Talk about Le Tour with spoilers
 

I wanted to start a thread where we can chat about the race either during or after the stages so if you don't want anything spoiled don't come here!

Does anyone know who was involved in the huge crash about 1km from the end? It looked brutal.

Contador crashed pretty badly. They showed him on TV with nastly looking abrasions from his legs to his shoulder. Wouldn't be surprised to see him abandon tomorrow.

Contador says he won't abandon. Just has road rash from his knee to his shoulder. Just...I mean no muscle damage.

I can't find anything about the other crash. An announcer said Bosen Hagen went down after the other two but not sure who the first guy was. Looked bad.

abandon for that little bit of road rash...?

not very likely.

unless there's organ damage or broken bones involved, riders who crash will be at the start line the following day.

And so begins Sagan's Green Jersey domination...again.

The announcer said Contador hasn't won a tour stage for seven years. I was really surprised to hear that. I admit I've been a fan in the past but it seems he never really has been relevant since his suspension.

It's Spartacus' last tour. I'm sorry to see him go!

Great win for Cav! I do love the set up this year with Sagan, Kittel, Greipel, and Cav. Fun to watch.

Superb win for Cav and coming as it does toward what has to be near the end of his career it had to have been a huge first for him personally. As mountainous as this tour is going to be he'll have precious few chances other than in the first stage or two and give the other sprinters it took both skill and luck so hats off to him. By the end of the commentary nobody knew who it was who crashed. Twitter probably has it posted by now but I don't follow twitter. Stage two commentary should reveal it. One person sure looked like Greipel (sp?) but I doubt that's actually correct as he was probably much closer to the front. I was surprised by how little the peloton split up given the wind.

Sagan in yellow. Eurosport commentators got a bit confused at the end thinking the breakaway lead over yellow was his lead on the peloton. Contador 48sec down on Froome and Porte had a mechanical that puts him 1:41 down on Froome. Rest of main GC contenders pretty close.

Have to wonder if maybe Stuyven was confused about the time gap those last few km's.

Contador rarely wins stages. He's always been concerned more with the overall time, even to the point of gifting stages to others.

Would be nice to see Cancellara take one more stage before its over. This year seems to be set for a changing of the guard for the gc guys as well. Would not be surprised to see one of more of the young guys like Alaphilippe or Aru on the podium in Paris.

I hear 5.05" is average

I think this is going to be a really interesting tour. I agree that we're going to see a change in the GC. Nibali said he's not interested and saving himself for the olympics. Porte was going to duke it out but now Van Garderen has a clear shot at team leader. There were a lot of strong young guys in the Dauphine to watch for too.

Cavendish bike: can anyone tell if the Rotor is the "no Q" or the "Q"

Even though I'm not a huge Cavendish fan it was great to see him take the yellow jersey in Stage 1. I thought his days as the big dog of sprinting were over but the way he showed Kittel a clean set of wheels was awesome. Maybe it's the track training for the Olympics but whatever the reason Cav was able to turn back the clock at least for one day.
More impressive was Sagan's win in stage two. He really played Alaphilippe like a fiddle. Nice to see Sagan in yellow as well.

And today, Cav showed better timing on his throw than Greipel. Another impressive sprint!

This is a fun Tour so far!

I began watching the Tour in 2000, my wife joined after a year or two, then our two daughters (now 25 and 22, neither at home) and now for the first time our son (20) has been coming down from his Tower of Solitude to join us. Dramatic finishes like these last two really suck in new fans!

Bob Roll made a case this morning for Cavendish staying in the Tour until Paris and I thought that was a crazy prediction, given his goal for gold in Rio.

Then I heard Jens Voigt's prediction that Cav will not stay for the entire Tour, which I absolutely agree with; there's just too much speed he'll lose by doing these long slow stages.

What do you'll think?

I think the track training will make it very hard for him to make the time cuts once they get over 1500m, forcing him to reconsider staying on through Paris.

After the 4th Stage Mark Renshaw said he expected to see Cav going for the Green Jersey on the Champs Elysees. I'm not so sure. Cav has been devoting himself to the track for the Olympics so he's got to keep his eye on the prize.
Personally I would like to see him take one more stage to give him more stage wins than the Badger.

Winning the Giro (last year) is of no relevance?

Cancellara might have a go at the TT. His only chance I would think. I think Aru might be up there but Alaphilippe will get a top ten I think.

Yes, of course, you're right. I forgot about that one.

And don't get me wrong, I like Contador. I liked him even through the mechanical drama and the tainted beef. I just think he's not looking too good this year. He couldn't stay with Froome during the Dauphine. And of course falling this Tour didn't help anything.

Can we add Barguil to that list?

I don't think Contador will be a true contender either tbh. I just can't see past Froome and Quintana. Hope I'm wrong. I would personally also put Barguil in the top ten list. In my view the most likely to join the two mentioned in the podium would be Aru, Porte, and maybe Pinot. He's been working on his time trialing and with a 40km one in there hopefully he'll be able to pick up some time.

Then of course there is Contador, Valverde, Van Garderen, Nibali, Bardet, etc.

Froome looked beatable today. This is going to be a great race this year.

Nibali doesn't want it, Contador is hurting, Porte and Teejay have to fight it out with each other, and there are young strong guys coming up. Quintana is the only one we haven't really seen falter yet and he has a strong team this year.