Author Topic: Tour de France 2019 (Read 21810 times)

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #150 on:** 26 July, 2019, 10:30:07 pm »

Quote from: Beardy on 26 July, 2019, 09:38:20 pm

Serious questions though:

Are the riders restricted to which bike they can ride out side of s time trial, or could they chose to ride a TT bike?

AFAICT aero-bars are forbidden on road stages so there wouldn't be much point in using a TT bike without them.

Quote from: Beardy on 26 July, 2019, 09:38:20 pm

And on Sunday, I know it’s convention to just have a ride-in to Paris, but is it actually against the rules if one of the GC teams decided to just go for it?

Vinokourov did a successful attack in Paris a few years back, which lifted him a place or two in the GC. Nothing against it in the rules, it's Simply Not Cricket.

Karla · « **Reply #151 on:** 26 July, 2019, 10:44:01 pm »

Quote from: Beardy on 26 July, 2019, 09:38:20 pm

Serious questions though:

Are the riders restricted to which bike they can ride out side of s time trial, or could they chose to ride a TT bike?

And on Sunday, I know it’s convention to just have a ride-in to Paris, but is it actually against the rules if one of the GC teams decided to just go for it?

Yes they are restricted. Tribars, disc wheels etc are banned in bunch races.

woollypigs · « **Reply #152 on:** 26 July, 2019, 11:19:48 pm »

https://twitter.com/NOSsport/status/1154849512793497601?s=20

Tomorrow route is a bit tricky

hatler · « **Reply #153 on:** 26 July, 2019, 11:38:55 pm »

Quote from: spesh on 26 July, 2019, 05:15:27 pm

I think I've geo-located the bit with the hail/slush/water on the road - it's just before the Hotel Les Seracs at La Reculaz..

Footage capture: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAaPKevXsAAIhpm?format=png

Google maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@45.474455,6.949808,760m/data=!3m1!1e3

Very familiar with that spot and recognised it as soon as it came up on the telly. A guide took us out for a day one time on a route which involved him persuading the lift company to open one lift early and looped round with a descent down to the far side of the lake, where a boat would, under normal circumstances, have been waiting. Except this was the one year in 20 where the lake is drained, so we skied down to the very bottom of the lake and then had to climb up the snowy/muddy side in the full glare of the sun, in full ski kit. The two pints of Orangina I had in the Hotel there hardly touched the sides.

Exit Stage Left · « **Reply #154 on:** 27 July, 2019, 12:49:19 am »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 26 July, 2019, 10:30:07 pm

Quote from: Beardy on 26 July, 2019, 09:38:20 pm
Serious questions though:

Are the riders restricted to which bike they can ride out side of s time trial, or could they chose to ride a TT bike?

AFAICT aero-bars are forbidden on road stages so there wouldn't be much point in using a TT bike without them.

Quote from: Beardy on 26 July, 2019, 09:38:20 pm
And on Sunday, I know it’s convention to just have a ride-in to Paris, but is it actually against the rules if one of the GC teams decided to just go for it?

Vinokourov did a successful attack in Paris a few years back, which lifted him a place or two in the GC. Nothing against it in the rules, it's Simply Not Cricket.

The nearest France got to a TdF winner after Hinault was Fignon in 1989. He was beaten by 8 seconds on GC in a final-day TT by Greg Lemond. That was the only time that the last stage was a TT.

I was rather hoping that Alaphillipe was going to end that 30 years of hurt, but it seems that God is not a Frenchman.

T42 · « **Reply #155 on:** 27 July, 2019, 08:51:23 am »

Frankly, I was really hoping that he would win - he's a good guy. It'd also be nice if, for once, winning wasn't just a matter of funding. Ineos have more than double DCT's kitty and they've used it to keep a lid on the Tour for seven years, making it mostly dead boring. This time around the plaster was beginning to crack, and most comments I've read call it the best TdF in 30 years.

Liked this:

https://twitter.com/LPFrileux/status/1154422090952531968

spesh · « **Reply #156 on:** 27 July, 2019, 01:14:02 pm »

Looking at Orla Chennaoui's Twitter feed, it was looking pretty grim at the finish in Val Thorens a couple of hours ago, but according to the ASO, the re-sectioned stage is on...

https://twitter.com/SportsOrla/status/1155067971884261382

andyoxon · « **Reply #157 on:** 27 July, 2019, 01:31:15 pm »

Bernal could pick up polka dot jersey too.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #158 on:** 27 July, 2019, 01:37:35 pm »

Quote from: quixoticgeek on 26 July, 2019, 08:28:09 pm

Tomorrow's stage is going to be truncated. Just 59km...

J

I could watch it live without consuming the whole day!

andyoxon · « **Reply #159 on:** 27 July, 2019, 02:34:41 pm »

I'm reminded how painful watching ITV live is, especially tdf coverage which seems to be 10mins cycling, 5 mins adverts, repeat.

eckagain · « **Reply #160 on:** 27 July, 2019, 02:46:21 pm »

Quote from: andyoxon on 27 July, 2019, 02:34:41 pm

I'm reminded how painful watching ITV live is, especially tdf coverage which seems to be 10mins cycling, 5 mins adverts, repeat.

OTOH, the best bit of watching Eurosport's coverage, is Graeme Obree's hilarious advert for Endura.

grams · « **Reply #161 on:** 27 July, 2019, 02:57:37 pm »

They front load the adverts when on the boring early bits so the final stretch is advert free.

