Froome always look spent. He isn't a pretty rider, so I guess it works for him. Very interesting tactics by Sky. AG2R better get organized or they could run into difficulty w/Bardet. It looks warm but the stage is short; will he hang on? He is looking to score yellow for France on their holiday, but as far as the stage, what do you think? Landa? Barguil?

I thought Contador had it in him to finish it off. I think Sky basically told Landa to go for it but after he finished fourth they're going to reel him back in I'm sure. Froome could have used Kwiato to platform up to Landa but Landa was taking turns with Contador and wasn't trying to slow down. Either way Sky really screwed the pooch. Was great to see Nairo do well after yesterday.

Regardless of his past, was happy to see Contador get the nod for most aggressive rider. Thought the French might give it to Barguil in addition to the stage win and then Contador would get it by default. He earned it, although tip of the chapeau to Barguil for going with Quintana and catching up with Alberto and Mikel. A more exciting watch today, and even if top 4 didn't change, it was nice to see attacks upon attacks.
Poor Fuglsang--he looked like his wrist was aching with every mile. Really put the endure into endurance today. Haven't checked the classifications to see if he made it.

*ETA--Fuglsang withdrew, hope he heals up, solid rider.

Like it or not, it was satisfying to see Barguil get a stage win after last Sunday's nail biter.

Froome back in yellow. Matthews for the win. Aru didn't seem to be feeling it today or wanted to attack tomorrow and rest Monday? Can't imagine giving up seconds to your rival but even Bardet may have lost time to Uran and Landa.

Without a healthy fuglsang, Astana is a useless team. Aru was in a terrible position at the end. We're so used to seeing Sky's organization, that it's almost unbelievable to see how isolated the yellow jersey was today. I'm starting to agree with some that it's going to be a race between Bardet, Uran, and Froome. If it's still a 30 second race at the time trial, I think it goes to Froome for sure. But Uran is not bad at ITT. Lots of riding to go, but as of today, if I was a betting man, I'd pick 1) Froome 2)Uran 3) Bardet for the final podium

If he feels better tomorrow, then Aru may attempt an attack to force Sky to defend, same with Bardet and the rest. The others are so close, timewise, they may work against Froome/Sky perhaps? Knowing that Monday is a rest day, perhaps risking it would be worth it? Maybe not for Uran as the TT may go allright for him, but Quintana and Dan Martin, why not? Dan has already been a plucky persistent force and Quintana is as inscrutable as ever. Looking forward to it.

Sunweb rode a nice stage today with Bargueil and co keeping things moving. Matthews got the stage win and is within striking distance of Kittel for green. If they pick up the green jersey, that would put the team at two jerseys and three stage wins. Not a terrible haul for a tour.

blindey said:

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Sunweb rode a nice stage today with Bargueil and co keeping things moving. Matthews got the stage win and is within striking distance of Kittel for green. If they pick up the green jersey, that would put the team at two jerseys and three stage wins. Not a terrible haul for a tour.

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I missed most of today's stage. When I left, the Kittel group was like 4 minutes behind the peleton. When/how did they catch up?

Quick question from a relative newbie to watching the sport as a spectator: is it common for one or more than one of the teams to go a whole tour and get completely skunked (so to speak) on awards? How often (or how many teams per tour) will the full 21 stage race occur where no member of a team wins a stage, wears a jersey, or even collects a red number?

Follow up: what does the cycling world consider as a "successful" tour? How much does the scale slide by team? For example, if Chris Froome isn't riding into Paris in yellow, Sky had a failure of a tour, whereas for FDJ, perhaps some jersey wearers and a couple of stage wins would be a success, and for one of the invited teams, anything above a red number?

MooreTrucker said:

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blindey said:

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Sunweb rode a nice stage today with Bargueil and co keeping things moving. Matthews got the stage win and is within striking distance of Kittel for green. If they pick up the green jersey, that would put the team at two jerseys and three stage wins. Not a terrible haul for a tour.

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I missed most of today's stage. When I left, the Kittel group was like 4 minutes behind the peleton. When/how did they catch up?

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They didn't.

The teams that take the gas pipe in the awards are usually French-owned and were invited to the Tour because they are French-owned. I'm looking at you, Cofidis.

