Yes, Chris Froome and Team Sky continue to ride toward Paris ! Today's stage went pretty much as expected with a breakaway group once again allowed to gain a big advantage over the Yellow Jersey peleton. Simon Geschke attacked from the breakaway group and nobody was able to pull him back as He won his first Stage victory. However the " As Expected " was not the story for a few other riders as Tejay Van Garderen took sick and had to abandon the race. Also Contador took a fall and lost time on the descent. It now looks like the main race for the Yellow is down to a 2 man race with only Froome and Quintano able to match each other on the steep Mountain climbs. there are 3 more tough days in the Alps so as We saw today... anything can happen even to those riders in the top 5. I still don't see anyway Froome can lose unless He suffers a crash as a 3 minute lead is a lot at this stage of the Tour ! GL
Stage 18 featured a 1,2 finish by frenchmen as Romain Bardet sped out of the breakaway group to win the stage with Pierre Rolland finishing second. The main GC remained the same as Chris Froome was able to hold off all attacks throughout the stage. I have never seen the likes of the final climb up Lacets de Montvernier. I think they said 17 switchbacks in a short distance of 3 or 4 Km ! Awesome to see but I'm sure not fun to climb.
When I looked over the stages prior to the start of this year's Tour, I kept looking at the 2 upcoming stages 19 and 20. If you only watch 2 stages, the next 2 would be a good place to start watching. Speaking of who's watching, I read an article that says attendence and interest in the Tour is up quite a bit. Apparently the fans are getting over the doping scandals a little or at least more fans think the doping is in the past. Of course the only country where the interest is slightly down is ........... you guessed it ... France. You don't think that has anything to do with the fact that a Frenchmen hasn't won the Tour since .......... I can't recall ! LOL GL
When I looked over the stages prior to the start of this year's Tour, I kept looking at the 2 upcoming stages 19 and 20. If you only watch 2 stages, the next 2 would be a good place to start watching. Speaking of who's watching, I read an article that says attendence and interest in the Tour is up quite a bit. Apparently the fans are getting over the doping scandals a little or at least more fans think the doping is in the past. Of course the only country where the interest is slightly down is ........... you guessed it ... France. You don't think that has anything to do with the fact that a Frenchmen hasn't won the Tour since .......... I can't recall ! LOL GL
the defending Champion wins stage 19....
congrats to Nibali
Quintana, our planets best climber FINALLY loses Froome in the mountains. Team Sky could not hold and Chris had to break, Quintana gains 30 sec and a MUCH needed psychological boost. Tomorrow MUST BE Quintana's DAY , he must win big.........
it's judgement day tomorrow, in the mountains....
congrats to Nibali
Quintana, our planets best climber FINALLY loses Froome in the mountains. Team Sky could not hold and Chris had to break, Quintana gains 30 sec and a MUCH needed psychological boost. Tomorrow MUST BE Quintana's DAY , he must win big.........
it's judgement day tomorrow, in the mountains....
First off, no atta boy from me as Nibali wins todays stage ! As a matter of fact he gets a big Boo as I strongly feel he violated a long standing principle that has long prevailed in the Tour De France and the other big tours. You don't attack the Yellow Jersey when you know He has a mechanical malfunction. It was very apparent that Nibali looked right at Froome as Chris had pulled over to fix his chain problem. The rest of the peleton held back as Nibali turned and sped away on the attack. Total bush league and I hope that tomorrow He suffers and is denied a place on the podium in Paris ! Certainly not the way I would expect last year's Champion to conduct himself. The day belongs to Quintano who attacked on the final climb and gained 32 seconds on Chris Froome to cut Froome's advantage to 2 min 38 seconds. That's still a tough margin to gain as We enter tomorrow's final day in the Alps but it will make for an exciting stage tomorrow as Froome's Sky's team showed weakness and He was totally on his own to hold off the attack by Quintano. I'm not sure if Thomas was saving himself for tomorrow's final stage but he finished way back today. A ton of riders were facing possible time cuts so I haven't heard of the results of that which could eliminate a bunch of riders. It might come down to a close look at the fine print in the rule book ! I'll post more later ! GL
Sorry but there is plenty of talk. It was crystal clear as He looked at Froome not once but twice ! Froome certainly mentioned it after the race and called it unsportsmanlike. Nibali denied it after the race but but you can believe what you want. I now think he's not only a poor sport but an outright liar ! It also appeared obvious that he had a brief word with another rider, perhaps Valverde before he turned and sped off in his attack. I will be rooting against him the rest of the race !
Chris has zero proof, zero. He didn't even see Nibali look at him. He has no clue what Nibali saw or didnt see. Good grief. Nibali had planned to make his attack at that part of the race, pre-planned. He's a Champion with a flawless track record. Poor call by Chris to act the ass post race.
