Tour de France 2018

[spesh]

Word is that Nibbles suffered a fractured vertebra and won't be starting tomorrow.

[A Cyclist]

Nibali out confirmed:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vincenzo-nibali-out-of-the-tour-de-france/

[A Cyclist]

Quite appalling scenes and behaviour today and physical abuse of a cyclist totally unacceptable.  ASO should be having a serious reconsider before the Pyrenees and noticeable that Froome attack did not happen until the start of the barriers started, no doubt he realised that being isolated from the pack earlier might only invite physical abuse.  Verbal abuse one thing, but physical abuse is quite another thing and hopefully other riders will condemn behaviour and perhaps Hinault might voice a plea for fans to just let them race.  Don't hold your breath.

[quixoticgeek]

Nibali out confirmed:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vincenzo-nibali-out-of-the-tour-de-france/

Blimey. this is turning into a game of the last one standing.

I hope we don't see any more being knocked our by injury.

J

[Exit Stage Left]

All these abandons and out of times are down to ASO designing a course for Bardet, and hoping that Froome wouldn't be there. Nobody's going to bite the hand that feeds them though.

Where's Eisel, as UCI rider's rep? Failing his presence, it must fall to Thomas to do something about this chaos. I don't think he's got the experience, or the gravitas though.

Froome would ordinarily be called on, but I can quite understand why he wants ASO and the UCI to stew in their own juice.

[A Cyclist]

ASO and Prudhomme might just be regretting a few things now with some big hitters out after the pave, loads of sprinters out because of what Cavendish said was the hardest TdF he had seen even before he started, major contender out due to poor crowd control leading to outriders affecting rider safety (Nibali) and general lack of safety towards riders by not being able to control crowds.  Further, with no big sprint teams interested in chasing the breakaway, the flat 'sprint' stages are in danger of becoming a procession and just letting the break go with riders that are no threat to overall GC. Sagan has already won the points competition and who will ride with him in the break knowing he will probably win the sprint based on his performance thus far.  The cunning plan to scupper Team Sky by TdF route not going as planned.

(Cross post with Exit Stage Left)

[Torslanda]

Have the regs on taking drinks been changed? I fort riders weren't allowed to take bottles or gels etc. on the climbs . . .

I realise they need water and understand that spectators will hand up bottles which the riders pour over themselves to keep cool. I'm talking about team helpers handing up official team bottles at the roadside.

There used to be a neutral motorbike that carried a shedload of bottles (Coca Cola branded?) Whatever happened to that?

[andrew_s]

Designing a route to give a desired outcome has never seemed a good idea to me, whether it's to suit a favoured rider, not suit an un-favoured rider, or to maintain suspense until the last racing day

P.S.
I think the no feeds/bottles rule is for the last 15 km of a stage, but pre-announced exceptions for mountian finishes is fairly common

[Mrs Pingu]

Just watched the vid on stage 17 prompted by QG.
Bizarre.

[Nick H.]

There used to be a neutral motorbike that carried a shedload of bottles (Coca Cola branded?) Whatever happened to that?

It's now Powerbar branded.

[A Cyclist]

Fan recordings uploaded now at:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vincenzo-nibali-out-of-the-tour-de-france/

and 'frame by frame' viewing (OK by slowing moving the play-bar) it appears while a motorbike did indeed pass Nibali on his left side it did not hit him and he appeared to become entangled with fans to his right.  The gap was just ridiculous and seriously impedes the riders options and made even worse by the presence of the motorbikes.  Clearly, while the TdF will always involve fans in relative close proximity, having to fight your way through them should not become a skill required, otherwise it might result in the winner being the best at negotiating obstacles rather than riding their bicycle.

[Nick H.]

What a scandalous cock-up...for a GC contender and winner of all 3 tours to be forced out by a broken bone on a stretch where lots of extra security was promised...his season has been ruined by failure to manage an entirely predictable crowd of drunks...what a fucking shambles.

[Von Broad]

I managed to skive off work finish a job early so I could see the last 2 hours of the stage

And what a spectacle. Terrific viewing. So much to play for now.

As a neutral [and repressed Englishman]...I thought Geraint Thomas being booed on the podium was ...quickly frankly...disgusting.

