2012 Tour de France: Stage 17, Bagnères-de-Luchon - Peyragudes 143.5KM

[El Pistolero]

This. Well done kids, you played your little hearts out bless you.

Chris Froome didn't ride on his maximum. No need to be pedantic by the way.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

It's a shame Sky didn't just select Froome for the Vuelta. Wiggo could have won the Tour by five minutes though and people would still be finding reasons to knock him. It's doubtful Froome could have won given the time he lost with his puncture but he should have been allowed to have a go for the stage win today. That said, it's very, very unlikely that he would have caught Valverde.

 

[LeafCrAzY]

If I look at his last posts (only looked at one page) then I think the biggest chance he is Dutch, which means he could be Addy Engels he has 9 giro's 2 tours and 4 Vuelta (if wiki is correct) (instead of 5) so thats pretty close .

Said he was rooting for Nibali... Di Luca is Italian and has EXACT amount of GT's he said...

 

[Dr.Sahl]

Maybe he just doesn't want to help such an undeserving winner.

No one, but Brits, will ever talk about Wiggins win in the future because no one will remember it. Totally forgettable but I'm glad it helps the Brits with their self esteem issues.

They will, but the focus will be on.

He won the tour without big GC contenders.
Froome was much stronger

and the most important one.

It was the most boring tours in many years.

 

[Poursuivant]

Schlecks to astana, didnt see that coming.

 

[Grayguard]

CAS' ride today was pretty heroic imo. His fight alone made this stage worth watching.

I hope he gets a chance to make it to Paris.

 

[Morbius]

He won the tour without big GC contenders.

On this route, everyone could have been there, Froome on a different team, and Wiggins would have come second

 

[la.margna]

As a football fan I used to think football forums were the worst for bias but I actually think this is worse. Someone calling WIggins "evil", oh dear, get some perspective.

And literally, in all the time i have read these boards, at least one person has described whatever race that is on as "boring", be it Paris Roubaix, Le Tour, Giro etc. These fellers are riding at their absolute maximum up horrible mountains, but it isn't enough because an anonymous username on a forum is "bored" and wants them "to do something."

I was tired just watching them today, bit of respect is due ladies and gents.

I agree with you.

However, at the end, sports is here to create spectacle for the masses. Cycling fans want fireworks and action, so it happens sometimes that they are frustrated... And reading a few comments from riders that are absent from the Tour, there also seem to be a few bored and frustrated ones out there...

How to solve it? Avoid the creation of any too dominant teams. UCI should create not only a minimum point, but also a maximum point level for Pro Tour teams. The challenge will then be to act on the transfer market very intelligently and use your points accordingly. The nice side effect is that positive and negative extremes in rider salaries will be dampened and the size of the budget alone will not decide on the team's strength. Similar approaches like in NHL, NFL, etc. that make the league/sport less dominant by a few teams. An approach that would also be interesting for football, but won't have any chance, because fans just like the big and dominant teams. But for cycling, why not?

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Glad to see Valverde get the stage win.

Anyone hear Phil call him Allesandro? At least Phil is consistent. Hehe.

 

[la.margna]

I pay £2 a month to watch them, they should do exactly what I want them to

yeah, possibly with a remote control for every rider!

 

[Ruudz0r]

Said he was rooting for Nibali... Di Luca is Italian and has EXACT amount of GT's he said...

But Di Luca aint retired

 

[djlovesyou]

Said he was rooting for Nibali... Di Luca is Italian and has EXACT amount of GT's he said...

His English is too good to be Di Luca. I saw him interviewed at the Tour of Britain and he didn't really know very much.

 

[will10]

Holy ***, chapeau CAS.

 

[woodburn]

Watching re-air of stage. Saw Valverde took bottle with 10k to go. Is that within the legal windowl?

 

[cesko_jr]

if someone has a link of video report of todays stage...or something..tnx

 

[Machu Picchu]

Chris Froome didn't ride on his maximum. No need to be pedantic by the way.

You're right, Froome definitely gets a 'must try harder'.

 

[Magnus]

Watching re-air of stage. Saw Valverde took bottle with 10k to go. Is that within the legal windowl?

Usually 'the bar' closes at 20 km to go. But that is only concerning food/drinks from the team car afaik.

 

[Magnus]

Chris Froome didn't ride on his maximum. No need to be pedantic by the way.

He looked weaker than Wiggins at the last part of the Peyresourde climb imo.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

He looked weaker than Wiggins at the last part of the Peyresourde climb imo.

Froomey was struggling there and when he latched back on at the top, he and Wiggo were laughing, probably because Froome was struggling for about 30 secs prior to the crest. At that point they knew it was in the bag..

 

[MonteZoncolan]

The last 10 or so pages of here are full of Wiggins Froome drivel. Glad a few people mentioned CAS. Hope he doesn't lose any digits as that looks like a pretty nasty one. Good work by young Pinot. Infact quite awesome for a 22 year old.

 

[Derrick]

I must take issue with Carl0880 who claims that Walkowiak won the 56 tour because "he was given a bunch of time." In fact he finished in breaks on stages 4,5 and 6 which gained him in total around 9 minutes. He wasn't given anything. He wore the yellow on stage 7 and lost it on stage 10. On stage 11 he finished once again in a break which got back 5 minutes of his 9 minutes deficit. On stage 17 he finished ahead of both Gaul and Bahamontes on a big climbing stage and on stage 18 he climbed along side Bahamontes again to regain his yellow jersey. He finished 6th on stage 19 which was, in effect, the last climbing stage to defend his jersey. If there's anyone out there who thinks that's an unworthy winner then they need their brains tested.

 

[woodburn]

Usually 'the bar' closes at 20 km to go. But that is only concerning food/drinks from the team car afaik.

He definitely took a bottle so that's why it was a surprise.

 

[webvan]

He looked weaker than Wiggins at the last part of the Peyresourde climb imo.

And yesterday too and at one point on the Touissuire too, very strange "engine" he has there, really can't remember seeing that before. It's a good thing Wiggo is happy to have bagged the TDF because his young friend does seem to be a bit "off the wall"!

 

[LeafCrAzY]

But Di Luca aint retired

Eh? He might consider himself retired, hasnt entered anything worthwhile since 09.

His English is too good to be Di Luca. I saw him interviewed at the Tour of Britain and he didn't really know very much.

Then you might be right.

Someone else investigate.. hahaha

 

[Aguirre]

JB says: The team will continue to support Haimar Zubeldia. “Currently sitting in fifth place overall, we're setting him up nicely for his fourth career top ten overall finish in the Tour. Not many have that on their palmares!”

LOL after seeing Kloden in today's stage with Zubeldia