from Dumoulin, Froome and Thomas. Roglic absolutely choked that podium away. It's pretty incredible that Thomas has won the tour. It was pretty much flawless from start to finish for him. Probably couldn't have gone smoother.

I wonder what Sky do with him for the rest of the year and going forwards. I guess he has a crack at the Vuelta, providing he's got it I. Is legs. Froome will presumably sit out the rest of the season. Maybe concentrating on the World ITT. Next season is going to be tough to plan for Sky.

[mse326]

My top 5 winners and losers from the Tour

Winners
1. Geraint Thomas - this should go without saying
2. Egan Bernal - At only 20 he absolutely proved himself a future GT contender and already a very strong domestique for any team. Made himself a ton of money (reportedly a 5 year deal from Sky)
3. Julian Alaphilippe - Dominance in KoM and aggressive all Tour. A couple stage wins as well.
4. Peter Sagan - Winning the green is almost ho hum but it did tie him for the record and he did it in dominating fashion. After the disgraceful (from UCI) disqualification last year it must be all the sweeter
5a. Dan Martin - Showed why he is one of the most loved riders. Good finish overall plus a stage win. A lot of aggressive riding and survived another crash. If anyone else has the never say die attitude like him it may only be the next guy
5b. Lawson Craddock - maybe only on the US broadcast but they have been giving him proper due which is good to see. Nasty crash on stage 1 that broke his scapula but he will finish the Tour in Paris and raised some money for charity in doing so. Gutsy as hell.

Losers
1. Mark Cavendish - Didn't have the legs all tour even before getting dropped. Really never even scared for a stage win in the sprints. Probably announced his end as even remotely dangerous in GT stages and green jersey
2. Richie Porte - The life of GT winner is pretty short. You have to strike when you can. Crashing out now in two straight tours and going to be 34 at the next he may have blown his chance
3. The rest of the pure sprinters - I get everyone has their skills and they are great with what they do, but no one will convince me they only want to win a couple stages. They want green. Well you have to be able to finish to do that. We can discuss if the stage itself was too much given they all failed, but they need to find a way to do better. Just enough to remain in the tour, that's all you need.
4. Rigoberto Uran/Vincenzo Nibali - Obviously both hoping to win or at least podium and they crash out. Put them below Porte because Uran is generally seen as a podium finisher not a winner, and Nibali has already won once.
5, French fans - I considered both Quintana and Bardet here, but I have to mention this. 99+% are great but the idiots are just that and ruin the tour. People throwing things and trying to hit riders (Froome) is absurd. Lighting flairs so no one, including riders, can see is beyond stupid. Being too close. Seem to have been at least partially responsible for the crashes that took out Porte and Nibali. The booing of Froome is what it is, but to me seems more nationalistic related than cycling fairness related. ASO or UCI need to find a way to better protect the riders and ensure a race void of crowd interference so that all riders have a fair chance.

[kempus]

Nice post @mse326

Here are a couple more honorable or unhonourable mentions, in no specific order.

1. Froome and Dumoulin. They finished 2nd and 3rd, so it was obviously successful tours for them, even if they were both hoping for the win. Dumoulin cemented himself as the future favourite, imo. He also put in that performance after riding the Giro, which is quite astonishing. If he concentrate on the TDF next year, he's my clear favourite.

I mention Froome more for his victory in winning the Salbutamol doping case. That was perhaps bigger than if he had won the tour, tbh. He also got a top 3 finish after winning the Giro and looking rather off the pace for a lot of the Tour. Finally, he dealt with the Thomas situation superbly. Acted as a professional and gentleman and seems genuinely happy that his teammate won it.

2. Roglic. Again, fairly obvious considering he finished 4th. He will be disappointed to have fallen off the podium after his poor TT, but he has also established himself as a potential GT winner. He was excellent in the mountains.

3.Luke Rowe. Rowe rode a very solid tour, doing a lot of the Team Sky grunt work, this is after shattering his tibia and fibia in an incident last August. 

4. Chavanel. This Tour he broke the record for most number of appearances at the Tour and equaled the number of finishes. Hell of an effort.

