Hats off to Pout who had been low profile but having been dropped, bust a gut to get back and help Froome when his regular protectors had faltered on the penultimate Alps stage.
What the fcuk is the final stage procession all about, you race each other for 3 weeks, but not on the final stage, madness.
The sprinters race for the stage win. There's nothing in it for the GC riders by that stage though, no amount of racing will make up that time difference. For safety reasons the race is neutralised before the end, it could get very messy if everyone was going for the line at the same time - especially on wet cobbles.
What the fcuk is the final stage procession all about, you race each other for 3 weeks, but not on the final stage, madness.
The sprinters race for the stage win. There's nothing in it for the GC riders by that stage though, no amount of racing will make up that time difference. For safety reasons the race is neutralised before the end, it could get very messy if everyone was going for the line at the same time - especially on wet cobbles.
What the fcuk is the final stage procession all about, you race each other for 3 weeks, but not on the final stage, madness.
Its not technically a procession most years though, like its been mentioned, this year it was neutralised because of the weather, other years it never effects the final standings because its such a flat race its made for the Sprinters (its their World Championships as was said yesterday) so that if there is ever a breakway it'll always get pulled back by the peleton
how long before the spectators are fenced off yards away from the roads ? .. the urine throwing, spitting and all round abuse hurled at the riders would not be tolerated in any other sport .. or is it the spectator involvement that is so appealing ? .. it seems to me that spectator behaviour at most sporting events is deteriorating after years of good, or relatively good humour
how long before the spectators are fenced off yards away from the roads ? .. the urine throwing, spitting and all round abuse hurled at the riders would not be tolerated in any other sport .. or is it the spectator involvement that is so appealing ? .. it seems to me that spectator behaviour at most sporting events is deteriorating after years of good, or relatively good humour
Would be impossible to do that though, far too many miles of road, as the roads re-open the moment the race has gone
how long before the spectators are fenced off yards away from the roads ? .. the urine throwing, spitting and all round abuse hurled at the riders would not be tolerated in any other sport .. or is it the spectator involvement that is so appealing ? .. it seems to me that spectator behaviour at most sporting events is deteriorating after years of good, or relatively good humour
Would be impossible to do that though, far too many miles of road, as the roads re-open the moment the race has gone
Yes, this did occur to me as well, just (as 'they' write in the posh broadsheets), something needs to be done .. amongst all the camera motorbikes and cars perhaps the Gendarmerie could slip in a noddy bike or two to help keep the peace
Two thoughts that I've had that could be done on the Tour...
(1) Have a police car with the team cars, if someone is seen punching / spitting at a rider then they get arrested when the police arrive... Trouble is, on the mountain stages, the team cars are miles behind the breakaway riders so that by the time the police arrive, the offender could have done a runner.
(2) Put barriers on the mountains, these stages are where the fans will get closest to the riders yet they only cover 5 / 10km of the route, put barriers along these parts of the route, after all the roads are so clogged its not as though they can be instantly re-opened the moment the autobus has gone past...
Trouble is could this second option be a Health and Safety hazard, with no ways to limit crowd numbers could you see over-crowding in these areas and almost have a cycling version of Hillsborough (with it being even worse were people are falling down the side of mountains because of lack of space etc...)
You've never really heard of Mark Cavendish getting any doping grief though have you... Reading his books he's only ever been accused of holding on to the Team Cars during the mountain stages as explanation for him making the time gaps every day, went through one phase where a Tour De France Referee was assigned to him to keep an eye
You've never really heard of Mark Cavendish getting any doping grief though have you... Reading his books he's only ever been accused of holding on to the Team Cars during the mountain stages as explanation for him making the time gaps every day, went through one phase where a Tour De France Referee was assigned to him to keep an eye
(Accusations were false too)
So sprinters don't dope. Is that general rule? Just find it strange that one of the oldest sprinters on the circuit finishes like a steam train stage after stage, looking like a man possessed!
You've never really heard of Mark Cavendish getting any doping grief though have you... Reading his books he's only ever been accused of holding on to the Team Cars during the mountain stages as explanation for him making the time gaps every day, went through one phase where a Tour De France Referee was assigned to him to keep an eye
(Accusations were false too)
So sprinters don't dope. Is that general rule? Just find it strange that one of the oldest sprinters on the circuit finishes like a steam train stage after stage, looking like a man possessed!
Erik Zabel was one of the best Sprinters in the 90s constantly winning the Green Jersey (the Peter Sagan of his day) and he came out a few years ago admitting that he'd doped (So your right it is possible).
