Fantasy Tour de France + general TdF discussion...
07-18-18, 09:44 AM
#151
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Well, another year of of drugs dominated Tour seems inevitable. God I'm tired of Sky cheating.
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07-18-18, 11:30 AM
#152
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Dan Martin was amazing. Thought he was going to loose time when I saw the group drop him in the last 5kms, then he got back and attacked immediately. Despite not being able to stay with Froome in the last km he's made a big jump in GC from 17th to 10th and lies +3'16".
Just hope he's saved something for tomorrow.
If there's going to be any nasty anti-Froome/Sky roadside reaction it will be on the stage 12 final climb where some of the 'fans' may have over indulged. Hope the French police do what they can to discourage the idiot fringe.
Just hope he's saved something for tomorrow.
If there's going to be any nasty anti-Froome/Sky roadside reaction it will be on the stage 12 final climb where some of the 'fans' may have over indulged. Hope the French police do what they can to discourage the idiot fringe.
07-18-18, 11:37 AM
#153
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Cavendish, Kittel and Renshaw all over the time limit and out of the Tour.
07-18-18, 01:15 PM
#155
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so much gc destruction. like godzilla meandering through tokyo.
07-18-18, 01:43 PM
#156
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When you saw Lance Armstrong ride like you saw Thomas, and to a lesser extent Froome, ride on that last climb today it looked too good to be true...has anything changed because to me it still looked a little too good to be true ?
John.
John.
07-18-18, 02:00 PM
#157
Senior Member
The reality is that multiple top GC riders could pull those off on a really good day. What made Lance different was that he did those several times over 3 weeks, 7 years in a row. It's the consistency of always peaking and never fading that separated him from the rest.
If I were a betting man, I'd wager that Geraint Thomas will crack on week 3. Froome will have one or two really good days in the mountain stages ahead (four more) and have a very good ITT.
Last edited by colombo357; 07-18-18 at 02:10 PM.
07-18-18, 02:54 PM
#158
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no one is immediately coming to mind to win stage 12 except rolland. what the heck...i'll take froomie.
07-18-18, 03:08 PM
#159
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07-18-18, 03:24 PM
#160
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Once again, the same tactics for Sky and once again, nothing anyone can do about it. Nice to see Thomas take the stage though.
07-18-18, 03:38 PM
#161
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Hummm, they've apparently disqualified Kittel, Cavendish, and another sprinter for not finishing the race on time. I wonder if this was intentional as others have surpassed them as sprinters.
07-18-18, 03:50 PM
#162
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Sky are the richest team and of course target the TdF as the most important race, although to give them their due they also take seriously the other two GTs. Their focus is the yellow jersey and everyone works to get the jersey and defend it. They have the financial resources to get the best support riders like Porte (now BMC), Kiryienka and Kwiatowski . They also now have Bernal although he didn't really contribute today.
Other teams lack the financial resources and target other things besides GC, like stage wins (often from the break) or sprint stages.
Compare them to Dan Martin's team UAE, they can't TTT, are carrying a sprinter Kristoff and their only hope for GC Martin (who is a great punchy rider but can't do a decent ITT) has to ride half today's stage without a single support rider to give a wheel or bike if he has a mechanical.
Since BMC lost Porte the only team that has a hope of beating Sky are Movistar but Quintana doesn't seem to have what it takes and Valverde is 38 and coming to the end of his career.
Barring some major accident either Thomas or Froome will win and Sky will probably have two riders on the podium.
Other teams lack the financial resources and target other things besides GC, like stage wins (often from the break) or sprint stages.
Compare them to Dan Martin's team UAE, they can't TTT, are carrying a sprinter Kristoff and their only hope for GC Martin (who is a great punchy rider but can't do a decent ITT) has to ride half today's stage without a single support rider to give a wheel or bike if he has a mechanical.
Since BMC lost Porte the only team that has a hope of beating Sky are Movistar but Quintana doesn't seem to have what it takes and Valverde is 38 and coming to the end of his career.
Barring some major accident either Thomas or Froome will win and Sky will probably have two riders on the podium.
Last edited by Caretaker; 07-18-18 at 03:54 PM.
07-18-18, 03:56 PM
#163
Senior Member
Race is over, Skye wins .
Will read about the outcome, no need watch now.
