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

[T-Nielsen]

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

I think that rule is often suspended on mountaintop finishes because of the time the last 20 km will take.

 

[Carl0880]

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.

What I said was he was one of the worse winners, the next paragraph I mentioned that he was a deserving winner. There is a difference. He earned that win by hanging on to the jersey. Several times he gain times in break, if Gaul and Bahamontas seriously thought he could stay with them on the climbs, he would have never been afforded the luxury of those breaks. Never before or after he showed the same abilities in the mountains. By my recollections of readings, I think only one other time he even finished in the Top 20 of a Grand Tour, which was the Vuelta a year or 2 later in which he won a stage in.

HE by far earned it and he prove he deserved it in those final stages, but if you go through and rank all the Tour winners in order, just about all historians put him towards the bottom of those list. Just like Periero, they both saw their once in a lifetime opprtunity and took advantage of it.

 

[Red Rick]

I find that hard to believe....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danilo_Di_Luca

Has the exact same amount of GT's you listed....

And Di Luca's first name is "Danilo" and your username is "Danilot"

Yeah, the forum has a new discussion when the tour podium is set.
First: Di Luca isn't retierd yet
Second: i don't think Di Luca resides in Barcelona
Third: I don't think Di Luca is good at English nor do I think he'd register on an English-speaking forum.
fourth: Give the man some privacy

 

[The Sheep]

I only said Di Luca because it was the first name that popped in to my head seeing his username and then went on wiki and saw it was the exact amount of GT's.

 

[T-Nielsen]

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

Why listen to the man on his way out.

 

[qwerty16]

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

Not much to lol about really. They had to keep the team GC in mind and as soon Monfort dropped he pulled Zubeldia, who is set up for a top ten finish like JB said.

 

[saunaking]

man the reaction on here is just funny and sad

I'm not a sky fan but they are just kicking *** and taking names this year. Nibali today?? LOLZ (btw great tactics Liqigas, worked as well as when you used them in the giro )

Froome had a chance last year to leave sky and be his own man.
He made a choice to ride for sky knowing full well he would be working for wiggo at the tour.

There is no certainty that Froome could have won this tour by attacking his leader anyway, especially today.

Wiggins is having a beast of a year
PN, Romandie, Dauphine and now the Tour
Has a shot at Olympic and/or WC gold in the ITT

 

[SuperH-]

Froome is the only one to blame and not team Sky , he decided to go for money with Sky and could have easily been the leader elsewhere for less money. Still a shame tho, id prefer watching Froome explode everybody including his little baby wiggins

 

[kjetilraknerud]

The discussion during the stage was quite I'd say, but now I come back after dinner and a two hour ride and all I find is six pages of silly fan posts, name calling and other crap. Get a grip.

 

[HoinkDoink]

Mark Cavendish ‏@MarkCavendish

Thanks to the *** who crashed me at 3km to go today by waving his flag so it wrapped round my handlebars. Bike's broke. Leg's swollen.

 

[TRDean]

man the reaction on here is just funny and sad

I'm not a sky fan but they are just kicking *** and taking names this year. Nibali today?? LOLZ (btw great tactics Liqigas, worked as well as when you used them in the giro )

Froome had a chance last year to leave sky and be his own man.
He made a choice to ride for sky knowing full well he would be working for wiggo at the tour.

There is no certainty that Froome could have won this tour by attacking his leader anyway, especially today.

Wiggins is having a beast of a year
PN, Romandie, Dauphine and now the Tour
Has a shot at Olympic and/or WC gold in the ITT

I know its been said by others...but jeez looking at Wiggins sickens me! Dude looks disgustingly thin. Not trying to be ignorant here..but just gotta say it!

 

[Climbing]

I wouldn't bet on that. I think the reason for Sky running like a machine is that they don't alow riders to make personal decisions at 190bpm But who knows...

190 bpm is almost my average in XCO racing.

 

[robert_c]

Sky 1-2 secured. Brilliant stuff. Would Froome have taken at least 2 minutes on Wiggo today? Don't think so.

Maybe not, but a minute here and a minute there and a minute in the last ITT and Froome drinks sweet Champagne in Paris. Now it will taste like bitter team orders.


I actually like team orders when used correctly. When it was clear Froome was better than Wiggins, the team should have let Froome have a go at it. Let the ITT decide who wins.

 

[woodburn]

Maybe not, but a minute here and a minute there and a minute in the last ITT and Froome drinks sweet Champagne in Paris. Now it will taste like bitter team orders.


I actually like team orders when used correctly. When it was clear Froome was better than Wiggins, the team should have let Froome have a go at it. Let the ITT decide who wins.

Just glad Contador had the balls to attack Armstrong, rather than worry about team orders. If you are the best rider, you ride for win. You think LeMond regrets 85? Would be Froome will always regret this year.

 

[guncha]

Congrats to Wiggins. He has deserved this win.
Sky were better than Nibali today. With today's performance it was more likely Nibali not Wiggins would have cracked in Tour with five proper mountain stages. At least it makes no sense to watch ITT on Saturday.
Maybe superior climbers could have saved this Tour. But it could be hard even for Contador to break Sky on this route.

