Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Prev Next
La Tour
Quote | Reply
Kinda bought me by surprise, really enjoying it. Last two days have really delivered.

sometimes
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [mustangchef] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are bringing up La Tour here because Trump is in Paris.

If not, and you really want to talk about cycling, you must be new around here...
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Sanuk] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
It's better than talking about Nascar
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Bumble Bee] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
It's better than talking about Nascar

I agree but, does anyone actually talk about Nascar?

Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [mustangchef] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
mustangchef wrote:
Kinda bought me by surprise, really enjoying it. Last two days have really delivered.

Yes, it's been good despite NBC's awful coverage. Liggett and Sherwin need to be put out to pasture. I don't know how the Eurosport guys can talk for hours, while frick and frack have relatively little air time to cover yet repeat themselves continuously often enough with nonsense.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Sanuk] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Sanuk wrote:
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are bringing up La Tour here because Trump is in Paris.

If not, and you really want to talk about cycling, you must be new around here...

The chateaus around Perigeux were freaking amazing. (is that better?)

I never heard of Aru before this tour. I am quickly becoming a fan. Nice to see someone taking risks and trying to win instead of trying to not lose by too much.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [mustangchef] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Not to nitpick, but it is actually Le Tour. Latour is one of the rixers though.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [j p o] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Aru is great, but had become a little anonymous. I follow cycling closely and he wasn't on my radar for more than a top 10 this year, but he's shown grit.

I'm still torn about the overall route this year. I don't see that final day TT having the same sort of suspense that the Giro's did, simply because the mountains in this tour haven't been as stacked, the mountaintop finishes aren't really selective overall, and the remaining mountain stages have those long downhill or straight run finishes, so all Froome has to do is stay within 30-45 seconds and he'll easily take back yellow in the TT from anyone else who's in the top 5. It's his. I know ASO wanted to design a course that would be more open this year with the limited TT miles, but to really make it challenging for Froome they could have done some long, semi-hard mountains in the first week and then a string of 3 mountain stages back to back in the second half, with one being long and punishing to soften the legs, the middle being a short stage like today with multiple brutal climbs stacked up, and then a third day with a summit on something like du Huez or Galibier. That would be enough to soften Sky, punch them hard, and then deliver a blow to those left standing.

The 2nd -- 5th battle is exciting this year, though!
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [mustangchef] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I stopped watching the day after Sagan was booted out and Cav was injured. The two guys I most liked to watch on the entire roster.

Greg

If you are a Canuck that engages in gratuitous bashing of the US, you are probably on my Iggy List. So, save your self a bunch of typing a response unless you also feel the need to gratuitously bash me. If so, have fun.
"Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f___ things up" - Barack Obama, 2020
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [j p o] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I never heard of Aru before this tour. I am quickly becoming a fan. Nice to see someone taking risks and trying to win instead of trying to not lose by too much.

I had lost interest in the Tour but watched this year and agree, it is very good. I had no idea who Aru was either but do like his style. I lost interest during the Lance domination, each stage became predictable. There were a few good mountain stages but that was it.

Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Sanuk] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Aru has been one of the big up and coming GC guys for a few years now, but has been a bit overshadowed by Quintana who I think is the same age. He won the Vuelta a few years ago and has finished on the podium at the Giro at least twice. This tour is certainly a big step up for him though.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [llewis] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
llewis wrote:
Not to nitpick, but it is actually Le Tour.
Beat me to it.

If you're a somewhat casual fan, you might have missed the "scandalous" rulings by the race commissaries. Kicking Sagan out while ignoring similar dangerous sprinting and a punch thrown by French sprinters. Yesterday a Kiwi and a Colombian rider were penalized 20 seconds each for an illegal water bottle hand up while a French rider received no penalty for the same offense. (Since overturned.)

Time for some Freedom Fries!

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [gregtryin] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
gregtryin wrote:
I stopped watching the day after Sagan was booted out and Cav was injured. The two guys I most liked to watch on the entire roster.

Greg

Same here.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [MidwestRoadie] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I'm liking this years route myself. So often there is this a big build up to the big summit finishes, but they end up being fairly boring the whole time. So far this year, the mountain stages have been exciting with aggressive racing throughout. Stage 9 was the best mountain stage we've seen in years, and today was great as well. Yesterday maybe not so much, but the finish was exciting.

I think ASO designed the route this year with an eye towards tactical racing. It is tough to create a course that is challenging to Froome since he has the strongest team, is as good a climber as anyone (maybe not this year), and the best TTer among the GC guys. I think the best the course designers can do is create a lot of situations where Sky could find themselves caught out by tactics.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Alvin Tostig] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Watown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Watown wrote:
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.