To answer your question, it depends; but basically what Big Cat is saying is spot on.
Every team wants to win and the yellow jersey is naturally the biggest, but over the years the secondary jerseys have developed a lot of cachet plus a stage win makes sponsers, team and rider happy.
Take what Sunweb did today--they have formed and reformed around different sponsors and have tactically had a pretty good tour based not only on whatever plan they had at the beginning, but what has developed over the last few weeks of racing. They now have stage wins, a virtual lock on the polka dot jersey and are in hot pursuit of the green jersey.

Crashes, sickness, DQs; no one wants to see a team decimated, but things can change in the blink of a mistimed granola bar. Team Sky is so strong that losing Geraint Thomas was bad, but they have a strong team overall. Other teams may not be so fortunate. FDJ, another French team, is down to like four riders. It wasn't so long ago that AG2R (French) was not very strong until Roman Bardet developed but are getting better talent each year. The teams w/o depth have riders who are way better than most but still have difficulty keeping the brutal pace of the tour. It is just that freaking hard.

When you add in the riders jumping from team to team, things can change each year--especially if a more $$ team scoops up your better rider. How do you suppose Sunweb feels about Matthews gaining points on their former sprinter specialist Kittel? I didn't pay that close attention, but hopefully it was on good terms that the team & Kittel parted ways. Otherwise, this adds to the behind the scenes stuff and the high speed chess as they roll along some pretty scenic byways.

There is a lot more, but teams come and go, riders come and go, having a solid loyal deep pocketed sponsor helps tremendously and anytime you win anything, celebrate cause you could crash off the side of a mountain and disappear....

Kittel and Bennett are now out of the Tour. Holy attrition, Batman.

How many stage winners are now out of the Tour? Kittel, Sagan, ...?

Geraint Thomas, winner of Stage 1 time trial.

Kittel looked poorly for the last day or so, probably has a virus and the crash just sent him on his way. Such a fine line between fit and foul when it comes to the endurance events. Immune system can only handle so much stress.

Aru looks a bit wrung out.


Edit to add:
Not too shabby mountain stage. Although Bardet and Uran hung with Froome/Landa, their attacks didn't have the pep I was expecting. Perhaps Izoard tomorrow is mentally looming over their earnestness. Uran may not be too worried due to the TT though. If Bardet doesn't go for it on Thursday, I will be surprised.
Great stage win for the young Slovenian, Roglic. Nice to see his team get a win after they lost Bennett.

Looks like it all comes down to tomorrow. Seems like everyone expects Froome to gain 30 secs to a minute in the final TT. That means Bardet or Uran would have to pickup 60 secs tomorrow on Izoard to have a chance. Seems like a tall rall order.

Does Landa go rogue? He's looked like the strongest rider. But doubt he can gain 1:27 in 2 stages.

This tour and the last couple have been all about riders riding not to lose instead of attacking. It's a shame.

Furlock Bones said:

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This tour and the last couple have been all about riders riding not to lose instead of attacking. It's a shame.

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More like "let's hope something causes Froomey to crack and then MAYBE we'll attack." Perfect example was '14 when Nibali won. Froome crashed out. Contador same. Quintana did the Giro instead. It honestly seems as though the last couple of Giros and Vueltas have been more fun to watch.

I think sky has perfected setting a pace that puts everyone on their limit. There were attacks yesterday from Martin and Bardet, but Sky would just up the cadence a little and pull them back. But yes, for the most part, riders seem to be more hopeful for a Froome unforced error (not a mechanical, heaven forbid). You must admit, however, that this tour has been way closer than we thought it would be during week 1.

JCRiley09 said:

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I think sky has perfected setting a pace that puts everyone on their limit. There were attacks yesterday from Martin and Bardet, but Sky would just up the cadence a little and pull them back. But yes, for the most part, riders seem to be more hopeful for a Froome unforced error (not a mechanical, heaven forbid). You must admit, however, that this tour has been way closer than we thought it would be during week 1.

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They said this morning that it's the closest Tour in (I can't remember exactly) amount of time...years? Ever?

The splits do seem to be a little smaller. This tour has just been blah really. It's had some fun stages but it really just needs that Sagan panache.

Well I know LeMond won a Tour on the very last stage in Paris (which was actually a time trial instead of the predictable sprint stage that it is now) by 8 seconds. But it is crazy to think that three riders will likely be within 27 seconds of each other going into Saturday's ITT. If any of them have a flat, or slip, it's over.

