Author Topic: TdeF 2017  (Read 95561 times)

Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #775 on: 24 July, 2017, 12:39:38 pm »
...his team is perceived as being much the same kind of machine as US Postal, although there are no drug allegations I've heard of...
Where have you been?

citoyen

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #776 on: 24 July, 2017, 12:40:33 pm »
He’s not naturally charming in front of the camera and he doesn’t care.

I would phrase that slightly differently - more like being a media personality is not important to him, rather than he doesn't care what people think of him.

His manner seems to me to reflect his upbringing - born to a moderately wealthy family of expat Brits in Africa, both his brothers were sent to public school in England but the money ran out before it was his turn. He's a posh boy manqué. Instead he fell in with David Kinjah and learned a) some humility, and b) how to ride a bike.

Just think - he could have turned out like David Cameron or Jeremy Clarkson instead.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

T42

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #777 on: 24 July, 2017, 12:42:53 pm »
...his team is perceived as being much the same kind of machine as US Postal, although there are no drug allegations I've heard of...
Where have you been?

Living happily in retirement.  I don't follow racing beyond the Tour.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

T42

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #778 on: 24 July, 2017, 12:44:03 pm »
Just think - he could have turned out like David Cameron or Jeremy Clarkson instead.

The one with a finger up a pig's backside and the other just a pig's backside.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #779 on: 24 July, 2017, 12:51:22 pm »
Just think - he could have turned out like David Cameron or Jeremy Clarkson instead.

The one with a finger up a pig's backside and the other just a pig's backside.

Or maybe J Corbyn as I believe he attended a fee paying school.

Anyway, I agree with the basis of Citoyen's post in that his environment in the early years have shaped him to be what he is now and I don't see much wrong with that.  Looking at his smile with his son shows the more human side to him that is hidden away from the cameras and many comments have been made in other areas about how he always has time for the fans.  He is no Hinault, Wiggo or Cav in terms of temperament or character and some will bemoan his perceived lack of character, as will others bemoan his cycling style of nodding and arms all over the place, but what cannot be denied is his ability on a bike.

T42

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #780 on: 24 July, 2017, 01:17:01 pm »
I enjoyed Cav's short appearance with Jaja & T Otherbloke during the last stage. He's matured well.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #781 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:17:31 pm »
What are the odds on De Gendt going for a long one just to rub ASO's nose in it over the Prix de Combativité :demon:

WB's already been given the global Combativity doodah.

Quite. And everyone apart from Bethany (7) thinks it's a total chiz. Well, Super D Millar does anyway.
Well, duh.  De gent is Belgian, until they chop their king's head off and become an official departement of la republique then he is not eligible for the combativity award.  See section 12(b) "if the combativity award can be awarded to a Frenchman..."
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #782 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:19:57 pm »

Or maybe J Corbyn as I believe he attended a fee paying school.

No, Jesus Corbyn went to a grammar, non-fee paying.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #783 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:20:58 pm »
Is "Teh Waitrose Shopping Voucher 4 Services 2 Teh Kumquat Trade" a joke I'm not getting, or does Syrah just really like kumquats?

Somewhere way up there ^^^^ Torslanda requested "MOAR kumquats". Doubtless he has his reasons ;D
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #784 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:21:40 pm »
O hai! So now teh Tour iz doned so Yay! 4 C Froome M Matthews W Barguil & S Yates, but iz now tiem 4 teh coveted P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® TdF 2017 Awards 4 Stuffs That *** & Super D Mostly Daren’t Mention Because Libel Laws, sponsored by Teh Watchfinder-General’s mate P0rl1, from Leatherhead:

(click to show/hide)

Have to respectfully disagree with this one

Teh McLaren-Honda Chocolate Teapot Ov Utter Uselessness (Team):   FdJ.

I think that has to be Cofidis
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #785 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:32:10 pm »
It used to be that you had a hard time on the Tour if you couldn't speak French, but I read the other day that English is becoming the lingua franca, so total immersion doesn't happen any more.

Le Roi C Prudhomme I said as much when interviewed (in French) by TV's D Friebe the other day.  He also noted that the riders today are, in general, much more sophisticated creatures than their primitive forebears, many of whom had difficulty stringing more than three words together in any language.

Curious lack of Leftpondians in the pelican this year though; only three USAnians and no Canuckistanis at all.
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #786 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:35:53 pm »
O hai! So now teh Tour iz doned so Yay! 4 C Froome M Matthews W Barguil & S Yates, but iz now tiem 4 teh coveted P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® TdF 2017 Awards 4 Stuffs That *** & Super D Mostly Daren’t Mention Because Libel Laws, sponsored by Teh Watchfinder-General’s mate P0rl1, from Leatherhead:

(click to show/hide)

Have to respectfully disagree with this one

Teh McLaren-Honda Chocolate Teapot Ov Utter Uselessness (Team):   FdJ.

