2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near!

Jul 22, 16 17:48

Post #1 of 33 (2095 views)

As far as the GC C is concerned, it looks like this stage is going to be all about the Joux Plane. It is a really tough climb and the descent is really treacherous. I saw one forecast today that said 100% chance of rain for the Joux Plane. This race could well come down to who can descend, not ascend! Stage 19 showed us that a sudden gust of gravity could stil wreak havoc on this race.

Still a very tight race from 2nd to 6th. Porte has to be desperate to gain some time at this point....he has been the second best rider in the race, IMO, but just has not had Lady Luck on his side. But he also suffered in the last 2K today....can he bounce back tomorrow? Ending on a descent should help him, but weather could well prevent anyone from getting back on if they are dropped on the Joux Plane.

I do expect a break to stay away today and take the stage honors.

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Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 22, 16 18:11

Post #2 of 33 (2070 views)

For sure a break to stay away for the stage victory. Could be a dozen contenders for the stage. If Nibali has anything, he should try to get in the break and then go for the win. But he won't make it into the break so I'll go with Pantano for the stage.

Sky will escort Froome to the finish. The GC riders trying to move up in the standings will all try some attacks, but no one will be able to overtake Bardet and Quintana. Unless it rains!

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 22, 16 18:23

Post #3 of 33 (2060 views)

i'd been thinking this stage has bardet written all over it. however with him sitting in 2nd after doing his thing on stage 19 there's little motivation for him to take risks unless somehow froome is looking like losing 4 minutes.
could be a good one for nibali but he might be sore after going down when he was behind froome's crash. will he be allowed to go in the break rather than helping aru? will he listen? will the break be the place to be anyway?

with so many crashing yesterday the big question is who is sore and tired (more than usual) - froome, porte, mollema all have the potential to suffer from their crashes. yates might be starting to fade, quintana might be finally finding his legs (or might have used up what little he had), aru looks to be on the up... we could well see another big shakeup

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 22, 16 18:30

Post #4 of 33 (2053 views)

"sudden gust of gravity"

Love it

--Chris

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 22, 16 19:01

Post #5 of 33 (2032 views)

Joux Plane...for those of you who want to have a look here is a video that covers the fun Pantani had in 2000:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=809bnRykhLw

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [chriselam] [ In reply to ]

Jul 22, 16 19:28

Post #6 of 33 (2015 views)

chriselam wrote:

"sudden gust of gravity"

Love it

was thinking the same thing :) I haven't been posting much but much props to Power13 for keeping me well informed AND entertained with such scintillating commentary.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [kollac] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 3:40

Post #7 of 33 (1869 views)

kollac wrote:

chriselam wrote:

"sudden gust of gravity"

Love it

was thinking the same thing :) I haven't been posting much but much props to Power13 for keeping me well informed AND entertained with such scintillating commentary.

x3, thanks, been fun

today should be nutty....in confusion there is profit....can Bardet get away? Naw........

Adam Yates is the story of the race, imo. Tough kid. Cool watching him hang tough day after day, tail gunning the lead group mostly, good on him.....hope he hangs in one more crazy hard day

Froome has to buy Wout something pretty when this is all over.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [McNulty] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 4:38

Post #8 of 33 (1851 views)

joux plane - cold, wet, new tarmac - going to be exciting as those roads scare the sh*t out of me in the dry

absolutely one of my favorite parts of the world bar non

its also worth noting that actually the weather may well play a significant role in the finishing order - especially given that CF has had problems staying upright, was it the year before last that everytime there was a camera on him he was on the deck?

Last edited by: Andrewmc: Jul 23, 16 4:40

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Andrewmc] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 5:35

Post #9 of 33 (1826 views)

Andrewmc wrote:

joux plane - cold, wet, new tarmac - going to be exciting as those roads scare the sh*t out of me in the dry

absolutely one of my favorite parts of the world bar non

its also worth noting that actually the weather may well play a significant role in the finishing order - especially given that CF has had problems staying upright, was it the year before last that everytime there was a camera on him he was on the deck?

I think Chris has plenty of buffer. Assuming he gets to the to of Joux Plane with the the other GC guys, he can ride the brakes quite a bit all the way down and not lose 4 minutes. He just has to stay upright to the bottom of Joux Plane and he's keeping the yellow.

