2015 Tour de France

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Xplora
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby Xplora » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:57 pm

No. I don't think Porte is. But that shouldn't stop him pursuing his dream did someone will support him.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby warthog1 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:47 pm

g-boaf wrote:
newie wrote:Last night’s stage epitomised all the things that I find wonderful about watching cycling. Up front you have a bearded grown man in tears because after all the years of sacrifice and hard work he has finally achieved a childhood dream. Meanwhile, down the back you have another young man in tears from the devastation of realising that all his sacrifice and hard work is coming to naught. And in the middle you have the complex interplay between tactics, skills, luck and talent leaving you wondering how it will all unfold and afterwards contemplating how things might have gone if the tactics or lady luck had been different.
That was pretty good seeing Simon Geschke win. Didn't mind Pinot's victory either.
Cut that out :x Wt? are you doing talking racing in this doping thread :roll:

:(

I enjoyed the Gorilla's dominance in the sprints. Great to see the big fella earn the title of fastest sprinter in the race. The points jersey doesn't mean that imo.
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby toolonglegs » Tue Jul 28, 2015 7:03 pm

The Gorilla obviously got something in his program right this year ...

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby find_bruce » Tue Jul 28, 2015 7:38 pm

warthog1 wrote:Cut that out :x Wt? are you doing talking racing in this doping thread :roll:

:(

I enjoyed the Gorilla's dominance in the sprints. Great to see the big fella earn the title of fastest sprinter in the race. The points jersey doesn't mean that imo.
Don't worry it won't catch on :wink:

Any ideas on what happened with Cavendish - slowing down as he gets older, poor form / confidence or something else ?
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby warthog1 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:24 pm

toolonglegs wrote:The Gorilla obviously got something in his program right this year ...
Thank Robbie McEwan :wink:

Well he might have helped a bit anyway :) ;

Perhaps aware that at 32, time is against, Greipel has really changed things around this year.

First up, he decided to give the Tour Down Under a miss.

A race where he’s won a record 19 stages, Adelaide has been “The Gorilla’s” happy hunting ground and seemingly the perfect place to start his season.

In 2012, he won three stages at the TDU and then triumphed again in July with three Tour wins and two 2nd places.

So Greipel knows how to peak for different objectives.

But it wasn’t just the Tour Down Under that the German sprint behemoth eschewed.

Greipel has visited races multiple times since making his Tour de France debut in 2011.

Milan San Remo, Tirreno Adriatico, Ghent Wevelgem, Driedaagse, Kurne-Brussels-Kurne, the Tours of Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg, Ster ZLM, the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix have all regularly been on his calendar.

For instance after last year’s TDU, Greipel rode the Tours of Oman and Qatar then KBK, Tirreno, MSR, Ghent-Wevelgem, Turkey, World Ports, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ster ZLM.

But his 2014 Tour wasn’t the best, with just one stage win behind a rampaging Marcel Kittel (four) and Alexander Kristoff (two). Greipel only finished 7th in the Green Jersey competition.

This year has seen a marked change. Greipel began his season with three one-day races in the Trofeo series in late January, then the Volta Algarve, Paris-Nice, Milan San Remo, Ghent Wavelgem, Driedaagse, Flanders, Paris Roubaix, Turkey, Luxembourg and Ster ZLM. He also rode the Giro, albeit only 13 stages.

So in his Tour de France lead-up, Greipel only appeared in five races he took part in last year. He also returned to the Giro d’Italia for the first time since 2010.

Using Italy’s Grand Tour as a warm-up for le Tour is nothing new for sprinters.

Robbie McEwen, regularly exited the Giro after 12 or 13 stages and it did him no harm.

And this was something that Greipel recognised

McEwen, who won 12 stages at both the Giro and the Tour, admitted on SBS TV that Greipel had contacted him about how he prepared for le Grand Boucle including his Giro strategy.

As McEwen went onto explain, despite being a champion in his own right, Greipel is humble enough to seek advice in how to improve.


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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby warthog1 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:33 pm

find_bruce wrote:
Any ideas on what happened with Cavendish - slowing down as he gets older, poor form / confidence or something else ?