If I was UCI big chief I would make every spectator who insists on showing their flabby beer-infested podge of a gut running along side the riders like some demented rhino on coke, make them ride the stage themselves the day before...on a fixed wheel recumbent....and if they didn't make it within a specific time....then tuff, no space on the hillside for you me old mucker........on y'bike and go watch the stage in a bar down bottom somewhere pal! Tossers.

If I was there I'd be far better behaved

[Chris S]

As a neutral [and repressed Englishman]...I thought Geraint Thomas being booed on the podium was ...quickly frankly...disgusting.

Aside from the whole Sky thing, don't under-estimate just how disliked Brits are on the Continent now, post #brexit. At least, to Rent-a-mob.

[Von Broad]

As a neutral [and repressed Englishman]...I thought Geraint Thomas being booed on the podium was ...quickly frankly...disgusting.

Aside from the whole Sky thing, don't under-estimate just how disliked Brits are on the Continent now, post #brexit.

Sure, that maybe so, but it's also worth pointing out that Geraint Thomas is not Brexit.
It's also worth also worth pointing out to the bigots that Geraint Thomas is not only not Brexit.....neither is he Chris Froome either.
Although if you've been on the juice all day, listening to the outraged podcasts of a wounded Hinault and it's very beating hot then I guess it's an easy mistake to make!

Still, no point getting worked up about it sitting here in my little box......life goes on

[Karla]

Gaviria

Obviously, having a name beginning with G is bad strategy.

I wonder does GNibali use GNU or Gnome?

[De Sisti]

P.S.
I think the no feeds/bottles rule is for the last 15 20km of a stage, but pre-announced exceptions for mountian finishes is fairly common

[Si S]

All these abandons and out of times are down to ASO designing a course for Bardet, and hoping that Froome wouldn't be there. Nobody's going to bite the hand that feeds them though.

Where's Eisel, as UCI rider's rep? Failing his presence, it must fall to Thomas to do something about this chaos. I don't think he's got the experience, or the gravitas though.

Froome would ordinarily be called on, but I can quite understand why he wants ASO and the UCI to stew in their own juice.

Recovering from brain surgery.

[T42]

Aksherly the clothes don't match...this prisoner must be another miscreant.

They'll find out. The camera cut away before they attached the cables.

[Exit Stage Left]

All these abandons and out of times are down to ASO designing a course for Bardet, and hoping that Froome wouldn't be there. Nobody's going to bite the hand that feeds them though.

Where's Eisel, as UCI rider's rep? Failing his presence, it must fall to Thomas to do something about this chaos. I don't think he's got the experience, or the gravitas though.

Froome would ordinarily be called on, but I can quite understand why he wants ASO and the UCI to stew in their own juice.

Recovering from brain surgery.

I wish him a speedy recovery, I wonder if anyone's deputising?

[Hot Flatus]

You can't call this race at all. Bardet won't win, Quintana won't win. Nor Landa.

Of all of them Dumoulin is the most likely, but you cant write off Froome. Thomas might get 3rd place if he survives the steep climbs of the Pyrenees.

[citoyen]

You can't call this race at all.

I'm not even going to pretend to have a clue what is going on until after stage 17.

[woollypigs]

Well I'm fairly sure a few cyclist are trying to win the TdF, I think that is the general plan

[sg37409]

Froome will win.  Nobody can live with him for a whole GT’s worth of mountains.   

[Mr Larrington]

Word is that Nibbles suffered a fractured vertebra and won't be starting tomorrow.

D Martin fractured two in his uncontrolled flight into terrain with R Porte last year and finished sixth.  This merely underlines Super D Millar's contention that Italians are all exhibitionists   Actually no-one told Martin he'd fractured two vertebrae until the race was over, but even if they had I very much suspect he'd have carried on regardless.

Spectidiots are not a new thing: the twat who punched E Merckx on the Pûy de Dome in 1975, G Guerini's contretemps with Eric the Fan on l'Alpe in 1999, someone riding into a selfie-taker a few years back and so on. C Froome was fined 200 CHF in 2016 for punching one.  The difference with the V Nibbles incident was the road layout where the barriers started and the person responsible needs to be connected to the cables noted by T42, with V Nibbles and Evil C Boardman operating the switches.