Tour de France 2013 *** Spoilers ***

uniQ said:
I thought I read he wanted to focus on the classics but don't quote me on that. I think if he wanted another TdF win one of them would switch teams.
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I wonder what Movistar will do, as with Quintana on the up they're surely facing a similar problem.
 
SDK^ said:
Cav relies to much on a lead out - its old hat now. Marcel Kittel and André Greipel seem to do well enough without the full team support.
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I think that's unfair personally, Cav is a very smart racer and has won numerous stages without a quality lead out (his Tour stage wins last year, Champs Elysee aside, and his World Champs win spring to mind). I'm fairly sure the OPQS lead out is hindering him more than helping at the moment, it's really poorly drilled and other teams find it easy to box them in. Their line through the final corner today was a mess and he'd probably do better tagging on the other teams as he did last year.

It will be interesting if the signing of Mark Renshaw helps.
 
Do these guys get to see their WAGs whilst they're on these tours? Or is it make your own entertainment at night
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I believe pretty much every rider is sharing a room with a teammate. I know they say this is to keep up team spirit and moral, but I think more importantly its probably about space. There just aren't enough hotel rooms when you have the whole of the Tour de France, its logistics, media and fans all needing rooms. This is even more the case when they go to smaller towns or Alpine areas.

I think rest days are the only time they really get a significant amount of time to spend with WAGs. Even then though, they are out doing a training ride.

I do remember Cav posting some pictures with Peta on a rest day last year on his Twitter account.


SDK^ said:
I really didn't think Cav would get it this year. He's been out sprinted all through the spring stages - he is not the sprinter he used to be.
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I don't think he has lost anything mentally or physically, there are just new sprinters coming through are also very strong. Its also quite clear that Omega Pharama Quickstep just aren't the leadout train that SKY and HTC were for him. This is also only the fifth Tour I've followed fully and even in that short time I can see how the Sprint competition has changed.

There was an interesting point at the end from Chris Boardman, that he imagines that next year, the organisers will probably change the sprints to give more points to stage winners. Sagan won it this year from being consistently at all the sprints and placing, rather than actually winning a good number like last year.


VeNT said:
was that a pothole that cav hit or did his wheel skip?
was never going to go well for him with that leadout.
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He clearly hits a bump which sends his rear wheel up in the air right near the line, but even still, I'm not sure he would have got it anyway if it wasn't there. His bike really didn't look clean as he gave it full gas though, is the Specialized Venge really doing what it is supposed to?

Firestar_3x said:
Wonder if Wiggins plans to race another tour, could get complex for Sky with two tour winners :p
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It's an interesting one that, something I thought about, but media seems to have made little comment on.

There has been some talk about how Froome & Wiggo's WAGs argued on twitter last year, so I do wonder how they really feel about each other. Wiggo's mindset also seems to be that he has done the Tour and to do it all again takes so much work and he knows his own team mates can win it too. Wiggins is also quite noticeable by his absence, given that he quit twitter.

I would like to see him back regardless though, it was a shame he wasn't there this year.



It's also a shame they didn't finish with some actual fireworks, I thought that digital display would then transcend into real ones. Unless they are doing it later... as we do seem to miss a good few things, such as other jersey presentations during ad breaks and Sagan supposedly showing off after the race. Might be on the highlights show though I guess.

It is a good idea to finish at night, but perhaps they should do it a little later in the evening and get floodlights in. Towards the end, the riders were looking quite dull and you can't make out their faces so well.

To the comment on the cameras and too many shots of architecture, I think the biggest difference is that they obviously have loads of static cameras and what we do lose on the final stage is all the camera motorbikes which get those close up shots.
 
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Nexus said:
Just remember next time we see the Tour it will be oh.... here in Britain! :D
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It's going to be a great year next year.
I'm planning going to see the Giro in Ireland, the Tour in York and the commonwealth games in Glasgow.
 
Very well done to Froome for his win, a bit disappointed that Cavendish didn't manage to win the final sprint again this year but it looked like he'd been left with a bit too much to do - whether that was a lead-out train not working at 100% or just that he, himself, wasn't at full pace I couldn't say.
 
Cavendish's interview with ITV now available, he doesn't seem to downbeat as he points out what he and his team have done.

Also quite interesting that he says he was pushing 1500 Watts going to the line and he has broken frames doing that, so I guess that is why his bike looked bad. So he was giving it full gas, he just got beaten and had to take the harder line.

http://www.itv.com/tourdefrance/new...t-time-paris-tour-de-france-by-marcel-kittel/
 
I heard that Steegmans punctured which might explain why it went wrong around that corner.

Given Cav's aero advantage Kittel must be able to put down a crazy amount of power!
 
A very enjoyable TDF.

I can't help but wonder how much time Froome might have lost when he needed a gel on that mountain stage, if he cracked and lost several minutes I could have been very close. And why the riders simply don't carry a couple in a pocket, not like they weigh much!
 
Berger said:
A very enjoyable TDF.

I can't help but wonder how much time Froome might have lost when he needed a gel on that mountain stage, if he cracked and lost several minutes I could have been very close. And why the riders simply don't carry a couple in a pocket, not like they weigh much!
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I'd guess he'd already eaten his that day!
 
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