Tour de France 2018

[Mr Larrington]

CP Sagan says "I didn't enjoy it today"

[mzjo]

Jaja & Cie were being charitable, then.

Speaking of Majka's beans, Jaja said "the wind'll clobber him" about a minute before it did. He's not dead yet, though.

Then he was listening to Eurosport to know how to read the race. Richard and Jackie were well ahead of him! (Not surprising really).

Crazy P Sagan was a guest on Les Rois de la Pédale this evening; what a nice bloke, he really comes across well, a better ambassador for pro road cycling than Froome could ever be (and he laughs and jokes like a real human being). He also appeared to know what the game plan was! I am still a Cav fan but riders like Peter could really change my way of looking at things.

Also on LRP was Cedric Vasseur who was very astute  with his comments on Liliane Calmejane's lack of race strategy and discipline. Not his rider but still giving serious considerayion without any team bias at all. Anyone remember his 10 days in yellow the year of Jan Ulrich's first win (says he, not remembering which year that was)?

[andyoxon]

I wonder how the GeraintJ & ChrisF conundrum will pan out post pyrenees and TT.  At least it's adding interest...

[woollypigs]

Sky's Gianni Moscon kicked off the tour. Moscon was suspended by Sky for six weeks for a racist slur against a French rider last year.

https://www.teamsky.com/article/team-sky-statement-gianni-moscon

[Hot Flatus]

I wonder how the GeraintJ & ChrisF conundrum will pan out post pyrenees and TT.  At least it's adding interest...

By then it will be over.

In fact, it'll be clear by next Friday. GT is a pretty decent TTr. If he gets through the Pyrenees without losing time he's won.

[Mr Larrington]

The highlights prog said Moscon was kicked off the race for "hitting" Elie 'Twisted Firestarter' Gesbert but only as a last-second news ticker thing.

Serge Pauwels is also out with a broken elbow sustained in that multiple pile-up just before the finish.

[Torslanda]

N Boulting:   ...hoam town ov L Jalabert, teh professional gobshite!

T Orslanda: i em conzulterating wiv mi loyyerz.

[A Cyclist]

The highlights prog said Moscon was kicked off the race for "hitting" Elie 'Twisted Firestarter' Gesbert but only as a last-second news ticker thing.

Reported earlier:

Sky's Gianni Moscon kicked off the tour. Moscon was suspended by Sky for six weeks for a racist slur against a French rider last year.

Report here with clip of incident:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gianni-moscon-disqualified-from-tour-de-france/

Based on his previous attention from the media/authorities, interesting discussions ahead for him post TdF.

[Chris S]

I've been a fan of GT since the days he was tweeting irreverent rubbish from the back of the Sky Bus, years ago.

He's stick thin isn't he? He makes the Size 0 Eye-candy Podium Gurls look chubby.

[spesh]

... Moscon was suspended by Sky for six weeks for a racist slur against a French rider last year.

More on that incident in the Tour de Romandie last year:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/team-sky-suspends-gianni-moscon-racist-comments-kevin-reza-328024

And then things escalated at the Tre Valli Varesine five months later - Reza's team-mate Sebastien Reichenbach accused Moscon of pushing him off his bike in retaliation for his tweets in support of Reza.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/reichenbach-deliberately-pushed-off-moscon-settle-score-fdj-rider-tweeted-racism-case-353839#TZigGOELeXZGu3iH.99

The UCI eventually dropped the case in June this year.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/gianni-moscon-cleared-deliberately-causing-sebastien-reichenbach-crash-383618
https://www.teamsky.com/article/team-sky-welcome-moscon-decision

[andyoxon]

I wonder how the GeraintJ & ChrisF conundrum will pan out post pyrenees and TT.  At least it's adding interest...

By then it will be over.

In fact, it'll be clear by next Friday. GT is a pretty decent TTr. If he gets through the Pyrenees without losing time he's won.

Yes  - should have said 'will have panned out'.   If CF's Sky no1 and wants another TdF win, and keep any Triple ambitions alive - which I guess he does, he'll not want to leave it all to the TT.

ps.  Go G!

[Mr Larrington]

Moscon gets thrown off the race for throwing a punch at a French rider.  Last year Bouhanni got a meaningless time penalty and a paltry fine for throwing a punch at a New Zealander.  Surely there could not be an ulterior motive at work?  Especially considering who Moscon rides for

C Prudhomme:

Et votre point, c'est quoi exactement? Bof, u Ingleesh!

NB: above may contain traces of unfounded conspiracy theory

[quixoticgeek]

I wonder how the GeraintJ & ChrisF conundrum will pan out post pyrenees and TT.  At least it's adding interest...

By then it will be over.

