Yes bécane! - The Other Bore Biker Daddies (Tour de France, brehs)

[VomKriege]

I'm not familiar enough with the sport the rest of the year to be certain about Rolland. I'm not sure he's a meme and I think there's a bit of slight disappointment with his results considering his White Jersey and his very good placing in the Giro 2014. But most promising French riders are held to a brutal standard of The Next Tour Hope.

The time Froome lost so far is inconsequential really, all the more since there's barely any serious GC contenders in front of him with 20" or so at best. It's a bit pointless to speculate on his form based on that just yet, before the race starts proper in the mountains. Last year Froome conceded 22" to Bardet in the last 300m of the 12th stage but in the end he was as strong as ever. And he still has the individual time trial in the penultimate stage to close minuscule gaps & cushion itself against non specialists (Bardet for instance).

As Kara said, he also have the best GC team. I would be less definitive about the foregone conclusion but unless he has some catastrophic event (on the cobbles or something), it will take either a rival with an overclocked performance and/or Froome facing real difficulties (which may happen, since he also rode and won the Giro a few weeks ago) to lose his favourite status.

[VomKriege]

Yesterday was an absolute bore and howler of a flat stage, which sparked the usual debates. I'm one to accept not every day can be done at 100%, effort & risk management is an integral part of a three weeks race, and that it's not good to bow the sport to just entertainment & TV purposes. Nowadays current Tour make a better job at spicing the first week than 20 years ago ? Or so it seems to me.

The only thing that really bothers me is the question is how can we make breakaways a viable alternative in the flatter stages instead of a fool's errand (or hopeless publicity stunt). I'm not sure it's possible in this age of radios.

Edit : It's a bit of a shame that due to the later start this year the Bastille Day stage looks so flat though. It is what it is...

[VomKriege]

Oh and it seems that two days ago Bardet and Dumoulin crashed into each other resulting in their mutual mechanical and it only became known in the late evening. Dutch media is hyperventilating because Dumoulin didn't get help in maybe a timely manner (his only domestique at that moment was too short to swap bikes).

Edit : more drama

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tensions-emerge-within-katusha-as-konyshev-labels-kittel-as-egotistical/

[Kara]

Sagan

[TEEEPO]

The only thing that really bothers me is the question is how can we make breakaways a viable alternative in the flatter stages instead of a fool's errand (or hopeless publicity stunt). I'm not sure it's possible in this age of radios.

ez, rid the peloton of power meters and limit the radio broadcasts like they did for they olympics.

[VomKriege]

Sagan

Gaviria and Greipel were penalised for headbutts so Sagan officially is in second place of the stage still.

[VomKriege]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SophieSmith86/status/1018138216552173568

I guess the lesson here is "don't sign with Katusha".

[VomKriege]

So lot of hype for the cobbles tomorrow, a lot of fans are hoping for the specialists and their teams to ride hard and possibly create gaps. There was also no break up to this point even if the last two stages weren't too hard for the peloton.

Dans Martin crashed today and is injured, he'll probably suffer a bit tomorrow if he starts. Too bad, he was a good show last year.

Apparently people expect QuickStep to continue riding fast tomorrow, they've been the team taking responsibilities the most this far.

Edit :

great bit of coverage - well spotted by Millar

Boulting I wonder why Ag2R have come to the front - looks like Naesen and Vuillermoz - not sure why they are there

Millar - Could be because of the wind maybe a change of direction its a tail cross at the moment --- (
sudden helicopter shot showing 90 degree turn in road and long flat straight) ...no look they will turn and it will be a cross wind and that will start to cause mayhem starting from the back ( peloton completely lined out now) - echelons could form

Boulting ( intrigued) yes , yes gaps are forming , Kristoff chasing ...a group has gone clear

Prediction accuracy 100% : Insight 100%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kirby: Some cyclists from the same team with the blue and brown jerseys are on the front . Maybe it's a feed zone. Well they are feeding on the excitement of the crowd. Oh this is marvellous.

https://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20379382#p20379382

[TEEEPO]

tony martin suffered a spinal fracture so he will not be starting tomorrow  :'(

[Kara]

Shitty.

