Don’t be fooled. Froome is the leader. Sky will make sure he wins the tour if it’s someone from their team. Either that bad day will come naturally or GT won’t attack on a day Froome does.

Agreed. NQ is a tool as is Movistar. Valverde deserves better. Valverde set up that climb perfectly for NQ and nothing ever happened other than Valverde looking like a fool to attack that far out. That attack needed a 2nd follow through from NQ and it never came.

Yep, the only way GT is going to win the tour is if he goes rogue and somehow finds a way to hang on.

As you saw today GvA lost 15 min in one stage.
One of the things to realize is that when speeds are high, it is very hard to gain a lot of time. But when speeds are low, speed increments make a huge difference. On a flat stage, when one rider is going 30mph, there is a lot of effort put into by another rider to go 31 mph. But when climbing that same increment in power is a difference of 9 mph vs 14 mph.

You see the same in running. If you are running 8:00 pace vs someone else going 7:00 pace. That’s 1 mph difference but think about the effort it takes to go that pace to gain 1 min in a mile. Now suppose you bonk and you walk going 20:00 pace. If you just start power walking you can easily go 17:00 pace. That’s a difference of only 0.5 mph yet you gain 3 min per mile.

Only way is Froome drops out for injury or illness

If GT wins maybe someday he will make a documentary called "slaying the wheezer."

It’s a head scratcher. Dude has all the talent in the world but getting worse when he should be hitting prime. Sure seems like it’s something upstairs or lack thereof.

One thing I’ve never understood with guys like this is why teams anoint them the next great thing and ship em off to the Tour to get their teeth kicked in. I know Tejay finished 5th and all but that’s practically a different race than for the win. Nibali, TD and Quintana all went to other GTs and learned how to manage the race and win. Seems like a better long-term formula.

Agreed, the form to get 5th at the Tour would at least get you a podium at one of the other GTS, and the racing tends to be more tactical and varied as well so good for development.

I think it's a hangover from Lance and Lemond. Lemond used the Giro to get in shape for the Tour a couple of times but never won it, Armstrong was 100% about the Tour in his prime years. Those 2 did a huge amount to raise interest and awareness on cycling in the US, but unfortunately mainly centred around the Tour. So American public and sponsors tend to see the Tour as the benchmark, and riders gravitate that way as well.

I wish Landa was not injured so we could get an idea of his true capabilities. He was the one I was cheering on for this year's Tour. I thought maybe Landa and NQ could be the one-two attack against the Sky machine. Last year, Landa baby sat Froome on most of the climbs, and actually looked stronger than him. This year, he crashed hard and this surely impacts his riding. Now, he's so far behind in the GC that he'll have an almost impossible task to ever catch back up.

LMFAO. Good one.

I don’t remember this many sprinters out this early. QS must be short roping Gaviria up the mountains at this point to keep him in it. Wonder how far back Sagan is.

Rolland looks fresh.

It’s crazy they’re all out, and Gaviria on ropes.. Who else is left, Demare?

Gaviria gone too. Wow. Really wondering about Sagan now.

Is Sagan dangling on the back? Just tuning in.

yea. stages like this are too much for the sprinters. AND, when you add in that they can't beat Sagan ... well, what's the point?

I'm hurting. I can't win anyway. peace out

Looked like Sagan was at back of Peloton with 88k to go. Unless something goes really wrong he ought to be ok.

That was 3 years ago. What has he done since? He just sits and holds on. He is impressive to some degree, but nothing like he is advertised as.

And yes...i meant valverde, not vandevelde!
Haha!

Groenewegen was struggling yesterday too. These back to back to back monster stages are destroying the sprinters. I wonder if they will ignore the cutoff for them today. Otherwise it will be Sagan vs bunch of little Spanish climbers in Paris. Lol

kills me

Some ride by Kruijswijk. Hope he hangs on.

Valverde and Vandevelde share many similarities. Honest mistake.

As for Quintana, only 9 GC World Tour wins, with 2 grand tours, a Giro and a Vuelta.
Sitting on the wheel of the odds on favorite half way through the race may not be a bad strategy.

LOL!!! Good one.

Good to see some fight from GC contenders.

quintana dropped

Movistar dumpster fire at the moment