2017 Tour de France

[BJL]

I'd like to see Landa finish with a 2 second gap ahead of Bardet and cause Paris to implode.

[MichaelB]

I'm opposite, and glad to see that Brdet retained his spot.

Amazing TT by Kwaito though !!!

La Course was again great, and for AvV to hold off those 3 chasing by herself was amazing !!

[find_bruce]

So what do they do next year? Barguil, Matthews and Doumalain.....can't support them all. I can see a big sook coming on

While all three are on contract for next year, rumor is that Barguil is looking for a new home. Barguil, Bardet & Landa will all need to improve their time trialing if they want to win.

[stevenaaus]

I'd like to see Landa finish with a 2 second gap ahead of Bardet and cause Paris to implode.

Haha... We'd probably find out Froome can fisticuffs with the best too. He's a handy athlete... 6 foot+ and 70 kgs. But i can see their point. It's a little bit sad being able to buy successive event wins. Dollar caps can be pretty ugly, but most sports have them i think, and probably better than the current situation. It's a bit of a dilemma for professional sport.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chri ... nce-2016-7

[JPB]

I'd like to see Landa finish with a 2 second gap ahead of Bardet and cause Paris to implode.

Under the "Gentlemen's Agreement" would it be poor form for Landa to contest tonight's sprint and pick up two seconds on Bardet?

[RonK]

I'd like to see Landa finish with a 2 second gap ahead of Bardet and cause Paris to implode.

Under the "Gentlemen's Agreement" would it be poor form for Landa to contest tonight's sprint and pick up two seconds on Bardet?

Once the Champs Elysees are reached, the race is on.

[BJL]

I'd like to see Landa finish with a 2 second gap ahead of Bardet and cause Paris to implode.

Under the "Gentlemen's Agreement" would it be poor form for Landa to contest tonight's sprint and pick up two seconds on Bardet?

I'm sort of hoping it happens by accident. Team Sky to roll across the finish line first in the peleton (as they will) and AG2R be forgetful in all the fanfare and everything and finish back a bit completely oblivious to what's happened.

[DavidS]

I'd prefer to see as little of Murdoch's Sky on the podium as possible, they have made the Tour boring. I know it is effective but it does not make for an exciting race, Sky just grind everyone else into the ground. Bardet had a shocker of a time trial but just managed to hang on - it would be poor form for Bardet to lose third place.

DS

[find_bruce]

Given cycling is a team sport, thought I would have a look at how the teams fared, not as some sort of ranking, but measured against what I speculate were their pre tour goals.

Exceeded expectations

• Sunweb, 4 stage wins, green & polka jerseys
• LottoNl-Jumbo, 2 stage wins
• Cannondale-Drapac - went into the race with 2 GC contenders & looking for stage wins. Talansky faded from view. Uran saved the tour with a stage win & 2nd overall.
• Quick-Step, stage wins were their goals & Kittel delivered 5 of them
• Direct Energie, lots of attacks & a stage win to Calmejane
• Astana, wouldn't have expected much, but Aru bounced back well from his injury for a stage win.

Met expectations

• Sky, had one goal to win yellow & achieved it. Sure Froome didn't win a stage, nor did they entertain, but they were never Sky's goals
• AG2R La Mondiale - Bardet repeated his podium efforts of 2016.
• Dimension Data - their goal was stage win albeit they probably thought it would be Cavendish not Boasson Hagen
• FDJ - nice stage win by Demare, before fading out.
• Fortuneo - Oscaro, UAE, Bahrain-Merida & Wanty- sure they didn't do anything, they didn't do anything - but that was expected

Disappointed

• Trek-Segafredo, stage win from Mollema, but would be disappointed with Contador's result
• Orica-Scott, maybe I'm a bit harsh in that they won the white jersey with Yates, but they would have hoped for a stage win & Chaves injury hampered preparation showed.
• Bora-Hansgrohe, won stages with Sagan & Bodnar, results that would have satisfied many teams, but the bitter taste of an harsh penalty will leave them disappointed
• BMC Racing Team, put all their eggs in Porte's basket, when he crashed out, there was no plan B.
• Movistar Quintana was not in the form of previous years
• Katusha - Tony Martin didn't feature in the time trials, nor Kristoff in the sprints
• Lotto Soudal - Griepal missed out on the sprints, De Gendt's 1,280km in breakaways got no reward, not even the prize for most combative rider
• Cofidis, an ineffectual tour, summed up by Bouhanni's lame attempt at a punch & the jury's lame attempt at a penalty

[MichaelB]

Copying the format directly and my comments added in blue

Exceeded expectations

• Sunweb, 4 stage wins, green & polka jerseys - Ditto
  
• LottoNl-Jumbo, 2 stage wins - and in style too !!
  
