Pre Tour de France-thread

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Bernal at Tdf, that's excellent! :razz:
On Sunday,15th of July we will first have 9th stage of Tour and after that a final of Football WC..

Denmark winning both?

That would be a surprise.





I like surprises.

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.velonews.com/2018/06/news/bardet-froome-take-early-peek-at-alpe-dhuez_469466

Tour de France favorites Chris Froome (Sky) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) both checked out the Alpe d’Huez summit this week in training.

They might have even passed each other Wednesday on cycling’s most famous switchbacks.

Less than a month from the start of the 2018 Tour, the protagonists are busy preparing for the season’s grand tour battle across France.

Froome, hot off his dramatic and controversial victory at the Giro d’Italia, is already in the Alps scouting out some of the decisive climbs the peloton will face next month. Earlier this week, Froome posted a photo on Twitter during a training ride with teammate Wout Poels on the key climbs of stage 11. On Wednesday, the pair rode up the famed 21 switchbacks of Alpe d’Huez, which will be featured in stage 12 this year.

As predicted, by yours truely, Dawg likes those iconic climbs & if you remember the Giro, it'll be "full spin cycle" on stage 12.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

That looks serious. I hope they can repair it in time, because it's an important stage.

It depends, if they come up with something better I don't really hope so, but on the other hand, I don't trust them to do that. And such a stage which hopefully encourages action already on Tourmalet seems to be a thing of the past.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

http://www.velonews.com/2018/06/news/bardet-froome-take-early-peek-at-alpe-dhuez_469466

Tour de France favorites Chris Froome (Sky) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) both checked out the Alpe d’Huez summit this week in training.

They might have even passed each other Wednesday on cycling’s most famous switchbacks.

Less than a month from the start of the 2018 Tour, the protagonists are busy preparing for the season’s grand tour battle across France.

Froome, hot off his dramatic and controversial victory at the Giro d’Italia, is already in the Alps scouting out some of the decisive climbs the peloton will face next month. Earlier this week, Froome posted a photo on Twitter during a training ride with teammate Wout Poels on the key climbs of stage 11. On Wednesday, the pair rode up the famed 21 switchbacks of Alpe d’Huez, which will be featured in stage 12 this year.

As predicted, by yours truely, Dawg likes those iconic climbs & if you remember the Giro, it'll be "full spin cycle" on stage 12.

Love it.
Froome winning on ALPE D’HUEZ would be the coolest thing.
He's won on Zoncolan, Ventoux. He has to conquer Alpe and Angliru.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Bernal at Tdf, that's excellent! :razz:
On Sunday,15th of July we will first have 9th stage of Tour and after that a final of Football WC..

Denmark winning both?

Ups, Denmark will be beaten by Argentina in 1/8...
9th stage - of course won by Rafał 'The Braveheart' Majka, WC Final with Lewandowski hat-trick

We'll see..... the team has not lost for 15 matches in a row, so no reason to start losing at the World Cup

9th stage - Fuglsang will take that one - with him and Valgren demolishing all the GC guys (except maybe Nibali and Dumoulin) on the cobbles.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Btw, for those that haven't noticed..... live TV coverage starts at 14.45 today

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Btw, for those that haven't noticed..... live TV coverage starts at 14.45 today

Has the TdF already begun?! :razz:

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Btw, for those that haven't noticed..... live TV coverage starts at 14.45 today

Has the TdF already begun?! :razz:

If it had, Porte's form would be well timed

 

[Robert5091]

http://inrng.com/2018/06/thursday-shorts-26/#more-33724

See the “B” on the profile above? This is another novelty in the Tour de France rules for 2018 is the “bonus point”, an intermediate sprint with no points for the points competition but instead with time bonuses of 3-2-1 seconds for the first three riders to the point and only for the first nine stages. It’s designed to spice up the race for the yellow jersey a bit more, but what chance the Stage 3 team time trial sees the GC prised apart with large gaps?

Yawn .... zzzz ....

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Sanchez confirmed today, that he is riding the TdF for Fuglsang, in an interview with Esciclismo.com.

So, the team looks like being:

Fuglsang, Kangert, Cataldo, Sanchez, Valgren, Fraile, Hansen and Cort

Would surprise me, if they put in a team entirely without kazaks.... but that is how it looks at this point in time, with Sanchez saying like he does...... I'm guessing it is due to TTT fears ahead of the tour, that both Kangert and Sanchez are late additions to the squad.

Pretty strong team IMO - provided Fuglsang can stay on his bike this time around

 

[Alexandre B.]

Pinot out, Gaudu in.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Pinot out, Gaudu in.