I don't think the stage will be very exciting tomorrow, just looking forward to a mini Paris-Roubaix (it's my favorite race) with a bunch of grand tour hopefuls getting beaten the hell up.

[VomKriege]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-more-disappointment-for-empty-handed-demare/

Another Tour, another middling FDJ showing...

[TEEEPO]

the kittel incident was overblown, naturally

https://twitter.com/CyclingCentral/status/1018159111362564096

still not a good look

[VomKriege]

Kittel ANNIHILATES bike by leaving at the door of the bus.

The Tour is also the time for transfer rumours. L'Equipe from today suggests Richie Porte, leaving the possibly dunking ship of BMC, might be going to Aqua Blue (instead of Trek as conventional wisdom had it) which would also upgrade to a World Tour licence.

Porte is not that hot a commodity as he's aging and his GT pedigree is not that strong all things considered (unless of course he ranks well in a couple of weeks) so there's not a lot of teams he could reasonably en up with at the moment.

[TEEEPO]

 
the best part about living in the states is that there is no way i'll be spoiled by the outcome

 
though waiting on tiz to upload the race on weekends

[VomKriege]

No internet so will have to follow the stage on the radio, am forced to tune in to RMC, the main sport radio, a bunch of obnoxious loud fuckwits. Of course will probably have to suffer a lot of pregame filler for the WC final.

Pray for me.

Oh god Porte out of the Tour, he crashed right at the start of the stage the biggest favourite who never was.
Go Vincenzo !

[VomKriege]

What the fuck they're editing together some of the commentary of the 1998 final with a Macron speech in his campaign where he went berserk  RMC you hack frauds !

[VomKriege]

Rojas (Movistar) out.
Greipel caught in the crash.
Dumoulin trailing behind due to a mechanical.

And we didn't even reach the first cobbles 

Edit : Fuck this, switched to NOS. Can't speak Dutch but at least it's real race coverage. And a Michel Fugain song as interlude.

Edit : 10 men up front including Calmajane and De Gendt.

Edit : Dan Martin in a lot of pain after yesterday's crash. May throw the towel. Sad, the guy can animate a stage...

Edit : Keukeleire (Lotto S) out too, caught in the early crash.
Breakaway has reached the cobbles first section.
Bardet punctured.
Bardet came back but changed bikes twice

[VomKriege]

Shots fired at Elon Musk on BikeRadar :

https://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20380628#p20380628

Elon Musk is really sad it's not raining, would have loved to get his submarine out to rescue a trapped rider. Quintana would fit it easily.

He could save the world you know.

A crash and 4 riders taking a shortcut...

Edit : Bardet dropped and chasing again after a mechanical...
Froome caught in a crash but back with the MJ group.

[Kara]

MAI HUSBANDO WON MY FAVORITE (FACSIMILE) RACE

GOD IS REAL

[VomKriege]

That was animated but less GC chances than could have been expected, maybe ? Though Porte out, Uran losing time, Landa & Bardet closing the gap on Froome by the very end (ridiculous stage for Bardet, plagued by issues, had a tough day with multiple chases), Quintana finishing alongside Froome are all interesting.

[Kara]

Porte feels like it should be a big deal but I haven't taken him seriously in this race for awhile.

Bedhead Bardet staying in the top 20 after that horrible stage could be a big deal. Pinot would have crumbled after a stretch like that.

Sky keeping 2 in the top 10 definitely a big deal.

Everyone was pretty cautious though, which is to be expected.

[VomKriege]

Bardet has a good cadre of domestiques too, those guys will die for him. It's easier because they're only really playing GC but still. I can't see him winning unless Froome has a nasty flop or fringale but he's a worker, I can give him that. Though people are already speculating he got help from motos or something because French favouritism. Still not having lost the Tour until now was pretty much the goal here.

