Tour de France 2017. stage 1: Düsseldorf, 14 km itt

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

It wasn't even that Froome was that good. He was on his level, not anything special.

The rest was just really bad.
I mean cmon, Gesink was faster than Porte, Quintana and Contador... they simply did very very poorly

Valverde's crash probably affected Porte's ride considering they had to move him off the course, and probably spooked the others. Froome was confident enough and had obviously done his homework. It wasn't a devastating ride, but solid when compared to the rest.

The thing is though I don't think you tell the riders until after they finished that Valverde crashed no?

Especially for Quintana I reckon it's best you keep him in the dark until after he's completed his run.

 

[Asero831]

Ion crashed in the same corner as Bala's fall.

 

[bigcog]

Re:

A lot of people on twitter questioning Sky's kit saying it's illegal.
Before the stage too, but more now.

Nobody's saying what's wrong with it, they all just talk as if it's obvious.
Well, it's not obvious to me.

Anything to have a pop at them basically.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

Sky with 4 riders in top 10.

They came to the race ready, is everyone else?

Too ready, I would say...

I would say.. chapeau to them. But it's a 3 weeks long... anything can happen. Who da' thought that Valverde with a succesful season just crashed and out of the race on the first day?.. exactly. Still long way. But if the other GC contenders don't start attacking Froome, then this is going another Tour boredom.

 

[bedders50]

Cue all the Sky haters.

The other GC contenders clearly took it too easily.

Froome used to get flack for not being able to handle a bike. Now he'll get flack for being part of a boring team dominating the Tour despite having the guts to out-perform most of his rivals here in awful conditions.

Really pleased for Geraint. Makes for an interesting dilemma for Team Sky from here on in.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

A lot of people on twitter questioning Sky's kit saying it's illegal.
Before the stage too, but more now.

Nobody's saying what's wrong with it, they all just talk as if it's obvious.
Well, it's not obvious to me.

I think its the lumps on the upper arms.

Chris Boardman suggested it was technically against the rules, though he also implied that it was a rule a lot of people break

Thank you!

 

[markene2]

Ion is DNF, will Bahrain ride for Brajko now?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Congratulations to Thomas, but from the point of view of those hoping for an entertaining Tour this was an ominous start. There is now no team with a second rider able to challenge the Sky domestiques in the mountains, bar possibly Astana. And the reigning champion has a meaningful lead already.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

A lot of people on twitter questioning Sky's kit saying it's illegal.
Before the stage too, but more now.

Nobody's saying what's wrong with it, they all just talk as if it's obvious.
Well, it's not obvious to me.

Names on the back of the jerseys was done by IAM cycling a few year ago and UCI said nope, illegal.

Sky do it and UCI say great idea.

This has already been discussed; names in and of themselves wasn't illegal, but where they placed them was.

 

[Alexandre B.]

GC guys (those who said so)

Froome
Yates +25"
Porte +35"
Quintana +36"
Majka +37"
Talansky +37"
D. Martin +37"
Bardet +39"
Aru +40"
Contador +42"
Fuglsang +42"
Meintjes +01'00"
Chaves +01'01"

 

[TomLPC]

Re: Re:

A lot of people on twitter questioning Sky's kit saying it's illegal.
Before the stage too, but more now.

Nobody's saying what's wrong with it, they all just talk as if it's obvious.
Well, it's not obvious to me.

I think its the lumps on the upper arms.

Chris Boardman suggested it was technically against the rules, though he also implied that it was a rule a lot of people break and the UCI doesn't care

From what I heard, as long as they aren't an addition to the kit i.e an added attatchment but part of the actual weave as they are, then you can get away with it

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

It wasn't even that Froome was that good. He was on his level, not anything special.

The rest was just really bad.
I mean cmon, Gesink was faster than Porte, Quintana and Contador... they simply did very very poorly

Valverde's crash probably affected Porte's ride considering they had to move him off the course, and probably spooked the others. Froome was confident enough and had obviously done his homework. It wasn't a devastating ride, but solid when compared to the rest.

Porte was ahaed of Valverde, I doubt he heard about the crash. If someone was affected, it's the riders that went later.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

It wasn't even that Froome was that good. He was on his level, not anything special.

The rest was just really bad.
I mean cmon, Gesink was faster than Porte, Quintana and Contador... they simply did very very poorly

Even Demare did as well as many of the GC guys.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

It wasn't even that Froome was that good. He was on his level, not anything special.

The rest was just really bad.
I mean cmon, Gesink was faster than Porte, Quintana and Contador... they simply did very very poorly

Valverde's crash probably affected Porte's ride considering they had to move him off the course, and probably spooked the others. Froome was confident enough and had obviously done his homework. It wasn't a devastating ride, but solid when compared to the rest.

The thing is though I don't think you tell the riders until after they finished that Valverde crashed no?

Especially for Quintana I reckon it's best you keep him in the dark until after he's completed his run.

Porte would've seen it because it would've affected his line. I'm pretty sure the DS of Aru and Contador (who are prone to taking risks and crashing) would have told them to take it easy on corners.

 

[silvergrenade]

Wow!
Feel great for G.
His back was against the wall. He moved on, picked himself up, he adapted, he overcame.
Chapeau!

 

[RattaKuningas]

As I said earlier I had a feeling that Froome was going to do well eventhough he had bad Dauphine (for his standards).
I am also rather happy than unhappy for Contador because he managed to stay on the bike in the very slippery conditions and it was obvious that he wasn't taking risks in the corners. As long as Contador stays on the bike everything is okay.

 

[bigcog]

Re:

Looks like TTT's will be hold until Froome retires?

Yep looks like it, funny how they were fine in decades gone by.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Cue all the Sky haters.

The other GC contenders clearly took it too easily.

Froome used to get flack for not being able to handle a bike. Now he'll get flack for being part of a boring team dominating the Tour despite having the guts to out-perform most of his rivals here in awful conditions.

Really pleased for Geraint. Makes for an interesting dilemma for Team Sky from here on in.

There's no dilemma for Sky. It's all for Froome.

It's perfectly reasonable to both admire Froome's bravery in taking risks in the wet but also hate any dominant favourite having a super strong team.

 

[perico]

Re:

Congratulations to Thomas, but from the point of view of those hoping for an entertaining Tour this was an ominous start. There is now no team with a second rider able to challenge the Sky domestiques in the mountains, bar possibly Astana. And the reigning champion has a meaningful lead already.

Pantano and Mollema easily, but that depends on their leader being on form.

 

[jsem94]

Wtf happened to Porte btw...

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

GC guys (those who said so)

Froome
Yates +25"
Porte +35"
Quintana +36"
Majka +37"
Talansky +37"
D. Martin +37"
Bardet +39"
Aru +40"
Contador +42"
Fuglsang +42"
Meintjes +01'00"
Chaves 01'01"

Pretty typical really but Quintana has definitely improved his TT of late.

 

[Red Rick]

Huge race [x]
Few contenders crashing out on day 1 [x]
Most of unpredictability gone after day 1 [x]

Looks like it's July again boys and girls

 

[Mayo from Mayo]

Porte was in the BMC car behind Roche when he crashed. Admits it spooked him.

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

When I saw how Contador took the first corner... and then how Froome took it... 5 seconds were lost there already...

Absolutely, he probably was also better than his rivals today but also was willing to take more risk. Deserved time gain.

Gesink did really well, as did Buchmann and Yates.

 

[Baldinger]

Worst possible start.

Sky dominating like that is bad for the sport. Cut their budget.