(And if you can get it, S4C takes ad breaks at different times to ITV4)

T42 · « **Reply #162 on:** 27 July, 2019, 03:40:29 pm »

They can't be worse than francetvinfo.fr. Nibbles at 700 metres from the line and they cut the feed, the pack of putrid cnts. "Ce direct est terminé". Jesus fucking WEPT.

woollypigs · « **Reply #163 on:** 27 July, 2019, 03:52:41 pm »

Bravo to the lot of them

T42 · « **Reply #164 on:** 27 July, 2019, 04:29:19 pm »

Yes. The great thing about this TdF was that nobody was certain of winning - everyone was fighting the whole way.

toontra · « **Reply #165 on:** 27 July, 2019, 06:46:13 pm »

The weather made the last 2 days slightly anti-climactic for me, sadly. I was eagerly anticipating yesterday's final climb and sitting down to watch the whole of today's ride. Not saying it would have made any difference to the final result - just would have liked more entertainment (to match the rest of the tour).

fd3 · « **Reply #166 on:** 27 July, 2019, 09:44:37 pm »

One hell of a sucker punch for the French - Alaphilippe was expected, but Pinot ... do we need to close the race to non-French riders?

T42 · « **Reply #167 on:** 28 July, 2019, 10:01:58 am »

Pinot whacked his thigh on the bars trying to avoid a crash and tore a muscle. He then rode for two days with cramp-level pain before retiring. How does being French influence that in any way?

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #168 on:** 28 July, 2019, 10:56:48 am »

Didn't Barguil sneak into the top 10 yesterday at the expense of Porte? With that on top of Alaphilippe's stellar performance and Bardet snaffling the KotM the French have done rather better than Italy or Belgium.

spesh · « **Reply #169 on:** 28 July, 2019, 01:08:59 pm »

Quote from: T42 on 28 July, 2019, 10:01:58 am

Pinot whacked his thigh on the bars trying to avoid a crash and tore a muscle. He then rode for two days with cramp-level pain before retiring. How does being French influence that in any way?

It wasn't something that can be legislated for, same as Bardet not being in the same form that he was last year.

Personally, I think the idea that the TdF must be closed to non-French riders so that 30+ years of sporting butthurt can be assuaged is pretty condescending towards Alaphillippe, Pinot, Bardet et al. It's basically implying that they can't win without the intervention of Monsieur Chauvin.

If that's the case, they might as well take up knitting or chess-boxing instead.

I can remember when French riders, Nicolas Vouilloz¹ and Anne-Caroline Chausson² in particular, were absolutely dominating downhill MTB racing - nobody argued that they must be blocked out to give the rest of the world a chance.

¹ Vouilloz's palmarès:
World Cup Downhill Champion : 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000
Downhill Junior World Champion : 1992, 1993, 1994
Downhill World Champion : 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002

² Chausson's DH palmarès:
World Cup downhill series winner: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Junior downhill World Champion: 1993, 1994, 1995
Senior downhill World Champion: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005

T42 · « **Reply #170 on:** 28 July, 2019, 01:18:23 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 28 July, 2019, 10:56:48 am

Didn't Barguil sneak into the top 10 yesterday at the expense of Porte? With that on top of Alaphilippe's stellar performance and Bardet snaffling the KotM the French have done rather better than Italy or Belgium.

Yes - in fact, five of the top 20 are French, with 3 Colombians and 3 Spaniards.

Exit Stage Left · « **Reply #171 on:** 28 July, 2019, 01:33:19 pm »

It's ironic that a Tour that was designed to play to the strengths of the rising generation of French stars was so disrupted by the weather.

First we had the crosswinds on stage 10, which caught Pinot out, and favoured INEOS's organisation.

The whole tour was skewed towards climbing, with only one individual TT, and that one was short. The sudden storms then turned the final stage into a mountain TT, with predictable results.

The real winner is Dave Brailsford. If Bernal had been in yellow earlier, tensions might have emerged. It was even fortunate that Luke Rowe was thrown off, as it put Thomas back into a road captain role. Geraint not picking up his bottle at the top of the Iseran could have been a problem, but the weather neutralised that.

Bernal's arrival means that ASO can't use climbing to counter INEOS. I wonder what next year's Tour will look like?

T42 · « **Reply #172 on:** 28 July, 2019, 01:59:54 pm »

A Tour skewed towards climbing would have favoured all the serial winners of the last n years - it's the mountains that determine the GC. Still, I'd be in favour of more time trials, and team TTs at that.

What p's me off now is that the last stage doesn't start until the evening and I don't want to inflict 3 hours of cycling on MrsT. Still, it's usually dead boring.

Peter · « **Reply #173 on:** 28 July, 2019, 02:19:29 pm »

I think there has been an over-reaction to fd3's post, which looked tongue-in-cheek to me. A bit like suggesting that the English cricket team shouldn't contain New Zealanders - especially when they are playing New Zealand! I think the French have had a great tour. It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was a spending cap for teams.

Exit Stage Left · « **Reply #174 on:** 28 July, 2019, 02:22:27 pm »

Most Tours have had a prologue, a team TT, and two individual TTs, with the final one being on the day before Paris. This year was unusual in having two mountain-top finishes in the days before Paris.

1989 was the only year they tried a deciding TT as the final stage in Paris. That edition had already had 4 TTs including the TTT before they got to Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tour_de_France