Looking at the GC Barguil is just there almost at the time. He had a stinker of a season but who knows what legs he'll have on the climbs.

Edit : Dan Martin survived the day.

[VomKriege]

Bernal, previously a favourite for the white jersey, lost 16mn.

[VomKriege]

Oh god people whining it wasn't a difficult enough stage. Or that it was too difficult. Fans are never happy.

[VomKriege]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/1018503620612927488

That's a quote from BMC manager and everyone interprets it as a passive aggressive shot at Porte, who as mentioned is probably off to a new team soon.

If so it is pretty harsh, I mean the guy knows in how much pain he is, I don't think he retired lighty. It's not impossible the medical assessment on the spot was also playing cautious.

Still it seems to confirm everyone's bias that the Aussie is not tough enough to be Tour winning material. "He didn't even try to go back on his bike" (I'd be wary commenting on that on the basis of just the TV broadcast), many people are saying. Reckless as it is, maybe they're right and it's true some riders would and did try to continue racing with nasty injuries.

Another common remark, a longstanding one and perhaps fairer, is that Porte bike handling has never been all that.
---
Bernal fucked by BMC car...
https://giant.gfycat.com/IdleHandsomeKilldeer.webm

---

Fracture after all ?

https://mobile.twitter.com/inrng/status/1018546662615154689

[Kara]

BMC is going to announce a merger with CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice on Monday to save their World Tour license; I'd say he's pissed that this will take the limelight from that but Van Avermaet is still in yellow. Sure am glad an Armstrong ally like Ochowicz is sticking around.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

RIP orange jerseys in the peloton. RIP Guerciotti in the peloton. :'(

[close]

[VomKriege]

So I'm listening to the Doping Corner The Move formerly known as Stages, Lance Armstrong's podcast. It has a reputation for being the most riding technique focused out there, whatever you think of Lance (or Hincapie). The tone is more edgy than the utterly polite and British Cycling Podcast, of course. The one about yesterday's stage is decent.

They speak a bit about the latest hysteria around motors in bikes, Lance is pretty candid about it all (though he doesn't believe in motors in the pro peloton) "Lots of shit happening in the peloton in my days but no motors.".

[VomKriege]

Vuillermoz (AG2R) out.

Otherwise with over a week in and many events, crashes and small surprises, everything sort of balanced itself to keep GC fairly even out...

Basically any serious contender is within 130 seconds (a little more if you include Dan Martin as a very outside chance but he's banged up). Froome hasn't killed the race yet despite the TTT so there's that I guess.

There seems to be all this faux hype around Thomas being an internal rival (with even Wiggins writing a paper in the Guardian about it which is pretty abrasive to Brailsford, a "self serving" who will play both sides and be "in their ears constantly"), but this narrative is brought up every year when it's actually very rare for a super dom to outright challenge their leader (they're mostly content with a good GC placing and signing a lucrative deal elsewhere).

Movistar finished the cobbles in a fairly good and surprising place. I'm still not convinced by the whole three leaders thing. People are hopeful that each playing their solo chance recklessly could actually be the best way to make Sky suffer... Another narrative brought up every year but reality is often that everyone plays super defensive.

Apparently ASO decided to have some very short mountain stages in the mix, to incentivize riders going all in all stage I guess ? And tomorrow stage should be pretty brutal as an opener.

[TEEEPO]

 

just caught up. some of the most exhilarating shit i've seen all year; a rollercoaster of a stage

https://twitter.com/modcyclingphoto/status/1018590876187193345

bardet
didn't expect less after his strade bainchi performance. if craddock drops, the combativity jersey is his



and porte



anyways, i know nearly all the roads by heart for tomorrow's ride so i'm excited af

[VomKriege]

Alaphilippe for the win, the Yellow Jersey on the breakaway (cool) otherwise a pretty defensive day for the GC with Uran the only one to lose big, other minor GC contenders losing a few seconds (haven't checked) and the Sky train chow chowing...

