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[Joni]

Aru and Van Garderen should by now know the Tour isn't for them.

Epic. Awesome to see Dan Martin compete on the GC level.

Hope they count him in same time as the rest, he should have been close enough not to lose seconds.

 

[jakonovski]

At least Dumoulin won, but it hurts to look at the complete submission to Froome's pace.

 

[bobnowhere]

Aru lost a chunk as well.

Massive props to Martin and Yates. Porte will be ruing that 1.45 lost to the puncture.

 

[kottila]

Quintana is best in the third week. he just needs to lose as little as possible until the alps start

 

[JPKellams]

Aru is just as good as Quintana IMO.

 

[bjaelke]

Quintana is best in the third week. he just needs to lose as little as possible until the alps start

Exactly. Froome on the other hand has previously shown great strength in the first week which he has used to gain an advantage that allowed him to ride defensively for the rest of the race.

 

[jakonovski]

I dunno, seems to me Movistar could just end up looking in vain for a silver bullet stage that never comes.

 

[WAR recon zero]

I want to see Movistar and Nairo attacking for once.

last year they waited 3 weeks for Froome to frail. He never did.

I am seeing a deja vu, but instead of 4 minutes, Froome has 23 secs

What a beautiful sport.

*-*-*-*-*-*-

Sergio Henao 8th!

 

[Loris146]

What a boring race.

 

[kottila]

I want to see Movistar and Nairo attacking for once.

last year they waited 3 weeks for Froome to frail. He never did.

I am seeing a deja vu, but instead of 4 minutes, Froome has 23 secs

What a beautiful sport.

*-*-*-*-*-*-

Sergio Henao 8th!

Are you serious? Quintana outclimbed Froome in week 3 both in 2015 and 2013. He would've probably won the tour last year hadn't he lost time due to a split caused by wind in the first week

 

[Ruruja]

With two ITTs instead of the 0 at last year's Tour, you would think Quintana would have to be a little more aggressive on stages like today.

 

[WAR recon zero]

Are you serious? Quintana outclimbed Froome in week 3 both in 2015 and 2013. He would've probably won the tour last year hadn't he lost time due to a split caused by wind in the first week

Yes he did and the advantage was bigger last year.

Hope all these defensive tactics will eventually pay off

 

[kottila]

With two ITTs instead of the 0 at last year's Tour, you would think Quintana would have to be a little more aggressive on stages like today.

The last itt is a hill climb which quintana could easily win if his form is there. The first one is not flat and not that long. He won't lose too much time there.
If younguys wanted an exciting GT you should've watched the giro this year. The vuelta also has a lot of great racing with many riders whomdesperately need results

 

[JPKellams]

The last itt is a hill climb which quintana could easily win if his form is there. The first one is not flat and not that long. He won't lose too much time there.
If younguys wanted an exciting GT you should've watched the giro this year. The vuelta also has a lot of great racing with many riders whomdesperately need results

To be fair, the Arcalis climb is not the kind that suits Movistar/Nairo. Long, sub-10% grades are Sky's place to shine because the gradients aren't enough to shed their primary domestiques. They will grind you out.

The minute you saw Herrada and Anacona up the road on Arcalis was the minute you knew that Movistar were not going to attack. They would have sat up if Nairo would have attacked on the previous climb.

 

[captscience]

Interesting break today. Hope they manage to stay out or at least make it close.

Ugh, Voeckler on the front. I hope he drops back so I don't have to look at him pull faces for the camera.

 

[bobnowhere]

Onya Bling. Was still worried OBE would find someway to fuck it up!

 

[bjaelke]

Really wanted Sagan to win that one.

 

[bobnowhere]

When GVA and EBH opened up the sprint I thought he was boxed in but that was probably Matthews' best performance in a long while. He's sort of plateaued in the last year or so, nice to see him back towards his best.

 

[Incognito]

Three fractures for Contador.

http://www.*****************/sport/...pain-cyclist-suffers-three-leg-fractures.html

Spain's Alberto Contador has been ruled out of the Olympics after three leg fractures were diagnosed following his withdrawal from the Tour de France.

Two-time Tour winner Contador abandoned the Tour on Sunday's ninth stage, having twice crashed in the opening two stages before struggling with illness.

Scans showed three fractures 'which prevented him from pedalling normally' during the Tour, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

Damn. I'm sure he'll clean up at Vuelta again, though, ha!

