2017 Tour de France

[Vetplant]

Only three of the 22 teams are not represented in the break:

Sky

Bora

Lotto-Jumbo

[Patchelicious]

He must at least try . Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Now is the time to be bold and grab it by the scruff of the neck.

 

We agree again!!!

[Vetplant]

Big break up the road, 51 riders.

 

1:23 over the peloton at 17km into the stage, gap increasing.

 

Another day for a breakaway rider to take the stage?

 

DDD has Pauwels and Jaco Venter in the break.

I see Cummings also made the split! It will probably be to work for Pauwels as this HC finish doesn't fall into a typical Stevo attack stage, but you never know with this guy. 

[J Wakefield]

He must at least try . Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Now is the time to be bold and grab it by the scruff of the neck.

 

I agree with this, Yates has been aggressive for white and his GC and he is sitting good, under pressure but good. Louis has ridden like he always has. Which is quality but not enough. he has to try, win or lose.

 

When he tried at Dauphine it was good. 

[shaper]

He must at least try . Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Now is the time to be bold and grab it by the scruff of the neck.

Maybe he does not need to try anything as he has gauged the tiredness of Yates, might be better to conserve energy and go as Yates blows up on the climb.... we only get to see what's on TV and yates looked shattered yesterday.... riding next to someone, you will be able to tell a lot more....

[J Wakefield]

Not for anything in the world. Lets face it, Im not saying he hasnt done well to get into it but he wouldnt be anywhere if the real contenders were still in the race.

Its unlikely he will ever win that one again so he needs to do anything he can to make it to Paris.

 

When the real contenders were in the race he was up the road scoring points on intermediate sprints and making up a lot of points. the others couldnt go with being Kittle, Greipel etc. Of the 2 that are out only Sagan would of been able to go with and that would of been a quality battle.

[Cav']

I only just realized Pierre Rolland is in the Tour this year 

Must be feeling the Giro badly by now. 

[Vetplant]

Chris Froome has not won a single stage this whole tour... until today possibly:

 

"Chris Froome (Team Sky) declared to letour.com this morning: "It's an iconic mountain. It's going to be the decider. Izoard is the Mont Ventoux of this Tour de France. If there's an opportunity, I'll go for the stage. With Mikel Landa, we have a good chance to play. And if everything goes well today, it will be a big step forward."

[Bateleur1]

When the real contenders were in the race he was up the road scoring points on intermediate sprints and making up a lot of points. the others couldnt go with being Kittle, Greipel etc. Of the 2 that are out only Sagan would of been able to go with and that would of been a quality battle.

 

DQ'ing Sagan basically kicked the race for the Green Jersey in the teeth.

[Rocket-Boy]

When the real contenders were in the race he was up the road scoring points on intermediate sprints and making up a lot of points. the others couldnt go with being Kittle, Greipel etc. Of the 2 that are out only Sagan would of been able to go with and that would of been a quality battle.

I disagree that it would have been a battle between Sagan and Bling, it never has been before.

Sagan never had issues taking green overall because he could just go out in a breakaway or make sure he picked up all the intermediate sprints throughout the tour.

 

Of the pure sprinters, when Kittel, Greipel and Cav were around then Bling didnt feature at all.

 

I think Bling has worked hard and saw the gap with Sagan out to use his tactics to win green overall, Im fairly sure he would have just made it past Kittel in the points before Paris.

I like the guy and I really hope he holds his race together and keeps it overall, I just dont think he will be repeating that in any future tours.

[Rocket-Boy]

DQ'ing Sagan basically kicked the race for the Green Jersey in the teeth.

^this. It left someone who wasnt a pure sprinter and could use Sagan tactics to get all the intermediate sprints done.

[J Wakefield]

I disagree that it would have been a battle between Sagan and Bling, it never has been before.

Sagan never had issues taking green overall because he could just go out in a breakaway or make sure he picked up all the intermediate sprints throughout the tour.

 

Of the pure sprinters, when Kittel, Greipel and Cav were around then Bling didnt feature at all.

 

I think Bling has worked hard and saw the gap with Sagan out to use his tactics to win green overall, Im fairly sure he would have just made it past Kittel in the points before Paris.

I like the guy and I really hope he holds his race together and keeps it overall, I just dont think he will be repeating that in any future tours.

 

I think you misunderstood me, I said other than Sagan no one else would of put up a fight for Bling. Not saying Bling would beat him, not at all and yes Bling saw the gap but he would of ended up 2nd to Sagan as long as Sagan did what was needed in the none pure sprint stages. 

 

Bling and Sagan are very similar, Sagan is just better.

[Bonus]

He must at least try . Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Now is the time to be bold and grab it by the scruff of the neck.

 

 

And if he joined the break and the group reeled it in purely because of him . . . ?

[Rocket-Boy]

I think you misunderstood me, I said other than Sagan no one else would of put up a fight for Bling. Not saying Bling would beat him, not at all and yes Bling saw the gap but he would of ended up 2nd to Sagan as long as Sagan did what was needed in the none pure sprint stages. 

 

Bling and Sagan are very similar, Sagan is just better.

Then I definitely misunderstood you, sorry about that.

Your last line sums up my feelings exactly, so Im glad that Bling is getting a shot at it and working for it.

[Shebeen]

I think you misunderstood me, I said other than Sagan no one else would of put up a fight for Bling. Not saying Bling would beat him, not at all and yes Bling saw the gap but he would of ended up 2nd to Sagan as long as Sagan did what was needed in the none pure sprint stages. 

 

Bling and Sagan are very similar, Sagan is just better.

Yes, totally  - I think Sagan leaving has helped the green comp, because it became a battle until Kittel left. I think team Sunweb have been amazing too here. Would Bora have been so good if Majka was doing something as well? We could have had Barguil/Majka and Bling/Sags both fighting for a jersey.

[Wannabe]

And if he joined the break and the group reeled it in purely because of him . . . ?

 

That would have been better than playing watchdog the whole day, hoping Yates blows up on the climb.

 

You know the Afrikaans saying, "Wens in die een hand, k_k in die ander hand, en kyk watter een weeg die swaarste"