Saw a guy nicknaming the Spanish team Vomistar on CyclingNews tho

[VomKriege]

Seen on CN

Dekker_Tifosi wrote:
Kittel, Cavendish and Groenewegen make the time limit with only 30 seconds to spare

Sprinters gonna suffer this year.

[VomKriege]

https://www.podiumcafe.com/2018/7/17/17583750/they-must-take-advantage

Surely something has to happen tomorrow !

Well, one can hope.

[TEEEPO]

 
boring day

 
annecy though

[TEEEPO]

even though i didn't expect a gc battle today, i did expect more from the gc competition

[VomKriege]

Attacks right from the drop of the flag, with riders aggressively jockeying for position in the neutralised start already, at the level of the red car of the Tour director. Hopefully a good omen for today.

Sagan, Barguil, Caruso among the five trying to break immediately.

[VomKriege]

Well color me surprised, Thomas attacked Froome and vice versa. This will throw a wrench in the Sky finely tuned locomotive, hopefully, because otherwise Froome seems on the level with only Dumoulin as a serious contender if it comes down to the ITT...

Vomistar

We have a better idea of who really contend for the podium now.

[BisMarckie]

elle colorés me surprised, Thomas attacked Froome and vice versa. This will throw a wrench in the Sky finely tuned locomotive, hopefully, because otherwise Froome seems on the level with only Dumoulin as a serious contender if it comes down to the ITT...

Vomistar

We have a better idea of who really contend for the podium now.

Again, I am only a casual watcher and I only saw the last 30km today, but Thomas and Froome looked like they just got out of the shower ready to go when they crossed the finish line.
How in the world is that possible?

[VomKriege]

elle colorés me surprised, Thomas attacked Froome and vice versa. This will throw a wrench in the Sky finely tuned locomotive, hopefully, because otherwise Froome seems on the level with only Dumoulin as a serious contender if it comes down to the ITT...

Vomistar

We have a better idea of who really contend for the podium now.

Again, I am only a casual watcher and I only saw the last 30km today, but Thomas and Froome looked like they just got out of the shower ready to go when they crossed the finish line.
How in the world is that possible?

Asthma.

[BisMarckie]

I mean yeah I have no doubt that these guys are doped, but so is everyone else. Is Team Sky just that much better at it? 

[VomKriege]

Cynical and speculative : Better doping regimen. And state of the art training.
Reasonable : Better poker face and hard to gauge on TV actual fatigue level.
Rational : Better pacing and protection until the very last Kms.

We'll see if Froome (and Dumoulin) cracks. He ran and won the Giro, up until recently common wisdom was that in modern times you couldn't do both really. Froome in on his way to possibly winning four, five if he decides to ride the Vuelta (?), of all the major GTs in succession which is unprecedented (in the modern era if not ever).

Froome has "days without" sometimes and he could bonk (or so I hope). Thomas is unproven on three weeks, he's crash prone, the consensus is that he looks the best he ever had on the Tour.

In the end Sky on the TdF is just that much a stronger team, it's ridiculous.

[VomKriege]

Kittel, Cavendish, Renshaw, possibly Zabel out (but apparently reinstated, he arrived 3 seconds late), over the time limit (which has been made more lenient by ASO). At this rate the Champs sprint is gonna be full of fresh faces. And Sagan.

[VomKriege]

As always this time of year, when the Tour get sucker punched by USPS Sky, comes the question of budgets and how Sky can afford its super team. There's no doubt they are the top spenders by a decent margin but at the same time Katusha is supposedly not too far (32m euros against 35 or 37 in 2017) yet the difference of quality on the road feels much larger. Meanwhile QuickStep has a great team (though not for GTs) and enjoy much success on half the price... And the money doesn't seem to account entirely in having two (maybe three) British GT winners in succession.

The race has been like this for 20 years now and I don't know you solve this. The pro DS riders certainly don't either, obviously.

Edit : on financing, a quote (origin unclear)found on CN regarding Vaughterd...