Is there any news on Dumoulin's wrist injury and whether he is going to be OK for Rio?

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 6:21

Post #10 of 33 (1796 views)

WTF,,,,they are glorifying Virenque on the coverage? This guy was doped to the gills

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 6:40

Post #11 of 33 (1771 views)

devashish_paul wrote:

WTF,,,,they are glorifying Virenque on the coverage? This guy was doped to the gills

Industry standard.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 6:45

Post #12 of 33 (1767 views)

Just a Thank You for taking the time and effort to run these threads.....thanks

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 7:29

Post #13 of 33 (1723 views)

no that I trust kirby or kelly but they say fracture and no Rio for TD

Aru going backwards, just wet and cold

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Power13] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 7:58

Post #14 of 33 (1682 views)

Is anyone going to attack for 2nd or 3rd in GC? Pantano/Nibali descent should be good, but man this is boring!

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [ChrisC42780] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:03

Post #15 of 33 (1674 views)

he left them behind like they were stood still

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [ChrisC42780] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:17

Post #16 of 33 (1649 views)

ChrisC42780 wrote:

Is anyone going to attack for 2nd or 3rd in GC? Pantano/Nibali descent should be good, but man this is boring!

Nice job Pantano staying upright on the descent...that was a close call. Good to see no major crashes on the descent. I kind of wish that it was dry so that there were more GC attacks.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [ChrisC42780] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:19

Post #17 of 33 (1641 views)

Armchair TourdeFrancing much ;-)
They're 3 weeks into the Tour, in horrible conditions. Froome has shown he won't get dropped, the other in the top 5 can't drop Bardet on the big climbs, and he descends well. That was a solid day for attacks and the final few kms at the front were pretty cool.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Francois] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:30

Post #18 of 33 (1626 views)

Sorry, my daughter was born and wasn't that involved in the threads, been busy!

I am sick of everyone settling for top 10, or 4th or 5th, its really boring. At least take a chance to move up. I would have more fun watching if there were more attempts even if they failed.

Looking forward to the Olympics/Vuelta!

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Francois] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:32

Post #19 of 33 (1623 views)

Add to that the fact that Sky was drilling it up Joux Planes.

While lack of gc battle was understandable -- it still was a boring gc day. Great day in race for stage.

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [H-] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:39

Post #20 of 33 (1611 views)

The big disappointment was Quintana really. Not a single attack in 3 weeks for someone who's been talking about the 3rd week of the Tour for the past 6 months. Sky was drilling it all the time, but many riders still tried to attack.

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Francois] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:44

Post #21 of 33 (1604 views)

This should have been Froome 5th straight TDF win.

2012- he was held back to work for Wiggins
2014- he would have won if he didn't crash out

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [ChrisC42780] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:46

Post #22 of 33 (1603 views)

The 8th win actually. You need to add 2009, 2010, 2011, which he would have won too. He didn't because he didn't compete. But he should have ;-)

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Francois] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 8:56

Post #23 of 33 (1591 views)

Francois wrote:

The 8th win actually. You need to add 2009, 2010, 2011, which he would have won too. He didn't because he didn't compete. But he should have ;-)

No joke there. He would have won those years if he had not been suffering from bilharzia.

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [H-] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 9:02

Post #24 of 33 (1585 views)

While lack of gc battle was understandable -- it still was a boring gc day. Great day in race for stage.

Indeed, I was hoping for more theatrics from the likes of Yates, Porte etc . . with the 2nd and 3rd spots in the final podium so tantalizingly close.

I am guessing a combination of the weather, 3-weeks of fatigue and the relentless tempo set by SKY, neutralized all of that.

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: 2016 Tour de France STAGE 20 Discussion Thread......*spoilers* The end is near! [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Jul 23, 16 9:10

Post #25 of 33 (1579 views)

Quote:

I am guessing a combination of the weather, 3-weeks of fatigue and the relentless tempo set by SKY, neutralized all of that.

Agreed, and playing with those factors I'd add both rider and team satisfaction with current placing. Sure Adam Yates was only seconds off the podium, but if he attacks and cracks or crashes he can end up out of the top ten (ask Aru and Mollema). I'd guess team management likely told some of the gc guys, "the sponsors will be happy with this result -- don't blow it, no risks."

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

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