Tour de france

[kermit16]

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!!!!

Bradley Wiggins is no Chris Froome ! Chris Froome is by far Team Sky's best chance of winning this year's Tour. He excels at pretty much all aspects NEEDED to win the Tour. Landa is perhaps the future BUT he needs to improve Time Trial skills ! He lost almos a full minute to Chris Froome in the extremely short opening day TT. Chris Froome lost 22 seconds to ARU on a stage 5 unbelievably steep 20% mountain top finish. That is the only time I have seen ANY weakness in Froome and we all knew the finish would not be his best scenario. However NOBODY seeemed able to handle Aru's attack including Landa who lost 16 seconds to ARU.
You are so correct regarding Quintana and you can add Contador as toast also. I still fear ARU the most as the finish he desplayed in stage 5 still is hauntingly vivid. I know his ASTANA team doesn't stand up to Team Sky But when you get to the top of the upcoming stages, you're pretty much on your own ! Stage 17 is brutal and then comes a tough mountain top finish on 18 is my memory is correct. What's the current odds on ARU ? I don't see any odds up in Vegas anymore ! Chris Froome should be a big favorite still but IF I could get a decent cove bet on ARU, I'd be leaning towards covering.

 

[Ricboff]

kermit think you may have misinterpreted my post? Never said Wiggins is better than Froome. Never said Landa has Froome potential. Rather, was sharing an observation. Landa was not happy with team Sky's decision to come back and pull for Froome. Obviously ita not all fine and dandy in Team Sky. Also, in life, what goes around often comes around-- Chris behaved JUST LIKE Landa a few years back. Complaining to Team Sky post-stage about holding him back.

i got a hunch Landa moves to Movistar. Quintana is out......don't quote me on this


no way i'm hedging. Froome showed me enough in stages 9 and 15. He has the yellow jersey and Aru cant touch him on TT. Thomas is a loss for Team Sky, no doubt. I'm assuming Landa will behave. I have the best rider at +125 and Porte is out!! Live and die with him!!!

 

[kermit16]

kermit think you may have misinterpreted my post? Never said Wiggins is better than Froome. Never said Landa has Froome potential. Rather, was sharing an observation. Landa was not happy with team Sky's decision to come back and pull for Froome. Obviously ita not all fine and dandy in Team Sky. Also, in life, what goes around often comes around-- Chris behaved JUST LIKE Landa a few years back. Complaining to Team Sky post-stage about holding him back.

i got a hunch Landa moves to Movistar. Quintana is out......don't quote me on this


no way i'm hedging. Froome showed me enough in stages 9 and 15. He has the yellow jersey and Aru cant touch him on TT. Thomas is a loss for Team Sky, no doubt. I'm assuming Landa will behave. I have the best rider at +125 and Porte is out!! Live and die with him!!!

Ricboff,
i think we are both on the same line and I see the correlation between how Chris felt and how Landa feels. I was simply implying that Chris was clearly a better cyclist than Wiggins and could most probably have won the Tour that year IF he had been the main Man. I don't think the same scenario is true this year as I doubt Landa could win this year even IF he was the main man. Chris Froome is just a better cyclist than Landa right now. I agree that he is going to be a threat in the future but not yet. He isn't at Froome's level in time trials and I feel Froome is a incredible descender. That's the main reason stage 9 was right in Froome,s strong suite. Also I thought there wouldn't be any problem with Froome,losing any time in stage 15 as it wasn't tough enough plus it ended in a downhill slope. If it wasn't for the mechanical problem, there was no chance of gaining any time on Chris.
Now stage 17 is brutal and it is closer to end when legs get tired. Younger legs could put Froome in some trouble. Stage 18 not only follows a brutal day but has a ugly mountain top finish. NOBODY could match Aru In a similar type finish so we shall see. Should be interesting. JMHO

 