In fact, it'll be clear by next Friday. GT is a pretty decent TTr. If he gets through the Pyrenees without losing time he's won.

It'll be over by the end of stage 17. In fact, it'll probably be over by the end of the 1st climb of stage 17. Froome will be in front at that point, and by the end of stage 17, he'll wear yellow all the way to Paris.

J

[Ivo]

Moscon gets thrown off the race for throwing a punch at a French rider.  Last year Bouhanni got a meaningless time penalty and a paltry fine for throwing a punch at a New Zealander.  Surely there could not be an ulterior motive at work?  Especially considering who Moscon rides for

C Prudhomme:

Et votre point, c'est quoi exactement? Bof, u Ingleesh!

NB: above may contain traces of unfounded conspiracy theory

Repeat offense is more a logical reason in Moscon's case. Fielding him for a major ride is going to be a liability since he had a few issues already and by now will be closely watched by the jury.

[T42]

Jaja & Cie were being charitable, then.

Speaking of Majka's beans, Jaja said "the wind'll clobber him" about a minute before it did. He's not dead yet, though.

Then he was listening to Eurosport to know how to read the race. Richard and Jackie were well ahead of him! (Not surprising really).

Maybe it was 5 minutes and they were listening to him.

[T42]

The irritating thing about France TV's on-line coverage is that it ends as soon as the stage leaders are over the line, so that when the peloton is dawdling we don't see them coming in. That's taken care of in Vélo Club, which they don't put on line.

[T42]

Moscon gets thrown off the race for throwing a punch at a French rider.  Last year Bouhanni got a meaningless time penalty and a paltry fine for throwing a punch at a New Zealander.  Surely there could not be an ulterior motive at work?  Especially considering who Moscon rides for

Mr. Murdoch will not be happy.

[citoyen]

Stage 15: Millau > Carcassonne

You've left out the assorted witterings about the yellow paint on the walls of Carcassonne, which as any fule kno* is Not Art.


*as long as they're yacf regulars

[Samuel D]

However, he included Wiggins’s inane but sinister ramblings in full. Makes up for the later omission?

[citoyen]

However, he included Wiggins’s inane but sinister ramblings in full. Makes up for the later omission?

The most interesting part of @SirWiggo's contribution yesterday was what he did not say - one of the viewer questions asked who were his heroes when he was a young rider. He mentioned Indurain and Museeuw, but there was one name he conspicuously left out - a rider who he has cited numerous times in the past as one of his great inspirations...

[Samuel D]

We must all pretend Armstrong did not exist or was not a great cyclist and a hero for many. I guess that includes Wiggins when he’s fighting for his reputation.

Thought it was harsh on Moscon to be booted out for that gesture. Not that I have a problem with zero tolerance of violence but that others have done worse with trivial penalties if any.

But his reputation precedes him, the racist thing with Reza was a terrible indictment of character, and some would rather believe he injured Reichenbach than accept the UCI version. And he rides for pantomime baddie Brailsford, who can nonetheless be trusted to be politically (and otherwise) correct and not make a scene about Moscon’s exclusion.

[TheLurker]

...the racist thing with Reza...

Would have had him dismissed instantly and walked off site with his kit in a carrier bag in the company I work for.  I thought at the time that Sky should have dumped him for that, no matter how good at riding up hills he is.  Keeping dick-heads on the pay-roll is never worth the trouble they cause regardless of how good they are at the "job".

[Exit Stage Left]

Bradley was riding the Prutour by the time that Lance came to preeminence in 1999. I'd say that anyone competing on the national stage can't be described as 'a young rider'.

The only significant UK rider of Bradley's build in his youth was Sean Yates, who was indeed a friend of Armstrong's, and was on the Sky payroll in 2012.

[Torslanda]

Slightly OT. Do I remember a 'night of the long knives' in T $ky around that time? Where people were declared guilty by association and asked to leave?

Or have I been sniffing the Harpic again?

[citoyen]

Bradley was riding the Prutour by the time that Lance came to preeminence in 1999. I'd say that anyone competing on the national stage can't be described as 'a young rider'.

He was 19 and still an espoir when he rode for the GB team at the PruTour in 1999. In any case, quibbling over definitions of 'young rider' is missing the point, which is that he has mentioned Lance as a hero many times in the past when asked the same question.

I don't blame him for airbrushing history though - for the reasons Samuel D mentions. It's probably best to just avoid the subject rather than have to go into lengthy explanations.

The only significant UK rider of Bradley's build in his youth was Sean Yates, who was indeed a friend of Armstrong's, and was on the Sky payroll in 2012.

To be fair, he was also asked about his 'dream team' and did mention Yates, admitting that it was a slightly controversial choice.