I think that has to be Cofidis

Cofidis had a somewhat anonymous Tour, but unlike FdJ, they didn't throw nearly half their equipe away in a futile effort to get a sick rider through a stage he shouldn't have started.  ;)
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #787 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:37:39 pm »
Have to respectfully disagree with this one

Teh McLaren-Honda Chocolate Teapot Ov Utter Uselessness (Team):   FdJ.

I think that has to be Cofidis

Bizarrely, even Cofidis weren't as bad as Movistar in this Tour. Neither team actually won anything but Cofidis had twice as many top ten placings as Movistar. BMC were major under-achievers, and Bahrain-Merida were pretty anonymous too.

But I think FDJ deserve the uselessness award simply by virtue of allowing half of their team to miss the time cut on stage 9. (ETA: x-posted with spesh)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #788 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:53:22 pm »
FDJ certainly deserve the Extreme Tw@tery Award but they did get a stage win.  Cofidis... oh well.

Sunweb got the best ROI, I think: 13 mil for 4 stage wins, two big jumpers and a wee square red ornament.
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #789 on: 24 July, 2017, 02:59:05 pm »
Cofidis last had a Tour de France stage win in 2008.
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #790 on: 24 July, 2017, 03:49:09 pm »
You've got to give them credit.

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #791 on: 24 July, 2017, 04:18:32 pm »
Sadly just too late to scoop Teh Super D Millar Crystal Decanter 4 Teh Best Barnet1, PPTM ect bring u teh Horror!

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1: 2017 winner: Super D Millar
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TheLurker

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #792 on: 24 July, 2017, 06:23:51 pm »
You've got to give them credit.
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citoyen

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #793 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:07:08 pm »
Curious lack of Leftpondians in the pelican this year though; only three USAnians and no Canuckistanis at all.

4 Kiwis though, which is a record.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

mcshroom

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #794 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:08:57 pm »
Cofidis last had a Tour de France stage win in 2008.
To be fair to them they are only a Pro Continental team now, so their budgets and pulling power will be quite a bit below the World tour teams they are competing with.
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #795 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:13:20 pm »

Or maybe J Corbyn as I believe he attended a fee paying school.

No, Jesus Corbyn went to a grammar, non-fee paying.

Except that Corbyn was educated at Castle House Preparatory School, an independent school near Newport, Shropshire, before attending Adams' Grammar School as a day student. I assume the Preparatory School was fee paying and took place before he entered the selective education system.

Salvatore

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #796 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:18:41 pm »
Cofidis last had a Tour de France stage win in 2008.
To be fair to them they are only a Pro Continental team now, so their budgets and pulling power will be quite a bit below the World tour teams they are competing with.

I think I read that a large chunk of their wage budget is taken up with Nacer Bouhanni's wages, and they know they'll usually get a Tour de France wildcard, so it's a bit of a gamble on him being any good in July.

Quote from Thierry Vittu, the President of Cofidis Competition and HR Director of the Cofidis Group  when Bohanni renewed his 1.5 million contract in March

Quote
“We rely on his potential and his desire to win to further strengthen his record and that of the Cofidis team. We’re especially counting on a stage victory at the Tour de France."

Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

Mr Larrington

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #797 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:21:19 pm »
Irrespective of where J Corbyn, J Clarkson, gammon-faced pig-botherer D Cameron or C Froome actually went to school, I don't suppose any of them actually had any say in the matter.  No-one asked me before I was packed off to serve a ten-stretch at st custards :'(
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Wowbagger

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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #798 on: 24 July, 2017, 07:22:57 pm »

Or maybe J Corbyn as I believe he attended a fee paying school.

No, Jesus Corbyn went to a grammar, non-fee paying.

Except that Corbyn was educated at Castle House Preparatory School, an independent school near Newport, Shropshire, before attending Adams' Grammar School as a day student. I assume the Preparatory School was fee paying and took place before he entered the selective education system.

Hey, Veloman! I was enjoying your posts about J. Corbyn on POBI until you went quiet after the election. It's a bit of an innovation to discuss him here, isn't it, even though he is a cyclist?
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Re: TdeF 2017
« Reply #799 on: 24 July, 2017, 08:45:01 pm »
Somebody want to hold Veloman's pint?   ;D
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