[Ricboff]

certainly will be fun to watch. It's crazy tight. When's the last time 4 riders were :30 sec from each other with 6 stages left? nuts!! Landa is only 1:16 sec back and he'd be way way closer if he didn't come back to support Froome at the last stage. If Aru was to win i'd be amazed. His team is decimated!! Cataldo and Fulglsang are out!! Being asked to do so much on his own, finally caught up to him in stage 14- had no legs. Certainly, he knows must take a shot, stage 17, 18 will be super fun. How about Bardet? Inspired riding, has 100% fan support.

in the end Team Sky has horses in Landa, Kwiatkowski. As long as Landa remains strong Chris should have support in the mountains. And when he doesnt, has shown tremendous strength as witnessed in two critical stages; 9 (during that BRUTAL final ascent held off attacks from Martin, Aru, Porte), 15 (mechanical problems and caught up to the lead group with no support!)


LETS GO FROOME!!!!!!!!!!

here's Chris;

“Each rival presents different threats,” Froome said. “If you look at Aru, he won the first mountain-top finish on Planche des Belles Filles [in the first week], perhaps didn’t have such a good day a couple of days ago but he’s been strong in the third week before.
“Romain Bardet has always been strong in the last week of a grand tour and he also has the team to back him up.

​

“Uran? Maybe more of the dark horse. He slips under the radar a little. He’s probably the strongest time trialist of this group of GC riders, so, with Marseille in mind, he’s a big threat as well.”
“But I am feeling better and better as the race goes on. I really do feel like I am coming up and the last two days have been evidence of that.”

​

 

[kermit16]

certainly will be fun to watch. It's crazy tight. When's the last time 4 riders were :30 sec from each other with 6 stages left? nuts!! Landa is only 1:16 sec back and he'd be way way closer if he didn't come back to support Froome at the last stage. If Aru was to win i'd be amazed. His team is decimated!! Cataldo and Fulglsang are out!! Being asked to do so much on his own, finally caught up to him in stage 14- had no legs. Certainly, he knows must take a shot, stage 17, 18 will be super fun. How about Bardet? Inspired riding, has 100% fan support.

in the end Team Sky has horses in Landa, Kwiatkowski. As long as Landa remains strong Chris should have support in the mountains. And when he doesnt, has shown tremendous strength as witnessed in two critical stages; 9 (during that BRUTAL final ascent held off attacks from Martin, Aru, Porte), 15 (mechanical problems and caught up to the lead group with no support!)


LETS GO FROOME!!!!!!!!!!

here's Chris;

“Each rival presents different threats,” Froome said. “If you look at Aru, he won the first mountain-top finish on Planche des Belles Filles [in the first week], perhaps didn’t have such a good day a couple of days ago but he’s been strong in the third week before.
“Romain Bardet has always been strong in the last week of a grand tour and he also has the team to back him up.

​

“Uran? Maybe more of the dark horse. He slips under the radar a little. He’s probably the strongest time trialist of this group of GC riders, so, with Marseille in mind, he’s a big threat as well.”
“But I am feeling better and better as the race goes on. I really do feel like I am coming up and the last two days have been evidence of that.”

​

i actually look at the last week of this year's Tour quite differently ! To the GC CONTENDERS, there are really NOT 6 stages left but only 3. Stage 21 is meaningless to the GC BOYS. Also stage 16 tomorrow will NOT contain any challenges to the main GC contenders. Stage 19 is strictly a sprint stage. So we have stages 17,18 and 20. However stage 20 is a time trial in which Chris Froome is probably far superior to all the other Yellow Jersey contenders. So actually the Tour is down to stage 17 and 18 And the top 3 challengers to Froome are actually at least a minute behind Chris Froome as Chris can be drinking Champagne during the Time Trial unless Someone can get at least a 30 second lead on him. Of course there's also the unexpected crash or collapse that can happen ? Go Chris. ��

 

[kermit16]

Marcel Kittell who leads in the green Jersey hunt and was the favorite to win today's stage is apparently ill and falling quite far back of the Yellow Jersey group. Let's hope he doesn't miss the time cut if he continues to fall further back.

 

[kermit16]

Michael Matthews wins today's stage and picks up maximum points in the green Jersey race. As expected all the GC contenders finish with same time with one notable exception..... Dan Martin got got up in the crosswinds and lost about 50 seconds. I may be wrong but that could easily cost him any realistic chance for a top 3 podium position.