• Cannondale-Drapac - went into the race with 2 GC contenders & looking for stage wins. Talansky faded from view. Uran saved the tour with a stage win & 2nd overall. - Luckily Uran did well, really flew under the radar, coz no-one else in the team seemed to
  
• Quick-Step, stage wins were their goals & Kittel delivered 5 of them - Dominant sprinter by far, but Martin was super gutsy and would have been interesting had he not lot time in the cross winds or crashed due to Porte
  
• Direct Energie, lots of attacks & a stage win to Calmejane - Meh, nice stage win, but met expectations. Leaviong out Cocquard was dumb !
• Astana, wouldn't have expected much, but Aru bounced back well from his injury for a stage win. - seemed to be team duisharmony more than anything else

Met expectations

• Sky, had one goal to win yellow & achieved it. Sure Froome didn't win a stage, nor did they entertain, but they were never Sky's goals - Bugger. Kwaito was the team man, super performance
  
• AG2R La Mondiale - Bardet repeated his podium efforts of 2016. They tried, but couldn't quite do it. Deserved to be on the podium
  
• Dimension Data - their goal was stage win albeit they probably thought it would be Cavendish not Boasson Hagen. Nice win.
• FDJ - nice stage win by Demare, before fading out. Like BMC, no plan B
  
• Fortuneo - Oscaro, UAE, Bahrain-Merida & Wanty- sure they didn't do anything, they didn't do anything - but that was expected - Fortuneo & Wanty at least got into most breaks !!!

Disappointed

• Trek-Segafredo, stage win from Mollema, but would be disappointed with Contador's result - great to see Contador try
• Orica-Scott, maybe I'm a bit harsh in that they won the white jersey with Yates, but they would have hoped for a stage win & Chaves injury hampered preparation showed. Was certainly disappointed that Chaves couldn't do anything, but another White jersey is still good. Met expectations to me.
• Bora-Hansgrohe, won stages with Sagan & Bodnar, results that would have satisfied many teams, but the bitter taste of an harsh penalty will leave them disappointed - rescued something though !!
  
• BMC Racing Team, put all their eggs in Porte's basket, when he crashed out, there was no plan B. Porte would have done well, but overall they did quite poorly.
  
• Movistar Quintana was not in the form of previous years - neither were many of their other guys
• Katusha - Tony Martin didn't feature in the time trials, nor Kristoff in the sprints - Really bad tour for them
• Lotto Soudal - Griepal missed out on the sprints, De Gendt's 1,280km in breakaways got no reward, not even the prize for most combative rider - DeGhent was ripped off !! Hansen completes yet another GT !!! WOW
• Cofidis, an ineffectual tour, summed up by Bouhanni's lame attempt at a punch & the jury's lame attempt at a penalty - why were they invited again ?

[stevenaaus]

I don't understand how Contador could break an ascent record one day, but have such a lousy tour overall.

[fat and old]

I just read an article from the SMH, dated a few days ago. Among the gems was this

Meanwhile, as a footnote to these major contests, Kenya's Chris Froome has continued his stately progression to a fourth win in the general classification. Each night, the Kenyan champion has graciously thanked his Team Sky colleagues, and rightly so.

Kenyan!!! Not once, but twice, in case we missed it.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry or thank them!

[MichaelB]

Landa has a few sour grapes by many reports.

Then again, he's just learnt what it's like when you are paid highly for your talent, but have to put aside all ambition. Hellova lot less pressure on your performance too.

Whilst Kwaito, and top some extent Landa deserve paise for their brilliant support, Henao & Nieve weren't so good.

Interesting if Landa does move, and whether he can back up his performance into a solid 3 weeks or he fizzles out ....



Just spotted, the earnings from the Tour

[caneye]

such a shame. he deserves a lot more recognition than wiggins i reckon..

