No one mentions Wout Poels?

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2016:
IMFL #12
http://www.bestbikesplit.com

Agree. Yates way over Alaphilippe.

And Orica is just about the coolest team to ever grace the peloton.

Wouter Poels - As in PULLS Froomie up the climbs

Dumoulin - for his TT wins, and funny tweets, and general Dutch hotness and ability to speak good English :)

Alaphillpe - totally going for it day in and day out

Tony Martin - nutzo break day

Richie Porte - fighting to the end

Yates - youth and the Brits have an heir apparent, lucky for them

Phil Liggett

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I'm not sure where this guy was in the first 2 weeks, but Pantano was worthy of "Man of the Alps". With IAM going away, I wonder if he'll join with Movistar and make a climbing Colombian duo.

No no.....don't worry, Brailsford will need to sign him up with Pouls gets all kinds of awesome offers. But it seems like the Sky super domestiques would rather get paid well to ride for Froome (guaranteed pay) than sign elsewhere with big bonuses for winning.

Look at some of the ones who left: Uran; Boasson Hagen; Porte.

Money doping isn't new: it's the same thing that was going on in the 50s, 60s & 70s. Coppi, Merckx, Van Looy et al all surrounded themselves with very talented riders who could have lead teams, but didn't, and took the teams money.

I'm really liking Orica now, they are looking really good, having Yates and Chaves. I'd love to see how he does in the Vuelta (if he goes that is). Only trouble is they're an Aussie team...

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

and this

http://cyclingtips.com/2016/07/beaudin-communique-2016-tour-de-france-things-you-never-saw/

Look at some of the ones who left: Uran; Boasson Hagen; Porte.

Cavendish as well.

You know what they say, "money pays".

This piece about Rolland's heroics to end up 16th in the GC in such a banged up state reminds me of this image as the Euro overlapped with the Tour for a week this time around (I am a fan of both). My son and I joked that if you are cyclist and you roll around in pain, the game does not stop for you and penalize the other side....you penalize yourself and the game goes up the road and leaves you behind (oh, and I am a Neymar fan):

I was excluding him as it appeared that Sky was a mutual team of convenience in the run up to the Olympics.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

GVA. Yellow jersey in the break and then better than Tejay in the last week's mountains. Baller.

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Professional Athlete: http://jordancheyne.wordpress.com/ http://www.strava.com/athletes/145340

Coaching Services:http://www.peakformcoaching.com/

I joked a while back about taking back sprinters' wins if they don't ride the Champs and finish the tour. And it was a joke, but look at Greipel and the respect he commands in the peloton. He's a heavy dude who pulls for his teammates when he can, rides the classics and gets through brutal, late mountain stages under the time cut to then win in Paris. And Sagan. When does he take a day off? And plenty of others. Even Kittel. Some days are just grupetto survival days, but it doesn't mean it's easy. Hell, even Blood and Guts Voeckler was taking pulls on the Champs. Pride.

McEwen and a lot of other old schoolers took pride in winning in Paris. It wasn't just another day. Other guys are elated just to roll in 3 weeks later, intact.

It's different. It's cool. The thing that makes the tour amazing is actually finishing, like an IM in a much bigger way. It's super hard and when you know you can walk at any time, jump in your ride and fly out, you treat the stages differently.

And the Olympics are a grupo. That's Portugese for "cluster". I think.

I'm sure the track Olympians would be delighted at their events being called a grupo.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

Is there a track term for a cluster? (Serious question. I know nothing about track racing.)
Did they finish building the velodrome yet?

My thoughts exactly. He is the ultimate domestique. Not just this year but EVERY year. That dude is a GC contenders best friend and you wonder if he could be one himself.

Otherwise, I think everyone else summed up the tour nicely.

I think Team Sky has a winning formula. They focus on the GC and have great team tactics. Their response when Froome fell in the rain was amazing and practiced. I'm sure they all bopped on the back of the head that night to say "What the HELL were you thinking going out on your own?".

Sagan - He is just fun to watch

Cav - Lots of people don't like him. I do. Great racer, and gives an honest interview.

Bouhanni - Too bad he didn't make the Tour. It would have been fun watching him finish a distant 4th or 5th on all the sprint stages. Except he probably would have knocked somebody over trying to win.

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Pete Githens
Reading, PA

Contractor: "let me go look"

leaves and comes back 15 minute later

"So how far along are they?"
"Vel ..."
"Well what?"
"No, not 'well' .. Vel ... V-E-L ... that's all they got"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin