Christie

20 sec + 200 franks penalty for Froome & Porte, 1000 franks fine for team director for feeding in the last 6km. I dont like their excuses, they should just man up.

The highest tree catches the most wind. But there were other similar jumps from mild to awesomein the recent past: Europcar was sectacular (unrealistic?) for a couple of seasons, and are now back to mild all of a sudden, with the same riders.

I read on the interwebs that Froome has never placed top 10 in a high level TT before 2011. Thats what looks like some or other performance booster to me.

The thing with science and training methods is that it is all known. The gains from new training methods, new types of intervals, oprimized aero position etc is incremental. Im pretty sure the gains of Sky come from some sort of supplement. The question for me is if the supplement is banned or not.

3 problems I know of on Mavics: 1. Freehub squeal 2. Spokes alu spokes seize in the alu nipples. Have to cut the spokes off and replace spokes and niples to true the wheel if that happens. 3. Rim cracks at nipple holes. Eastons also look nice, but I have not ridden any.

TT performance depends on power vs drag ratio, climb performance depends on power vs weight ratio. Not the same thing. Biggest indicator for dope is a jump in TT performance, like Basso, Stefan Schumacher, Rasmusen. A natural talent with a good TT can lose weight and become a good climber. A good climber cant gain enormous power and suddenly TT well - power gain = some form of performance booster.

C24s are 1482g per set. I have a set of Mavics, too. Im not a Mavic fan - very poor aerodynamics, and they had a stupid freehub design for a long time. Many team mates had insane rear hub squeal on Ksyriums - not difficult to fix every now and then, but you can get better for the money from Shimano, Fulcrum or Campy imo.

Cant beat Shimano Dura Ace C24s. Super hubs, low weight, best aerodynamics for a low profile rim, bladed spokes, carbon bling. I would start with CRC and CWC.

Dont know how Froome can climb with his head down like that, with fans all over the road.

Im watching the Asses(Ashes), 30 runs for Aus to win, 1 wicket for England to take the test.

Perhaps best for Sky to let a big break of 20 or so crazy Frenchmen like Voeckler go (he is about 1h30 behind), give them 40 min or so, and let the othe gc contenders chase if they want the win. Froome can afford to let Valverde and Schleck go on the climb, has to focus on the Belkin and Saxo duos. I think he is going to put them to the sword today, though. Attack may be the best form of defence in this case. Froome is the strongest climber in the race, I think he has not played all his cards.

There will be a long break, and it will be Sky's responsibility to control it. I dont think Froome will have much help on the climb. i expect lots of attacks up there. It will perhaps be in Sky's best interest not to spend too much energy on the break - perhaps a win by somebody else today?

I have never seen an alliance between different teams work in a big stage race, ever, unless they were bribed. Perhaps it can work with Conto and Valverde, but Movistar still has Quintana to look after. Opportunities like yesterday dont come often, Im not sure it will happen again - domestiques wont be able to hurt Froome on big climbs. I also note that there is a lot of cheering for Conto, a doper, and very little for Mollema - that cant be right?

Entertaining stage. Cav completely thrashed Sagan in the sprint. Cool move by Saxo to get away. It looked like Froome saw it happening but did not want to jump over without his team. He got onto he radio, but by that time Saxo was flying. I think he would have been repeatedly attacked by 2 mini Conto and Kreuziger groups later on if he did bridge. This sets the race up nicely, Sky domestiques are folding badly, and it will only get harder for them. Porte was his only support left in the mountains, and now Saxo has 2 dangerous rider in contention. I think Riis also has the tactical know-how to make the most of their position - the race just got interesting :-)

Cav could be a bit less than fresh after doing the full Giro - few recouver 100% in time for the tdf. His team were getting a bit worried after not getting much in the way of results in the spring classics, they should have pulled him out of the Giro half way. Also, he hit the front a bit further out, he is the best at long sprints, too, but like I said, perhaps he has less than perfect form. Funny how Phill called a win for Cav. Thirdly, could he have done a mini Zabel and let up before crossing the line?

I remain sceptical when somebody dominates in the mountains and also in TTs. Recent riders who could do that were Contador & Armstrong. Froome went up Ax3 as fast as LA, I dont buy it.

I agree, must say Froome had a super day - Movistar, Saxo held all the cards, and could not take time from him. If they could not today, how will they put time into him?

I also would have liked if they could keep it together for 2km to the top of the last climb for Valverde to try for the stage, but Valverde and/or the rest of the team were perhaps completely spent by that time. Things should calm down a bit this week, some flat stages and a TT coming up. It could be a hard week for Sky if they are already a bit flat and have to control the race day after dat.

He changed his supplements!

Very interesting day, so nice to see uncontrolled racing :-) Perhaps Froome should try some Armstrong vs Ulrich tactics, perhaps even give Moviestar "the look" and then attack them.

Froome's climb was the third fastest in history up that climb, only a few seconds slower than Lance in 2001. Im not going to use ths "d" word yet, lets hope Sky is for real, but I have heard the "Ive never tested positive/dont be sceptical/etc" stories too recently to get too excited.

Legend! B-)

I saw some in Sandton about 2 weeks ago. I like the volume adjustment at each pour button, I would use that a lot.

I have 2 Nespresso machines, a Citiz with frother on the same base and a Pixie. I like the Pixie more, the design is slightly better and easier to clean. I suggest getting a free standing frother rather than integrated. Pixie styling is nicer than the U imo.

After 7 years of hard racing and harder training in elite and subvets, my motivation and interest started dropping. I tried a new bike, but that motivator lasted exactly 1 month. I took a break from cycling for a couple of months, which turned into a total exit from road racing. I had to return to regular excersize to keep in shape, but I found running to be more time efficient and less risk than road. I can also run and compete with myself, on a bike I still wanted to compete with others. I still mtb for fun once a month or so, sometimes more often. I took up a new challenge: to focus on my career. Some benefits of that is I spend more time with my family, (cycling consumes a lot of time), I have rediscovered some old hobbies and started new ones, and I am able to invest a portion of the money that I used to spend on cycling. Walking away is working out well for me :-)