OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
-
- Posts: 1879
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 5:17 pm
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Starting to break up now De Ghent has been caught ! Bling running out of men.
- Beaver_Shark
- Posts: 5637
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: Mzansi
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Bling gets it. Great ride
Aru has possibly lost yellow!
Aru has possibly lost yellow!
- Beaver_Shark
- Posts: 5637
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: Mzansi
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Terrible effort by Astana to not position Aru better in those closing stages.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Aru is isolated, no teammates to help, but he should have been in Froome's wheel at the bottom of that last climb. Same for Bardet. Borderline professional foul there.
Jalabert here on TV called it with almost 2km to go, was wondering where the hell the yellow jersey was while you had so many Sky in front. Unbelievable to gift 30 secs like that.
Jalabert here on TV called it with almost 2km to go, was wondering where the hell the yellow jersey was while you had so many Sky in front. Unbelievable to gift 30 secs like that.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Very poor from Aru and the team. Got that wrong. Very comfy for Sky. Chapeau to Dan Martin for taking almost 20 secs out of his deficit over 3 days when his back was locked up.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Looking at the finish again, Aru actually looks in pain on the line! Not only was he far at the bottom but he might not have the legs to follow, that would explain the 29 secs lost.
Bardet "only" lost 4 secs on Froome, better.
Edit: Quintana lost another 20 secs, Landa 14".
Bardet "only" lost 4 secs on Froome, better.
Edit: Quintana lost another 20 secs, Landa 14".
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Quintana is cooked. Pull out and compete for La Vuelta
-
- Posts: 13482
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Amateur hour from Aru, what a shambles.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Astana don't seem to know how to boss the Peleton, Sky have been doing it so long that they were doing it today despite Froome not being in yellow.GDBFC99 wrote:Looking at the finish again, Aru actually looks in pain on the line! Not only was he far at the bottom but he might not have the legs to follow, that would explain the 29 secs lost.
Bardet "only" lost 4 secs on Froome, better.
Edit: Quintana lost another 20 secs, Landa 14".
- blindcider
- Posts: 8132
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do thatOpenside wrote:Astana don't seem to know how to boss the Peleton, Sky have been doing it so long that they were doing it today despite Froome not being in yellow.GDBFC99 wrote:Looking at the finish again, Aru actually looks in pain on the line! Not only was he far at the bottom but he might not have the legs to follow, that would explain the 29 secs lost.
Bardet "only" lost 4 secs on Froome, better.
Edit: Quintana lost another 20 secs, Landa 14".
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
To be fair they've only lost two riders. Aru should have been better protected. Astana absolutely dropped the ball into that finish.blindcider wrote:Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do that
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Gospel wrote:To be fair they've only lost two riders. Aru should have been better protected. Astana absolutely dropped the ball into that finish.blindcider wrote:Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do that
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
I just love how tactical it all is.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Yeah it's great. Make sure you watch La Veulta next month then too because that race is usually much harder to control and leads to all kinds of tactical shenanigans - as Philippa York can testify.Openside wrote:Gospel wrote:To be fair they've only lost two riders. Aru should have been better protected. Astana absolutely dropped the ball into that finish.blindcider wrote:Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do that
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
I just love how tactical it all is.
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
I've described it to friends not familiar with it all as high speed, three dimensional chess.Openside wrote:Gospel wrote:To be fair they've only lost two riders. Aru should have been better protected. Astana absolutely dropped the ball into that finish.blindcider wrote:Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do that
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
I just love how tactical it all is.
- Dumbledore
- Posts: 11473
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: STRAYA plum
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
I just saw they're bringing the Angliru back, for the final stage as wellGospel wrote:Yeah it's great. Make sure you watch La Veulta next month then too because that race is usually much harder to control and leads to all kinds of tactical shenanigans - as Philippa York can testify.Openside wrote:Gospel wrote:To be fair they've only lost two riders. Aru should have been better protected. Astana absolutely dropped the ball into that finish.blindcider wrote:Astana have already lost too many riders and just don't have the manpower to do that
Aru's only real chance is/was to follow Froome and take any opportunities to put some time in and hope that the TT isn't too decisive
I just love how tactical it all is.


