Yep, Big Mig was killer!

Indurain and Ullrich were both doped cyborgs.

TD is lighter and clean as far as I can tell.

TD is a killer. He will win le Tour some day.

ha - when I saw his time off the back at the finish line my eyebrows perked up - he was not on pace to be 30 minutes back.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Already looking ahead to the Vuelta. 8 summit finishes and overall nastiness like usual. Nibali and Porte recovered? Is Aru still around somewhere? Pinot? Who from the TdF finishers will show...Valverde, Quintana, Bardet???

If I'm Thomas, I hold out until I get a new contract and I don't know if Sky risks sending Bernal at this stage of his development. Given the rest of the Sky domestiques must be shattered, and the Vuelta looks so hard...do they even send a team focused on the GC?

I always give in to the hype of the TdF...but the racing is usually best at the Giro and Vuelta.

They've been booing Froome and chucking cups of piss at him for a few years now, and well before the salbutamol and Wiggins TUEs were in the press. And there are plenty of proven dopers who haven't been given anything like such a tough time, from Virenque to Contador. I think it's got more to do with Sky being British, having a ton of money, being dominant, and racing more by power meter than instinct, than it has to do with recent events.

I've got friends out watching the Tour this week, apparently when Yates crashed yesterday there were cheers all round from the French "fans". Part of the charm of the Tour has always been how close the riders get to the supporters but I think it's increasingly out of control and just hope that somebody doesn't end up seriously hurt as a result (as if Nibali's fractured vertebrae wasn't serious enough).

The Giro is my favorite in terms of parcours no doubt and the racing is top notch. The TDF is the grand show and has by far and away the best level of competition which makes the racing top notch. The Vuelta parcours is always good, but by that point everyone is either burned out and wants the season to be done or is trying to salvage something from the scraps of their early season failures it seems.

"After I flew through the forest and I hit a big rock with my ass."
Sagan has a way with words.

Post stage today, Froome was crashed out by a French policeman who I guess didn't know it was a Tour rider (Froome was wearing gray rain jacket covering his jersey...but his bike was clearly marked). Apparently an unruly fan grabbed GT's arm during the stage today.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Froome is 100% cooked. He had two stages that were perfect for him, 12 and today, he will now ride to defend his podium spot.

Anyone see the race start, was the F1 grid start much to do about nothing? How quickly did everyone find their rightful spots (IE- how quick did Sky boys move to their rightful spots protecting GT and Froome)? Did anyone actually attack off the line?

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I tuned in literally right when they dropped the flag. It had potential, but nobody significant in the GC went off the line and Sky was able to get a few guys up to the front within the first 300 meters or so. I would say within 5 minutes of the start, the entire Sky team was at the front of the peloton. Even Alaphilippe waited for things to settle down before he attacked out of the peloton and bridged up to the breakaway and go for KOM points.

I think the grid start was necessary though given the stage went straight uphill. If they simply let riders line up wherever they wanted, it could have been too chaotic. Of course they could have started the stage by riding 5 km of flat before getting to the base of the hill, but I think having all the riders warming up in one area, then having it start right there was more of a fan experience. You get to see all the riders for well over an hour compared to see them whiz by in 10 seconds.

Complete non event, Sky had the whole team together (including Luke Rowe who was back in 130th or something) within a few hundred yards of the start

Not every gendarme is a cycling fan. You figure he'd been standing on the mountain for at least a few hours with orders to the effect, "Don't let any of these "fans" ride down the hill after the stage!" He sees a guy in a gray jacket riding along with a 250 pound "bodyguard" (who isn't even wearing a helmet) trying to go down the hill. Not surprising that he grabbed Froome.

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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.

Me either. And when the annoucers said, "here comes the human coat hanger" I about spit my drink across the room.

Thomas has never climbed this well. In one week races, sure, but not in Grant Tours. Makes you wonder who would be leading if Dumoulin did not start il Giro. Head to head, Dumoulin seems to do better than Thomas in ITTs to the tune of 10 seconds/ 10km. So he claws back ~30 second on Saturday. As someone else said, what a shame that he had that untimely puncture...

That puncture and time penalty sure we're a shame. Tom D is a massive talent

TD doesn't look cooked at all. He's climbing out of his mind.

If Froome does some magical Tour-winning stunt on Tourmalet, I will quit being a cycling fan forever.

I'd take Bernal right now (with odds) for the Vuelta. Kid is amazing.

I disagree. I think both Froome and TD are head and shoulders better than GT. Froome is cracking but TD is barely hanging on to GT.

Quintana should send Froome a fruit basket for cracking. Because if Froome could keep up, I think Bernal has a chance to motor the entire GC group within striking range of Quintana in the final km.

I watched the last 4 km again and it's pretty comical how Froome starts yelling in his radio for Bernal to slow down. You aren't sure what he's saying at the time, but knowing he's eventually going to crack, you put one and one together. And when Froome gets initially dropped on Roglic's acceleration, Bernal immediately drops back, but then decides to shut down the move by rolling right past everyone and slowing up. Then he casually sits up no hands to fix his ear piece (probably to mute it)...you know...since Froome is still yelling at him to slow down even more.

Weird thing with Froome is that he was riding up and down the group, talking on the radio, did a little dummy attack to see how Dumoulin would respond, etc, just before he cracked. The feed I was watching had David Millar commentating, he was saying how strong he looked and was planning an attack.

Do wonder whether he simply hadn't fuelled enough and bonked (which would be slightly ironic given how big a deal Sky made out of their highly scientific approach to fueling on Giro stage 19). If so then he would have no issue recovering by Friday to put in one last big attack.

Wtf. That cop should have taken down the team mechanic that put Huffy pedals on a Pinarello

It wouldn't surprise me if Froomey did something like that.

Didn't really look like a bonk to me. When someone bonks, hits the wall, its usually a more dramatic change in pace, hero to zero. Froome was just too cooked to go with the accelerations.

No way in hell he goes "rogue" and I certainly don't think that Sky is going to give him the freedom versus riding it "safe" for GT by using Froome as tempo. Like at some point, you as a team have to play the odds and GT has rightfully showcased he deserves them to ride all in for him Friday. And so Froome riding tempo, protecting GT is far more important, because hell anything can still happen, so it's much more likely they need him as 1st Lt. than "protecting his podium spot". Sky doesn't give a shit about 3rd place if it in any way jeopardizes yellow. And I think this late in the game, it really should be all hands on deck protecting GT. No need to play tactical cat and mouse, it really is as simple as force Froome (and other Sky guys) to pull back any attacks from the main GC guys.

ETA: Also him going on a long range breakaway that puts him in yellow would be very very odd and trouble for Froome/Sky. Just in how he's ridden this Tour, he's "tired", but to finally find the magic to go all in and win the race on the last day...yeah that wouldn't pass the smell test. Even in the Giro, he was coming into form on the last week, nothing similiar is going on here at the Tour.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II