That's what I thought. They are UCI officials not from the ASO. I suppose some might be French but not all of them?
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Alvin Tostig] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Alvin Tostig wrote:
If you're a somewhat casual fan, you might have missed the "scandalous" rulings by the race commissaries. Kicking Sagan out while ignoring similar dangerous sprinting and a punch thrown by French sprinters. Yesterday a Kiwi and a Colombian rider were penalized 20 seconds each for an illegal water bottle hand up while a French rider received no penalty for the same offense. (Since overturned.)

The water bottle decision was a really bad one - I'm glad they found a way to reverse it. I didn't see Uran's feed, but Bennett and Bardet both grabbed a bottle for a real quick squirt and then tossed it; there was no material impact on the race whatsoever.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
ThisIsIt wrote:
Watown wrote:
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.


That's what I thought. They are UCI officials not from the ASO. I suppose some might be French but not all of them?

I'm not sure, but the head of the race jury, Phillip Mariens is definitely not French.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [llewis] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
llewis wrote:
Not to nitpick, but it is actually Le Tour. Latour is one of the rixers though.

And one hell of a fine wine!

"The right to party is a battle we have fought, but we'll surrender and go Amish... NOT!" -Wayne Campbell
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Watown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Watown wrote:
ThisIsIt wrote:
Watown wrote:
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.


That's what I thought. They are UCI officials not from the ASO. I suppose some might be French but not all of them?


I'm not sure, but the head of the race jury, Phillip Mariens is definitely not French.

Philippe Marien is Belgian.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Watown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Watown wrote:
ThisIsIt wrote:
Watown wrote:
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.


That's what I thought. They are UCI officials not from the ASO. I suppose some might be French but not all of them?

I'm not sure, but the head of the race jury, Phillip Mariens is definitely not French.
Yeah but......,,,,

You need to follow the conspiracy theories. Mariens is from Belgium and part of the UCI. However, the ASO is the real power (i.e. cash cow) in cycling. If a French rider (Demare, Bouhanni, or Bardet) commits an offense in le Tour de FRANCE, it's ignored or given a slap on wrist by the commissaries. It's all the fault of the French I tell you!

No more French wine! We'll show 'em!

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Alvin Tostig] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Alvin Tostig wrote:
Watown wrote:
ThisIsIt wrote:
Watown wrote:
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.


That's what I thought. They are UCI officials not from the ASO. I suppose some might be French but not all of them?


I'm not sure, but the head of the race jury, Phillip Mariens is definitely not French.

Yeah but......,,,,

You need to follow the conspiracy theories. Mariens is from Belgium and part of the UCI. However, the ASO is the real power (i.e. cash cow) in cycling. If a French rider (Demare, Bouhanni, or Bardet) commits an offense in le Tour de FRANCE, it's ignored or given a slap on wrist by the commissaries. It's all the fault of the French I tell you!

No more French wine! We'll show 'em!

Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure how expelling the absolute biggest star in cycling is in the interest of ASO. I guess not penalizing Bardet yesterday could play in to that, but not Sagan.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Watown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Watown wrote:
Alvin Tostig wrote:
Yeah but......,,,,

You need to follow the conspiracy theories. Mariens is from Belgium and part of the UCI. However, the ASO is the real power (i.e. cash cow) in cycling. If a French rider (Demare, Bouhanni, or Bardet) commits an offense in le Tour de FRANCE, it's ignored or given a slap on wrist by the commissaries. It's all the fault of the French I tell you!

No more French wine! We'll show 'em!

Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure how expelling the absolute biggest star in cycling is in the interest of ASO. I guess not penalizing Bardet yesterday could play in to that, but not Sagan.
If I've got the conspiracy theory regarding Sagan correct, ASO didn't want Sagan winning another Green Jersey (don't ask me why). They've changed the scoring system the last couple of years, making the rules less favorable for a rider like Sagan, but he kept winning anyway. Plus, with Sagan out of the race, a French rider, Demare, was more likely to win the Green Jersey (until Demare missed a time cut).

It's a shame. Now Kittel's got the Green Jersey competition already sewn up. It would have been fun to have seen Sagan battle it out with Kittel.

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [Watown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Certainly terrible rulings both with Sagan and yesterday, but the people making those decisions are not French.

But the race is in France, a lot of the sponsors are French companies and most of the fans lining the streets are French...

Quote Reply
Re: La Tour [llewis] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
llewis wrote:
Not to nitpick, but it is actually Le Tour. Latour is one of the rixers though.
the language is so sexist

sometimes
Quote Reply

Prev Next