Thing is these days if the Tour is a lot cleaner then you'll never see Greipel / Kittel / Cavendish on the front of the peleton chasing the breakaway until the last 10km they'll sit in middle of the peleton and will be hauled along by the slipstream, in the last 10km they'll move to the front when you'll see the team line outs appear yet again they'll be right at the back so will still be using the slipstream of their team-mates, that'll continue right up until the last kilometre (with one teammate dropping off as they run out of juice) where they'll be left with their lead out man who will also have been protected.
That lead out man will do their own sprint which come the last 250m will launch the Sprinter into their sprint which is really the only time they'll do any work in that particular stage
Its one of the reasons why Cavendish lost Stage Two and was why he won his single stage.
In Stage two he went early, used up all his energy and Greipel sitting on his wheel got an extra piece of slip-stream, when Cavendish won he used the exact same tactic that Greipel had used, is risky because they've got to ensure they dont come out of the slip-stream too late leaving themselves with too much work to do
By the way... Dont know if anyone watched the Live Coverage on ITV4 yesterday but the pictures coming from French Television were terrible at one stage, the riders go into the final lap and all we get is a long flyover of the jets (i.e. Show it but dont show the whole bloody flight) before then going on to team cars, cos with 2km I wasnt even aware that the breakaway had been caught because they didnt show it.
You then had the terrible side angle of the Sprint again with no idea as to who was coming up on the attack, i.e you were left thinking Kristoff was on his own on the way to winning before Greipel came out of no where, show it from the front and we can see the whole thing!!
Apart from yesterday, I felt the ITV4 coverage was pretty good. Boardman, Boulting and Imlach generally did a good job considering they have to take the French feed.
The only thing that slightly put me off was Jens Voigt sounding like one of Harry Enfields characters.
Apart from yesterday, I felt the ITV4 coverage was pretty good. Boardman, Boulting and Imlach generally did a good job considering they have to take the French feed.
The only thing that slightly put me off was Jens Voigt sounding like one of Harry Enfields characters.
Agreed, I thought the coverage was excellent and the commentary team is first class
There is only one channel and commentary team for cycling and that is Eurosport and Carlton Kirby and Sean Kellly.
Sean Kelly is a dreadful commentator. I find him impossible to follow as he seems to have no idea what point he's trying to make and just ends up saying the same thing three times. He rambles all the time and I just switch off to what he says.
Delighted a Brit won, watched about half an hour of blokes cycling slowly in the rain yesterday before boredom set in. The helicopter shots of Versailles were good. It seems that whoever is in the lead after about five days is champion unless he falls off. Utter non spectacle of an event featuring great athletes. As said before the non-event of the final day is just a joke.
Delighted a Brit won, watched about half an hour of blokes cycling slowly in the rain yesterday before boredom set in. The helicopter shots of Versailles were good. It seems that whoever is in the lead after about five days is champion unless he falls off. Utter non spectacle of an event featuring great athletes. As said before the non-event of the final day is just a joke.
I dunno... the attacks from Quintana on the final two stages set up for some great racing, had he attacked a bit earlier he could have taken the jersey himself
Delighted a Brit won, watched about half an hour of blokes cycling slowly in the rain yesterday before boredom set in. The helicopter shots of Versailles were good. It seems that whoever is in the lead after about five days is champion unless he falls off. Utter non spectacle of an event featuring great athletes. As said before the non-event of the final day is just a joke.
I dunno... the attacks from Quintana on the final two stages set up for some great racing, had he attacked a bit earlier he could have taken the jersey himself
But he didn't FA, that's me point mate. As a casual observer, it seems like the winner is decided fairly quickly. I am sure that others can point out Tours where the victor scraped in by the skin of his teeth on the Champs Elysees, but my perception is otherwise...
Delighted a Brit won, watched about half an hour of blokes cycling slowly in the rain yesterday before boredom set in. The helicopter shots of Versailles were good. It seems that whoever is in the lead after about five days is champion unless he falls off. Utter non spectacle of an event featuring great athletes. As said before the non-event of the final day is just a joke.
I dunno... the attacks from Quintana on the final two stages set up for some great racing, had he attacked a bit earlier he could have taken the jersey himself
But he didn't FA, that's me point mate. As a casual observer, it seems like the winner is decided fairly quickly. I am sure that others can point out Tours where the victor scraped in by the skin of his teeth on the Champs Elysees, but my perception is otherwise...
The tour is almost never won on the Champs Elysees, it is a flat stage where the sprinters fight for it. Very occasionally a break away will win. However, it is not uncommon for the yellow jersey changes hands in the last few days.
It is the nature of a three week tour that the overall contenders do not compete every day, flat stages often have breakaways and the sprinters' teams must work hard to bring them back. These stages are exciting for different reasons to the mountains where we see riders like Froome and Quintana fight it out.
