nochain

Really hard to be positive about them at the moment.It feels like all of there riders are sub par..no one riding close to their potential!And then also seem to not make great decisions..like you said..why not back Reinie and let him go for a couple of top 5 or top 10's.Clearly EBH is also nowhere..so rather back a younger rider and at the most help him to get some confidence?? For their sake I hope they have an amazing Vuelta...

That does not say much about the current state of the explosive sub 60kg climbers.All of the current crop..Roglic, Froome, Tom, Thomas..Bob..all these guys were more TT specialists that just climb at a very strong tempo. Pure climbers that win like a Contador you will never see feature on a world champs TT results sheet.The current GC riders are all up there and medal at worlds..TT specialist. The pure explosive climber never really do well at the tour, but they feature strong in the Giro and Vuelta normally. Now Froome and Tom has also started to dominate those so not much space for a Quintana type of rider.Yates brothers have the same problem..explosive climbers but cant TT.. That's what makes it so sad that Porte keeps on crashing..he will take these guys on in the mountains and then hang on in the TT. But yes things have changes..the explosive climbers are finding it very hard to win tours now.Over the last 5 years only Quintana, Contador and Nibali have won based on their climbing expertise. Maybe Bernal will change that for us..attack in mountains and go strong in TT to limit losses.

So the demise of the pure climber GT rider continue. 1 to 4 all TT type riders that can climb really well. Will we ever see a pure climber win a GT again? Maybe this year at the vuelta as most of the big riders are done for the season. Happy to see Froome on the podium..hope he can come back for his 5th. How many GT podiums is that now? 9 or 10? With one 4th place in there somewhere as well...

You can bet on that!!!Especially because he got dropped..he wont like the fact that his body refused to obey his commands!!

Crazy that Thomas did not fall there..think he probably let go of the bar just in time to not get pulled off the bike.

Yes I also think they will just control now. 2min is a lot for a guy like Thomas that is a very good TT rider himself.With Poels, bernal and Froome able to pace in climbs I can't see anybody attacking Thomas now.Maybe Froome try to keep podium but right now I think he is just holding on..the body is probably just too tired. Roglic will go hard again tomorrow and on paper he should be up there in TT. Most interesting thing now will be who takes 3rd.

Yeah 3rd week TT..much different.Dont think Thomas has ever been faster than Froome in a long TT.The short stuff will suit him.What did Thomas do in last TT the year he finished top 15 on Gc?

So lets see what happens after the rest day..Sky has to take time on TD before the TT. And if Thomas crack then TD will have a real shot at taking the tour. Could actually be a bit tricky for Sky because if Froome goes he needs to be able to take at least close to a minute..not easy and not sure if Thomas will be able to attack TD in the 3rd week of a hard tour like this.I would let Thomas mark TD and leave Froome to take time..hopefully this way Thomas can pickup some seconds riding off the wheel of a tired TD..

I saw Dan Loyd tweeted that last time Chris Froome dropped all of his rivals on a mountain at the tour was 2015.So this is what I don't get.... if you one of those people that really want to believe this guy is cheating..how does a stat like that make you feel????

I see Reinie recorded 6000 calories burned for that 5000m climbing stage.He said it was 1000 more than flanders...that really is crazy considering what effort goes into a classic like that. And then they get critized for using anything stronger than aspirin...

Sad fir Nibs..he had sone good form and was probably along with TD the best chance for an upset. And what a ride by TD!!Not a climb that suit him but he was right up there! If they had 2 ITT's in this tour like normal I think Sky would be in trouble..

See Robbie feels somethings wrong with the cutoffs this year..certainly have not seen 5 sprinter leave in 2 days..not normal at all. I agree with earlier posts..really really hope Reinie and Impey get a chance now to go for something..they both really strong sprinters on the right type of finish.Same goes for EBH.

Lets see if Thomas pays for his efforts today... Quintana has to come out today..its his type of climb and he has the legs to do it. He hates the high tempo climbs like yesterday..but today he has no excuses.

Certainly would not be able to do it with the DDD budget..????And it would not have been fun if all the teams was this focussed on the tour..who is going to smash all the other races. But would be good to have a real rival for Sky..Movistar has the money and the riders..but they just don't look like they trying hard enough.

I dont agree fully with that..certainly for most teams but we forget that Movistar, Astana, Bmc and probably UAe are big big budget teams..QS also. Sky just focussed on winning GT's..BMC wants to do all and Movistar also all over the place..QS winning at will.Sky just focussed on doing 1 thing very very good. I mean what do you think Valverde,Quintana and Landa costs to keep on..nevermind all their other stars. I dont for 1 moment believe the Sky top 5 is stronger than Movistar..they just much more structured and they have the best rider in the world as leader. Training wise I also think they much more committed..lots of the riders has said that they were amazed at how hard someone like Froome trains and how crazy his diet is. But mostly its the riders that is to be blamed for the way they approach the race.Yesterday's stage was a prime opportunity to join forces with other Gc riders but No they just look at each other.

Thats true but in reality if he is not injured or sick this is a disgrace!!And I am a big Cav fan..but he should not have been at the tour!For a professional cyclist to not be able to finish a stage due to fitness is NOT on..it's one thing if it was planned for him to only do 1 week or to leave the race because they got what they came for but this is just BAD!

Andy and Frank got 1 and 3..or at least 2 and 3 on podium in Paris.That's the closest for a team result in recent years I think.

????...they a little bit ahead of the other teams..but not by much.

So how many wins for QS this year so far?? Whi is second and by how far?Must be one of the most dominating team performances we have seen for many years!

You forgot the biggest trick of them all..climbing, TTing and then stringing together 21 stages without time loss.21 perfectly executed days of racing without the luxury of having one bad day...

Saw some footage..was pretty wide road..looked like normal pileup.Thing was probably because everybody was nervous and lots of fighting for position.Was mid pack also I think. Hard to believe Porte is out again!! In my opinion we are missing out on a great battle..Porte versus Froome is what I want to see..the rest is just a side show.

Was sooo close..I really wanted them to win..especially because the commentator kept on going on about how amazing the Americans are..and then that incident with the foul shot really got me..really arrogant!!

The last 3 sprints he has been perfectly placed but as soon as the first kick starts he struggles to match them..you can see how hard he works to stay there.He is short on power no doubt.He might ride himself in and come right before the end but its looking real bad now.

Eish this Cav thing is frustrating!!You can see he is full gas and just not close to strong enough to come around half the sprinters!!How could they base their whole plan on a guy that is clearly missing power and fitness..I mean in todays day of numbers they should have known he us not race ready by a long way???