2018 Tour of Britain (9/2 - 9/9)

[willbick]

Re:

Gratuitous Bridge Shot

One for the Carthy family album! No need to tell anyone it was the worlds shortest attack!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

GC

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

GC

Set up nicely for Thursday and Fridays stages on the Whinlatter Pass.

 

[yaco]

Poor Cameron has lost the leaders jersey on consecutive days by a countback.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Da Gorilla is showing Lotto why he is better than Ewan

 

[yaco]

Ewan struggles without Mezgec - Its always been Kluge gets him into position with 1km to go and then Mezgec guides to the last 300 metres - 2019 will be an interesting year for Ewan.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Ewan struggles without Mezgec - Its always been Kluge gets him into position with 1km to go and then Mezgec guides to the last 300 metres - 2019 will be an interesting year for Ewan.

Yes I agree, though today I think it was more a case of him just not having the legs, he was struggling at the back of the bunch on the final hill, he possibly went too deep staying with the lead group yesterday.

 

[Pricey_sky]

The Whinlatter pass that is taken from the easier western side in tomorrow's TTT, and the shorter and steeper eastern side on Friday's summit finish.

Stage 5:

Stage 6:

 

[Lequack]

So it's BMC vs Sky?

 

[Nirvana]

A lot of people "declared" Greipel done only looking at the Tour and Suisse but probably he was only suffering for the contract feud with Lotto new manager, at the beginning of the season he was good in TDU and he was riding his best Sanremo ever (after the Poggio he was in the first positions of the group when he crashed due to Nibali bottle, something he was never able to do before), then he returned from the injury at Dunquerke and won the only sprint he contested before soloing to win the hilly/cobbled stage and won two stages at Belgium Tour.
Now after the announcement of his new team he returned to a very good level, I don't think it's only a coincidence, even if I think Fortuneo choice was a mistake, he will probably be forced to miss spring classics and a lot of WT races and I can't see an actual lead out looking at Fortuneo roster.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

So it's BMC vs Sky?

More than likely but I can't see past BMC with Froome and Thomas not in the best form, I also wouldn't rule out Quickstep in their current mood. Tuft not riding is a huge blow to Mitchelton's chances who will surely ship some time and end Meyer's GC ambition.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re:

A lot of people "declared" Greipel done only looking at the Tour and Suisse but probably he was only suffering for the contract feud with Lotto new manager, at the beginning of the season he was good in TDU and he was riding his best Sanremo ever (after the Poggio he was in the first positions of the group when he crashed due to Nibali bottle, something he was never able to do before), then he returned from the injury at Dunquerke and won the only sprint he contested before soloing to win the hilly/cobbled stage and won two stages at Belgium Tour.
Now after the announcement of his new team he returned to a very good level, I don't think it's only a coincidence, even if I think Fortuneo choice was a mistake, he will probably be forced to miss spring classics and a lot of WT races and I can't see an actual lead out looking at Fortuneo roster.

That's why they just signed Robert Wagner from LottoNL as leadout man for Greipel.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

So it's BMC vs Sky?

More than likely but I can't see past BMC with Froome and Thomas not in the best form, I also wouldn't rule out Quickstep in their current mood. Tuft not riding is a huge blow to Mitchelton's chances who will surely ship some time and end Meyer's GC ambition.

Lotto-Jumbo is a proper dark horse as well. Roglic, Van Emden, Powless, Bouwman, Wynants and Eenkhorn.

They might have too many heavy guys though. Is it 4th rider across that counts?

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

So it's BMC vs Sky?

More than likely but I can't see past BMC with Froome and Thomas not in the best form, I also wouldn't rule out Quickstep in their current mood. Tuft not riding is a huge blow to Mitchelton's chances who will surely ship some time and end Meyer's GC ambition.

Lotto-Jumbo is a proper dark horse as well. Roglic, Van Emden, Powless, Bouwman, Wynants and Eenkhorn.

They might have too many heavy guys though. Is it 4th rider across that counts?

Yes I’m sure I heard the commentary team confirm it was 4th rider across that counts when they were talking about the TTT.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Is the odd jersey in the Madison Genesis line Conor Swift? I wouldn't expect RR champion to wear national colours in a TTT.

And it looks very red, rather than the usual white with blue and red bands.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I'm wondering. Why is Ethan Hayter riding for the national team here? Should he not be riding for SKY, where he's stagiaire?

 

[luckyboy]

Re:

Is the odd jersey in the Madison Genesis line Conor Swift? I wouldn't expect RR champion to wear national colours in a TTT.

And it looks very red, rather than the usual white with blue and red bands.

Matt Holmes is the intermediate sprints leader (red jersey).

 

[TourOfSardinia]

lol froome dropped

 

[luckyboy]

TTTs suckkkk

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Is the odd jersey in the Madison Genesis line Conor Swift? I wouldn't expect RR champion to wear national colours in a TTT.

And it looks very red, rather than the usual white with blue and red bands.

Matt Holmes is the intermediate sprints leader (red jersey).

Thanks: PCS don't show that category, so I was a bit confused.

 

[luckyboy]

Damn, Katusha

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

You wouldn't expect Kung to be the limiting factor in a TTT. Had he done a ridiculous proportion of the work early on?

 

[TourOfSardinia]

this is the only kind of Team TT that makes sense to me.

 

[luckyboy]

Poor ride from BMC and especially EF-Drapac, who finished behind 3 UK Conti teams...

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Tomorrow, it will be 'pays basque' time for Alaphilippe after what happened in Itzulia this year