Grand Prix Rejects

go_Rubens wrote:So, that's the tour done for another year. Nibali kept gaining time in the Pyrrenees and gained in the time trial, so his lead was closer to 8 minutes than 7 by the end. Péraud and Pinot were brilliant while Valverde cracked, and put 1) a Frenchman on the podium for the first time since the late 90s and 2) 2 Frenchmen on the podium for the first time in 40 years. Van Garderen managed to sneak 5th by 2 seconds after Bardet had a flat in the time trial.

My reject of the tour is going to Cofidis, who did absolutely nothing that I remember, while being completely outshined by everything.

I think Lampre were worse, they're a more established team but also came away with no stage wins and only finished the tour with 5 riders.

tommykl wrote:

go_Rubens wrote:2) 2 Frenchmen on the podium for the first time in 40 years.

Nope. 30 years. Hinault and Fignon in 1984

Thanks for that. I don't follow cycling as much anymore as all the doping scandals have turned me off a little bit.

watka wrote:

go_Rubens wrote:So, that's the tour done for another year. Nibali kept gaining time in the Pyrrenees and gained in the time trial, so his lead was closer to 8 minutes than 7 by the end. Péraud and Pinot were brilliant while Valverde cracked, and put 1) a Frenchman on the podium for the first time since the late 90s and 2) 2 Frenchmen on the podium for the first time in 40 years. Van Garderen managed to sneak 5th by 2 seconds after Bardet had a flat in the time trial.

My reject of the tour is going to Cofidis, who did absolutely nothing that I remember, while being completely outshined by everything.

I think Lampre were worse, they're a more established team but also came away with no stage wins and only finished the tour with 5 riders.

Besides Horner doing quite well after his bad crash in May, there really wasn't much that they could be somewhat happy about. So they were pretty rejectful, but I gave it to Cofidis because I didn't remember a single thing they may have done, which for me is just as bad as doing poorly. They were likely both anonymous and horrible, so therefore they're my reject of the tour.

This year Tour de France is in exciting situation with three stages left. Of course last one is a parade but two mountaintop finishes still remaining while top six is within two minutes and 14 seconds.

Frenchman Alaphilippe still in yellow jersey, hoping to end 34-year drought. Pinot is one of his challengers and he was very good in the Pyrenees. As a team, Ineos (formerly Sky) hasn't looked that good but two riders in top three with Bernal 2nd and Thomas 3rd. Then there's Kruijswijk and Buchmann who are also fighting for great result.

Romain Bardet was one of the biggest disappointments in the Pyrenees but he then found a new target in which he has good chance - polka-dots. While Peter Sagan is dominating the points competition again, and this time it would move him up as a all-time leader with seven green jerseys.

I've been enjoying this year's Tour a lot. Pinot is probably the one driver I'm rooting for to win the overall competition but I wouldn't mind Alaphilippe to hold on to the yellow jersey until the end. Basically I'm fine with anyone but a Sky... err... Ineos rider.

Quintana looked very strong today but I can't see him replicating it in the remaining stages - the peloton will surely not let him get away a second time and as you said.

I didn't know we had a cycling thread, but I completely agree - this year's Tour has been outstanding. I'm a fairly regular cycling fan, although I'm very much a fan of stage races over one-day classics and the like.

Exceedingly impressed by Egan Bernal; I thought that this year might just be one too soon for him, but at the end of the day he was just the best climber at any given time, save perhaps for when Pinot rode away from everyone in the Pyrenees. Even then though it felt a lot more like the Team Sky* Tempo Train riding within themselves to peak in Week Three than anything else.

It'll present an interesting proposition for next year's Tour; if they play their cards right, they could try to target all three steps on the podium with Bernal, Thomas and a fit-again Froome. I'd probably be more inclined to split them up though; have Thomas target the Giro, Bernal the Tour and Froom the Vuelta. But then what's to be done with Carapaz?

* Ineos

That's another thing too - the amount of climbing talent that's come out of Colombia is absolutely terrifying. There's Bernal (22), Chaves (29), Contreras (25, not a climber - TT specialist), Gaviria (24, not a climber - sprinter), Henao (31), Lopez (25), Martinez (23), Molano (25, not a climber - sprinter), Quintana (29), Sosa (21) and Uran (32). That is an absolutely stacked generation of riders and I don't really think there's anywhere else in the world that's producing riders like that