Much of that stress seemed to be of Vaughters’s own creation. He’d been relying on some creative accounting — to put it kindly — for the last few years to effectively inflate the team’s budget beyond its actual means. Every team in the WorldTour has a bank guarantee with the UCI, so that if the team folds, salaries continue to be paid for about three months. Slipstream had been leaning on this guarantee, only funding itself through October of each year. If it didn’t find a sponsor by then, it would run out of money and the UCI would pay salaries through the end of the year.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=2207998#p2207998

[VomKriege]

How François Thomazeau broke the Festina affair for Reuters

The Cycling Podcast: 76: Kilometre 0 – Breaking the story (Download link)
https://audioboom.com/posts/6938376.mp3?modified=1531990705&source=rss&stitched=1

[VomKriege]

Rowe and Poels (Sky) apparently already at the back of the peloton. High paced start... Maybe the Sky train won't attack the Apple d'Huez with 4 doms still ?

Edit : Well false hopes. The train will probably control the race until the very last Kms of the ultimate climb.

[Kara]

Edit : on financing, a quote (origin unclear)found on CN regarding Vaughterd...

Much of that stress seemed to be of Vaughters’s own creation. He’d been relying on some creative accounting — to put it kindly — for the last few years to effectively inflate the team’s budget beyond its actual means. Every team in the WorldTour has a bank guarantee with the UCI, so that if the team folds, salaries continue to be paid for about three months. Slipstream had been leaning on this guarantee, only funding itself through October of each year. If it didn’t find a sponsor by then, it would run out of money and the UCI would pay salaries through the end of the year.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=2207998#p2207998

It's from this article.

https://www.velonews.com/2017/10/feature/inside-slipstreams-brush-with-death_450279

There is definitely a finance issue in the sport but to a certain degree it's self-inflicted, first in chasing away sponsors with poor doping prevention (how many people know Festina makes watches?) and then in allowing sponsorship to become very insular (a few years ago we had a bunch of factory teams with no title sponsors).

Kenny: There are definitely tiers in doping. Lance competed in one of the dirtiest eras ever but his regimen was so good that he could stand out. In addition to that there are ethical tiers in the sport that are purely voluntary. Some teams belong to MPCC which is an organization that holds its members to higher standards than WADA and other teams do not. To illustrate this in practice, Bradley Wiggins was able to compete while taking a banned substance because of a special exemption. If Sky had been a member of MPCC at the time he would not have been able to compete.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/now-we-understand-why-team-sky-never-joined-says-mpcc-doctor/

imo people should only support MPCC teams if they want a cleaner sport.

[BisMarckie]

I don't think Kruijswijk can do it

[TEEEPO]

[BisMarckie]

Geez that guy in the Zidane jersey....

[BisMarckie]

Nibali down

Alpe d`Huez is always such a shitshow

[TEEEPO]

nibali taken down by a spectator, most likely 

[Kara]

Chapeau, Bardet.

[BisMarckie]

TIL that Dumoulin is not French

[VomKriege]

Nibali taken down by a (gendarmerie ?) motorbike blinded with some of the smoke canisters the spectators cracked open...

[VomKriege]

Nibs out. That sucks.

Bardet could podium again (he's proving year in and year out he can keep pace with the best of them up until the very last kilometers) but I fear he will never win a tour unless he suddenly become a raging time trialist or with freak conditions. Dumoulin looking good so far too.

Edit : I stand corrected, it wasn't a motor bike who took out Nibali

https://twitter.com/LeGruppetto/status/1020050957525311494

Also the fuck at the asshole who tried to punch Froome. I don't mind the booing, but that's just heinous and sad.

[Kara]

idk if Bardet can podium this year. He lost yet another teammate last stage and the mountains are going to add up fast with Naesen. He'll need an amazing solo (again).

Sucks that he's on the back foot and Uran is out.

[VomKriege]

idk if Bardet can podium this year. He lost yet another teammate last stage and the mountains are going to add up fast with Naesen. He'll need an amazing solo (again).

