wdb

Just got done watching today's stage and the commentators had nothing but praise for team Sky. I just don't get it. Maybe it's how they "race", I don't know and obviously don't understand. ANY other form of racing, that I know of anyway, SKY would have been screwed. Sky had three guys go off course with one crashing, and what does everyone else do. The peleton slows the pace and waits for the yellow jersey to come back to the front of the peleton. WTH is that all about. Then the commentators at the post race saying things like team sky did such a good job, how are other teams going to win, blah blah, blah. I know how, when your opponent screws up, don't slow down and wait for them. To me that's just plain stupid. This is a "race" correct. Just makes it hard to watch.

dstrong 

Regarding the incident with Sky going off the road, there's tradition in the Grand Tours that if the leader (usually applies to the top contenders also) crashes or has a mechanical that the rest of the peleton won't take advantage. There have been plenty of times in the past where that wasn't honored (last year with Porte's flat, Chain-gate, etc...) but today the peleton wasn't really pushing things at that moment and there wasn't really any advantage to be gained. Like it or not, that IS racing in the Tour de France.

wdb

hmmmmmm, so tradition. Utter nonsense, call it what they want, it's not racing. Oh well, one less thing I need to keep track of I guess.

Marcus_Ti

It is basically a given that any English language commentator with an English accent automatically wants a 3 some with Froome and Cav...and will talk about them even when they aren't racing

europa

Oh dear. Froome just punctured... and Aru attacked him (actually passed him when his hand went up). Froome's a bit cranky.

2cam16

And they did it again! Why oh why do they have to have this gentleman's thing? It's freaking racing! You're there to win, not to give it to the yellow! You may never get that chance again. Areu had every right to attack and leave Froome behind,IMO. Forget those old "rules". This is 2017.

DLBroox

Who wants to win like that?

europa

Schleck did (the so-called 'chain gate'... though I dispute it being a mechanical, it was lousy riding by the rider involved)

DLBroox

Well that was always the sticking point. Contador went because Schleck didn't know how to change gears. I personally fell on the side of well within bounds for someone to attack.

Had Schleck punctured I would have called foul.

DLBroox

Aru basically blew up Sky with that attack anyway. The fact that they had to work that hard to catch up wasted them. It does show Froome is made of pretty tough stuff though.

wdb

Anybody wearing the yellow jersey. You think Froome is going to slow for any of the other heavies when they flat. Doubt it. Thats life, thats racin', s*** happens.

DLBroox

I disagree. I think many of them are true sportsmen.

So what do you think about last year's race when the three guys, Froome included, rear-ended the moto and Froome took off running up the hill without his bike. The organizers gave him the same time as the winner. Should they not have? Just just racin' after all...

wdb

i remember that. I also remember the announcers saying it was against the rules to advance without your bike. Sooooo, that being said he broke the rules, should not have been given the same time and possible should have been penalized, IMO.

DLBroox

Ok so you're consistent. I'll agree to disagree.

wdb

lol, yeah thats cool. i dont race, never have, never will. i just can't get my head wrapped around this "style of racing". Different from any other kind I know of. I could ramble on for days about it but it is what it is. I guess i just have to make a decision on whether to watch, and pull my hair out, or not.

Shadco 

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So why didn't Froome sit up and wait for Martin?

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HardyWeinberg

I agree.

BPCycler

They consider it good sportsmanship. I wonder if it's a common practice in US racing. I'm just watching the Tour for the first time this year.

Pretty nasty crash Richie Porte had.

Pemetic2006

100 percent agree with this. I have nothing against Froome at all and I understand the gentlemens agreement that goes on in the Tour but if Froome wants to bit** about Aru (which he did) he should have sat up and waited for Martin. Poor Dan lost nearly another one and a half mins through no fault of his own.

bikecrate

I'm not fond of the "gentleman's agreement" to not attack the leader. One problem is Team Sky is so dominant that there is almost no way for anyone else to win except to profit from their mistakes and bad fortune. It seems to me Sky likes to take advantage of these unwritten rule and not reciprocate.

OBoile

Not the same thing.
1. He has no idea how long it will take for Martin to get back on his bike, if he can at all.
2. Martin had basically no chance to catch up given the downhill then flat terrain.
3. Bardet was the one pushing the pace, not Froome. If someone else goes, you kind of have to respond.

BKE

I wondered if anyone would bring this up. Once he lost his teammates it was what, 3 or 4 against 1? I thought (was in a way hoping) that they would/could wear him out and drop him by each taking turns attacking but not so. I'm thinking this might have been the best stage of the race but haven't looked at the upcoming ones. Any more good mountain stages coming?

Shadco 

Au contraire

At this point Froome is 1:45 ahead of Martin, he put 1:15 into Martin after the fall plus the little time bonus he got at the end.

Froomy is to be guarded by the peloton while Martin is just cannon fodder to be left behind?

Martin was back up and riding in seconds not minutes all they had to do was wait or a few and once notified by their director he was up and coming they easily could have waited for him.

Wasn't there a few potential threats up the road when Froomy's battery gave up?

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Marcus_Ti

He did...but he blew that when he stopped twice for mechanicals. Uran OTOH rode his damaged single-speed hell-or-high-water to victory. If Martin hadn't stopped, he might have not lost time at a minimum.

OBoile

Huh? This post makes basically no sense.

Once again, Froome wasn't the one pushing the pace when Martin went down. It was Bardet.

No one expects him to stop (no one stopped for Froome either), just not to launch an attack. But that doesn't mean he can't respond to an attack if someone else goes (just like everyone responded to Aru's attack). The person who launches the attack is the one who has violated the rule. Froome did not launch an attack after Martin's crash.

Even if it was just say 30 seconds, Martin was never going to close the gap on a descent followed by a flat section on his own.