 

[Psychotext]

Wow, and he'd have still crushed 99% of people out there. Madness.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

Sadly I missed that stage.

Oh well. Still big stages to come. Luckily it is a three week week tour.

 

[Ruruja]

Why can't Mont Ventoux be on my day off work instead of a sprint stage. Sigh.

 

[bjaelke]

Why can't Mont Ventoux be on my day off work instead of a sprint stage. Sigh.

ASO might change the finish tomorrow due to wind at the summit. So it will stop right after they exit the forest area on Ventoux.

 

[Joni]

Why can't Mont Ventoux be on my day off work instead of a sprint stage. Sigh.

They should reconsider moving their national holiday.

 

[Ruruja]

They should reconsider moving their national holiday.

Agreed. It's quite selfish.

ASO might change the finish tomorrow due to wind at the summit. So it will stop right after they exit the forest area on Ventoux.

That would be a shame. Ventoux's my favourite climb and I'd love to see Froome and Quintana battling to the top again.

 

[bobnowhere]

Why can't Mont Ventoux be on my day off work instead of a sprint stage. Sigh.

Rumors suggest they are expecting 100km/h winds on top of Ventoux so it may be called off or the finish earlier down the mountain or on the flat. Reading fail.

Wind already causing havoc today.

 

[Joni]

They're being idiots, they need to speed up in the first group to get a bigger lead so they can actually get their bidons.

 

[Ruruja]

Well played by Froome to follow Sagan. Quintana looking foolish again.

 

[yagal]

Froome have balls <3

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Can Froome really hold on this long with Sagan?

 

[Psychotext]

Aww, poor Cav.

 

[His Majesty]

Sagan <3

 

[bjaelke]

Well this just got interesting

 

[i_am_ben]

Gotta hand it to Froome, he is utterly out strategising his competitors.

 

[Psychotext]

That's how you win tours. Take it where you can.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

I really wonder what this is going to do to Froome tomorrow.

 

[yagal]

Sagan <3
Froome <3

So good, but i will be at work tomorrow

 

[teepo]

This could hurt Froome but an amazing move regardless

 

[bobnowhere]

Crosswind stages are always good fun.

Great ride from Froome, looks untouchable at the moment.

 

[kottila]

Just rode up Ventoux. Almost blown off the road a couple of times and I gave up and walked some stretches in the last km. I definately understand why they would shorten the stage. Going down was even worse,

 

[bjaelke]

Prudhomme just confirmed that tomorrow's stage will be cut short by 6 km.

 

[jakonovski]

I'm warming up to Froome, riding like a boss.


Also I can't believe Quintana failed in a crosswind again.

 

[captscience]

Prudhomme just confirmed that tomorrow's stage will be cut short by 6 km.

That's a shame. So it will end near Chalet Reynard?

I'm warming up to Froome, riding like a boss.

I've never been a fan of his but it's hard to not have great respect for someone who's taken the risks and raced as hard as he has.

 

[jakonovski]

I also have to say that it's a bit sad that this so surprising. Team radios make racing super boring, this would've been quite normal in the old days as far as I can tell.

 

[Joni]

It is just boring because they are afraid to attack in the mountain stages. There was a Pantani broadcast on TV today here, they showed how he attacked like three mountain stages in a row.

 

[weremichael]

The end of today's stage was one of the best finishes I've seen in years with the green and yellow jerseys breaking away for the victory and seconds.

I'm not really a fan of Froome and the rest of the Death Star squad*, but this Tour Froome has been extremely courageous, aggressive and tactical. I am really, really impressed by the descending clinic he put on a couple days ago and his ability to catch up with Sagan on today's stage.

Chapeau to Froome!!

*It's hard for me to root for the highest paid team and they remind me of the Postal train that Lance built. I don't know whether Sky dopes or not, but I'll assume innocence in the interest of enjoying my favorite team sport.

 

[Prinz Eugn]

I'm not a fan of Sky or Froome either, but those moves have been goddamn brilliant.

 

[Psychotext]

It is a bit of a shame they didn't give it to the third place rider though. It seemed Sagan wanted to, but Froome didn't seem to go along.

 

[weremichael]

It is a bit of a shame they didn't give it to the third place rider though. It seemed Sagan wanted to, but Froome didn't seem to go along.

I'm thinking that Froome was racing for seconds not the stage.

 

[WAR recon zero]

Another great move by Froome. What a monster