Tour de France '18

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, it is that time of the year... where the World Cup and Le Tour are competing with each other. I remember having time to deal with this convergence.

Regardless, the first stage this year had an incredible finale.

Several top riders fall victim to accidents including fan "favorite" (to hate) Chris Froome, Richie Porte, and Carlos Quintana (who also had equipment trouble). The incidents put about 50+ seconds between them and the likes of Nibali, Uran, Dumoulin, and French hopeful Bardet, and American Van Garderen.

The original breakaway never had a chance. Despite the crashes, enough of the peloton was free of that delay to be able to make the catch. It'll be interesting to see where this tour goes from here. Typically Froome can just use the mountains and make up 50 seconds. That'll be very very hard against a Bardet and Uran. Clearly the Team Time Trial will be more important than ever, in an attempt to make up time. The drama already existed prior to the start with WADA's integrity on the line in their fight with the UCI. Now we have a shattered General Classification.

Will this intrigue pop the ratings tomorrow as people tune in to watch 5 hours of cycling? That's doubtful, but for those that actually care, the drama is on already.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Day Two of the tour, more of the same, crashes late in the stage. This time a single man, Chavanel took off to get his team a lot of camera time. He was caught with about 20 km to go. Garavia did not have a chance to double up as an accident near the finish took him out of position to compete for the win of the stage. It also took away his maillot jaune which went to Sagan who won the stage. In general, the accidents led to a magic wave of the wand and generally everyone was given the same time for the stage. What was cool, that in spite of the wand waving Chavanel had managed to finish to 10 or 15 despite leading the race alone for a long time. Cavendish again was no where to be seen in the final sprint.

Top cyclists (Roland, Porte, Froome) remain 51 seconds behind the other top cyclists (Van Garderen, Domoulin, Martin, Uran, Nibali).

General classifications get scrambled up today with the team time trial.

 

[Shake]

I've been so caught up in baseball and World Cup action I nearly forgot about the Tour. Was this a later start than usual this year?

eta: Ahhh! "This video cannot be streamed in your country."

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It usually overlaps with the World Cup.

So where are we? Stage 3, TTT. This helped change things up but not enough to help Froome appreciably against all of those who were ahead of him. Sagan lost his Yellow to a Belgian... and an American (Van Garderen) was tied for first in the General Classification.

Dumoulin, Matthews, Van Garderen, Gilbert still ahead.

Stage 4, another sprint stage and the breakaway fought well, but were eventually pulled back in by a Peloton that didn't want to work, other than Garavia's Quickstep team... oh, Garavia won the stage. Cavendish just has lost the knack it seems. Yet another spill near the end, but not near enough, led to Fuglsang losing time.

So Van Avermaet remains in the lead (Belgium's only hope now), American Van Garderen is in second, and a peculiar position as he is second to teammate Richie Porte in their power set up. So Van Garderen, while in support of Porte, could actually ride to a Tour De France victory... but he'll have to climb as well as Porte who among the best. We are a long while from the ITT, so if Froome wants to catch up, he'll need to do it in the pack. Froome didn't win a stage last year when he won the Tour. That won't cut it this year, short of close seconds with thirds far away.

Stage 5 consists of a bunch of 3 and 4 climbs, nothing crazy, but will start shaping the Polka Dot jersey. There will be a breakaway, but I'd expect a mass finish again.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Latest stage, with about 103 km to go, Team Quickstep kicked the race into an actual race and split up the peloton. The split lasted a while, but things gelled back up. The finish on the course, a double of the hill, wasn't too dramatic, other than Tom Dumoulin having trouble with his bike and falling back over a minute. Dan Martin kicked it into gear with about 1 km to go and managed to take it to the top first and won the stage.

A lot of sprinting in the first half of the tour this year. Cobbles are coming soon... then the hills. It is impossible to tell who is going to win this tour. Though, Sagan in Green seems like a good bet at this time.

 

[Shake]

A lot of sprinting in the first half of the tour this year. Cobbles are coming soon... then the hills. It is impossible to tell who is going to win this tour. Though, Sagan in Green seems like a good bet at this time.

That's one thing I really like about the Tour: it's never exactly the same race, which keeps things interesting. In your typical team sports, the game is always the same. I mean, sure the Tour always has its sprints and climbs, but the number and intensity changes with the specific course each year. I've not even looked at the course yet. *runs off to go check*

eta: Stages 10-12 will be a bear based on the course profile!

 

[rousseau]

I've never been able to get into any type of racing sport, especially races involving automobiles.

What is the appeal for people?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I've never been able to get into any type of racing sport, especially races involving automobiles.

What is the appeal for people?

I raced triathlon when I was younger and am inspired by people who cycle such distances, at such speeds. Doping or not, what they do is incredible.

 

[rousseau]

I've never been able to get into any type of racing sport, especially races involving automobiles.

What is the appeal for people?

I raced triathlon when I was younger and am inspired by people who cycle such distances, at such speeds. Doping or not, what they do is incredible.

I can get behind that, but can't imagine spending much time watching.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, two words... cobblestones. Wait... that is one word! Darn it!

