Tour de France Stage 19 - High Pyrennes - SPOILERS

[jlwdm]

Today's stage could be interesting with climbs over Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque. 20 km downhill to the finish after the last climb.

Jeff

[rustychisel]

Jaja FTW!!!


Oh, wait.

[dieonthishill]

Froome will make a break .1km in and solo 200.4km to take the lead.

[Dude]

Should Sky use Froome as a rabbit to draw TomDom out?

[weisan]

Sagan really suffering. Team mates getting ahead in the early breakaways so they can drop back and pace him up the mountains later.

[soulspinner]

Froome will make a break .1km in and solo 200.4km to take the lead.

:p:p:p

[jamesdak]

Froome will make a break .1km in and solo 200.4km to take the lead.


LOL, if he does I think that's more than enough proof that....:p

[jruhlen1980]

Sagan 20 minutes back... the calculation to cover the time limit always confuses me, any danger?

[simpsonn]

Hoping Roglic makes it exciting today by attacking Froome and going for 3rd place.

[jr59]

This looks like real racing. No radios are going to help here

[Jaybee]

Sagan 20 minutes back... the calculation to cover the time limit always confuses me, any danger?

Expecting 40ish minutes, so no.

[paredown]

and the big guy cracks...

[redir]

Froome is isolated. That foggy decent is something else. Martin lost it on that counter attack but he's been known to never give up and he's got a Sky domestiqu to help. 5k of climing to go.

Nice work by Sky... Wow.

[Jaybee]

Bernal is something else. If Froome makes podium, he owes that kid big time.

[dieonthishill]

Those boos when Froome was going over the 2nd to last summit were deafening.

[redir]

I love Majka's pain face DIG!

[azrider]

I really can't stand Froome's style of attacking....or lack there of. ugh.

[dieonthishill]

I really can't stand Froome's style of attacking....or lack there of. ugh.

Ignore it then.

[jlwdm]

That was a great stage of bike racing.

Jeff

[paredown]

That was a great stage of bike racing.

Jeff

Word

Courageous riding by Dan Martin (again) and a brilliant descent by the winner...

[redir]

Who needs disk brakes anyway :D

I love seeing a good attack on the descent! Nice ride for the Slovenian!

[weisan]

Now THIS is called bike racing.

Glad he is able to put this behind him.

https://youtu.be/oNRYgKyZBAI

[Jaybee]

Froome-Roglic for the final podium spot is going to be pretty good. Roglic has 13 seconds on CF.

[azrider]

Ignore it then.

ummmm.....ok

That was a great stage of bike racing.

Jeff

Agreed. That was great.

[mt2u77]

Now THIS is called bike racing.

Glad he is able to put this behind him.

https://youtu.be/oNRYgKyZBAI


Jeebus :eek:. No wonder he is such a fearless descender.

[jlwdm]

Froome-Roglic for the final podium spot is going to be pretty good. Roglic has 13 seconds on CF.

I don't see where Froome has a chance - he looks gassed and Roglic looks amazing. Roglic could potentially move up tomorrow.

Jeff

[Jaybee]

I don't see where Froome has a chance - he looks gassed and Roglic looks amazing. Roglic could potentially move up tomorrow.

Jeff

I agree - I don’t think Froome is catching him. You think Roglic might pull back 19+ seconds on the TT world champ?

[mt2u77]

Just reviewed the finish sequence-- Dumoulin must have been gassed as he had a bead on a time bonus but got swallowed up in the sprint. Those 6 / 4 seconds could make a big difference for the podium.

[jlwdm]

I agree - I don’t think Froome is catching him. You think Roglic might pull back 19+ seconds on the TT world champ?

Roglic was second in the Worlds TT. There is a difference between a time trial on the 20th stage of the TDF after a brutal mountain stage and a Worlds TT. Both riders used a lot of energy today. Anything could happen.

Jeff

[weisan]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjIB5xGVsAA_cPg.jpg

“I don’t really know,” the EF Education First-Drapac rider said after the finish in Laruns. “I just hit a bump and kind of got off balance at the wrong juncture and I ended up in the trees. Took a tree to the face, broke my nose.”

- Taylor Phinney

[woodworker]

...why I like both Sagan and Dumoulin--quotes after today's stage from Cycling News:

Sagan:

"I think the green jersey and my teammates helped me a lot and I'm very proud of them and that we could make it," said Sagan. "I was surprised on the first climb, I thought '****ing hell' what am I going to do today. It's just a two-kilometre climb, easy and I was already almost dropped. Afterwards, we managed it well with the gruppetto and my teammates and [Arnaud] Demare's teammates from FDJ.

