TdeF 2016 (Contains spoilers)

[fuzzy]

An Olympic gold is a not too shabby bit of bling to have in the trophy cabinet.

I suspect here are more people in the world to whom Eddie Mercx is a "Who?" but to whom the 'Lympic gold is a "Wow!":

[TimC]

Yates had his earliest results on the track. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Yates_(cyclist)#Palmar.C3.A8s
as did Tom Simpson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson#Major_results  and of course Bradley Wiggins.

All the great pro road riders started on the track, and many of them continued to ride on the track throughout their career. The point is that most of them were road racing at a high level by around the age of 20. After the Olympics, Owain Doull is giving up the track to join Sky next year, but he's already 23 so some way behind in his development as a road rider.

Chris Froome rode his first Tour aged 20. Adam Yates at 23 is riding in his third Grand Tour. Hugh Carthy at 20 is likely to ride the Vuelta this year.

He's seen what that's done for their rep in UK

Excuse me? Cav is a household name in the UK. Ed Clancy isn't.

Agreed. Nevertheless, the kudos of an Olympic medal carries a lot of weight here, and Cav obviously feels that it's important enough to kiss off the last week of the Tour for. I don't see anything wrong with that; he's earned the right to do as he sees fit, and it's not as if this is a spur-of-the-moment decision. I don't understand the new-found objections to it. Cav very publicly made the Olympics a major aim of this year's efforts a long time ago.

[citoyen]

Really?  The Tour was the one thing I'd heard of before I got into cycling - and I thought that was pretty universal.

I got properly interested in cycling when Channel 4 started showing the Tour in the 80s, but I'd heard of the Tour long before that. I remember a Tour-inspired story in the Beano, must have been in the late 70s, in which Dennis the Menace wears lots of different coloured jerseys. I can't remember much more detail than that except that he made the mistake of wearing all the jerseys at once, which hampered him in his bid to make a getaway after some bout of mischief.

[citoyen]

Cav obviously feels that it's important enough to kiss off the last week of the Tour for. I don't see anything wrong with that; he's earned the right to do as he sees fit, and it's not as if this is a spur-of-the-moment decision. I don't understand the new-found objections to it. Cav very publicly made the Olympics a major aim of this year's efforts a long time ago.

Well, in my case at least, it's not a new-found objection. If you'd asked my opinion at the time he made the announcement, I would have said I'd rather he focused on the Tour.

It's not a matter of questioning his right to do what he wants, it's just my opinion that the Tour is more prestigious than the Olympics for a pro cyclist. I appreciate I am in a minority in present company.

I also suspect his decision to focus on the Olympics this year might have been driven by his relatively thin pickings in the Tour in the last few years. He clearly didn't much enjoy his time at Sky or Quickstep, not after the incredible run at HTC. He wouldn't have known that at the time that the move to Dimension Data would have such a revitalising effect.

[TimC]

I agree that he may have felt back in the winter that his future in the Tour was as a supporting act rather than as the star, and that may well have influenced his decision. But it was well known that his failure to medal in 2008 was a big regret, and one that he's several times said he wanted to rectify. And it looks like his track training has done a world of good for his sprint form, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him take on more track next year.

[Samuel D]

The last couple of pages have shown why he thought it was a hard decision.

Good luck to him!

[citoyen]

Cavendish could have finished the Tour, and won in the Olympics with pharmaceutical help.

That's probably an even less fashionable view than my opinion of the Olympics. 

[T42]

It'd be a laugh if they changed the cycling route to do a bunch of cols and a long climbing finish.  There are a few cols at over 1600m in the hinterlands.

Well as Cav's entered in the track squad, I suppose it'd make a change from just turning left all the time... 

Oh. Can't say I'm interested enough to have known that.

[spesh]

Peter Sagan started in mountain biking

As did Cadel Evans, IIRC.

Correct. ISTR that one of his MTB XC rivals, Miguel Martinez, also made the switch to road racing , but without as much success, and has since switched back to MTB.

And Michael Rasmussen was an ex-mountain biker, but he was a drug cheat, so we discard him utterly, chiz.

ETA: Filip Meirhaeghe was another XC racer who did a bit of road riding when he came from a suspension for using EPO - he was one of those rare drugs cheats who didn't deny their misdeeds after failing a drugs test.

And not forgetting Ryder Hesjedal...

[woollypigs]

Well shook up the leader board, not much... I can't remember who said it but we need someone who is not scared of going out on the attack a bit earlier than the last 2 Km.

