Pro Cycling Discussion 2017

Martin is like G/Porte, super strong on one day & week long SR but those guys are not Froome/Quintana 3 week guys. You can tell these blokes when it comes to third week and profiles get silly they are there looking super strong. Bardet is now on that scale clearly and as you mention above, Barguil is insane. He's come to 3rd week and is riding out of his skin. Sunweb don't even know wtf they have with Dumoulin and that guy on their team, if they sign some super hot domestiques for these guys over the next 2 years then Sunweb are going to have an incredible GC team.

The race for 2nd/3rd is going to be good as well as for the polka dot. Roglic's performance yesterday one of the best of this tour, I don't think he can get the mountain jersey but he can stick it to Barguil and have some fun with it which will be good for us on the couch.

Landa to Movi next year I heard and Kittel to Katusha. Weird moves, neither of which I care about tbh. Quintana, Valverde and Landa on Movi is weird but I guess it could work.... Vuelta will be the tough one of them on that duo of Valverde and Landa.

Seriously cool move would be Froome switches to the Giro man at Sky, I don't see why he will continue aiming for the tour now and should Giro/Vuelta double and Sky sign Bardet as their tour man. It's fairytale stuff though, I don't see a Frenchman who is also a genuine possible tour winner riding for Team Sky.... I think the French fans are THAT stubborn they would still hate on team Sky with Bardet leading them!
 
I like your last suggestion, I'm sure Froome will have a stab at the Giro Vuelta double if I were him I don't think I'd want to end my career without both Jerseys in the locker. I think Bardet winning the tour for SKY might just bring the French round from outright hatred to tolerance!
 
a1ex2001 said:
I like your last suggestion, I'm sure Fr
oome will have a stab at the Giro Vuelta double if I were him I don't think I'd want to end my career without both Jerseys in the locker. I think Bardet winning the tour for SKY might just bring the French round from outright hatred to tolerance!
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I think based on his year so far the Vuelta is big in his eyes this year and I wouldn't say anything to count him out of being in the mix based on his form as TdF has gone on.

Once again xdcx agree with all your points, I'd also say Martins handling/decision making can leave something to be desired. Think Sunweb are definitely turning into the next big GC team, they seem to have some money behind them and moving away from the sprinter type team they used to be. Think Froome would love to prove Giro/TdF win in the same year are doable in the modern era.

Bardets a good bloke but needs to sort that haircut out.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I'm sure Froome will try for the Vuelta this year but he's always come up short when he's tried this in the past guess it depends on who is in the field and feeling strong as always.
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As per my previous comments, he wasn't looking so fresh that first week, and has looked at his strongest this last week, whereas in the past he is winding down into the third week. All interviews earlier in the year/pre tour seemed to suggest he was planning being on top form later in the year to hit the Vuelta at his strongest. I'm unsure on the Parcours this year, but can expect a good showdown with a few of the guys coming from the Giro, notably Dumoulin being quite an intriguing battle.
 
xdcx said:
I think Bardet is a class act and a future GT winner.
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Totally agree, he's ageing well now, almost as if he's maturing into a real GT threat rather than the occasional 'stage of brilliance' we've seen before. I've now got my money on him being the French tour winner that they've been talking about, which I'd previously scoffed at. I think the year Sky drop the ball or Froomey gets injured (it's not quite too late for 2017!), he will be the one who wins, regardless of team.

booyaka said:
He'll attack on the final climb, play with them but I've got a sneaky feeling he'll mess with Bardet/Uran which will allow Landa to escape to get time out of Bardet/Uran and potentially get a 1/2 overall for Sky
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Would be fantastic but I think that'll only happen if Sky utterly destroy Bardet/FDJ (and they have a bad day or two). I think they've just got too strong a team for that to happen in the mountains currently.

a1ex2001 said:
I'm sure Froome will try for the Vuelta this year but he's always come up short when he's tried this in the past guess it depends on who is in the field and feeling strong as always.
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Have to agree, but this year he might have more of a chance - his form has peaked later and he didn't race much until the Dauphine which he didn't win. Although I imagine Fuglsang will be back at that point too (and I really want to see him win again instead of Aru!) ;)
 
First year watching the Tour properly and I have to say I'm most impressed by Landa. The guy just makes it look effortless, expressionless face on any climb and just seems to be able to go and push on whenever he's needed too. Shame if he leaves Sky, but fair enough if he wants his own run at winning
 
xdcx said:
Bardet is now on that scale clearly and as you mention above, Barguil is insane. He's come to 3rd week and is riding out of his skin. Sunweb don't even know wtf they have with Dumoulin and that guy on their team, if they sign some super hot domestiques for these guys over the next 2 years then Sunweb are going to have an incredible GC team.
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This. Barguil was an absolute machine today, nothing left in tank and gave absolutely everything. Super impressive.

A great finish to the mountain stages of the tour, enjoyed it!
 
Great ride by Barguil. GC competition was a bit dull in the end, Team Sky had too much for the other teams and just nullified any attacks and the strength to have Landa and Froome left to cross the line whilst the others had dropped the rest of their teams . Going to take something special to take this off Froome now, or a mechanical/crash (hope tour isnt decided on neither of these).

Kwiatkowski completely killed himself for the team today, was incredible to see him literally just stop on the hill once he had done his stint, completely burnt out.
 
It's not over until it's over. Still dangerous day tomorrow and tt on saturday tbh.

Bardet was a bit cheeky at the finish. Landa has ridden brilliantly all tour. Would have been interesting if g hadn't gone out if those roles would have been reversed with landa as key backup and g as super domestique
 
This is the closest yet worst GC battle I've seen for the Tour in years. Bring on the Vuelta!

Thankfully the other jerseys have been more entertaining, at least until Kittel crashed out. That was looking really exciting. I've enjoyed watching Barguil too.
 
Kwiat has done it on multiple occasions this tour. Sitting on the front for insane amount of times and that coupled with him giving Froome his back wheel when he punctured surely has to show that he has been the most valuable domestique of this entire tour. He has had an incredible year, one of the classiest riders in the peloton.

Barguil again. To see the polka dot get the stage on a summit finish on the last day up the Alps was awesome :)
 
I've really enjoyed the tour this year. I think having the full race coverage has helped.

I've enjoyed Dan Martin's efforts and from his interviews he seems like a really down to earth and nice bloke.

I concur with the comments about Landa. How he puts in those efforts and just keeps a complete poker face is insane. I remember Quintana being a bit famous for not showing any expression but Landa has blown him away (both in the poker stakes and on the road)!

Good race from Sky, and as much as I like G, it's probably good for the tour that he dropped out. G on form, along with Kwit and Landa would have been absolutely unstoppable.
 
#Chri5# said:
I was hugely impressed with his turn on the front, destroyed himself for the team
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amazing indeed - best "blowup" ever when he was done. Just stopped at the side of the road and took his feet out the pedals........:p:p - Didn't even bother trying to ride on without just stopping.

I was nearly right with my guess - sending Landa up the road and had Froome managed to stay away I think the 2 of them would have got away on their own.

Barguil - what a champ - doing the jersey proud.......superb effort and timed it really well.

No way Landa does another season at Sky - he's a GC contender on his own and I can't see him staying, a bit like Porte.
 
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