Being today's a rest day, its a good time to look ahead at the remaining stages. I have felt before the start of the Tour that its course was laid out to lessen Chris Froome's advantage over the field. They eliminated any Team time trial and lessened the distance on the 2 time trials. Also there are 9 sprint stages which is more than I can recall. Also there are only 2 mountain top stage finishes in which Chris Froome excels at. So here we are and I will call the Tour half way done with 2 sprint stages coming up. With Richie Porte out of race, who has the ability to make up time on Froome and on which stages ? Perhaps they have made this year's Tour too easy to overtake him. The problem I see is even though there are some very tough mountain stages, they might have overlooked a very important thing IF they were wanting to lessen Chris Froome advantage. Froome is an incredible descender and anyone attacking him in the mountains will quickly get picked up in the descent! We saw what happened in stage 9 ! The only way to gain back time on him in the tough mountain stages is a mountain top finish. We only have 1 that looks promising but only ARU is close enough to Froome to cause much real concern. However Aru is no match for Chris in the last deciding time trial. That's explains why he is now a huge favorite with only 9 stages finished. My original thought that perhaps Froome was playing possum a little bit in the last race when Porte beat him in the time trial and the mountains. The Tour De France is the big goal of Team Sky and Chris Froome. They appear to be in great form.
What's new ? Marcel Kittell easily wins another sprint stage. That's now 5 stage wins with the all time record of 8 still possible. The Yellow Jersey race remains unchanged as Chris Froome remains the leader. Thank goodness tomorrow's stage heads to the mountains and hopefully some excitement after 2 rather boring stages. I'll post more about tomorrow's stage later.
Stage 12 will NOT be one for the sprinters. It starts off easy but don't be fooled. This stage is long and I'm sure there will be attacks ! The toughest part is towards the end and I think Aru will give it a go as will several others that need to cut into Froome's small advantage. It should be a interesting day !
The top GC cyclists will only allow a breakaway IF there is nobody that poses a threat ! Quintana is still a threat so they will not let him escape. He doesn't appear to be in top form but at 33/1 I like the gamble. All the other could easily be involved in a breakaway and I've seen many of these type of stages won by a breakaway. Also with Bastille Day celebrations taking place, you can be assured some Frenchmen will be involved . This is a very tough stage but with another mountain stage the next day, my gut tells me it could easily be won by a non threat to the Yellow Jersey. We shall see ! Good Luck !��
Another mountain stage tomorrow but it's a very short stage. I don't expect Froome to lose any time tomorrow as the finish will NOT Be a mountain top finish. I still consider Chris Froome the favorite as he will gain back some time in the closing stage TIME Trial. However he showed he wasn't invincible today and stages 17 and 18 are tough mountain stages. Now we have a race !
It's Bastille Day and a Frenchman Warren Barguil won the stage. No real surprises really as Aru held off several attacks and held onto his 6 second lead. As I mentioned yesterday any mountain stage where Froome stays within 6 seconds is actually a good day for Froome as he will easily make up that in the stage 20 Time Trial. It was nice to see Alberto Contador and Quintana fighting it out for the stage win with Nairo taking second and Alberto taking third. Stage 17 and stage 18 will be the 2 biggest stages left as IF it goes to stage 20 Time Trial and lead is less than 30 seconds over Chris Froome, I like Froome's chances.
If you're watching todays stage, the finishing 500 meters is steep uphill grade. A smart Aru and other GC contenders should be trying to gain some seconds on Chris Froome. Like I mentioned earlier, 6 seconds has no chance of surviving the Time Trial. Should be very interesting finish.
A great day for Michael Matthews and a pathetic performance by Team Astana. It all added up to Chris Froome being back in the Yellow ! Tomorrow's stage 15 will be followed by a rest day. With Team Sky back in command, I doubt that anyone can take the Yellow Jersey from Froome tomorrow. It's a hilly stage but not all that difficult so I think we will see a breakaway have a chance.
Bauke Mollema wins today's stage. Chris Froome retains Yellow Jersey after he suffered a flat tire on the last big climb. Great performance by Chris as no change in lead in the top 4 contenders. Rest day tomorrow and then a sprint stage on Tuesday. Look,for,the race to be decided on Wednesday and Thursday when they head to the alps and some really tough climbs. A great job today by Team Sky with Mikal Landa dropping back to help Froome back to main group of contenders.
we're lookign good kermit.
Landa was NOT happy that Team Sky held him back. He could have won this stage, that dude was a horse out there today. I'd be shocked if he stays with Team Sky next year. Ironically, Froome wasnt happy when he was held back to support Wiggins a few years back-- now he knows what it feels like when the shoe is on the other foot?
quintana is toast- biggest disappointment
yates is a beast, future is bright
how about Dan Martin!!!!
Landa was NOT happy that Team Sky held him back. He could have won this stage, that dude was a horse out there today. I'd be shocked if he stays with Team Sky next year. Ironically, Froome wasnt happy when he was held back to support Wiggins a few years back-- now he knows what it feels like when the shoe is on the other foot?
quintana is toast- biggest disappointment
yates is a beast, future is bright
how about Dan Martin!!!!
when the layout came out for the 2017 Tour de France in late October, everybody had stage 9 circled. Froome has said immediately that could be a game chnger. It was.
here's the profile;
anybody want to give this a go?
BRUTAL. THREE grade 3 climbs, ending with a vicious winding descent. The organizers pushed the envelope- it led to TEN crashes (keep in mind there was no rain) and nearly cost the life of a rider. Porte is lucky to be alive (fractured clavicle, pelvis). NO WAY they use this again. Can you imagine if it had rained?Froome showed he's a beast. During the final climb he was challenged by 3 main contenders. He had no team support, on his own. Aru tried to break. Nope. Then Martin...nope. Then Porte...nope. Then it was Froome who attacked; but it was strategic as he wanted no one in front of him during that final dangerous descent. He timed it right. As it turned out Porte was in the pack, and Aru blocked him during a turn on the descent at he was OUT