He didn't seem to have the form or lead out train this year either. He does seem to have lost his edge or the others have caught up with him?
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby jasonc » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:37 pm

warthog1 wrote:As McEwen went onto explain, despite being a champion in his own right, Greipel is humble enough to seek advice in how to improve.[/b][/i]
makes me like greipel more. i still think all of them in form, kittel would be hard to beat.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby newie » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:54 pm

I went over to the Tour Down Under this year and was disappointed he wasn't there. Probably for the best though, I'd get all hot and flustered if I was in his presence. :oops:

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:55 pm

Latest news reports are claiming that Chris Froome didn't actually win the Tour this year: http://www.theonion.com/article/tour-de ... -dav-50932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby warthog1 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:57 pm

jasonc wrote:
makes me like greipel more. i still think all of them in form, kittel would be hard to beat.
Yeah he seems humble for such a champion which is a nice change :)
Kittel is a beast and seems fastest on his day, don't know how well he'd have coped with all that climbing this year? Greipel was looking very lean.
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby CKinnard » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:03 pm

Xplora wrote:
CKinnard wrote: Whatever, Team Sky didn't exist 7 years ago.
Please work on the delivery of your comments. Cheers.
Some stage 20 video filmed by a client.
Around 1m25s, one of the staff wind the window down to straighten the side view mirror as the car gets hammered on Dutch corner. With the window down, a bucket of beer (or urine) is thrown through the window.
https://vimeo.com/134706876" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby g-boaf » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:16 am

warthog1 wrote:
g-boaf wrote:
newie wrote:Last night’s stage epitomised all the things that I find wonderful about watching cycling. Up front you have a bearded grown man in tears because after all the years of sacrifice and hard work he has finally achieved a childhood dream. Meanwhile, down the back you have another young man in tears from the devastation of realising that all his sacrifice and hard work is coming to naught. And in the middle you have the complex interplay between tactics, skills, luck and talent leaving you wondering how it will all unfold and afterwards contemplating how things might have gone if the tactics or lady luck had been different.
That was pretty good seeing Simon Geschke win. Didn't mind Pinot's victory either.
Cut that out :x Wt? are you doing talking racing in this doping thread :roll:

:(

I enjoyed the Gorilla's dominance in the sprints. Great to see the big fella earn the title of fastest sprinter in the race. The points jersey doesn't mean that imo.
I could talk about recovery methods, but I thought it was better to talk about racing. :)

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:09 pm

Nice backhander from Nibali.

“We haven’t seen each other since the Tour. There are lots of incidents in races, and what happens in the race stays in the race,” Nibali said, adding: “At the time, I preferred not to mention it, but in 2010 Froome was excluded from the Giro for being towed by a car…”

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali- ... a-a-espaa/

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby Xplora » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:14 am

Yep the Froome dog is so far from being blameless it's not funny. I really disliked asking for the gel within the final 10kms against the rules in the 2013 tdf.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby queequeg » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:28 am

Xplora wrote:Yep the Froome dog is so far from being blameless it's not funny. I really disliked asking for the gel within the final 10kms against the rules in the 2013 tdf.
I can't remember, but did both Froome and Porte cop a time penalty and fine for that, or just Porte? If Porte already had the gel on him and gave it to Froome, that would be ok, so I guess in the end it was the simple fact that he had a teammate with him that helped.
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:54 am

queequeg wrote:
Xplora wrote:Yep the Froome dog is so far from being blameless it's not funny. I really disliked asking for the gel within the final 10kms against the rules in the 2013 tdf.
I can't remember, but did both Froome and Porte cop a time penalty and fine for that, or just Porte? If Porte already had the gel on him and gave it to Froome, that would be ok, so I guess in the end it was the simple fact that he had a teammate with him that helped.
Both Froome and Porte were penalised 20 seconds for feeding from the team car within the last 6km of the climb.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby queequeg » Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:13 am

biker jk wrote:
queequeg wrote:
Xplora wrote:Yep the Froome dog is so far from being blameless it's not funny. I really disliked asking for the gel within the final 10kms against the rules in the 2013 tdf.
I can't remember, but did both Froome and Porte cop a time penalty and fine for that, or just Porte? If Porte already had the gel on him and gave it to Froome, that would be ok, so I guess in the end it was the simple fact that he had a teammate with him that helped.
Both Froome and Porte were penalised 20 seconds for feeding from the team car within the last 6km of the climb.
How did they explain that one? I remember watching it, and Porte went back to the car and got the food, then rode up and gave the food to Froome. So technically Froome was assisted by a team mate, who illegally fed from the car inside the last 20km.
I suppose it comes down to the spirit of the rule, so whether he went back to the car himself or got Porte to do it, the food still came from the car illegally?
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:35 am