See, that is just the beginning of explaining how difficult it is to deal with them. The last stage before the Tour goes el Loco, the Tour went el Loco. This is one of the harder cobblestone stages in recent memory. Flats, falls, chains falling off. I'm reminded of the Cleveland Triathlon I race in once (once!!!). The Memorial Shoreway is concrete and every joint was *bonk*. Caused accidents and my front wheel almost fell off, but I noticed it had become loose first, stopped, fixed, and finished one of the most miserable biking experiences I ever had. Never raced there again. Cobblestones, much much worse!

Bardait and Uran had it the toughest with delays and fell back to the main group by about a minute.

The toughest hit, though, was Richie "Charlie Brown" Porte who fell and broke his collar bone. Team BMC did have another rider to followup, American Tejay Van Garderen, but he was betaryed by the cobblestones with equipment and tire problems, sending him a couple minutes back on the lead group.

Team BMC ended with the yellow jersey in the breakaway of three riders, but this is likely the second to last day a Team BMC rider would wear yellow on this tour.

Gilbert picked up 7 or 8 seconds on Froome with a late kick, and he is in a prime location to contend for yellow tomorrow. Thomas is as well.

I've never been able to get into any type of racing sport, especially races involving automobiles.

What is the appeal for people?

I raced triathlon when I was younger and am inspired by people who cycle such distances, at such speeds. Doping or not, what they do is incredible.

I can get behind that, but can't imagine spending much time watching.

That is understandable. It is relatively dry content.

 

[Shake]

I actually got to watch most of the coverage of yesterday's leg. Damn! Fucking cobblestones! OK, so I get it's tradition or something, but why include so much which is obviously more dangerous? Aren't there enough falls and crashes on regular roads? I feel like I saw more crashes yesterday (granted, many only involved 1 or 2 riders) than all of last year!

I felt bad for Porte, who evidently also got hurt and had to drop out of last years' Tour. Just sucks to have to go through recovery, get back into training and back into the Tour again, only to not be able to complete it again.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I actually got to watch most of the coverage of yesterday's leg. Damn! Fucking cobblestones! OK, so I get it's tradition or something, but why include so much which is obviously more dangerous? Aren't there enough falls and crashes on regular roads? I feel like I saw more crashes yesterday (granted, many only involved 1 or 2 riders) than all of last year!

I'd prefer they find a paved bike trail that is narrow that forces the peloton to stretch and split than the cobblestones. Granted, most riders get through without crashing or popping a tire (or at least we don't hear about it), but it does seem cruel to have a tour come down to a single silly stage. I like the idea of making it harder, but cobblestones starts introducing too much luck.

I felt bad for Porte, who evidently also got hurt and had to drop out of last years' Tour. Just sucks to have to go through recovery, get back into training and back into the Tour again, only to not be able to complete it again.

Last year Porte crashed in a decent (broken his collarbone and pelvis), and then was crashed into by Dan Martin (whom for some reason I can't separate in my mind from Michael Matthews), whom broke two vertebrae but still managed to finish the tour in 6th! That was a gruesome crash, which is why I haven't looked it up and posted a link.

As a reminder, today is a "rest" day. Big ass hills tomorrow. One HC's and three 1's. Stage 11 has a couple HCs and climb finish and Stage 12 finishes a 3 HC climb day at the top of L'Alpe D'Huez.

The next three days should tell us who the final contenders are. With such notable gaps, it'll be interesting to see if the top of General Classification gets densified, or if Thomas and/or Gilbert start pulling away. Simply put, this is the best tour in a few years.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Wow... Stage 10 had an incredible change of events... as in not a change of events. Greg Van Avermaet remains in the yellow jersey. And not because of some fluke. He attacked with a group relatively early, and managed to finish the mountain stage around 2 minutes ahead of the "lead people", i.e. he extended his lead by a formidable amount. Frenchman Julian Alaphillipe won the stage once he kicked off the same breakaway group on the second to last hill and never looked back (metaphorically).

Uran was broken yesterday, likely suffering from Sunday's crash, and his chances at the Maillot Jaune appear to be toast.

Dan Martin attempted to break from the expected leaders group, but couldn't. So otherwise, about everything is the same as it was, minus Uran. Gilbert is among the top riders who are expected to finally break the yellow jersey from Team BMC. Thomas is the oddball, as he is in a supporting role for Froome, but is about a minute ahead of him and if he supports Froome like Porte supported Froome, he could win the Tour by finishing just behind Froome on the remaining mountain stages.

Short note, the one thing we have not seen in a while is a masterful mountain stage by someone racing for the yellow jersey. It seems that ever since Contador's removed victory over Andy Schleck, there has been a "hold the wheel" mentality in the mountains and only those who the peloton don't fear can break away. The next two days are killer climbs we'll see what happens.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

And it has happened. And depressingly so. Up to now it seemed like the race was in doubt with so many riders in the running. But in the end, despite a dramatic attack by Dumoulin and Valverde, Team Sky disappointingly gobbled everyone up. Uran fell off again, and other than Dumoulin's great finish, there wasn't much else for the competition. Thomas launched and then road like a parasite behind Dumoulin who managed to hold onto his attack (Valverde fell off) and near the end Thomas launched to a stage victory. And Froome finished in third, Dumoulin in second. So Team Sky occupy the top two spots.

The most interesting Tour de France in a while just got a bit less interesting. The oddity is that Thomas leads Froome by over a minute. It is hard to tell who Sky is supporting for the Yellow in Paris. They clearly want Froome to hold back a while to avoid the doping controversy.