"Nibali said he was "very disappointed" at the way Froome spoke to him at the finish with language "too hard and too unjust to be repeated.""
"Nibali said he was "very disappointed" at the way Froome spoke to him at the finish with language "too hard and too unjust to be repeated.""
Let's move to the reality of this year's race ! Last year's winner Nibali is not going to win this years tour and you can take that to the bank.
However tomorrow's stage 20 is not only the final contested day for the Yellow Jersey but it should be a classic. It's a brutal stage with not 1 but 2 HC climbs with the last being the final of the tour ! It's going to decide the winner and today's stage showed the first weakness in Froome but also his Sky team. It's a 2 rider race now with only Chris Froome and Quintano having any realistic chance. It would take an unbelievable finish to make up the 2 minute 38 second deficit but if the legs are weak....... anything can and sometimes does happen on a uphill finish like this. Any odds ?
However tomorrow's stage 20 is not only the final contested day for the Yellow Jersey but it should be a classic. It's a brutal stage with not 1 but 2 HC climbs with the last being the final of the tour ! It's going to decide the winner and today's stage showed the first weakness in Froome but also his Sky team. It's a 2 rider race now with only Chris Froome and Quintano having any realistic chance. It would take an unbelievable finish to make up the 2 minute 38 second deficit but if the legs are weak....... anything can and sometimes does happen on a uphill finish like this. Any odds ?
A Frenchmen wins stage 20 , the most brutal mountain stage . Kudos to Pinot !!
quintana had to win and win huge . He, again blew by Froome . This time beating him by more than a minute . But not enough . Froome will win The Tour de France , barring a crash tomorrow . The key today was Team Sky was able to help Chris deep into the ride-how about the fantastic performance by Richie Porte - he hang until the last fee km's!!!
it's Froome's day tomorrow
quintana had to win and win huge . He, again blew by Froome . This time beating him by more than a minute . But not enough . Froome will win The Tour de France , barring a crash tomorrow . The key today was Team Sky was able to help Chris deep into the ride-how about the fantastic performance by Richie Porte - he hang until the last fee km's!!!
it's Froome's day tomorrow
Wow ! What a day it was as Thibaut Pinot won the final climb up the historic and iconic Alpe d'Huez ! The final climb got quite tense as Nairo Quintana launched a furious attack early on the ascent of this steep and long final Mountain top finish. He was opening up a lead of about 1 minute and 30 seconds over Chris Froome and He needed another minute. However Chris Froome didn't panic and with the help of his team Sky's Richie Porte's gutsy performance, Chris stayed composed and finished strongly to maintain his lead and he will win this year's Tour De France tomorrow. He will take a lead of 1 min and 8 second into tomorrow's final stage. What a tour this has been ! Just look at the top 5 finishers Chris Froome. Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador. There are no novices in this group ! Tomorrow's stage is largely ceremonial for most of the riders but it always is a day for the sprinters. I wanted to also note that Chris Froome also took over the king of the Mountain lead today and there are not enough points tomorrow available for anyone to overtake him so it turns out to be a doubly good day for Chris ! I really enjoyed this year's Tour as it was one of the more exciting I've seen in years. I will post later about my thoughts of tomorrow's sprint finish ! GL
Tomorrow will be the ride into Paris on the Champs-Elysees. This is strickly a day for the sprinters and for the rest of the field to enjoy the fact that they survived the Tour and celebrate their victory ! All the races have been dicided as Chris Froome has wrapped out both the Yellow Jersey as the winner of this year's Tour and also the King of the Mountain. Peter Sagan has won the Green Jersey for the 4 th straight year, Nairo Quintana has won the white Jersey, Movistar has won the team. So all that's up for grabs tomorrow is the bragging rights for winning the prestige of claiming the the biggest prize of all for the sprinters ! Andre Greipel has been awesome so He would be my pick unless the Alps have exhausted him. If that was the case I would take Peter Sagan or Kristoff. GL
2015 Tour de France is in the books, cycling's Super Bowl....
congratulations are in order .....let's start with -
Team Sky. Credit is always given to the winner of the yellow jersey. It is said winner that KNOWS the value of the team around him. Team Sky was strong and deep, had the horses. Most evident at Stage 20. Froome could not hang with Quintana. Thomas and Porte hung deep into the race, and Porte was there until the last 5 km. Who knows what happens to Froome without such support as he was clearly laboring.
here's Froome post race;
“Without you guys I would not be standing up here: this is your yellow jersey as much as it is mine,”
secondly , congrats to Pinarello....it's flagship, the Dogma F8, was an engineering collaboration with Jaguar
and finally congrats to Chris Froome. His second Tour de France title. Also won King of the Mountains......our planet's numero uno....
