Tour de France Stage 12 - Alpe d'Huez - SPOILERS

[Jaybee]

Here's a video:

https://twitter.com/tourdegila/statu...72031675289601

jackasses with flares create a lot of smoke, poor visibility, apparently Nibali hits the police moto inside that smoke cloud.


This is inside of 3K - does Nibali not get the same time as the group he was with at the time?

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by stev0

finish looked pretty effortless for thomas today.

pas normal. at all.

another hard finish to watch. like seeing an imperial star destroyer swallow the rebel ship.

[PQJ]

Yep. Kinda odd how Sky is capable of producing so many GT winners and contenders. I'm sure it's totally legit. No way UCI would've cleared Froomey if he wasn't pure as the driven snow. Amirite???

[jlwdm]

Thomas said he almost went down as he rode across Nibali's wheel.

Jeff

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by PQJ

Yep. Kinda odd how Sky is capable of producing so many GT winners and contenders. I'm sure it's totally legit. No way UCI would've cleared Froomey if he wasn't pure as the driven snow. Amirite???

Biggest budget. Best riders. Totally committed to the yellow jersey in Paris - the only team that is.

Jeff

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Here's a video:

https://twitter.com/tourdegila/statu...72031675289601

jackasses with flares create a lot of smoke, poor visibility, apparently Nibali hits the police moto inside that smoke cloud.


This is inside of 3K - does Nibali not get the same time as the group he was with at the time?

Unless they changed the rule it does not apply on a mountain finish.

Jeff

[Jaybee]

Thomas had plenty left and used that last corner so well, it's hard to say Nibali would have beaten him, but I kinda liked the way Nibali looked before his crash. He has a jump that most climbers don't.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Unless they changed the rule it does not apply on a mountain finish.

Jeff

So what happened on the Froome/Ventoux stage in 2016? The only fundamental difference I see is that it was inside of 1K instead of 3K.

[PQJ]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Biggest budget. Best riders. Totally committed to the yellow jersey in Paris - the only team that is.

Jeff

Yes, that. Plus. Freshest pan. Best filtered agua.

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Biggest budget. Best riders. Totally committed to the yellow jersey in Paris - the only team that is.

Jeff

I won't deny they have the best budget, superb focus, and do a good job of sourcing talent.

One doesn't simply become a consistent world-beating (by ten percentage points) GT racer in the space of a year or two simply because they're focused and on a team with a fat budgie. The math doesn't shake out. One fluke? Sure. 3-4, more? Multiple GTs in a year, still fresh as a daisy? Huh.

[bikingshearer]

Originally Posted by PQJ

Yep. Kinda odd how Sky is capable of producing so many GT winners and contenders. I'm sure it's totally legit. No way UCI would've cleared Froomey if he wasn't pure as the driven snow. Amirite???

Well, don't forget that neither money nor management talent are equally distributed amongst the teams. This is not to say that Sky is dirty (or clean), or that any other team is clean (or dirty). Just reminding folks that there is more to making winner or loser than just doping; it takes bucks, smart management, desire, focus and riding talent, too. Whatever else they are doing, legit or not, Sky and QuickStep appear to be the gold standard for these traits, year in and year out, which is why they are consistently at or near the top of stage races and classics, respectively.

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

So what happened on the Froome/Ventoux stage in 2016? The only fundamental difference I see is that it was inside of 1K instead of 3K.

That decision had to do with the interference not with where it happened in the race.

Jeff

[jlwdm]

Here are some of the things Sky was doing a few years ago:

It hired Honda's Formula 1 logistics manager Gwilym Mason-Evans to gut the inside of the team bus and completely redesign it. It employed a team of carers who would go to the hotels where the riders would be staying to remove mattresses, vacuum the beds underneath and replace them with mattresses and pillows made of elastic foam that had been individually customized so that the riders could maintain the same posture every night. It taught its riders how to wash their hands properly, made them carry hand gels at all times and forbade handshakes to prevent the spreading of illnesses during competition.

Jeff

[mastaliu]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

pas normal. at all.

another hard finish to watch. like seeing an imperial star destroyer swallow the rebel ship.

plus ça change

[Shoeman]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Biggest budget. Best riders. Totally committed to the yellow jersey in Paris - the only team that is.

Jeff

Reminds me of another Team that one 7 TDF'S!!!!!!!