 

[Greenbacks]

Matthews holds off Boasson Hagen and Degenkolb to win another hectic stage:

 

[Greenbacks]

 

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[Ricboff]

Kwiatkowski was a BEAST today....@).............. Uran just won't go away, wow.


HUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGE next two days.


stage 17

Aru and Bardet MUST make there move in the next two days-- its do or die

Froome.............Aru..............Bardet


SHOWTIME

 

[Greenbacks]

Photo print.....It was pretty close.

 

[kermit16]

I've been talking about stages 17 and 18 for quite some time now and it's all in for the GC contenders starting tomorrow. Brutal , Ugly , torturous, you name it but it could easily be a game changer. I will give my thoughts later on stage 17.

 

[Greenbacks]

Tour de France 2017 | Stage 16 Highlights

 

[kermit16]

Tomorrow's stage will start innocently with a category 2 climb and then on to the intermediate sprint stage. Then they head up to
Col de la Croix de fer, a HC class climb. That will take out the sprinters and pretenders. They then descend before heading up to the highest point of the Tour, Col du Galibier via Telegraphe! This will be 35 Km total climb ! Who will have the legs to survive an attack ? For Chris Froome, he doesn't need to do anything but stay connected to his main GC contenders .... easier said then done. However one factor that helps Chris on this stage is his descending prowess! There is a 8 km technical descent right after the summit. Often Froome gains time on these type of descents. Should be an exciting day ! I feel Aru, Bardet and Uran cannot sit and NOT attack as they must test Chris Froome's legs even if they don't bring back much time. Stage 18 looms next and a mountain top finish which might be a better chance ! Go Chris !

 

[Ricboff]

i hear ya kermit. Nice pics G

well, am certainly looking forward to watching the next two stages. With 4 riders so ridiculously close anything can happen . Call me crazy but Uran is scaring me. Unlike Bardet and Aru he can TT. For Aru and Bardet they MUST go for it in the next 2 stages , they need the yellow jersey after stage 18. I like Bardet's chances better than Aru's.

today showed us that not only do you need a strong team to win The Tour (and a bit of luck) BUT also a team that is committed to its GC rider. Cmon, how can you not feel sorry for Dan Martin? Kittel fell apart and what did they do? cause he's battling for the green jersey then sent support!! Martin to be shorthanded . He's essentially out. Too bad.

Froome NEEDS Kwiatkowski and Landa in the mountains. We know Kwiathowski is committed to the designated GC rider, is Landa?....if Froome shows weakness will Landa ignore orders and go for it? Team is littered with super domestiques but these two specifically will be huge for Froome in the next 48 hrs.

 

[Ricboff]

'When Mikel Landa speaks, he usually has something interesting to say. That was certainly the case on the second rest day at the Tour de France.
With the Tour knotted up in the closest race in history, Landa insisted he’s here to help Chris Froome win a fourth title — although he wouldn’t mind finishing on the podium as well.

“We are teammates, not rivals,” Landa said. “If it doesn’t hurt Froome, I’d love to be on the podium in Paris. I feel good, but I cannot do anything to hurt his chances.”


“We have a good group of people, and there is a good feeling,” he said. “Something strange would have to happen to Froome for me to be the [leader] … and face-to-face, he is stronger than me, and he would beat me in the final time trial.”
When Landa dishes, he doesn’t disappoint. Speaking of his future, he’s equally to the point.
“I do not want to be second again,” he said. “That’s very clear that I do not want to see that again.” '

 

[Ricboff]

Chris Froome‏Verified account @chrisfroome <small class="time" style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(101, 119, 134);"> 14h14 hours ago</small><button class="ProfileTweet-actionButton u-textUserColorHover dropdown-toggle js-dropdown-toggle" type="button" aria-haspopup="true" style="color: rgb(101, 119, 134); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; cursor: pointer; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding: 2px 9px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; position: relative;">More
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#quoteoftheday from Nelson MandelaHappy #MandelaDay

 

[Greenbacks]

Some pics from today`s stage.