Betting NBC won't miss me
Time to watch golf, no PEDs
Never once saw any riders using asthma spray,
Hmmmm,
maybe it's in the water .
LOL
Throw an elbow, your gone,
Ride past a time limit, you're gone.
There are Rules for some .... Hmmm...
07-18-18, 04:14 PM
#165
Senior Member
07-18-18, 05:38 PM
#167
Senior Member
I'll go with Roglic for twelve even though it's hard to see anyone posing a risk to Sky.
TD looked great on 11, IMO. His attack worked out well in the end. He wouldn't have been able to contend with all those attacks.
TD looked great on 11, IMO. His attack worked out well in the end. He wouldn't have been able to contend with all those attacks.
07-18-18, 06:36 PM
#169
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If Nairo doesn't win stage 12, I doubt he finishes on the podium.
Rolland? C'mon, @ooga-booga. If you give me 2 to 1 odds, I'll take Menchov over Rolland.
I think this one looks like Froome. But I'll handicap like this:
60% Froome
20% Nairo on his own
20% Nairo because some Idiot d'Huez does something to Froome.
I think Dumo and Barguil are animators. Perhaps Nibali coming down la Croix de Fer, too. But all for naught.
Rolland? C'mon, @ooga-booga. If you give me 2 to 1 odds, I'll take Menchov over Rolland.
I think this one looks like Froome. But I'll handicap like this:
60% Froome
20% Nairo on his own
20% Nairo because some Idiot d'Huez does something to Froome.
I think Dumo and Barguil are animators. Perhaps Nibali coming down la Croix de Fer, too. But all for naught.
07-18-18, 07:11 PM
#170
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Considering the difficulty of tomorrow's finish, I believe Quintana will win the stage.
A few thoughts about today's race. Team Sky was dominant. It benefitted their top 2 riders and was a great victory for Thomas. The team also helped Froome to his 3rd place finish. Although they are Team Sky's stars, I think the team, especially Kwiatkowski and Gomez are phenomenal. If either were on any of several other teams, they could easily be team leaders imo.
The stage was great today. I give Moviestar credit for attacking and trying to shake things up. Valverde made today's race very enjoyable. A guy who is quickly becoming my favorite is Dan Martin. How can you not like the dude. He rides his tail off and enjoy's the mountains. Not to mention, he's just a likable character. Also, I give lots of respect to Dumoulin. He fought hard all day and even gave enough effort at the line to steal 2nd place away from Froome. If he can somehow avoid a bad day in the mountains, he could win it all given his time trial ability.
Finally, I really didn't understand Nibali today for the same reasons stated by the NBC crew. Why go to the front and help Sky? They were already controlling the race. If he had the legs to do that, why didn't he go with one of the attacks and try to pick up time on Sky instead of helping them real everyone ahead of them back? Just made no sense to me.
Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.
A few thoughts about today's race. Team Sky was dominant. It benefitted their top 2 riders and was a great victory for Thomas. The team also helped Froome to his 3rd place finish. Although they are Team Sky's stars, I think the team, especially Kwiatkowski and Gomez are phenomenal. If either were on any of several other teams, they could easily be team leaders imo.
The stage was great today. I give Moviestar credit for attacking and trying to shake things up. Valverde made today's race very enjoyable. A guy who is quickly becoming my favorite is Dan Martin. How can you not like the dude. He rides his tail off and enjoy's the mountains. Not to mention, he's just a likable character. Also, I give lots of respect to Dumoulin. He fought hard all day and even gave enough effort at the line to steal 2nd place away from Froome. If he can somehow avoid a bad day in the mountains, he could win it all given his time trial ability.
Finally, I really didn't understand Nibali today for the same reasons stated by the NBC crew. Why go to the front and help Sky? They were already controlling the race. If he had the legs to do that, why didn't he go with one of the attacks and try to pick up time on Sky instead of helping them real everyone ahead of them back? Just made no sense to me.
Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.
07-18-18, 07:45 PM
#172
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You could very well be right, but I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. If it all comes out a few years from now that you are right, I’ll be just as disappointed as I was with Postal. I really hope they’re clean, but if we find out they aren’t, I won’t be shocked, just sad. There are eerie similarities.
07-19-18, 12:15 AM
#174
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07-19-18, 01:27 AM
#175
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