It might have seemed like Froome had it won early on, but Quintana more than halved the deficit and Froome was clinging on a little on the penultimate stage.
I do wonder if Quintana's reluctance to be away from his family for training has cost him the tour. He's certainly finished the strongest competitor, but not effectively dealing with the windy Dutch conditions at the start meant that he was always behind.
The Tour is usually lost in the mountains. At 5 ft 5 inch and 55 kg, it'd be pointless for him targeting flat Northern European stages. It's down to his team, and Movistar were an excellent TTT. Splits happen in Northern Europe riding coastal roads. Movistar are unlikely to have a road captain or classics specialist who'll snap on to that. Unless Valverde took responsibility?
I think the questions are how Nibali became the second best climber after a rest day, and how Valverde was on a par with him. You can ride into fitness, but Nibali's outstanding improvement from being 3rd rate GC climber to top two in the third week is very questionable. It'll be interesting to see what riders say after retiring how Movistar and Astana recovered after their final rest days.
Delighted a Brit won, watched about half an hour of blokes cycling slowly in the rain yesterday before boredom set in. The helicopter shots of Versailles were good. It seems that whoever is in the lead after about five days is champion unless he falls off. Utter non spectacle of an event featuring great athletes. As said before the non-event of the final day is just a joke.
An accusation often levelled at the tour is that it's 'boring'. That's no problem - just don't watch it. Anyone who does watch it and 'gets' it won't care what anyone else thinks.
Comments
looking forward to next year already. With Porte moving we'll have Porte, Froome, Quintana, Contador, Nibali, TJ and a few others going for GC
Can't see beyond Quintana though if Movistar hold on to Valverde
Guess it was fitting Greipel won the last sprint.
(1) Have a police car with the team cars, if someone is seen punching / spitting at a rider then they get arrested when the police arrive... Trouble is, on the mountain stages, the team cars are miles behind the breakaway riders so that by the time the police arrive, the offender could have done a runner.
(2) Put barriers on the mountains, these stages are where the fans will get closest to the riders yet they only cover 5 / 10km of the route, put barriers along these parts of the route, after all the roads are so clogged its not as though they can be instantly re-opened the moment the autobus has gone past...
Trouble is could this second option be a Health and Safety hazard, with no ways to limit crowd numbers could you see over-crowding in these areas and almost have a cycling version of Hillsborough (with it being even worse were people are falling down the side of mountains because of lack of space etc...)
(Accusations were false too)
Just find it strange that one of the oldest sprinters on the circuit finishes like a steam train stage after stage, looking like a man possessed!
Thing is these days if the Tour is a lot cleaner then you'll never see Greipel / Kittel / Cavendish on the front of the peleton chasing the breakaway until the last 10km they'll sit in middle of the peleton and will be hauled along by the slipstream, in the last 10km they'll move to the front when you'll see the team line outs appear yet again they'll be right at the back so will still be using the slipstream of their team-mates, that'll continue right up until the last kilometre (with one teammate dropping off as they run out of juice) where they'll be left with their lead out man who will also have been protected.
That lead out man will do their own sprint which come the last 250m will launch the Sprinter into their sprint which is really the only time they'll do any work in that particular stage
Its one of the reasons why Cavendish lost Stage Two and was why he won his single stage.
In Stage two he went early, used up all his energy and Greipel sitting on his wheel got an extra piece of slip-stream, when Cavendish won he used the exact same tactic that Greipel had used, is risky because they've got to ensure they dont come out of the slip-stream too late leaving themselves with too much work to do
You then had the terrible side angle of the Sprint again with no idea as to who was coming up on the attack, i.e you were left thinking Kristoff was on his own on the way to winning before Greipel came out of no where, show it from the front and we can see the whole thing!!
The only thing that slightly put me off was Jens Voigt sounding like one of Harry Enfields characters.
It is the nature of a three week tour that the overall contenders do not compete every day, flat stages often have breakaways and the sprinters' teams must work hard to bring them back. These stages are exciting for different reasons to the mountains where we see riders like Froome and Quintana fight it out.
It might have seemed like Froome had it won early on, but Quintana more than halved the deficit and Froome was clinging on a little on the penultimate stage.
I think the questions are how Nibali became the second best climber after a rest day, and how Valverde was on a par with him. You can ride into fitness, but Nibali's outstanding improvement from being 3rd rate GC climber to top two in the third week is very questionable. It'll be interesting to see what riders say after retiring how Movistar and Astana recovered after their final rest days.
http://www.insightdatascience.com/blog/vammer_on_tour_de_france.html