Jeor Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Don't expect today's stage will have many surprises - probably a bunch sprint finish. Second week doesn't have too many surprises but the ITT will be interesting. Froome has to be expected to pick up a bit more of a lead from that. Quintana might be able to get it back in the mountain TT though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andriy Czarchenko Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 22 hours ago, BigFatCoward said: f'ing stupid putting the TT after the ventoux. i wonder if anyone will go really deep with that the next day. I suspect they knew exactly what they were doing there. Better chance for a french winner on Bastille Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 froome is just taking the piss now. they have shortened the ventoux stage by 7 km due to predicted very high winds at the top, imagine that. its not like it was named for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Froome has so far gained time on a decent and in the crosswinds.... It's amazing how he has transformed himself from a boring watts machine into probably the 2nd most exciting rider in the peloton after Sagan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said: they have shortened the ventoux stage by 7 km due to predicted very high winds at the top, imagine that. its not like it was named for a reason. Not sure that's really doable, although i'd like to see them try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Some commentators have said that Froome is doing all these crazy exciting things (i.e. attacking on the descent and on a flat stage) because he's obviously worried about Quintana in the mountains and wants to build up a buffer. They also see Quintana as biding his time, being a crafty rider poised to strike at any time. But I'm beginning to think the above is purely speculative and Froome might actually have this comfortably in the bag. He's made these attacks and not had any trouble at all, and he's obviously in great form after the Dauphine. We haven't seen much from Quintana except that he's kept his place in the peloton. I do hope he is playing the long game here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 That last stage was awesome love watching some crosswind attacking. Even more of a team deal than the climbs. Froome and sagan are really lighting things up atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zelticgar Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 That was a fun stage. Froome really burned through some energy on that break. I'm sure he was happy to hear today's stage will be shortened a little. Quintana better do something soon or he's going to let it slip away. I'll be curious to see if Nibali will go for a stage win today if Aru falters early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Exciting...the climb is going to start soon. Aru has had mechanical trouble and will get a penalty for drifting behind his car - I think this stage might have broken him. Gerrans had a big crash too, took out some Sky riders but probably won't affect things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 14, 2016 Author Share Posted July 14, 2016 first one i've been able to watch live this year. going for froome - 15-30 seconds quintana - 15-30 further to porte. everyone else bleeding all over the mountain. hope yates performs well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Yes I think Porte may be able to do well on this climb. He'll probably pull ahead of Tejay Van Garderen in the GC by the time the stage is finished. Big question - is Quintana going to do anything? Probably not. Froome seems to be Mr Excitement at the moment and Quintana has become the robotic rider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Quintana dropped by Froome and Porte! The rest of the Tour could turn into a procession for Froome now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mme Erzulie Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Froome is now jogging Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 What on earth happened there? Race organisers might neutralise it though. Froome ran for a fair bit though and that might get him into trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 14, 2016 Author Share Posted July 14, 2016 richie porte just can't catch a fucking break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Poor guy. Porte would surely have made a whole bunch of time back. They can't take them at the time of the crash - Quintana et al will argue that it locks in Froome/Porte/Mollema's advantage when they still had room and time to chase them down. They can't take them as they are - it wasn't Froome/Porte/Mollema's fault that they had the crash. My prediction is that they'll leave all the GC standings (from Mollema downwards) as they were at the beginning of the stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Looks like they've given Porte and Froome the same time as Mollema. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Crazy. Nice though it would have been to see Yates wearing yellow, probably the right call..... Winds and spectators conspire to ruin what could have been an epic stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Yes, it was probably the right decision. Mollema did get delayed a little bit by the crash so he hasn't gained an unfair advantage by it all. You'd just have to trust the Froome and Porte would have been able to stick with him. Quintana may be annoyed that Froome and Porte's gains got 'locked in' by the crash - he could argue that he could have closed the gap at least a bit by the finish, but I don't think that was likely to happen and I suppose Froome/Porte could argue they could have conversely pulled away and widened the gap. I expect Froome will increase his lead on the time trial. And it might be a chance for Porte to get back in the mix too, he's generally a good TTer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Dumoulin wins the stage, but Froome destroys all of the other GC contenders, gaining at least 2 minutes on all the other contenders. Barring a mechanical disaster or crash, I think Froome has this sewn up now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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