[Andrew]

I can't remember who said it but we need someone who is not scared of going out on the attack a bit earlier than the last 2 Km.

Merckx said something like that I think but, yes, it seems like people are just happy to follow until it's too late. And it's been a lot like that for a few years now (Quintana's Huez escape last year being a notable exception).

Now maybe they're just to knackered to try anything, Sky having relentlessly having ground them down, or they lack the cahones but either way things won't change unless some goes 'rip, shit or bust'. They'll just lose seconds every finish until the Champs-Elysees. It's like they're riding for 2nd place.

[Mr Larrington]

Soz 4 teh late: pwning teh new TV @ Fort Larrington...

P Sagan:	O hai! I am P Sagan and I am made of teh Win! Today I are mostly getting moar points in teh snottyjumper wossname!
	[FX: Ringing phone]
P Sagan:	O hai [...] o, it's you, general [...] wot? [...] I haz teh snottyjumper already? [...] I just haz to get it to teh Paris? [...] Crazy? [...] kthxbai.
	[FX: >>> CLICK <<< ]
P Sagan:	Piss!
	[Some time later]
TV Garderen:	O hai! I am TV Garderen and I haz this terrible pain in all teh diodes down my left side.  Here I iz, branez teh size of a planet, and they make me cycle up teh mountainz! Oh dog, wot iz teh point?
ILC Sweetener:	O hai! I yam I Low-Calorie Sweetener and I yam made of teh Win!
JJ Jarlinsson:	Arse!
R Porte:	O hai! I am R Porte and I am made of teh Win!  Eat my dust, suxx0rs!
C Froome:	O hai, R Porte!
R Porte:	O hai, C Froome! Haz u seen teh N Quintana or teh B Mollema?
C Froome:	No. No, I haz not!
R Porte & C Froome:	LOL!!1!
A Yates:	O hai! I am A Yates and I am made of teh Win! Also, c me pwn N Quintana & B Mollema!
B Mollema:	Come back here and say that!
N Quintana:	Piss!

[Mrs Pingu]

[spesh]

You got a bunch of guys forumistes about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Duke#NASA_career

[Karla]

I can't remember who said it but we need someone who is not scared of going out on the attack a bit earlier than the last 2 Km.

Merckx said something like that I think but, yes, it seems like people are just happy to follow until it's too late. And it's been a lot like that for a few years now (Quintana's Huez escape last year being a notable exception).

Now maybe they're just to knackered to try anything, Sky having relentlessly having ground them down, or they lack the cahones but either way things won't change unless some goes 'rip, shit or bust'. They'll just lose seconds every finish until the Champs-Elysees. It's like they're riding for 2nd place.

Someone on CW, CN or one of the outlets made the point that the riders in 2nd and 3rd will both be very happy with those positions, so are unlikely to endanger them by going double or bust.  You've got to look down to Quintana before you find someone who was considered a pre-race GC contender, and he's hardly doing great is he?

[Gareth Rees]

I was thinking more of the socialist leanings of this forum, and the presence a member called Clarion. All the attention is focused on an ex-bank clerk from the Isle of Man, and a Kenyan-born colonial, educated at a public school in South Africa.

This kind of comment seems needlessly provocative.

[Exit Stage Left]

It's interesting to look back 8 years to when a 23 year old Froome was picked out as a promising rider, finishing the Tour with Barloworld. Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings were on that team in 2008, which was plagued by drug problems. Froome was in the process of changing his national affiliation from Kenya to Great Britain.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/jul/28/cycling.tourdefrance

We don't want to burden Adam Yates with too much expectation, but Jens Voigt was wondering out loud if Froome and Yates could dominate the GC for the next ten years.

I'd most like to see Geraint Thomas win a stage along the way, it was great seeing Steve Cummings get one.

[Mr Larrington]

Thomas looks a bit off-colour compared with last year.

[Exit Stage Left]

He may be being saved for Rio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/35697659

However, Froome said he welcomes the competition from Thomas,

"Going back to the rivalry within the team, and the harmony within the team, the key to all of this is communication," added Froome.

"Especially with G. We've been riding together now, it's coming up to 10 years back to 2008 with Barloworld.

"At the Olympics it will be a very honest, open discussion between us, out on the road. Who's feeling good? Can we get the job done today? Will you pull? Will you not pull?

"It's that team dynamic. As long as communication is good I think you'll have that buy-in from everyone.

'If G is flying and I'm struggling, then definitely... [I'd support him]."

