Even better would be Chris Horner. But with all the people they have now, it's getting pretty crowded. It would be difficult to add Voight or Horner unless they drop Roll or VDV. Roll is better this year, and I agree that VDV has been a good add.

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

I enjoy how they are using Bob Roll, VDV, and the 2 Steves in addition to Phil and Paul. I wonder how much of that is NBCSN seeing the writing on the wall and maybe realizing that Phil and Paul aren't quite as sharp as they use to be and the addition of the others would help take of the workload.

With that being said, I have enjoyed this years Tour a lot. Yeah Nibali has had the yellow jersey on lock down but the KOM race has been great, the racing has been amazing, and certainly no shortage of story lines.

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When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

Not quite the lock that Cheng Ji has on the Lanterne Rouge. He is untouchable as anyone trying to come close would miss the time cut. He also managed to add another 3 minute buffer today while still somehow picking up 8 points for the green jersey. Look out Sagan

Cheng Ji better make sure nobody rides too fast today. Looks like he's got a great shot at missing the cut off.

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Don't forget to attack!

The cut off is 25% today.

Did not participate much in this thread, but just glad that Valverde is slipping off the podium

He really ran out of steam in the last few days. Too bad for the spanish but great results for the French and Italians this year. Also Tony Martin is an animal.

 
astana all over the top 25 of the itt. he had a great team.

What kind of power do you think Martin put out today?

A lot

Enough to win.

Valid point. I just remember reading something a few years ago that Wiggens targeted 420 or something crazy in the TT the year he won. Just curious where Martin stacks up.

If one presumes Andy Hampsten was clean, none of the 2014 times looks that outrageous by comparison. http://www.dailypeloton.com/...yarticle.asp?pk=6730
however, one can't help but wonder how far off the list the dopers like Armstrong, Valverde, Levi, and Hincapie would fall on natural talent.

Andy Hampsten has never ever in the slightest bit ever been considered anything but squeky clean

>Valid point. I just remember reading something a few years ago that Wiggens targeted 420 or something crazy in the TT the year he won. Just curious where Martin stacks up.

Probably quite a bit higher. Wiggins weighs ~150lbs. in TdF mode, while Martin weighs, apparently, ~165lbs. I'd guess Martin is in the neighborhood of 440W FTP.

They way nibali has looked this tour I feel like he could actually double up and win tbe Vuelta. He came in the tour so underrated and really hit his peak. I'm not even a nibali fan but i haven't seen someone this strong/dominant since... Lance

Maybe a dumb question.. But, you think they can ride at FTP this far into the tour?

They're not (Tejay's experience at least) seeing the numbers they are used to seeing. And who could expect that, given the 3 weeks of hell. If Martin did then he has amazing recuperative powers, even if the last couple of days he has not worked "hard".

That said, it's the TdF, the last real effort, the crowd, Paris beckoning, and there is a lot of emotion attached to that. So maybe some big numbers get put up.

Nibali beating van Garderen is pretty impressive. I'm a skeptical jilted lover but I'm going with, chapeau Shark. Great bike rider.

>Maybe a dumb question.. But, you think they can ride at FTP this far into the tour?

No, FTP would almost certainly be significantly down (absent doping).

There may be a 7 minute gap, but in those 7 minutes there would normally be Froome, Wiggins, Contador (or they could be ahead of those 7 minutes). He beat everyone who was there and stayed out of crashes and the others did not so the discussion I guess is academic.

After removing from the Tour his form will come down. Just because he goes well now doesn't mean much for the Vuelta; Froome thought the same and got his ass handed to him in short order by a hardly-in-form Contador.

Froome and Contador being out completely changed the Tour. The three of them were A-1 favorites so I don't know why anyone is surprised at his dominance. Comparing him to a Lance is laughable.

Nibali rode a flawless race. He was always in the right position, never crashed, tactically astute, super aggressive and his team helped him at critical moments. You don't progress through winning all three GTs by accident; he's a very deserving champion.

I want to think that him winning points to the peloton being cleaner, much like when Cadel won.

More importantly, he gets major points for not "yellowing out" until today.

Normal team shorts, helmet and bike until today. Well done!!

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

True. And Jacob Fuglsang gets an extra share for the work he did. Said after crashing that if Nibali wasn't in yellow he would have withdrawn. Thats a teammate.

Nibali rode a flawless race. He was always in the right position, never crashed,//

Unless i'm mistaken, pretty sure he did crash, on the cobble day. Got ridden off into the grass in a turn. But no harm and he got up and finished strong. I'm guessing that most guys crashed that day somewhere, some minor, some not so. We just didn't get to see them all.