Tour de France is over

[TheBean]

The white Jersey race is hardly over.

And there is a good scrap for the podium GC spots.

Perfectly stated.

The spectacle of 2 x up Alpe d'Huez should be an amazing spectacle to watch. The crowds should be ballistic! Hopefully, they will be well-behaved enough to add to the show and not detract.

Ventoux always offers up a surprise or several.

Kittel's emmergence as a top Tour sprinter is a good sprint story developing.

Quintana in the mountains has been impressive and aggressive.

If a viewer were only interested in the race for GC winner, then I agree the rest of the Tour seems extremely predictable. But, the race is far from over (halfway, to be correct) and there is a lot to enjoy as a fan of cycling.

 

[180mmCrank]

The Tour has a long way to go ... it is unlikely that everyone is going to make it through the next couple of weeks ... a lot still has to go right for Froome to take this without incident.

I for one will be glued to the TV and interested in what other teams will throw at the race ... they have nothing to lose ... too often in the past great stages have been neutralized because too many riders are being defensive ... this will not be the case this year.

I love this stuff!

 

[IndianCyclist]

I personally cannot find any consolation at all in watching the Tour merely for the Polka-dot jersey, nor The White jersey either- Is rubbish to settle for left overs-not to diminish their corresponding merits for those categories- but is foolish to say we're content in shifting our attention to the lesser competitions within the race, since the title that matters the most is already decided.

Do we watch the World Cup to get excited about the 3rd place,The MVP winner or the Golden boot? Do we watch The Olympics to cheer up for 2nd & 3rd places?

Its all all about the big fat price and how is achieved. Since we already know those in advance for this 2013 TDF- I entirely agree with the OP: THE TOUR IS OVER- and worthless watching..............................................................

Actually all 4 jerseys are already decided.
Yellow - Froome
Green - Sagan
Polka Dot - Rolland
White - Quintana
The only thing left is by how much and what will their competitors do to close the gap.
But each stage most likely will have different winner and that's what will make for exciting racing. Also do not forget GC places 2-13 the gap is just 2:27 so there will be a lot of movement in that.

 

[180mmCrank]

Actually all 4 jerseys are already decided.
Yellow - Froome
Green - Sagan
Polka Dot - Rolland
White - Quintana
The only thing left is by how much and what will their competitors do to close the gap.
But each stage most likely will have different winner and that's what will make for exciting racing. Also do not forget GC places 2-13 the gap is just 2:27 so there will be a lot of movement in that.

Would you care to bet on that? There is no way that all the jerseys are decided.

 

[Archibald]

But it was just a single stage. Imagine if they go berserk on back to back stages, it can create chaos.
And Andy moved ahead of Evans in that stage.

back to back stages?
do you remember what happened to Andy the next day? He got slaughtered...
then complained he couldn't recover after having to spend time on podiums and then hours trying to pee in the bottle, all while Evans was already back at the hotel, massaged and fed.

in the words of Michael Kerrigan: you're dreemin'

 

[The Eggman]

I must say the bookies odds certainly suggest the jerseys are pretty much settled. If you don't think that's the case, start taking some bets via Betfair and clean up.

I also ageee the polka dots and white jerseys are the scraps anyway. How good was it in 2011 when Cadel swiped the yellow jersey with a day left. THAT'S exciting.

I must say that it's more than a bit disappointing that the most anticipated even in cycling is settled so early in proceedings. Moviestar deserve a shoeing for not pushing harder when they had Sky under the cosh

 

[Kwibus]

Keep in mind: 2012 Fuente De stage, and 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico.

We need a rainy day on the multi mountain stage through the alps. Only hope.

Like pooooooring rain.

 

[pastronef]

Perfectly stated.

The spectacle of 2 x up Alpe d'Huez should be an amazing spectacle to watch. The crowds should be ballistic! Hopefully, they will be well-behaved enough to add to the show and not detract.

last time up Alpe was already a mess with those ****ers dressed in any kind of way running along riders. stupids, they don't even know the name of the riders...
what would you do for 10 seconds on tv...

 

[karlboss]

back to back stages?
do you remember what happened to Andy the next day? He got slaughtered...
then complained he couldn't recover after having to spend time on podiums and then hours trying to pee in the bottle, all while Evans was already back at the hotel, massaged and fed.

in the words of Michael Kerrigan: you're dreemin'

While I do think it is over, back to back stage attacks doesn't have to mean the same guy it could mean Valverde and movistar attack and tire sky out as they chase and then Contador attacks the next day and takes enough time to win. I just can't see Sky being inattentive enough to let it happen and the routes for each stage aren't hard enough at the start to force it regardless.

 

[frenchfry]

I fell asleep while watching the end of the last 2 stages. True story.

I don't see things improving much either.

 

[Berzin]

No one's beating Froome. The other riders are set on consolidating their podium positions and will not, as much as we would love to see it, risk a top 5 or top 10 finish on a kamikaze attack, as much as it would make for exiting viewing.

There is too much at stake. Remember, there are post-Tour criteriums to cash in on that are quite lucrative for regular riders not making Armstrong-type money.

Also, what's a high position worth to a team? A lot in publicity. A director sportif will not be willing to risk it by sending his rider up the road to challenge Froome. Ain't hap'nan.

 

[murali]

Actually all 4 jerseys are already decided.
Yellow - Froome
Green - Sagan
Polka Dot - Rolland
White - Quintana
The only thing left is by how much and what will their competitors do to close the gap.
But each stage most likely will have different winner and that's what will make for exciting racing. Also do not forget GC places 2-13 the gap is just 2:27 so there will be a lot of movement in that.

there is no way rolland can come into points in the HC climbs.(no offence meant)

White jersey is going to be between kwaitowski and Quintana. But that is not yet decided.