Sucks that he's on the back foot and Uran is out.

I could see it if at least one of the two Sky leaders fade. I think Bardet is the best climber with consistent form of the remaining GC contenders. But yeah all current top 7 or 8 riders could podium.

Props to Lotto Jumbo though, they're having a better year as a GC contender than 2017. Kruijswijk attack probably helped shaking things up yesterday because otherwise it could have super defensive again.

The old "wise" consultant on Belgian radio was super cranky yesterday, basically calling sprinters a bunch of lazy bums checking out on the broom wagon and disrespecting the sport. Seems awfully hyperbolic for a freak year in the numbers of sprinters not making the time limit.

Edit :
Lionel Birnie goes to Dutch corner
The Cycling Podcast: 78: Kilometre 0 – Dutch Corner (download link)
https://audioboom.com/posts/6939837.mp3?modified=1532073208&source=rss&stitched=1

It's minor but you hear Dutch fans booing the Sky team. I'm saying it because reading English speaking forums the only people being abusive in the Tour live audience are all assumed to be French.

[VomKriege]

Halfway through it, time to whip out the commentary bingo !

- "First week sucks."
- "All riders are content to be made into a giant dad (edit: that's an hilarious word filter ) by Sky for minor honours, SAD !"
- A GC contender tries a long distance attack "No it's too early ! You're only making it easier for Sky !"
- A GC contender tries an attack on the finish "No it's too late ! You're only making it easier for Sky !"
- Inconsistent rulings by commissars.
- FRENCH FAVORITISM 
- "Attacking while a rival is down, shameful !" "Fuck that it's a race."
- "That blurry, poorly framed gif seals it : that bike has a motor in it."
- "Don't run alongside the riders !"
- "Those wildcards teams shouldn't even be in."
- Week 1 : "Movistar has one of the strongest teams, maybe they can best Sky."
- "It's totally Valverde's year !"
- Week 2 : "Movistar is trash."
- Week 1 : "Cofidis sucks."
- Week 2 : "Cofidis sucks."
- Week 3 : "Cofidis sucks."
- "That was terrible, cycling is dead, I'm not watching the Tour ever again." said every year.

[VomKriege]

This Sagan bloke is utterly dominating the sprints.
Beat the plucky French hope.
Why aren't the crowd booing?

Maybe they are asleep?

https://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20385890#p20385890

[TEEEPO]

tour ratings are down for both france and the uk

it's hard to know if its solely attributed to the world cup, the recent scandals surrounding team sky or the tour being the same damn thing year in and year out due to the expensive sky train. my guess is all three

[VomKriege]

tour ratings are down for both france and the uk

it's hard to know if its solely attributed to the world cup, the recent scandals surrounding team sky or the tour being the same damn thing year in and year out due to the expensive sky train. my guess is all three

It's been widely noted, in all the controversy in yesterday's stage, that the Alpe d'Huez was less crowded than usual though it probably had to do with more severe security too. Today's episode of the Cycling Podcast alluded to the often not mentioned point that security, beyond protecting riders from stupid assholes, may be concerned with any sort of attack (notably in the wake of the Nice attack in two years ago). Crétins running too close or taking a jab is a bit of a marronnier, it has been going on for years. Overall it's  a small miracle (or testament that mankind ain't so bad) in itself that so few mass accidents happened on a three week event spanning thousands of km of free access for the public only a few metres away from the athletes.

To get back on track, I think this Tour experiments (we still have that super short mountain stage with a grid start coming...) are probably ASO trying to shake the formula. It's good but ultimately the main issue is Sky suffocating competition in the race... And ASO can't solve this by itself.

Though maybe some revenue sharing with the teams might help, somehow... If only to help them out of the constant state of sponsorship precarity Kara mentioned earlier. UCI wants to keep the number of World Tour teams stable year on year but it's not clear they would have done so without Bahreïn and the UAE bankrolling a couple of squads. The absence of an "Italian" team at the WT level is mind-blowing to be honest.