Tour de France 2015 or another thread no one will post in.

[IdolEyes787]

Tour starts tomorrow and for the first time in a long time there appears to be four or maybe as many as five or six legitimate contenders.

The smart money is on Froome with his unsurpassed combination of time trialing and climbing but his Sky team is definitely a couple of steps below Nibali's Astana.
Nibali though hasn't as of yet shown much this year and he looked really ordinary at the Dauphine.

Then there's Quintana the supreme climber who comes into the Tour a little under raced but at least fresh unlike .....
Contador who came close to losing the Giro when ran out of gas in the last couple of stages.Also like Quintana's Movistar team with Valverde, Contador's Tinkoff Saxo is always going to be a little conflicted with Peter Sagan's ambitions.

All this sort of sets up a scenario where a relative long shot like Pinot may benefit if he finds himself in the right position and has the legs.Although there's far too much talent above him to count on it.

[Skiz]

I've genuinely been trying to watch it in the evenings but haven't had an opportunity. DVR is filling up super fast.

[Trythepie]

Froome is my bet also. Too bad about Tony Martin after finally achieving something that had long eluded him. Sagan brings exciting fun into the Tour. He is such a great competitor on all levels. The gorilla is destroying Cav in the sprints. ABC - Anybody But Contador.

[IdolEyes787]

Yes, too bad about Martin and Cancellara and Dumoulin so arguably the three best time trialists in the World are all out and injured in less than a week.

As for Contador, he doesn't seem to have the same "pop" in his legs as he use to.
Remember back in 2010 Stage 12 » Bourg-de-Péage and the finishing to the aerodrome? Sort of similar to Huy this year and coincidentally with Rodriguez winning both. In 2010, albeit probably drugged up,Contador was the one putting the hurt on and in 2015 he faded badly after initially trying to match Froome.

I've always liked Sagan and he's clearly sprinting much better this year ,maybe even better than Greipel but he seems determined to don the mantle of eternal second.
Granted some of it is due to working to help Contador but seriously if there happens to be a way to fuck up the end of a stage he seems determined to find it. Too bad Degenkolb didn't want to win as much as he didn't want to loss and maybe for once somebody other than Sagan would have taken upon himself to close a gap at a finish.

I expect Quintana to soar in the mountains but I don't think he's got enough to beat Froome in the end.

Cavendish hasn't been good for a couple of years and all his wins are basically a result of him dodging top notch competition.

[Skiz]

Watching stage 3 now. Whats the purpose in the neutral start?

Edit - Fuuuuck that was a nasty crash. And that last 1000m or so with and avg of a 19% grade and the last 400m having a 25% grade? Fuck that. There was a hill in Austin not far from my house that I tried twice to ride and physically couldnt do it. I cant even fathom pushing up that after completing 100 miles first.

[IdolEyes787]

Watching stage 3 now. Whats the purpose in the neutral start?

Edit - Fuuuuck that was a nasty crash. And that last 1000m or so with and avg of a 19% grade and the last 400m having a 25% grade? Fuck that. There was a hill in Austin not far from my house that I tried twice to ride and physically couldnt do it. I cant even fathom pushing up that after completing 100 miles first.

The rules state that when there isn't enough medical support to look after all the injured riders then the organizers have the option to stop the race.This way it allows vehicles and people to better get where they need to be.
Having actually been witness to how things work behind the scenes though I can tell you that most decisions are judgement calls and have very little to do with adhering to the letter of the rules.Fair is one thing but thankfully having a little compassion is another.

As for grades it's almost always more about gearing than strength.I live very near the end of a bike path which exits onto an extremely small "bump" in the road too small to be considered a hill.Yet I've seen countless people walk up that "bump" because they can't get it through their heads that those shift levers are there for something other than ornamentation.

Distance over flat roads (without significant wind) in a pack can been sometimes ridiculously easy, even at 45kph. A lot of the time most of the pack will have heart rates below 120bpm and just be spinning their legs like an active massage.
The only "hard" part is concentrating enough to not run into somebody or something inadvertently and in few cases having to constantly maintain a forward position in the pack.

Btw my sister lives on the top of a street with a 33% incline.I know this because there's a sign right there that says 33%.
Granted the really steep is only a couple hundred metres long but I managed to embarrass myself in front of a road construction crew trying to get up it in a 39 x 17 fixed gear.At least I didn't come to a complete standstill and fall over so yay me

PS Tony Martin totally took himself out as he was clearly overstretched physically at that point and in a place he had no business being.Still it sucks.

[Skiz]

Voeckler and Greipel could be twins.

Watching stage 6 tonight.

Fuck. I was really pulling for Vanbilsen there in the end. They caught him with less than 2 miles left. You could see he really wanted that stage win.

[Skiz]

Watched 7 last noght. Uneventful as fk. Nice to see Cav pull out a beastly stage win tho.

Froome on top I think right now. Tejay is fading a bit. Sagan seems to be in the discussion all day in every stage but doesnt really appear to be fighting to win stages, rather just stay near the front and finish with a good time. Fking shame about Martin, but from what I gather he wasnt going to wearing the yellow jersey ever again once the mountain begin.

[Skiz]

Time Trials were a yawnfest. Should have used them for my own rest day.

[Skiz]

I think I watched 10 tonight. The first mountain stage. I thought the breakaway may have stood a chance today as they got almost 16 mins out in front, but alas they were caught with just a couple miles to go. Froome was an absolute monster. If he can do the same over the next few days it will be tough for anyone to cut that lead.