Sagan and Froome can both crash out in stage 12 itself. look at the crazy 90 deg turns in the final 650m.

Also, in long stage races, consistency is more important than cojones.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The Tour has a long way to go ... it is unlikely that everyone is going to make it through the next couple of weeks ... a lot still has to go right for Froome to take this without incident.

I for one will be glued to the TV and interested in what other teams will throw at the race ... they have nothing to lose ... too often in the past great stages have been neutralized because too many riders are being defensive ... this will not be the case this year.

I love this stuff!

I like the setup too.

Some big gaps, with the GC battle very concentrated (3-4 teams realistically involved) already after stage 12. Pretty good situation.

GC:
Sky leading with 1 man with big gap
Movistar with 3 dangermen
Saxo with two (three with Rogers)
Belkin with two


Only 18 riders (from 10 teams) are on the right side of +10 minutes in the GC.

The competition knows Froome is ridiculously strong, so making headway requires almost immediate action. Waiting for the final mountain stage to do something will be a losers game and many fans could switch off the telly before.

And then we have 12 teams with nothing to play for in the current GC. Some are sprinter teams perhaps, but are the rest just going to be passengers and take part in useless TV time breaks or do they want to try and make the race on some key stages.

Of course there are a couple of factors which could make the rest of the race dull:

- Team sky being too strong. If they find similar strength as last year for the rest of the race, its game over. We should be able to asses this after the Lyon stage.

- Froome continues to be the strongest on every single stage regardless of being attacked by different teams during various stages. At some point teams will just give up. Some weakness will be needed to keep the race going.

- The points debacle where Movistar and Saxo will spend the rest of the race protecting their placements with Kreuziger and Quintana.

So dull possession stuff or aggressive racing? Its up to the DSs now imo.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Many of the examples used to say that things can turn around in a Tour have occured when riders weren't that far behind anyway and the competition was at a comparatively similar level.

The gaps between Froome and the rest are very large, Froome is clearly the strongest and there is no way in hell he will lose this tour, let alone lose any time to any of his rivals before Paris.

 

[lilac harry quinn]

Two years ago I took a year six class to Southend as an end of term treat. I got back to find that Wiggins had crashed and broken his collarbone. Today I'm taking a year six class to Southend for an end of term treat...

Seriously, nothing in this race is decided yet.

 

[murali]

i think the other GC contenders should seriously consider eating seconds and minutes in every stage from now on.

As far as sky goes, lopez hasn't done anything worth mentioning. I don't remember siutsou putting a major effort either. The likes of EBH , thomas , stannard are not really useful in real mountains. And they have lost kiriyenka. Now its all abt how they are going to exhaust the remaining domestiques, and of course, attacking froome.

Currently, sky can relax once they reach the final 10km in every stage till someone actually comes within 2 min after the second TT stage.

I just hope that the DSs show more balls. And more importantly they avoid tactical mistakes like allowing Quintana to go alone for a long distance in stage 8, whereas he should have waited for the pelaton at the base of the Ax 3 climb.

 

[rainman]

We need a rainy day on the multi mountain stage through the alps. Only hope.

Like pooooooring rain.

Quite a few thunderstorms forecast for next week in the Alps.

 

[batchuba]

Since I refuse to consciously hope for a cyclist to crash, I instead have to hope the other GC guys have their BB's stashed in Lyon.

This is what it's come to...

 

[batchuba]

It appears my post was deleted for having a touch of the Clinic about it. I guess that's fair enough, though a little narrow in interpretation.

So, instead, I too will hope for abysmal weather to help shake things up.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

- The points debacle where Movistar and Saxo will spend the rest of the race protecting their placements with Kreuziger and Quintana.

So dull possession stuff or aggressive racing? Its up to the DSs now imo.

You got it spot on there. The Belkin brothers and Valverde are more than happy with their current positions. If you offer them a chance to end the race now, they would take it. Unless Froome collapses on his own, they aren't going to attack him. Contador might attack, but that means he will threaten the position of Valverde and Mollema. So their teams will bring him back. Sky won't even have to do any work in the Alps.

 

[murali]

if AC truly attacks then niether belkin nor valverde can actually follow him.

only froome and quintana can follow an in-form AC in mountains

 

[ThirdWorld]

The word 'extraordinary' did not exist in cycling. We can have a better rider, but not extraordinary better. They are all pro with big support. We already see this movie before...

So, for me.. the Clean-GC-Classification is very good until now... very open!

1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:25
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:03:37
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:54
4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:57
5 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:04:10
6 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:04:44
7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:05:18
8 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:05:37
9 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:39
10 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:05:48
Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team

 

[DenisMenchov]

The word 'extraordinary' did not exist in cycling. We can have a better rider, but not extraordinary better. They are all pro with big support. We already see this movie before...

So, for me.. the Clean-GC-Classification is very good until now... very open!

1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:25
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:03:37
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:54
4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:57
5 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:04:10
6 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:04:44
7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:05:18
8 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:05:37
9 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:39
10 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:05:48
Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team

Go to the clinic! I don't like Froome too, but he's innocent until proven guilty.

 

[ThirdWorld]

Go to the clinic! I don't like Froome too, but he's innocent until proven guilty.

an ham.. like menchov.

 

[gustienordic]

Sky still has a chance to blow it. All it takes is one bad day. Froome may be crazy strong, but if he has to follow every move by Quintana, then there is always a chance for a bad day. Froome doesn't have it quite wrapped up yet.

White jersey battle should be fun and so should be KOM, since there are alot of points for HC climbs coming up.