2015 Le Tour de France

[SixRings]

This should be a really excellent race this year. They're all cheating so it's fair. I predict Quintana in a very close race over Contador but Nibali and Froome will have their say. There's no catching the little Columbian in the mountains. Dude can climb like nobody else. Always root for Tejay but there is no way. Hope for a top five for Tejay.

 

[mauconnfan]

You mean it's baseball on wheels?

 

[junglehusky]

Carnage in the lowlands! Although I enjoy the cobbled spring classics, there is an argument that the kind of rider who targets a 3 week Grand Tour isn't necessarily the same kind who targets LBL or Roubaix. I think racing on cobbles is fine for the TdF once every few years, but you don't need to have it every year, just like they have routes with more or less climbing or TTing.

There may still be cheating but I think it's completely flipped from where 90% of the peloton was doing something 8-10 years ago, to now 90% is not. I think they can manipulate their blood and stay within limits for the biopassport but it's not the wild west anymore.

 

[junglehusky]

Nice steep finish up the Mur de Bretagne today. I thought Dan Martin looked like he had the legs to win and just went too late, it turns out he was pinned inthe barriers by the GC riders and couldn't launch his attack when he wanted. I guess this finish wasn't long enough for Quintana or Froome to attack, though Nibali did lose a little bit of time. That may or may not be an indicator of his fitness this year. Tomorrow's TTT could be a bit of reshuffling of the favorites. curious to see how BMC and Tejay does.

 

[SixRings]

BMC looked solid. Tejay looked great. Race starts on Tuesday though. I don't think Tejay can climb with the likes of Froome, Contador, Quintana and Nibali. Can't wait to see the appetizer.

 

[junglehusky]

Well, Froome gained time on the first mountaintop finish in the Pyrenees, and Sky prevented any other attacks on the following days. When a team looks that dominant it's guaranteed to generate skepticism and questions, so we'll see if Froome goes ahead with the post-race physiological testing to answer the critics. That'll be interesting.

On another note, Tejay is probably out of the overall hunt for first place, barring Froome having some unforseen difficulty, but hasn't had to work too much to defend his second place. So far so good. I'm sure Contador will attack in the Alps even if he's not 100%. There won't be a repeat of last year's French podium, zut alors.

 

[Alum86]

You mean it's baseball on wheels?

Really. Take this and soccer and post it to the NGAFF thread.

 

[junglehusky]

Really. Take this and soccer and post it to the NGAFF thread.

The title of the thread is Le Tour De France. Nobody made you click it, tough guy.

 

[CTBasketball]

Still too early to tell. You can lose 20 minutes on Alpe D'Huez, however it will be interesting because they're not going through Galibier this year - not sure how tougher the new route is.

Anyone within 5 minutes going into Alpe D'Huez has a shot. Its going to come down to who's going to suffer more and how well your team's escort brings you to the finish. I don't see Tejay outwitting any contenders, but Quintana I can. But the Froome/Porte combo is going to be hard to beat.

 

[Fishy]

No one has a shot - Froome and Sky have this so solidly put away that you're only watching to see who wins stages from here on.

 

[junglehusky]

Warren Barguil is like that no-skill, out of control dude in your rec basketball league who jumps into the shooter on shot fakes & banging into random dudes on the fast break causing injuries. He has a gift I guess.



NBC video here (Phil calls it a telegraph pole.... holy hell he's old)

 

[junglehusky]

Great couple of days in the Alps in the last week. Cannondale-Garmin sending guys up to contest stages, just couldn't get it right in the last few k's. I'm sure BMC was completely stunned by Tejay being forced out when he caught a bug, I don't know if he would be able to hang on to third place had he stayed in but maybe he would have.

This route was made to favor Quintana's strengths, no ITT, back-loaded with tons of climbs. But he lost the tour in the crosswinds in the first week. I'm sure he'll contend again and maybe win, but it might be a couple more years.

Sky looked a bit more human than 2-3 years ago. Maybe that was by design?

 

[SixRings]

Was hoping Quintana could pull it out on Hueze. He came much closer than some thought.

Next year will be different. Rumors of Richie Porte building his own team. He will not return to Sky next year. He did a tremendous job this year for Froome and deserves a shot at it.