Tour de France 2017

robeiae

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Interesting first couple of stages. Geraint Thomas won the first time trial (and Team Sky dominated it), American Taylor Phinney grabbed the King of the Mountains jersey in stage 2, while Kittel won the stage. But Froome and other top guys had a nasty crash in stage 2, while several big names--including Valverde--were forced out of the race from crashes in stage 1 (the time trial). Oh, and Sagan looks off his game, imo (though it's early, to be sure).

Anyway, links:

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/us/
http://www.nbcsports.com/cycling
http://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling

So, who's your pick? Personally, I'm rooting for Richie Porte, but I think Froome has the edge, unless this crash did some real damage. If it did, it's wide open. My longshot: Rafal Majka (who has a great shot to get King of the Mountains).
 
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Sleeping Cat Books

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I'm pretty much always rooting for Nairo Quintana, although he's never really had the full team support he needs with Valverde vying for the title too. But without Valverde to help in the mountains, I'm not sure that he has much chance this year either. (Still will be rooting for him, though.)
 

ajaye

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I'd love to see Richie Porte up there - or any Australian - or Orica :) .

I like Nairo Quintana too.

And Dan Martin.
 

Marlys

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I don't have a strong favorite this year. Would like to see Talansky finish in the top 10--he's been 10th and 11th in previous Tours, and came in 5th in the Vuelta last year.

For sentimental reasons, would like to see Cav add a stage or two toward eventually toppling Merckx's TdF stage win record. Since he's recovering from Epstein-Barr it's iffy if he'll win even one stage, but I think it's encouraging that he was 4th in yesterday's sprint.
 

robeiae

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Controversy at le Tour!

Sagan and Cavendish collide at the sprint finish--100 meters out or so--and Cavendish wrecks badly. May be out of the Tour. But footage of the incident makes it appear that Sagan threw an elbow at Cav, which might earn him a DQ from the Tour.

My opinion: Cav's wheels were already sliding under Sagan before the elbow, yet it does look like Sagan was trying to push him off. Which I guess means that I just don't know...

It will suck mightily if they are both done, imo.
 

robeiae

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Well.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) has been disqualified from the 2017 Tour de France. The World Champion was sent home after causing a crash on stage 4 in Vittel. The race jury announced the news at a hastily arranged press conference in the media centre, more than an hour after the stage had finished.

"We've decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017 after the tumultuous sprint, here in Vittel. He endangered multiple riders, Mark Cavendish and others who were implicated in the crash, in the final meters of the sprint," an official from the race jury announced.

Seems extreme to me. I've watched the incident from a number of different angles and it still looks like Cav was sliding under Sagan first, so there seems to be some blame for both of them. And this isn't F1, after all.

Regardless, there's certainly going to be a new overall winner for the Green now...
 

Marlys

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Not a huge Sagan fan, but it seemed the relegation was penalty enough. It will be fun, though, to have a real competition for the green. It hasn't been close since 2010, since Petacchi, Cav, and Hushovd were separated by a total of 21 points.
 

robeiae

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Time apparently doesn't always help people assess things better, but sometimes it does. Cavendish came off like a jackwagon in praising the jury's decision to DQ Sagan, imo. In contrast, Greipel--who was initially all over Sagan--actually watched the videos, then decided that he overreacted: https://twitter.com/AndreGreipel/status/882320977719427074

Regardless, the Tour is poorer without Sagan and Cav, but mostly the former imo. I'm now only inclined to watch the serious mountain stages.
 

Marlys

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I'm sorry to lose Cav, but the lack of Sagan adds more interest to the flatter stages for me.
 

robeiae

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Really? It's not like Sagan wins that many stages. Three last year, compared to four for Cav. None in 2015, compared to four for Greipel. Is it because he's always right there, on all but the big mountain stages? He is exactly what makes most stages interesting imo, as he forces the best from everyone else just to beat him. And his breakaway with Froome, Thomas, and Bodnar last year was one of the most exciting moments of the race for me.

But I will still miss Cav, though not as much. :)
 

Marlys

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Sagan's had a stranglehold on the green jersey for the past five Tours. That competition opening up is what's going to be cool. But I'm not a fan of his, so we'll just have to disagree about whether his presence is vital to an interesting sprint.
 

nrwriter

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Dead man's hole is what sprinters call the hole Cavendish went in. You go there, you die. He went there.
 

Marlys

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What a close one today! Great sprint from Boasson Hagen--Norwegian commentators estimate the difference was 3/10,000 of a second. About as close to a dead heat as you can get.

Kittel could well end up with the green, but it's not a certainty yet.
 

robeiae

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I'm amused by some of the coverage now. They seem to be looking to identify shenanigans among the sprinters that have pretty much always been taking place.

That said, I thought today's finish was great, far better than I was expecting. Hats off to Boasson Hagen and Dimension Data. Also to Orica-Scott, who I think really pushed the pace before the sprint and made the sprinters really work hard.
 

robeiae

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Well, it's been quite an eventful couple of stages. Sadly, Porte and Mika are gone. Quintana and Contador might as well be; their GC hopes are gone imo. And Froome cracked today, surrendering the Yellow to Aru. Froome is just 6 seconds back though. The only other riders within a minute are Bardet and Uran (who I guess is the Cinderella story of the Tour right now).

I thought Uran and Bardet looked really, really strong today. If Uran had done a better job with his positioning, I think he would have gone clear of Aru and might have challenged Bardet.

So I'm swinging my Porte support to Uran.

Meanwhile, Kittel. Enough said.
 

nrwriter

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If not for Landa's pacing, Froome would've been down by a minute now on Aru. He looked cooked. Strong team though and that 20-second penalty Uran was slapped with, it might decide the Tour this year. Let's hope not.
 

robeiae

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They rescinded the penalty, fyi: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-reverses-time-penalties-for-uran-and-bennett/

After initially saying that it would not go back on the decision to punish Rigoberto Uran(Cannondale-Drapac) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), the UCI has done just that. Uran and Bennett were handed 20-second penalties for taking bidons in the final 20 kilometres of stage 12 of the Tour de France. However, stage winner Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) escaped any punishment for the same offence. Rather than handing a further penalty to Bardet, the UCI has decided not to punish anybody.
 

nrwriter

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Sky have planted a bomb in the GC standings yesterday and called it Landa. And no one could do anything about it.
 

robeiae

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So...Michael Matthews is proving himself and then some. After yesterday's sweep and today's sprint, he's only a few points back of Kittel. I didn't think anyone would get back to Kittel, really. But now it looks like Green may be decided on the final day in Paris, which is cool.

But Matthews is also protecting his teammate Barguil, by staying out in front with De Gendt today. Helluva Tour he's having, no?

I think he's filled the Sagan void, amazingly enough.
 

be frank

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So, did everyone see that picture of Polish cyclist Pawel Poljanski's legs after the 16th stage?


Screen-_Shot-2017-07-19-at-4.35.56-_PM-960x540.png


*shudder*

Or as one commentator put it: "Now we know how Lance Armstrong found veins to tap so easily."
 

robeiae

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Well, Kittel has abandoned the race. That's a real shame. And that means the Green is going to Matthews, as long as he makes it to Paris.

Lol, no Sagan and the Green is still decided well before Paris.