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

[Son of Amsterhammer]

I'm clutching at straws here, but maybe Froome knows his form isn't what it's been and he felt he had to take seconds anywhere he could????

 

[BigMac]

No motorbikes this time around please.

 

[MatParker117]

Re: 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"

Wow! Does that mean Froome is going to have to attack his teammate on stage 5? Thomas will probably still be in the lead. Some of those other GC contenders you mentioned will be attacking. Such a dilemma.

Yes, Froome will have to attack Thomas on Stage 5, but I don't think it is a dilemma at all for him.

Depends on who goes up the road if the right people go in the break, then Sky will not give a ***.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

I'm clutching at straws here, but maybe Froome knows his form isn't what it's been and he felt he had to take seconds anywhere he could????

Thats what everyone said when he attacked on the descent in the last Tour.
Thats what everyone said when he bridged over to Sagan.

Lets see.
Froome has always been one to grab seconds wherever he can. Which makes him the most versatile GC rider.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Worst possible start.

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

But it's ok for Movistar and Astana to do that in races

Only crazed fans of particular riders like to see any team strong enough to strangle big races.

So I am crazed fan ? Thanks very much :lol: It's just the first stage lets see what happens before declaring it a bore fest..

If you want to see a super strong team strangle all life from a race and turn into a three week procession, then yes you are a crazed fan. If you don't, then theres not much to argue about. Dominant teams are bad for entertainment.

 

[Escarabajo]

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

I thought Quintana did OK if you ask me. For an effort in the rain for a small guy that had to accelerate a lot I think was a good effort. Anything below 40 seconds was good IMHO.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

2018 TDF TT heavy route Dumoulin vs Froome is what i want to see

Considering Sky will have about 5 climbers who can drop Dumoulin, I don't think anybody would want to see that.

I wonder what would happen if Froome needed a toilet break ?........mmmmmm

 

[luckyboy]

Pretty terrible GC standings after 14km of this race!

When does the Vuelta start

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I'm clutching at straws here, but maybe Froome knows his form isn't what it's been and he felt he had to take seconds anywhere he could????

Thats what everyone said when he attacked on the descent in the last Tour.
Thats what everyone said when he bridged over to Sagan.

Lets see.
Froome has always been one to grab seconds wherever he can. Which makes him the most versatile GC rider.

At the same time, he wasn't really all that dominant in the mountains last year. I don't recall a stage where he rode the opposition off his wheels as in the past (going up and not down). Nairo sucked, Bertie crashed, and Porte went face first into a motorcycle while Froome ran past him. Other than Bardet attacking (after Froome crashed), the mountains were utterly forgettable last year.

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

Pretty terrible GC standings after 14km of this race!

When does the Vuelta start

Sky are bringing the pain there as well.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

I'm clutching at straws here, but maybe Froome knows his form isn't what it's been and he felt he had to take seconds anywhere he could????

Thats what everyone said when he attacked on the descent in the last Tour.
Thats what everyone said when he bridged over to Sagan.

Lets see.
Froome has always been one to grab seconds wherever he can. Which makes him the most versatile GC rider.

hard to argue with that. Today was risky though. He gets to reap the rewards

 

[May0maniac]

Talk about a bummer, that's a pretty crappy way to start the Tour.
At least the Österreich Rundfahrt starts tomorrow, so I can focus on another race.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Great performance by US Post... I mean Team Sky.

 

[yaco]

Except for the Dauphine TT, Porte has ridden every TT conservatively which is technical or wet. He was never going to take risks.

 

[Ricco']

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.

How? Porte started 2 minutes ahead of Valverde.

 

[hfer07]

This Tour already stinks

 

[markene2]

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.

How? Porte started 2 minutes ahead of Valverde.

Porte was in the car with the DS behinde Roche, and said he was a bit nervous and took no risks after he saw him crash

 

[bigcog]

Re:

Great performance by US Post... I mean Team Sky.

Glad you enjoyed it. I bet you are looking forward to Festina, sorry I mean Trek stepping up to the plate.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re: Re:

I'm clutching at straws here, but maybe Froome knows his form isn't what it's been and he felt he had to take seconds anywhere he could????

Thats what everyone said when he attacked on the descent in the last Tour.
Thats what everyone said when he bridged over to Sagan.

Lets see.
Froome has always been one to grab seconds wherever he can. Which makes him the most versatile GC rider.

Last year he wasn't unstoppable going uphill even when attacking.

 

[Põhja Konn]

The single ray of hope for the race I see is that a significant part of Froome's current advantage might be down on him having more courage and skills in difficult conditions. That leaves a minute chance that his form is not as close to his best as it appears to be at first glance.

Although today felt like a major anticlimax, I won't declare the Tour over before stage 5. That stage and the climb to PdBF is perfect for Sky and Froome to dominate. If he can't drop all his rivals there decisively, we just might still have a race on our hands.

Having said that, today's performance by Team Sky (across the board) looks disgustingly ominous.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

The single ray of hope for the race I see is that a significant part of Froome's current advantage might be down on him having more courage and skills in difficult conditions. That leaves a minute chance that his form is not as close to his best as it appears to be at first glance.

Although today felt like a major anticlimax, I won't declare the Tour over before stage 5. That stage and the climb to PdBF is perfect for Sky and Froome to dominate. If he can't drop all his rivals there decisively, we just might still have a race on our hands.

Having said that, today's performance by Team Sky (across the board) looks disgustingly ominous.

Agree. Stage 5 is huge now. Those who want a close GC race (I'm one of them) will be desperate to see Froome kept in check or attacked for some time loss(however small).

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re: Re:

Agree. Stage 5 is huge now. Those who want a close GC race (I'm one of them) will be desperate to see Froome kept in check or attacked for some time loss(however small).

Will be fun, when Froome and G do a 1-2 there.

 

[bigcog]

Re: Re:

Agree. Stage 5 is huge now. Those who want a close GC race (I'm one of them) will be desperate to see Froome kept in check or attacked for some time loss(however small).

Will be fun, when Froome and G do a 1-2 there.

Dont you mean Trek ?

 

[Oliwright]

If you're interested here is my reaction to today's stage!

https://twitter.com/CyclingRamble/status/881209195701432320

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I was just watching the danish TV coverage of the first stage, and they had Bjarne Riis in the studio talking about the favorites.

.... I forgot he was the first pro tour DS to sign Porte (2010)

So, I looked up the riders Riis had in 2010 - many of which he pulled out of a hat (at the time):

Porte, Fuglsang, A. Schleck, F. Schleck, Cancellara, O'Grady, Voigt (shut up legs), Moerkoev (and he signed Contador later in the year for 2011)....... what a GT team he could have put in for 2011...... if Kim Andersen had not created a mutiny and destroyed the team.

Man I hope he makes a pro tour team again, because he is great DS.