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Cycling 2019 - the British are coming.


BigFatCoward

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5 hours ago, Calibandar said:

Still, I am not writing him off just yet, he could just be excellent and win the stage.

Good call - Kittel gets it!

Only just though. Literally a couple of millimeters in front of Bryan Coquard, poor guy.

Good to see some healthy competition though. Kristoff went a bit too early but otherwise would have had a shot. Sagan and Cavendish weren't really in the picture and I didn't see where Greipel ended up.

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if contador loses anymore time tomorrow (which looks very likely) i think i'd rather he wrapped it in and concentrated on the vuelta.  it was a big ask beating froome and quintana anyway, never mind with injuries and a 2 min + deficit before the real racing begins. 

 

like to see cav go again today, then withdraw and concentrate on the olympics, a few more stage wins makes a bit of difference to his palmares (i don't see him catching merckx) but olympic gold is what he really needs for his legacy. 

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Well, with most of the flat stages out of the way we're now in business with a medium-mountain stage followed by the mountains proper.

I expect it will be a straight two-person contest between Froome and Quintana but this early in the race they'll probably stay together for he most part and there won't be much to separate them until the third week.

Others may drop off going into the second week though. I think Contador will be dropped. It will be interesting to see if any of the second-tier contenders can survive into the third week - i.e. Porte, van Garderen, Aru, Pinot, Bardet.

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3 hours ago, Jeor said:

Others may drop off going into the second week though. I think Contador will be dropped. It will be interesting to see if any of the second-tier contenders can survive into the third week - i.e. Porte, van Garderen, Aru, Pinot, Bardet.

Porte's already lost 2 minutes thanks to that badly timed puncture on stage 3.

1 hour ago, Slick Mongoose said:

Cheering on Adam Yates for the white jersey.

Kelderman and Barguil are pretty good though.

Alaphilippe seems like a contender as well, he beat Yates for the white in the Dauphine.

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17 hours ago, Maltaran said:

Porte's already lost 2 minutes thanks to that badly timed puncture on stage 3.

True, but I think it's close enough that he's still in it.

Pinot lost some time yesterday.

Excited for the first real mountain stage!

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11 hours ago, dog-days said:

Yes I just saw that in the news...hilarious. I don't even know how riders make it through those tight crowds on the mountain stages, it's ridiculous.

Great attack by Froome, although I am surprised that Quintana let him get away (admittedly Quintana taking a water bottle didn't help, but I'm still fairly sure he could have caught onto the wheel in the descent if he wanted to). Froome had obviously practised the descent and took quite a few risks but all in all, although 23 seconds means relatively little at this stage of the Tour.

I wonder whether Quintana will try and pull some time back sooner rather than later, or if he'll wait until week 3.

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11 hours ago, Jeor said:

Yes I just saw that in the news...hilarious. I don't even know how riders make it through those tight crowds on the mountain stages, it's ridiculous.

Great attack by Froome, although I am surprised that Quintana let him get away (admittedly Quintana taking a water bottle didn't help, but I'm still fairly sure he could have caught onto the wheel in the descent if he wanted to). Froome had obviously practised the descent and took quite a few risks but all in all, although 23 seconds means relatively little at this stage of the Tour.

I wonder whether Quintana will try and pull some time back sooner rather than later, or if he'll wait until week 3.

I get anxiety watching the spectators creep into the road during the ascents. Its a weird mix of awesomeness and ridiculousness. Today some guy in a full green body/head suit literally stepped in front of the the two chase riders going up Arcalis. He literally walked into the middle of the road in front of them. I dont blame the riders for getting pissed.

Watching Quintana during the last couple of years has been frustrating. He seems way too conservative. I just wish he would take a chance and attack.

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Phenomenal from Adam Yates so far, 2nd on GC.  And his closest rival for the white jersey is actually Louis Meintjes. Now we will see how his time trialling compares to the others.

I suspect Quintana is on the limit. If he's able to attack surely he would have by now.

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Quintana is my favourite if he can stay within a minute of froome before the last week he always gets stronger compared to the rest in the last week. The battle for the final podium spot could be more interesting than for top spot with a lot of riders in that secondary group of climbers. Pleased that yates is riding so well definately looks like a future contender. Can see sky putting up $$$ to get him in the next couple of years.

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I don't really know what's up with Quintana. There were a couple of moments where he really should have attacked yesterday - towards the end when Porte and others were giving it a go, Froome was on his own without a teammate, and had done the majority of the work in reeling in the attack. Quintana should have gone straight after that.

Either he's just being conservative and saving himself (he may not want the yellow jersey this early, and it's only a 23 second deficit), or he's actually riding as well as he can already. I hope it's the former otherwise this is going to be a bit of a boring Tour.

It'll be interesting to see if Team Sky doing the pacemaking for the last few days is going to hurt them in the final week. They've shouldered a lot of the burden in the past few stages.

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f'ing stupid putting the TT after the ventoux.  i wonder if anyone will go really deep with that the next day.  amazingly adam yates was supposed to be the weaker brother for GC at grand tours.  

much more interesting this year with so many people within 1 minute of froome, at the same stage in 13,15 he had over a minute lead on second place.  if he is peaking for last week him and quintana are going to kick the shit out of everyone.  

contador had to retire, now he can peak for the vuelta where realistically he is the massive favourite. 

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I am hoping that Aru will be able to recover and genuinely challenge.

He was dropped there for the first time and that was a disappointment.

Porte looks as strong as I thought, could still finish top 3 even with the 2 minutes he lost with the flat tyre.

Dan Martin also looking strong though I don't think he will be able to keep up with Froome when it gets really tough.

As for Quintana, he is clearly just waiting and content not to lose time at this point. He expects to be at his best as the tour goes into the final stages.

 

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