2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Martin

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Though a nice gesture I thought it was more a "sorry mate, but we out-played you today," then a "well- done" pat on the back for me.

Either way I wouldn't call it unecessary

I thought it was rather disrespectful (as did my dad who only cheers for Gesink and Mollema).

 

[Ruby United]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

You know, I don't like froome, I don't make a secret of it but at the moment I am only sad that again we probably wont see a big fight for gc this year. To watch this race was just frustrating and even if you are a froome fan you have to consider admit that today wasnt a good day for this tour.

Yes. First MTF and the battle for GC is dead. I had delusions of a grand battle to this very day, despite the signs pointing to Froome being dominant quite strongly.

Froome and Sky delivered a performance that has surpassed my wildest fears and hyperbolic predictions made in jest.

I'm done watching this year.

Acting like the only point of interest is who finished first in the final GC is really no better than the behavior of mythical July Sky fans who are so often discussed here like modern day reds under the bed.

as if sky fans are the only ones who come out in July. long before sky the interest in cycling peaked for the tour, more than all other races combined (though obviously not the hardcore). saying that sky fans are glory hunters just makes you sound foolish and bitter.

As someone who lives in Britain, I can say that nearly no importance is put on any other races besides the Tour. But when the Tour comes around BBC and others have live commentary and text, and more people can be seen cycling in the streets.

Is this because the British only care about the Tour or does this happen in other countries?

I would assume that 'cycling' countries, such as France, Italy and Spain have a bigger year round support of cycling, though a country like America, for example, would have been very similar during the Lance days, only caring about the Tour.

Whether that is glory or just natural support for a countryman, I don't know.
But I know I do the same for other sports

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

With all the parallels to 2013 we shouldn't forget that sky was extremely bad one day later. However back then nobody could really benefit from that but maybe, just maybe froome will loose time tomorrow. That is almost the only possibility how the battle for 1st could become interesting again.

Gonna need to be a lot more thanone bad day

Also I assume you are talking about Alpe d'huez (not Bagneres de Bigorre), either way, Froome's time loss was minimal and due to a freakish car accident.
If your talking about Bagneres de Bigorren stage then I'm seriously worried, as Froome out-rode Movistar and (the then) Saxo-Tinkoff

I said that sky had a bad day, not froome. Moreover tomorrow it could be about descending so froomes great shape wont be as important as on a mtf

 

[MrTea1976]

No idea if this will work but.....
https://www.strava.com/activities/345923267

It's Robert Gesink's Strava file from today.

 

[Squirbos_19]

Australia is another country that only cares about the Tour and the tour down under. But if an Aussie rider is doing good then there's a (very) short mention of it in the news. Like when Gerrans won Liege last year, the state-wide news had literally 10 seconds on it:
"Yesterday Auusie rider Simon Gerrans won Leege baston leege" -pronounced like that.

The Giro this year was only mentioned because of Porte, Matthews and when Simon Clarke thought he won the stage, actually that last one got the most attention of them all.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

well, probably it's time to say froome was seriously being underrated by the forums. monstrous ride

That's literally not true. I for one have been posting from the opening TT that Froome is clearly the strongest.

Sky persecution complex.

You are not all of the forum though...

I think 90% of the posters thought Froome would go full genius

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

Sometimes I wonder why some riders are always capable of being at their best when they have too and others are not even close to where they were last year.

Ofcourse so many things play a role in this, but is it really just a mentality issue?
So I'm exclusing crashes and sickness here.

Also the mental part plays a huge role. Nibali crashes once, loses time in the wind. Ttt didnt go that well... It seems that stuff like that goes into someones mind. Just like lil richie at the giro.
Not to mention Pinot....

Cycling can be impossible to predict as even the riders themselves don't know if they can go well
But it is clear to me that the man factor is mental . Many are too willing to stop fighting if not going well or ease up on training etc for another day , etc

Of course you need the ability but most in top 30 have it but to win a GT the mental side is the most important because that will get you through the problems , the set back and keep the hope alive

If cycling teaches us anything it teaches us nothing is certain or a foregone conclusion and each day has new possibilities

Froome & SKY look unbeatable but they are not. They have been beaten before and can be again
The Tour looks sown up but it is not ...one bad day for Froome could turn it all around

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

I'm sure you're right. I haven't quite understood the forum's "he's better so I hope he loses" ideology yet.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

I can't help thinking about the comments from the past year that said Froome isn't a climber. I wonder if those posters still think Froome's not a climber?

I wonder who said that. That's just ridiculous.

I think the point was people said he was a well-rounded GC guy but not as good at out and out climbing as Quintana.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

I'm sure you're right. I haven't quite understood the forum's "he's better so I hope he loses" ideology yet.

Contador is popular and was popular even when no one could beat him. Same for Nibali. You'll have to find an explanation for the amount of dislike elsewhere....

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

I thought results like this only happened in PCM. I guess I would have G jump Valverde in the end though.

No, G seems to be a classy guy and there was no need to outsprint him.

That pat on the back was completely unnecessary though.

Though a nice gesture I thought it was more a "sorry mate, but we out-played you today," then a "well- done" pat on the back for me.