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/40692045

[MichaelB]

such a shame. he deserves a lot more recognition than wiggins i reckon..

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/40692045

True re Wiggins, but still can't & won't warm to him.

Kudos for winning for the 4th time, but ....

[rodneycc]

Devils advocate. Ok pick one... Froome, Wiggins, Cavendish. The English sure do have their quota of unlikable chaps.

Think I'd take Froome....

[find_bruce]

Devils advocate. Ok pick one... Froome, Wiggins, Cavendish. The English sure do have their quota of unlikable chaps.

Think I'd take Froome....

just a few wrinkles in your "English" theory, Wiggins was born in Belgium to an Australian dad, Froome was born in Kenya, while Cavendish is from the Isle of Man

[rodneycc]

I think I'd only dig myself a bigger hole saying anymore. I Didn't know Wiggo was born in Belgium so there you go...

[CycloTron]

Interesting if Landa does move, and whether he can back up his performance into a solid 3 weeks or he fizzles out ....

From what I've heard, it's a done deal that he's moving to Movistar next year but they just can't announce it yet until August 1st (I think).
This should make things interesting for Quintana.

When viewed against that backdrop, some of his behaviour during this tour starts to make some sense.

[find_bruce]

I think I'd only dig myself a bigger hole saying anymore. I Didn't know Wiggo was born in Belgium so there you go...

A wise move that could have got me out of trouble if only I were smart enough

Interesting if Landa does move, and whether he can back up his performance into a solid 3 weeks or he fizzles out ....

From what I've heard, it's a done deal that he's moving to Movistar next year but they just can't announce it yet until August 1st (I think).
This should make things interesting for Quintana.

When viewed against that backdrop, some of his behaviour during this tour starts to make some sense.

Or not - rumours are that Quintana will be moving from Moviestar despite a contract for 2019 & Movistar's denial

[JPB]

I just read an article from the SMH, dated a few days ago. Among the gems was this

Meanwhile, as a footnote to these major contests, Kenya's Chris Froome has continued his stately progression to a fourth win in the general classification. Each night, the Kenyan champion has graciously thanked his Team Sky colleagues, and rightly so.

Kenyan!!! Not once, but twice, in case we missed it.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry or thank them!

What do the Kenyans think of Froome?
Are they happy to claim him as their own or do they prefer that it is an anomaly of birthplace and he is not really a true Kenyan?

[fat and old]

I just read an article from the SMH, dated a few days ago. Among the gems was this

Meanwhile, as a footnote to these major contests, Kenya's Chris Froome has continued his stately progression to a fourth win in the general classification. Each night, the Kenyan champion has graciously thanked his Team Sky colleagues, and rightly so.

Kenyan!!! Not once, but twice, in case we missed it.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry or thank them!

What do the Kenyans think of Froome?
Are they happy to claim him as their own or do they prefer that it is an anomaly of birthplace and he is not really a true Kenyan?

If his stories of the Kenyan cycling establishment are anything to go by, they'd probably refuse to acknowledge his existence

TBH, I've never been a fan of athletes "shopping around" for a country. I understand it, but can't warm to it.

[fat and old]

Devils advocate. Ok pick one... Froome, Wiggins, Cavendish. The English sure do grab onto anything they can, regardless of birth.

Think I'd take Froome....

There ya go

[fat and old]

such a shame. he deserves a lot more recognition than wiggins i reckon..

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/40692045

good article. I think this fella summed it up, like Froomay or not

I am of the firm belief that Chris Froome receives less media attention and less so called adoration from the public because he is the very essence of a dedicated professional sportsman and not one of the numerous poseurs that grace our screens and newspapers. He goes about his work quietly and gets real respect from those that matter.

[fat and old]

Interesting if Landa does move, and whether he can back up his performance into a solid 3 weeks or he fizzles out ....

From what I've heard, it's a done deal that he's moving to Movistar next year but they just can't announce it yet until August 1st (I think).
This should make things interesting for Quintana.

When viewed against that backdrop, some of his behaviour during this tour starts to make some sense.

Wouldn't be that surprised to see Movistar picking up Landa and not being too upset about losing Quintana. They'll lose a couple of Colombians and gain a few Spaniards that are probably just as capable of winning the TDF. Landa's entourage is sure to be smaller than Quintana's, if he has one at all.