Chapeau to Barguil. Heckuva ride for the climber. Sunweb got a bonus stage win since a lot of folks probably figured on a duel between the podium hunters.

As far as boring, IMO some of the stages lacked epic battles but a lot of tours have that--especially with the advent of the radios and modern tech in the races. The ability to know immediately that those guys up the road are nothing to worry about/are in trouble/crashed etc seems to change the way some teams gamble.
In hindsight (for the GC), how would Quintana have performed if he had not raced the Giro? If Porte and Thomas and Martin (indirectly) had not crashed? If the peloton had not waited for Froome with his mechanical after Aru attacked? Even with the meticulous planning, a lot can go south and that can make things exciting for some teams and tragic for others. Contador has raced his last tour (he says, he said that last year but this year probably will seal it) and there are some great young riders out there. This tour isn't quite done yet, but if it doesn't end the way you hope, there's always next year....

gumby579 said:

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It's had some fun stages but it really just needs that Sagan panache.

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this. It still makes no sense why they'd boot such a popular rider on such a controversial call.

Bargeil has been fun to watch but the sprint stages have just started to drone on without Sagan and the loss of Kittel.

Maybe we will get lucky and tomorrow will be windy.

Weather forecast is chance of rain/storms. Haven't looked at the stage yet, when they have cobbles, that is awful riding when wet.

Questions -

Has anyone on this board spent a month in France and checked out Le Tour or known someone who did it?

For the people lining the course in RVs, are they there for days at a time or do they move to the next stage location after the tour passes through?

I assume it is easy to rent a RV if you come from the States?

I'm curious logistically how all of that comes together.

Here's a pretty interesting NYTimes article from a guy who spent some time in France earlier this tour

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/sports/cycling/tour-de-france-mountain-stages.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Are these riders the best in the world and do they ever come to the states to compete?

Matsui said:

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Are these riders the best in the world and do they ever come to the states to compete?

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Yes and yes, a couple of times. I can't remember when. Colorado and Utah maybe?

I would say that they are the best in the world for this particular category of cycling. Professional cyclists belong to the UCI, Union Cycliste Internationale. It is the governing body for the sport and covers the different areas like road, track, cyclocross, mountain, and so on. I think it also oversees amateur members and the Olympic cycling too.

Most of the road cyclists that ride in the TDF are participating in it because it is the oldest (I think?) and most well known stage race and part of a circuit known as the World Tour. I don't pay super close attention, but I think there are points, rankings etc. depending upon the races they ride, placement, and so on. Similar to tennis, there are other races that are almost like tuneups that some participate in to prepare. Or, some riders focus on a race that plays to their strengths.

As far as the US, there are definitely races here, but I don't know a lot about them other than what I've heard from sportscasters. I am guessing that some of the pros come to the US, but probably not in as great a number as they would for the road races in Europe.


Others may have more info on that I'm sure.

Edit to add--to learn something new, I looked it up. The Tour of California was added to the World Tour calendar this year. It was in May so maybe you can catch it next year. There are probably other races, but if I understood it right, that race would have points for the riders.

Tour of California and Tour of Utah are the only world tour events that I know of in the states. US Pro Challenge (colorado) has been dead a couple years. Virginia hosted the world road championships not to far back.

After the way the French have screwed over Sagan early; mishandled penalties against Bouhani (punch), Uran, and Bennett (bottles); AND they have now given most combative to Barguil instead of De Gendt... I actually hope Sky or Landa attack and kick Bardet off the podium. The French are yet again doing whatever they can to ruin the best thing about their nation.

JCRiley09 said:

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After the way the French have screwed over Sagan early; mishandled penalties against Bouhani (punch), Uran, and Bennett (bottles); AND they have now given most combative to Barguil instead of De Gendt... I actually hope Sky or Landa attack and kick Bardet off the podium. The French are yet again doing whatever they can to ruin the best thing about their nation.

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This kind of seems to be the consensus on reddit. I think that Landa could pull it off actually. I really hope he does because screw UCI.

Richie Porte kind of ruined this TdF for me by crashing out. I'd been looking forward to seeing him and Froome battle it out since the Vuelta. That on top of the Sagan fiasco just bums me out.