congratulations are in order .....let's start with -
Team Sky. Credit is always given to the winner of the yellow jersey. It is said winner that KNOWS the value of the team around him. Team Sky was strong and deep, had the horses. Most evident at Stage 20. Froome could not hang with Quintana. Thomas and Porte hung deep into the race, and Porte was there until the last 5 km. Who knows what happens to Froome without such support as he was clearly laboring.
here's Froome post race;
“Without you guys I would not be standing up here: this is your yellow jersey as much as it is mine,”
secondly , congrats to Pinarello
....it's flagship, the Dogma F8, was an engineering collaboration with Jaguarand finally congrats to Chris Froome. His second Tour de France title. Also won King of the Mountains......our planet's numero uno....
Today's stage was won by the awesome Andre Greipel who picked up his 4 th sprint stage win. Congrats to Chris Froome, Peter Sagan and team Movistar for best team. I will take a look in advance towards next year's tour tomorrow. I think this year's tour was the toughest I can recall and also the best !
Quick look towards what might happen next year ! Early odds show that Chris Froom is 6/4 and Quintana is 7/4.
I'll give a case for each. First off it seems to me that Quintana has shown that he is the best climber on the steeper climbs. Also He is 5 years younger and getting better every year. He has a great team but also has the 3 rd. place finisher in this year's Tour Valverde to help him in the tough stages. Also Richie Porte is leaving Team Sky next year which will hurt Froome. Add all those up and it APPEARS easy to make Quintano next's years favorite. However there are a few negatives that have to be taken into account. Froome is a better time trialist and he is also a better descender. That is why on stage 20, even though Quintana attacked on the first HC climb, Froome easily quickly reeled him in on the descent. Therefore Quintana has to pick his spots as the steep Mountain finishes must take place on the final climb for him to really gain any time.
Now for Froome chances to repeat next year. First off it's hard to win back to back Tours. Secondly He is losing one of his top helpers in the tough Mountain stages as Richie Porte is leaving. Thirdly is the obvious fact that there are some great cyclists who are very young and Quintana is leading the group. Froome's biggest plus has been his Team Sky who have now guided their 3 rd winner in the last 4 years and are very good in the Time trials losing by only 1 second to Team BMC. As mentioned Froome is not only a great time trialist but a great descender so Team Sky and him can easily run down any escape that takes place too far from the finish line. He knows how to win and is very clever. So who's my early pick ?
I'm going with Quintano for 2 reasons. His youth and his ability to correct small mistakes made this year. Next year he needs to be more aggresive and concentrate on the ONLY rider that can beat him. Contador and Nibali I predict will not win another Tour De France.
So much depends upon the Tour's course for 2016 which is announced in October. How many and types of Time trials, How many Mountain Top finishes, how many coblestones etc. I will try to give an update for wagering purposes then. Good luck !
I'll give a case for each. First off it seems to me that Quintana has shown that he is the best climber on the steeper climbs. Also He is 5 years younger and getting better every year. He has a great team but also has the 3 rd. place finisher in this year's Tour Valverde to help him in the tough stages. Also Richie Porte is leaving Team Sky next year which will hurt Froome. Add all those up and it APPEARS easy to make Quintano next's years favorite. However there are a few negatives that have to be taken into account. Froome is a better time trialist and he is also a better descender. That is why on stage 20, even though Quintana attacked on the first HC climb, Froome easily quickly reeled him in on the descent. Therefore Quintana has to pick his spots as the steep Mountain finishes must take place on the final climb for him to really gain any time.
Now for Froome chances to repeat next year. First off it's hard to win back to back Tours. Secondly He is losing one of his top helpers in the tough Mountain stages as Richie Porte is leaving. Thirdly is the obvious fact that there are some great cyclists who are very young and Quintana is leading the group. Froome's biggest plus has been his Team Sky who have now guided their 3 rd winner in the last 4 years and are very good in the Time trials losing by only 1 second to Team BMC. As mentioned Froome is not only a great time trialist but a great descender so Team Sky and him can easily run down any escape that takes place too far from the finish line. He knows how to win and is very clever. So who's my early pick ?
I'm going with Quintano for 2 reasons. His youth and his ability to correct small mistakes made this year. Next year he needs to be more aggresive and concentrate on the ONLY rider that can beat him. Contador and Nibali I predict will not win another Tour De France.
So much depends upon the Tour's course for 2016 which is announced in October. How many and types of Time trials, How many Mountain Top finishes, how many coblestones etc. I will try to give an update for wagering purposes then. Good luck !