Dumoulin:

"Primoz was the strongest today and I have a lot of respect for his victory and he was flying downhill," Dumoulin said. "But, eventually, I got dropped on a straight part. He was on his top tube, full in the slipstream of the motorbike. I was sprinting to get on his wheel and I couldn't get any closer. I was dropped on the only straight part of the downhill. It's ridiculous."

Dumoulin was careful to stress that he did not attach blame to Roglic – "He can't do anything about it, he was the strongest and got a nice victory" – and he dismissed the idea of lodging some sort of appeal to the commissaires. A follow-up question of the 'Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?' variety, meanwhile, was met with a frank response: "I'm ****ing disappointed."

[bruin11]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjIB5xGVsAA_cPg.jpg

“I don’t really know,” the EF Education First-Drapac rider said after the finish in Laruns. “I just hit a bump and kind of got off balance at the wrong juncture and I ended up in the trees. Took a tree to the face, broke my nose.”

- Taylor Phinney

Taylor "LTD" Phinney

[JEFFTHEROBOT]

Chief Vibration Officer caught some wicked tree vibrations today.

[chiasticon]

...why I like both Sagan and Dumoulin--quotes after today's stage from Cycling News:on Tuesday, just before Gilbert crashed on the Col de Portet d'Aspet descent (where Fabio Casartelli died in 1995), they were playing an interview of Dumoulin from before the start. rain had been predicted. they asked him: if it rains, how will you approach this tricky descent? he said (paraphrasing): "this is all just a game... I mean, we make it very important but really it's not that important. I'm not going to risk my life or the lives of those around me just for the yellow jersey."

gotta love a no-BS guy at the top of the sport.

[woodworker]

Seeing the videos of his interviews is telling too--he has a no b.s. sort of charisma. Definitely not boring.

[weisan]

Both parents are PhDs.

[jlwdm]

I find Dumoulin's comments disappointing. I just rewatched the descent. Roglic was a better descender and he had a gap long before the short flat. Dumoulin could just not keep up with him.

Jeff

[weisan]

True.

Roglic was the superior rider today above everyone else, and I don't just mean physically.

[oldpotatoe]

Both parents are PhDs.

And Taylor's parents are cyclists..yer point?

[weisan]

http://alicehui.com/bike/misc/stagw19.jpg

[m4rk540]

Couple on the right are from the US?

[pbarry]

Don't feed the troll. ;)

[redir]

And Taylor's parents are cyclists..yer point?

Genetics trumps smarts any day.

There is a joke in there that would get me banned so I'll hold my tongue :D

But seriously the kids got stock.

[GregL]

Just caught the replay on the NBC Sports Gold app. As impressive as Roglic's descending skills were, Zakarin's were just the opposite. I can't believe a top tier pro has no clue how to descend. Watching Zakarin descend was just painful. Send that young man to a cat. 5 clinic!

Greg

[Jaybee]

Just caught the replay on the NBC Sports Gold app. As impressive as Roglic's descending skills were, Zakarin's were just the opposite. I can't believe a top tier pro has no clue how to descend. Watching Zakarin descend was just painful. Send that young man to a cat. 5 clinic!

Greg


This is always kind of baffling to me. If you climb enough in training to be in the lead group at Le Tour, shouldn't you also have an equal amount of experience going down?

[Davist]

This is always kind of baffling to me. If you climb enough in training to be in the lead group at Le Tour, shouldn't you also have an equal amount of experience going down?

He probably doesn't "push it" in training. High speed descending, like anything else needs to be practiced. If you use downhills as "rest" during training, you most likely won't be too confident when you have to attack on them.

Is there any credence to what Paul was saying about Zakarin being too high a cg to descend properly? Kinda makes sense, he couldn't seem to get low enough.

Agree with above, DuMoulin was already behind on the straight part, though the moto probably helped at the end. I thought as he was saying it that they all were basically together at the top, on a 12 mile descent you just got out-cornered.

[fignon's barber]

I find Dumoulin's comments disappointing. I just rewatched the descent. Roglic was a better descender and he had a gap long before the short flat. Dumoulin could just not keep up with him.

Jeff


Agree. I like TD, but he should be mad at himself, not a moto. He rode like a Sky domestique. Rule #1 in racing: "in order to win, you have to be prepared to lose". He should have sat on Thomas' wheel and said " OK, let's give Roglic the yellow". In the last 30km, Thomas looked to be the only Sky guy who could bring Roglic back. Sit on his wheel, then counter when he catches him. Worst possible outcome would be that TD drops to 3rd. Best outcome: Tour win. Instead, he chased for the last 30km, and got jumped on the line. L'amateur by Sunweb.