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

[jaylew]

Was riding and missed the stage. Can't believe this - what an awful start. Bala and Izagirre crash out and Froome destroys all the GC guys. Yates, 2nd best among GC guys? What??

 

[jaylew]

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 ?

Trek? That makes absolutely no sense. No way they have the team for a 1-2.

 

[jaylew]

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 ?

Trek? That makes absolutely no sense. No way they have the team for a 1-2.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

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.

Why not add Kwiatkowski and go for a full top 3

 

[Tonton]

Folks, you know the rules of the forum...don't you?

 

[rick james]

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????

heard that last year as well

 

[nilfen]

Well, the Tour can only improve from here....hopefully!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well Tonton, it wasn't mean to be clinic related, but it's hard to find a team 1-2-3 without something from that period.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Delighted for Thomas after the bad luck in the Giro and a fully deserved yellow.

Looks like Froome took a few risks and it paid off with a slightly bigger advantage over some of his rivals than we'd have imagined. Gaps not that big though and it's far from Tour over, the strongest uphill will still have the best chance to win this bike race.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Delighted for Thomas after the bad luck in the Giro and a fully deserved yellow.

Looks like Froome took a few risks and it paid off with a slightly bigger advantage over some of his rivals than we'd have imagined. Gaps not that big though and it's far from Tour over, the strongest uphill will still have the best chance to win this bike race.

It's not Tour over but the chances of entertainment look considerably smaller than they did immediately after the Dauphine.

It's nice to see Thomas win a Tour stage though.

 

[rick james]

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

The professional peloton has always been a cut-throat environment but Tom Dumoulin discovered that even toilet breaks are no longer sacred when an urgent need to empty his bowel was seen by his rivals as an opportunity to gain some time. 
As Dumoulin dropped his shorts with only the post of a road sign for privacy, the other general classification contenders continued to put the hammer down




This prompted Froome and his Team Sky colleagues to wonder how they might deal with such an eventuality should it arise at the Tour, which begins here on Saturday with a 14km time trial in Dusseldorf.
'It's an interesting one,' said Froome during an interview near his Monaco home. 'I wouldn't have done what he (Dumoulin) did. He still won the race so chapeau (hats off) for that. But I don't think I'd have stopped and wasted a minute by the side of the road. I would have just gone in my shorts.'

 

[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 ?

Trek? That makes absolutely no sense. No way they have the team for a 1-2.

Makes as much sense as the original post, [Edited by Mod for content - per forum rules] what does that have to do with Sky ? 1-2 has nothing to do with as you know, it's just more slander.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Well Tonton, it wasn't mean to be clinic related, but it's hard to find a team 1-2-3 without something from that period.

I just want to make sure that we all enjoy July on CN's forum, that's all ...

 

[Norks74]

Thank you G.Thomas. £2.50 each way netted me £120 at 40/1. Well done that man!

 

[Tank Engine]

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.

I agree with your analysis of the GC position. The gap between Froome and most of the other GC contenders is about as large as expected. The only real exception is Porte, who clearly rode conservatively (as I wrote after the Dauphine a 100% fit Porte has more weaknesses than a 100% fit Froome and that was visible today). Movistar are hugely weakened after Valverde's crash, which leaves Sky as clearly the strongest team.

Yates, Quintana, Danny boy and Bardet all rode well. Before the first rest day, there are two important stages: PdBF which is ideal for a Sky power climb with G and Flowers setting up Froome. If others survive the onslaught, then the Cat mountain stage on Sunday will be an opportunity to catch Sky out on a stage that favours more "free form" racing (and the rest day comes straight after).

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

Thank you G.Thomas. £2.50 each way netted me £120 at 40/1. Well done that man!

How does that work, since 2.5*40=100? (40/1 odds for each way rather than a straight win also looks rather generous)

 

[Inquitus]

Re: Re:

Thank you G.Thomas. £2.50 each way netted me £120 at 40/1. Well done that man!

How does that work, since 2.5*40=100? (40/1 odds for each way rather than a straight win also looks rather generous)

You get 2.5 @ 40/1 = 100 + 2.5 @ 8/1 for the place = 20 for a total of 120. So you have staked 2.5 on the win and 2.5 on a place at 1/5th odds for a total staked of 5.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I actually think it is hard to say anything significant, about anyones form, after todays stage.

There were clearly many people who rode very safely.

Though I'd say Yates impressed quite a bit, second best of the top 10 candidates is quite a feat, in an opening and flat TT.

...... editing my post, because I just realised, I still did not consider Thomas a top 10 candidate, which is obviously stupid, after today

 

[jaylew]

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 ?

Trek? That makes absolutely no sense. No way they have the team for a 1-2.

Makes as much sense as the original post, correct me if I am wrong these pair were busted using EPO just like the Trek rider that has just been, what does that have to do with Sky ? 1-2 has nothing to do with as you know, it's just more slander.

Please take clinic talk to the clinic.

 

[Ricco']

Anyone else noticed that no rider from UAE and Bahrein were shown on TV coverage? Also Wanty, but at least Meintjes and Ion deserved some mention.

 

[Norks74]

Re: Re:

Thank you G.Thomas. £2.50 each way netted me £120 at 40/1. Well done that man!

How does that work, since 2.5*40=100? (40/1 odds for each way rather than a straight win also looks rather generous)

You get 2.5 @ 40/1 = 100 + 2.5 @ 8/1 for the place = 20 for a total of 120. So you have staked 2.5 on the win and 2.5 on a place at 1/5th odds for a total staked of 5.

Thanks for the breakdown, I wasn't totally sure myself. Had £2.50 each way on Cummings too.

But I thought 40/1 for Thomas after his 2nd in the ITT in the Giro over a very similar distance was just too hard to resist.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Anyone else noticed that no rider from UAE and Bahrein were shown on TV coverage? Also Wanty, but at least Meintjes and Ion deserved some mention.

Some of the rider choices were bizarre. Made me wonder if money had changed hands to ensure some teams got more than their fair share (although I guess if money was involved, then UAE and Bahrain would be at the front of the queue).

Riders like Kristoff, Uran, GVA and Chavanel were shown almost in their entirety. While Thomas was missed completely, as was Contador and, like you said, Izagirre and Meintjes.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re: Re:

You get 2.5 @ 40/1 = 100 + 2.5 @ 8/1 for the place = 20 for a total of 120. So you have staked 2.5 on the win and 2.5 on a place at 1/5th odds for a total staked of 5.

Cheers. That makes sense now.

Anyone else noticed that no rider from UAE and Bahrein were shown on TV coverage? Also Wanty, but at least Meintjes and Ion deserved some mention.

You're right. I only found out that Ion crashed from the results page.

I also have the feeling that we only saw the winner because he crossed the line a few seconds after Bardet.
Bertie appeared a few times though (even if about half of that time he was on the rollers).

 

[Jagartrott]

Latour will be the revelation of this Tour.
And Aru will win it.

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

I also have the feeling that we only saw the winner because he crossed the line a few seconds after Bardet.

Yea the camera work and graphics (time information) was awful. Which is surprising because in the TDF for the most part they are good, it's usually the other races ...

In fact the timings get worse every year. I remember back in 2005 (I think?) they would list all the time checks at the top of the screen showing the top guys at each point AND the latest guy to go through each point. It didn't even take up much of the screen and was amazing.