5. The course creator. I really enjoyed the overall course this year. It had a bit of everything. The Roubaix stage, Alpe D'Huez and the 65 km mountain stage were the highlights, imo. I would have preferred another time trial, and a couple more mountain top finishes, but overall it was very good. It also produced a winner who was clearly the strongest rider, which isn't always the case.

Not so honourable:

1. Moscon. He further disgraced himself with another moment of madness. Extremely talented rider, but clearly a nut case. Sky will almost surely consider his position.

2. Yates and Landa. Both had fantastic tours last year, but were both very underwhelming this year. Both would have expected much better showings.

Edited July 30, 2018 by kempus

[kempus]

One other point. I agree that the sprinters need to do better, but there comes a point when the Tour needs to consider if it's having a negative effect. There were no pure sprinters left in the race and that happened fairly early on. Nobody wants to see that. I don't think the stages need to be made easier, but maybe the organisers need to consider a different cut off time. Clearly it was too tough for the sprinters this year.

[kempus]

Alaphillipe won the Classica San Sebastian, yesterday. Hes had a hell of a season. Terrible news that Bernal and Land got serious injuries though. Bernal suffered 'serious facial trauma', but is conscious. Landa broke the L1 lumbar in his back. Hopefully both are back very soon.

[kempus]

I just watched 'The Holy week' and 'Crescendo' by Cycling week films. Both are fantastic. Must watch for any cycling fans @mse326 @kyle21121

[kyle21121]

On 2018-08-05 at 4:17 AM, kempus said:

I just watched 'The Holy week' and 'Crescendo' by Cycling week films. Both are fantastic. Must watch for any cycling fans @mse326 @kyle21121

I’ll definitely have to find this. 

Slow thread. Anyone watching the Vuelta? I missed this first week but I’ll probably be able to start watching this week. Looks damn competitive thus far. 

[kempus]

14 hours ago, kyle21121 said:

I’ll definitely have to find this. 

Slow thread. Anyone watching the Vuelta? I missed this first week but I’ll probably be able to start watching this week. Looks damn competitive thus far. 

Yeah, I've been following it. Finding it tough to get a stream, though. Its pretty much as open as any GC in recent memory.

[kempus]

Superb ride from Yates. One more stage until he wins his first GT and burries the demons of the Giro. 

[kempus]

Congrats to Yates for winning the Vuelta. That was a dominant ride throughout. The last 5 GTs have been won by Brits, with all 3 this season being won by different guys. Golden age of British cycling, to say the least. 

I said a few years ago that Yates would be a GT champion at some point. At 26, the sky is the limit. He hinted at riding the Giro again next season, unfinished business and all. I think its the right decision to race the same calendar as he did this year and leave the TDF for another year. 

Future of GT cycling is looking very exciting with Dumoulin, Yates, Bernal, Lopez, Mas and others.

[mse326]

Didn't catch much of the Vuelta. Congrats to Yates. Although I disagree with you @kempus he should be going for TDF now. His brother should switch to Giro - Vuelta to get him going.

Catching some of the World Championships now
I really wish we could see a full Team Sky squad in the TTT. Not saying they'd win but I'd like to see it to know.
Remco Evenepoel is a freaking beast. He just REKT the junior time trial

[kempus]

1 hour ago, mse326 said:

Didn't catch much of the Vuelta. Congrats to Yates. Although I disagree with you @kempus he should be going for TDF now. His brother should switch to Giro - Vuelta to get him going.

Catching some of the World Championships now
I really wish we could see a full Team Sky squad in the TTT. Not saying they'd win but I'd like to see it to know.
Remco Evenepoel is a freaking beast. He just REKT the junior time trial

You make a decent point about Simon riding the TDF. I think he has a legitimate shot at fighting Froome and Dumoulin for the title, depending on the course. He has come out and said he wants to ride the Giro, though. Thomas also said he wants to ride the Giro, next year.

Evenepoel is widely regarded as one of the future superstars of cycling. The guy is so much better than the other juniors hes racing against.