queequeg wrote:
biker jk wrote:
Both Froome and Porte were penalised 20 seconds for feeding from the team car within the last 6km of the climb.
How did they explain that one? I remember watching it, and Porte went back to the car and got the food, then rode up and gave the food to Froome. So technically Froome was assisted by a team mate, who illegally fed from the car inside the last 20km.
I suppose it comes down to the spirit of the rule, so whether he went back to the car himself or got Porte to do it, the food still came from the car illegally?
Pretty clear cut that Froome took food from the team car illegally. The fact it came to him via Porte is irrelevant. BTW, It's only flat stage finishes where the no feeding in the last 20km applies. This was a mountain top finish and the cut off was 6km.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby queequeg » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:15 pm

biker jk wrote:
queequeg wrote:
biker jk wrote:
Both Froome and Porte were penalised 20 seconds for feeding from the team car within the last 6km of the climb.
How did they explain that one? I remember watching it, and Porte went back to the car and got the food, then rode up and gave the food to Froome. So technically Froome was assisted by a team mate, who illegally fed from the car inside the last 20km.
I suppose it comes down to the spirit of the rule, so whether he went back to the car himself or got Porte to do it, the food still came from the car illegally?
Pretty clear cut that Froome took food from the team car illegally. The fact it came to him via Porte is irrelevant. BTW, It's only flat stage finishes where the no feeding in the last 20km applies. This was a mountain top finish and the cut off was 6km.
Agree. I wasn't quite sure on the actual day what the cut off was, as they were going on about the hot conditions also changing the cut off on a per stage basis. How far was he from the finish when he got the food? Must have been desperate if it was in the final 6km after the cut off. I guess the 20 sec penalty wasn't much of a disincentive.
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby Xplora » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:11 pm

He was inside the cutoff and if he had not cheated it would have cost him the Tour. Sky dominated because Froome didn't bonk on that stage. The entire point of race strategy is to weaken your opponents so you can beat them. If you weaken them through hard work all day then they cheat by feeding or grabbing a team car to the end then why bother even racing?

#notjealousijusthatecheating

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby biker jk » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:21 pm

Xplora wrote:He was inside the cutoff and if he had not cheated it would have cost him the Tour. Sky dominated because Froome didn't bonk on that stage. The entire point of race strategy is to weaken your opponents so you can beat them. If you weaken them through hard work all day then they cheat by feeding or grabbing a team car to the end then why bother even racing?

#notjealousijusthatecheating
I agree the cheating was terrible. However, Froome would have needed to lose a minute a kilometre over the last five kilometres of that climb to lose the jersey. I could imagine bonking leading to a loss of a few minutes but not five.

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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby Calvin27 » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:27 pm

biker jk wrote: I agree the cheating was terrible. However, Froome would have needed to lose a minute a kilometre over the last five kilometres of that climb to lose the jersey. I could imagine bonking leading to a loss of a few minutes but not five.
Not sure what happens atelite levels, but I'd say it might have affected him the next day or so as well. Bonking is pretty much your cody running out of fuel and havign to take them from elsewhere. First port of call is the muscles.
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Re: 2015 Tour de France

Postby Xplora » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:49 pm

biker jk wrote:
Xplora wrote:He was inside the cutoff and if he had not cheated it would have cost him the Tour. Sky dominated because Froome didn't bonk on that stage. The entire point of race strategy is to weaken your opponents so you can beat them. If you weaken them through hard work all day then they cheat by feeding or grabbing a team car to the end then why bother even racing?

#notjealousijusthatecheating
I agree the cheating was terrible. However, Froome would have needed to lose a minute a kilometre over the last five kilometres of that climb to lose the jersey. I could imagine bonking leading to a loss of a few minutes but not five.
A Grand Tour isn't decided by a gel - but if he lost 2 minutes that would have completely changed the tactics of the teams with GC hopes. 5 minutes is impossible to claim in a day. It would take days and days of grinding away, and attacking certain specific climbs, to catch it up. With little pressure on Froome to defend.

2 minutes of gap? The chasers can be more aggressive on their own terms, with less risk. A bad day at 2 minutes behind doesn't end your season. A bad day at 5 minutes ends your race.

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