Pro Cycling Discussion 2017

platypus · 11 Jul 2017 at 10:53

One More Solo said:
Incident packed stage but dull racing again, in my opinion anyway. Not a fan at all of races finishing at the bottom of climbs, it's dangerous and no one wants to see GC contenders regrouping on the descent then team time trialling for 15km before sprinting terribly.

The reasoning behind the delayed finish is that it actually makes the descent safer. If there's still racing to be done for several KM after a descent, riders are less likely to take manic risks to get to the bottom first.

Roady · 11 Jul 2017 at 14:56

PermaBanned said:
Posted this before, but; http://www.velonews.com/2017/07/tour-de-france/figure-won-stage-7_443075

Thats the article I'd seen, but I'd wrongly (?) assumed the overhead pictures we see were not the stills from those cameras.

Bear said:
From what I can gather Rafal Majka wanted to get past him on the descent, so G let him past but a few bends further, Majka came off and G hit him.

Ouch, yeah. Majka posted on Twitter thanking his team and Kwait after the race as they'd ridden him to the finish. Fair play to Kwait for helping him out after his duties were done.

The couple of rides from Kwait this Tour and the interviews I've seen/heard he's becoming one of my favourites! Especially considering his performances in the Classics too!

BennyC said:
Really do think cretin's that set off powder flares should be promptly shoved off the mountain and/or arrested. No matter how 'cool' they make things look they're a PITA for both riders, spectators and assisting vehicles.

Totally agree. Also the idiots stood in the road trying to take selfie's and I'm surprised none of the camera men have been wiped out yet this year...

Roady · 11 Jul 2017 at 16:44

Thomas had initially carried on riding after the crash, but abandoned after the descent when both his Team Sky doctor Juan Mercadel and the race doctor told him they suspected his collarbone was broken.

https://roadcyclinguk.com/racing/geraint-thomas-crashes-tour-de-france-2017-stage-nine-crash.html

He posted a picture of his jersey on instagram, what a mess!

And Thomas admitted he was devastated to be leaving the race, telling the team website: “Everyone was nervous, everyone wanted to be at the front and a few people were battling to get between myself, Froomey and the rest of the boys.

“I let [Rafal] Majka in and then he came down right in front of me on a straight bit of road. I had nowhere to go, went over the top of him, and landed on my collarbone.

SoliD · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:24

Bouhanni fined 200euro for apparent punch... How many times.

Bear · 12 Jul 2017 at 06:22

SoliD said:
Bouhanni fined 200euro for apparent punch... How many times.

Hes such a bell end, shame he didn't get kicked off the tour.

xdcx · 12 Jul 2017 at 08:30

Looks to punch Jack Bauer on the back?
1 minute time deduction as well, I am sure he will be devastated at a time deduction....
I cannot stand the bloke, total moron. If he chins Aru though I am willing to give him a second chance.

Roady · 12 Jul 2017 at 09:31

xdcx said:
Looks to punch Jack Bauer on the back?
1 minute time deduction as well, I am sure he will be devastated at a time deduction....
I cannot stand the bloke, total moron. If he chins Aru though I am willing to give him a second chance.

Yeah he supposedly punched Bauer and purposely rode into another QS rider. I understand he's frustrated being a sub-par sprinter but there's no excuse for it!

I was half hoping he would take out Damare or vice-versa... They came damn close on stage 4 with Damare cutting across his line and clashing wheels. Really should've been treated as dangerous riding/erratic sprinting exactly like Sagan...

platypus · 12 Jul 2017 at 10:53

Yeah but he's French and won the stage innit.

BennyC · 12 Jul 2017 at 12:31

Demare's out from S9, missed the cut.

Roady · 12 Jul 2017 at 12:53

Yup along with 2 or 3 team mates, bit of a stupid move by FDJ, they would've known he's struggle on that stage with the boonen-shi**s!

Mark Renshaw also didn't make it, not sure why but that's quite a loss for DDD. Although not really heard his name mentioned so he's not been doing much leading out anyway? Makes EBH's job even harder!

How about Kittel last night? Totally in a class of his own and well proven by that finish. He pretty much had a bike length over the others. Good to see Gripel pick up the intermediate points to still be in the top 3 but isn't Kittel now over 100 points clear of Matthews? That's dominance!

touch · 12 Jul 2017 at 13:56

Roady said:
Yup along with 2 or 3 team mates, bit of a stupid move by FDJ

I disagree. They either had to send most of the team back to help Demare and risk lots of them missing the time limit or they just leave him behind and accept that they'll lose him.
The team was already mostly focused around sprint stages and with Pinot not being on form their only hope of success was Demare - they had to risk the other riders to try and keep him in the race.

topgun06 · 13 Jul 2017 at 15:08

Gaaaa Sean Kelly doesn't half grate on you after a while.

PermaBanned · 13 Jul 2017 at 15:10

ITV coverage is just head and shoulders above the rest.

topgun06 · 13 Jul 2017 at 15:16

Just how he starts every sentence with "Yes, well" is enough.

xdcx · 13 Jul 2017 at 15:19

Refreshed 6 times and can still see negativity aimed at Sean Kelly in the thread.
Where the **** are the mods?

xdcx · 13 Jul 2017 at 15:22

David Millar on Tuesday's stage... They were discussing the worst tragedy in tour history where the truck killed 9 people on that bridge.... 10mins later in commentary, David Millar tells us the riders who all crashed on the Mont Du Chat must have hated it being the day before the rest day as they will all have seized up and now be feeling "like they had been hit by a truck".
Bloody hell DAVE!

SDK^ · 13 Jul 2017 at 16:01

Final 200 meters - wow

Jonny ///M · 13 Jul 2017 at 16:06

Didn't see that coming!

Roady · 13 Jul 2017 at 16:12

touch said:
I disagree. They either had to send most of the team back to help Demare and risk lots of them missing the time limit or they just leave him behind and accept that they'll lose him.
The team was already mostly focused around sprint stages and with Pinot not being on form their only hope of success was Demare - they had to risk the other riders to try and keep him in the race.

He was far from feeling 100% and it was a brutal stage with multiple HC climbs. Being a sprinter they wouldn't have expected him to make the time cut if he couldn't keep in the gruppetto (which he obviously couldn't). Simple management of risk - protect Pinot to hope he comes into form in the mountains (possible), rather than attempting to nurse an ill sprinter over the hardest mountain stage of the tour (very improbable)...

topgun06 said:
Gaaaa Sean Kelly doesn't half grate on you after a while.

I'm actually quite surprised at how good he is at explaining himself, sure I read somewhere that he's quite short tempered but he seems to have lots of patience as a presenter.

PermaBanned said:
ITV coverage is just head and shoulders above the rest.

I'm preferring the Eurosport commentary. ITV just missed too much & random talking about unrelated nonsense while major race events where happening.

xdcx said:
Bloody hell DAVE!

Hahaha, missed that one!

poosemon · 13 Jul 2017 at 16:14

That last assent looked brutal. Didnt expect to see someone take the yellow jersey off Sky, livens up the battle for the GC a bit!