Wuhu! Gaudu and Bernal showdown!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Fuglsang hasn't finished in the top 10 in the GC since 2013.
He's a real longshot for a top 10.
Forgot about Majka & Kelderman, they could be dark horses for the Top 5.

Still won't include Fuglsang in your top 25?

 

[silvergrenade]

Q, LRP, G, Uran are ready.
Froome will be.
Bring.It.On.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

http://inrng.com/2018/06/thursday-shorts-26/#more-33724

See the “B” on the profile above? This is another novelty in the Tour de France rules for 2018 is the “bonus point”, an intermediate sprint with no points for the points competition but instead with time bonuses of 3-2-1 seconds for the first three riders to the point and only for the first nine stages. It’s designed to spice up the race for the yellow jersey a bit more, but what chance the Stage 3 team time trial sees the GC prised apart with large gaps?

Yawn .... zzzz ....

Those will most likely be eaten up by whoever is in the break. If you've got the full field for one of these, I can see Valverde going after and maybe some teams sending riders who can sprint (LL Sanchez maybe) to try to keep other GC guys from both getting the bonus seconds and to keep most of them from even thinking about it.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Think those bonus seconds won't be for the GC specialists but rather for the GC no-hopes that are near the front during the first week to snatch yellow for a day or two.

 

[johnymax]

Is it just me or is this year's Tour shaping to be full of potential protagonists GC wise. A lot more than in previous years. Many interesting stories. Froome's double attempt, Tom's double, the Movistar trio, Porte to finally shine through 3 weeks, Sky's domestics (Thomas and Bernal) waiting to take over from Froome, Nibali beeing himself, Uran and Bardet to take the final step to the top, see if Roglič can compete in GTs, Fuglsang going extremely well, Zakarin's first try at Tour GC, will Adam repeat the performance of his brother, and so on and so on...
It's going to be great. I can sense it.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

No, after the first 9 days, you will have:

-25% of top GC candidates down due to a mass fall
-another 25% already in an impossble position due to time loss on a tiny hill, the TTT or the cobbles, or a combination of all

That leaves 50% of the main protoganists, if we are lucky (Remember the Nibali Tour, it was even less then).. And of that 50% another 25% will peak too early / have a complete off day.

 

[johnymax]

So according to your logic...of 25 possible main protagonists GC wise you'll have 40%, that's 10 riders, still in contention for the top spots in the most important stages. Still looks good to me

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I agree the tour is shaping up great

Sky and BMC will have a distinct advantage on the TTT, but conversely, Froome and Porte will struggle on the cobbles (Thomas may be the apparent captain starting stage 10 and Porte reduced to chasing stages).

Especially if we get rain on the Roubaix stage, this tour can blow completely up already then, with GC favorites losing 15-20 minutes on that one stage.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Danish commentators said today at the TdS TT, that Fuglsang was riding an old TT bike, because his new one was delayed in shipping, so arguably, his TT should be better at the tour

Also got the little tidbit on EF and Astana, that they are both going on TTT training camp, with their tour squads, later this week - seems a lot of teams have full focus on that stage.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Danish commentators said today at the TdS TT, that Fuglsang was riding an old TT bike, because his new one was delayed in shipping, so arguably, his TT should be better at the tour

Also got the little tidbit on EF and Astana, that they are both going on TTT training camp, with their tour squads, later this week - seems a lot of teams have full focus on that stage.

Makes sense as a team could lose the Tour on that stage. No one is going to win it there though.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

So according to your logic...of 25 possible main protagonists GC wise you'll have 40%, that's 10 riders, still in contention for the top spots in the most important stages. Still looks good to me

No, not according to my logic.

According to what happens nearly every year. Past results.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Danish commentators said today at the TdS TT, that Fuglsang was riding an old TT bike, because his new one was delayed in shipping, so arguably, his TT should be better at the tour

Also got the little tidbit on EF and Astana, that they are both going on TTT training camp, with their tour squads, later this week - seems a lot of teams have full focus on that stage.

From what I've heard the Argon TT bikes aren't as good as the best TT bikes, he should be faster on a better TT bike.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

So according to your logic...of 25 possible main protagonists GC wise you'll have 40%, that's 10 riders, still in contention for the top spots in the most important stages. Still looks good to me

No, not according to my logic.

According to what happens nearly every year. Past results.

You are both right

Incidentally.... I predict the Vuelta is going to be crazy this year.

Every GT captain and lieutenant will be there, because they all need the Vuelta, to get ready for the World Championships.

Only Froome and Dumoulin may opt out, having already done 2 GTs.