 

[LeafCrAzY]

Yeah, the forum has a new discussion when the tour podium is set.
First: Di Luca isn't retierd yet
Second: i don't think Di Luca resides in Barcelona
Third: I don't think Di Luca is good at English nor do I think he'd register on an English-speaking forum.
fourth: Give the man some privacy

Give the man some privacy... he posted his exact GT's on the internet, what does he expect?

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Well said, I find it really sad that you can call Wiggins "evil" and "scum" which is totally ignored by the so-called moderators, but as soon as someone celebrates a Sky win they come down like a ton of bricks.

This "so-called moderator" has not seen a posting calling Wiggins "evil" and "scum", nor has it been reported. Please report it.

And one can celebrate a victory without resorting to vulgarities and insults.

Susan (so-called)

 

[Derrick]

Unfortunately your response to my post regarding Walkowiak does not bear examination Carl 0880. You claim that had Gaul and Bahamontes known that Walkowiak would climb with them, and in one instance outclimb them, they would never have let him go. Nonsense. Not only had Bahamontes and Gaul let him go but they had also let half the field go because by stage 11 they were respectively 35th at 48-29 and 37th at 51-58. Not only had they not chased Walko but neither had they chased all the favourites, Ockers, Nencini, Lauredi, Forestier, Defilipis,Adriaensens. All the stars . If they didn't chase them why would they chase Walko, an unheard of provincial rider.

The win was not popular with the journalists because he was not a hero and much was made of the fact that 2nd man Gilbert Bauvin did not attack him because not only was he a trade team mate but they also shared a room during the tour. If you check the daily result sheets you'll find he was always placed to the fore and on all but one day {I think} was exactly where he should have been. If Wiggins had won in such a fashion we would all be saying what a great ride he'd done.

 

[Bala Verde]

Don't know if this was mentioned already:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/07/19/sports/cycling/19reuters-cycling-tour-schar.html?hp

BMC Rider Run Over by Doctor's Car
By REUTERS
Published: July 19, 2012 at 3:06 PM ET

PEYRAGUDES, France (Reuters) - Swiss BMC rider Michael Schar was run over by the doctor's car and sustained cuts and bruises during the 17th stage of the Tour de France cycle race on Thursday, his team said.

The incident occurred on the ascent to the Port de Bales 110 kms into the stage, Tour organizers said in a statement.

"Schar has minor cuts on his right knee and an elbow injury that will need further evaluation," team doctor Max Testa was quoted as saying in a BMC statement.

 

[jilbiker]

Just glad Contador had the balls to attack Armstrong, rather than worry about team orders. If you are the best rider, you ride for win. You think LeMond regrets 85? Would be Froome will always regret this year.

We cannot compare AC's situation with Froome. AC was already a 3 time GT winner, he had earned the right to attack whoever in that team. Hinuat was also a multiple GT winner so had every right to attack whoever. Froome has not won even one GT, so toe the line

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just glad Contador had the balls to attack Armstrong, rather than worry about team orders. If you are the best rider, you ride for win. You think LeMond regrets 85? Would be Froome will always regret this year.

We cannot compare AC's situation with Froome. AC was already a 3 time GT winner, he had earned the right to attack whoever in that team. Hinuat was also a multiple GT winner so had every right to attack whoever. Froome has not won even one GT, so toe the line

Contador was also the designated leader; Armstrong the "unpaid" gate crasher and general sh*t stirrer, who had previously attacked Contador on stage 4.

Bottom line to all: Even if Froome had "attacked" Wiggins, both today and on stage 11, he'd still be in second place, about a minute behind, with the flat ITT to come.
(cue the 1 minute odd lost to the stage 3 wheel change moan)

Sour grapes have declared a bumper crop, this year.

 

[Dead Star]

It's like being punched by your doctor during a checkup. Ouch.

 

[robert_c]

ROFL U GUYS HAD TO SEE WIGGINS INTERVIEW ON FRENCH TV. He stated that FRoome was trying to motivate him to gain more time , he then stated that Froome can win the tour de france one day. And he admitted Froome is better than him on the mountains. ROFL he seemed so ****ing weak and he didnt know what to say.

I commend Wiggins honesty.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Guts:

 

[Pricey_sky]

Contador was also the designated leader; Armstrong the "unpaid" gate crasher and general sh*t stirrer, who had previously attacked Contador on stage 4.

Bottom line to all: Even if Froome had "attacked" Wiggins, both today and on stage 11, he'd still be in second place, about a minute behind, with the flat ITT to come.
(cue the 1 minute odd lost to the stage 3 wheel change moan)

Sour grapes have declared a bumper crop, this year.

I agree, personally I don't mind which of the Sky duo win but after Froome lost all that time early in the tour and with 2 long TT's to ride Wiggins was the main man.

Froome may have attacked and gained 30 seconds here or there but with a long 51km TT which plays even more into Wiggos strengths then he could easily go over a minute quicker than Froome. Wiggins probably only has to go at 80% on Saturday to win the stage such is his dominance.