Either way I wouldn't call it unecessary

That wasnt a nice gesture. It was a Lance on Pantani-pat on the shoulder which clearly made Pirata furious. As Valverde has a history with Sky i'm sure it was made with belittling purposes.

 

[sir fly]

Fedrigo finished just below 12 minutes behind, if anyone asks.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Re: Re:

But hoped he would fail, and while winking. I would conservatively say the posts I read on this forum are about 65% anti-Sky/Froome.

Yes, they hoped he would fail. That doesn't mean they were underrating him

I hope I pass my exam, that does not mean I expect to pass it

In the weeks leading up to the Tour, this whole forum was completely underrating Froome. Just go take a look at some of the threads. Everyone was saying he was done, that he'd never repeat 2013 Tour, that the intense training had depleted him, yada yada. A few of us predicted full genius Froome (something I did not want but was certain would happen) but most did not. Not until he dominated his rivals in a flat sprint, a flat day with a crosswind, a super steep mountain sprint, and the cobbles.

 

[postmanhat]

Re:

I'm no fan of Froome or the Sky approach for that matter but the placed riders suggests this was as much about poor rides from Bertie, Nibbles etc than the utter domination the bare result implies. Good ride from Ten Dam given the state he was in a week ago.

Exactly. Most of the big GC names were in trouble between 8 and 10k. Froome beating Quintana by a minute isn't 'out of this world'. He was only a couple of minutes ahead of Yates and Gallopin.

Fantastic stage

 

[manafana]

so anyone know why the crowds where so sparse today?

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

so anyone know why the crowds where so sparse today?

Those gimps running in front of Froome need headlocking

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Re:

I thought results like this only happened in PCM. I guess I would have G jump Valverde in the end though.

No, G seems to be a classy guy and there was no need to outsprint him.

What about the two WT points?

 

[postmanhat]

Re: Re:

I thought results like this only happened in PCM. I guess I would have G jump Valverde in the end though.

No, G seems to be a classy guy and there was no need to outsprint him.

That pat on the back was completely unnecessary though.

Though a nice gesture I thought it was more a "sorry mate, but we out-played you today," then a "well- done" pat on the back for me.

Either way I wouldn't call it unecessary

That wasnt a nice gesture. It was a Lance on Pantani-pat on the shoulder which clearly made Pirata furious. As Valverde has a history with Sky i'm sure it was made with belittling purposes.

It never took much to make Pantani furious, and Valverde would whine if his winning lottery numbers came out in the wrong order

 

[Vasilis]

Re:

Fedrigo finished just below 12 minutes behind, if anyone asks.

I expected him to finish 10 minutes down, but thought the initial gap at the bottom of the climb would be bigger.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Fedrigo finished just below 12 minutes behind, if anyone asks.

I expected him to finish 10 minutes down, but thought the initial gap at the bottom of the climb would be bigger.

Around a minute per kilometer he's been losing since the moment he was caught.
There was a discussion how much the breakaway needs before the climb. Now we have some hints for the coming days.

 

[del1962]

Re: 2015 tour d'france stage 10: Tarbes › La Pierre-Saint-Ma

You know, I don't like froome, I don't make a secret of it but at the moment I am only sad that again we probably wont see a big fight for gc this year. To watch this race was just frustrating and even if you are a froome fan you have to consider admit that today wasnt a good day for this tour.

Yes. First MTF and the battle for GC is dead. I had delusions of a grand battle to this very day, despite the signs pointing to Froome being dominant quite strongly.

Froome and Sky delivered a performance that has surpassed my wildest fears and hyperbolic predictions made in jest.

I'm done watching this year.

Bit like last years tour after the crashes for you then

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

I thought results like this only happened in PCM. I guess I would have G jump Valverde in the end though.

No, G seems to be a classy guy and there was no need to outsprint him.

That pat on the back was completely unnecessary though.

Though a nice gesture I thought it was more a "sorry mate, but we out-played you today," then a "well- done" pat on the back for me.

Either way I wouldn't call it unecessary

That wasnt a nice gesture. It was a Lance on Pantani-pat on the shoulder which clearly made Pirata furious. As Valverde has a history with Sky i'm sure it was made with belittling purposes.

Lol, it was such an evil gesture, ok mate.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

so anyone know why the crowds where so sparse today?

Access was strictly closed since the weekend to any private wheeled vehicle, and that also included bikes. Everyone knows that 14th of July is France's National Day, but 13th of July is also a big festive day in the region, when farmers of the French side pay three cows in tribute to the farmers of the Spanish side following a centuries old tradition.

http://www.turismo.navarra.es/eng/organice-viaje/recurso/Ocioycultura/3996/Tributo-de-las-Tres-Vacas.htm

 

[Ruby United]

Re: Re:

Fedrigo finished just below 12 minutes behind, if anyone asks.

I expected him to finish 10 minutes down, but thought the initial gap at the bottom of the climb would be bigger.

Around a minute per kilometer he's been losing since the moment he was caught.
There was a discussion how much the breakaway needs before the climb. Now we have some hints for the coming days.

We do? Fedrigo clearly did not go 100 per cent for the rest of the climb!

6 minutes would have easily been enough imo