- Alvise Martinengo
- Posts: 841
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
The only good thing yesterday: I've finished to paint walls and ceiling in my office.
Looking at highlights I've been stopped breathing for 20 seconds, and soon after I've been started laughing.
Unfavorable astral conjunction: or probably Aru has a team filled of kazak unespressed talents (Zeits yesterday was 62nd, Valgren Andersen 91st).
While Landa was 20th,Henao 38th and Nieve 70th.
Probably Vino has still in his pocket the letter he sent to Nibali in 2014 entitled "Insufficient yield", but also changing names I think it won't work.
The jersey has gone back on the shoulders of the owner, nothing new.
Looking at highlights I've been stopped breathing for 20 seconds, and soon after I've been started laughing.
Unfavorable astral conjunction: or probably Aru has a team filled of kazak unespressed talents (Zeits yesterday was 62nd, Valgren Andersen 91st).
While Landa was 20th,Henao 38th and Nieve 70th.
Probably Vino has still in his pocket the letter he sent to Nibali in 2014 entitled "Insufficient yield", but also changing names I think it won't work.
The jersey has gone back on the shoulders of the owner, nothing new.
-
- Posts: 1879
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 5:17 pm
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Great start to todays stage. Barguil takes points on first Cat 1 climb, still riders trying to get into the breakaway groups. Sky doing a good job controlling though, the nearest rider up the road is 11 minutes down !
- Dumbledore
- Posts: 11473
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: STRAYA plum
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Alvise Martinengo wrote:The only good thing yesterday: I've finished to paint walls and ceiling in my office.
Looking at highlights I've been stopped breathing for 20 seconds, and soon after I've been started laughing.
Unfavorable astral conjunction: or probably Aru has a team filled of kazak unespressed talents (Zeits yesterday was 62nd, Valgren Andersen 91st).
While Landa was 20th,Henao 38th and Nieve 70th.
Probably Vino has still in his pocket the letter he sent to Nibali in 2014 entitled "Insufficient yield", but also changing names I think it won't work.
The jersey has gone back on the shoulders of the owner, nothing new.

- rugbot 2.0
- Posts: 1245
- Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:23 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Armstrong has promised to have Vino on his podcast to find out what is going on with Astana. Whether he admits it or not it's pretty clear the team is a mess and they aren't riding for Aru. In case anyone didn't see Michael Valgren's post race interview on NBC: https://youtu.be/QQj-W0nmOus
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Supposedly Valgren gave an interview at the finish where he said he was trying to lead Aru towards the front of the bunch, and Aru wouldn't/couldn't/didn't follow. So Valgren just sat up and cruised up the climb at the finish.
It's a pretty embarrassing day for Astana, their yellow jersey gets isolated in the mountains on Friday, and they're then anonymous letting stage hunters control the race all day Saturday.
Even if they wanted to ditch the jersey to have an easier time of it, they overshot.
Oops, yeah, there it is, cheers rugbot.
It's a pretty embarrassing day for Astana, their yellow jersey gets isolated in the mountains on Friday, and they're then anonymous letting stage hunters control the race all day Saturday.
Even if they wanted to ditch the jersey to have an easier time of it, they overshot.
Oops, yeah, there it is, cheers rugbot.
- rugbot 2.0
- Posts: 1245
- Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:23 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
It shouldn't have been a tough day - again to reference the highly controversial Armstrong podcast - everyone knew BMC were going to try control it for Van Avermaet, so let them do the work and sit on their wheel. Astana didn't have to do shit and they still f**ked it up.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Tony Martin's put a minute onto his lead in the past 10km. Unless he blows completely on that cat1 climb, he's going to win the stage and he showered and warmed down before the peloton finishes.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
You'd still expect to see the Yellow jersey sitting in a bubble behind BMC/Sunweb/whoever. Even when they were chasing the break, the pale blues were nowhere to be seen.rugbot 2.0 wrote:It shouldn't have been a tough day - again to reference the highly controversial Armstrong podcast - everyone knew BMC were going to try control it for Van Avermaet, so let them do the work and sit on their wheel. Astana didn't have to do shit and they still f**ked it up.
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Nasty build up to this climb, once the peloton gets to it they're going to get strung out a long way...
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Bardet and AG2R creating a split, this is interesting.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Froome in trouble?
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Certainly under pressure. That hand flick was interesting.henry wrote:Froome in trouble?
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Took him a minute to close that gap, and Nieve sitting on his wheel at the time. Little bit of excitement.henry wrote:Froome in trouble?
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
guy smiley wrote:Certainly under pressure. That hand flick was interesting.henry wrote:Froome in trouble?
Now a mechanical
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Amazing sport.
- Dumbledore
- Posts: 11473
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: STRAYA plum
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Movistar should just have told Sky they can go and shut it down
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Froome has got onto the back of the dropped group right where the roads got tight...
fascinating stuff
fascinating stuff
- Beaver_Shark
- Posts: 5637
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: Mzansi
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Cracking stage yet again.
- Dumbledore
- Posts: 11473
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: STRAYA plum
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Would love to see Bertie and Landa try and turn the screws here. Real shame Landa rides for Sky.
- rugbot 2.0
- Posts: 1245
- Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:23 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
This climb will be carnage now hopefully
- guy smiley
- Posts: 33228
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: in transit
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
Blood and guts, pieces of leather, shredded rubber, broken plastic...
lungs left beating faintly on the roadside.
This is grouse.
lungs left beating faintly on the roadside.
This is grouse.
- Margin_Walker
- Posts: 12942
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
This is fascinating. Great racing and if Froome does end up winning this year he'll have earned it.
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
'Cuse my ignorance, why are the Frogs booing Froome?
- Alvise Martinengo
- Posts: 841
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.
No, unfair toward Froome. Booed by public, no.
- Dumbledore
- Posts: 11473
- Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:05 am
- Location: STRAYA plum
Re: OFFICIAL - Le Tour 2017.

'Oh dear' says the commentator