I'd see it as a good outcome. In 2012 Cavendish was the only plan, in Rio we'll have Froome, Thomas, Cummings and Yates. Stannard is a bit on the big side for the course.

[Legs]

I can't remember who said it but we need someone who is not scared of going out on the attack a bit earlier than the last 2 Km.

Merckx said something like that I think but, yes, it seems like people are just happy to follow until it's too late. And it's been a lot like that for a few years now (Quintana's Huez escape last year being a notable exception).

Now maybe they're just to knackered to try anything, Sky having relentlessly having ground them down, or they lack the cahones but either way things won't change unless some goes 'rip, shit or bust'. They'll just lose seconds every finish until the Champs-Elysees. It's like they're riding for 2nd place.

I was thinking about this the other night, pondering the long-range exchanges between Fignon and Lemond in the '89 Tour and wondering if we'd ever see a see-saw Tour like that again, in this era of scientifically-measured efforts.  Then I remembered Andy Schleck's attack on the Galibier in 2011, the Sastre Tour of 2008, the bizarre 2006 Tour, and Jan in the awesome 2003 Bianchi kit.  It hasn't been so bad recently...

[Exit Stage Left]

Well shook up the leader board, not much... I can't remember who said it but we need someone who is not scared of going out on the attack a bit earlier than the last 2 Km.

Hinault was saying that in his ITV4 interview.
My favourite part of the Tour was always Cippolini's lead-out train. That took him to 51 stage wins in the three grand tours. He always climbed off before the mountains in the TdeF, leaving his domestiques to make some extra cash from impromptu alliances.
They were the heroes to anyone over 190cm tall. Without sprinters they have no role, but strangely I'm more interested in how they deliver their man to the final 200 metres than in the sprint itself. I found a good article on sprinting which connected me a bit more.


http://www.lequipe.fr/explore/cycling-human-cannonballs/

[Mr Larrington]

I'm surprised that more isn't being made of Bury Clarion having a rider in the top three places in the Tour de France.
I think it's got something of 'The Victor' or 'The Valiant' about it.
https://clarioncc.org/about-the-national-clarion/clarion-cycling-in-the-news/

I suspect this is because few people knew he was a member of Bury Clarion and even fewer cared enough to write.

[Exit Stage Left]

I'm surprised that more isn't being made of Bury Clarion having a rider in the top three places in the Tour de France.
I think it's got something of 'The Victor' or 'The Valiant' about it.
https://clarioncc.org/about-the-national-clarion/clarion-cycling-in-the-news/

I suspect this is because few people knew he was a member of Bury Clarion and even fewer cared enough to write.

Apart from the Telegraph, obviously. Generally the best paper for cycling.

It is a long way from Bury Clarion, where parents John and Susan took the twins as eight year-old boys after John, a former fell-runner turned club rider, had to give up cycling following an accident.

Yates, obviously, is completely unfazed. Told that Froome had described his performance thus far as “hugely impressive” but that the yellow jersey wearer did not consider him an overall threat, he just gave a little smile.

“Well, we'll see what happens won’t we?” Then he sauntered off for a little spin, returning a little while later clutching a Fanta Orange.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/07/20/adam-yates-grows-accustomed-to-his-new-role-as-rising-star-of-th/

The central role of the Manchester velodrome in the rise of British cycling has meant that the North West is where riders are produced. It's a bit weird to hear the head of the UCI, Brian Cookson, speaking in my local accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4dqLhJeyAk
The customers for that product are throughout Britain, but the ones with the most money to spend are clustered in the South East.

[spesh]

Just looked at the stage profile for today's mountain time trial - km 2-3 of the climb (km 6-7 on the stage) pitch up at an average gradient of at least 10% per km, maxing out at 16% in places. Ouch...

TJ van Garderen's implosion on the penultimate climb yesterday was pretty spectacular, losing him close to 20 minutes. Double ouch!

Bora-Argon rider Shane Archibold wiped out at high speed but completed the stage, 39 minutes down. It was only afterwards that it was discovered that he had a fractured pelvis. To add insult to injury, he was given a 20s penalty for spending too long in the team car's draft. Triple Ouch!

[spesh]

13:54:14 CEST

Peter Sagan has started his effort. Maybe he can ride up the cols backwards just to liven things up. Maybe he can give a full rendition of a Bertolt Brecht performance or maybe a Lady GaGa dance routine or another song from Grease. Come on Peter...do something. Three stage wins and the Green jersey isn't enough.