Tour de France 2019

[Dirt Tracker]

Was privileged to roll up the Col du Galibier 

Man, it was close to the clouds.

Just cannot imagine racing up there; I don't even remember what I did almost three weeks ago.

 

Image 26-07-2019 at 09.22 (1).jpg

 

Did you take that pix on the descent? 

['Dale]

It's gonna be around threshold and often above it

Don't blink

All to race for as podium on Sunday creeps closer

 

[Vetplant]

I'm SOLD, I'll start making arrangements to attend this wonderful spectacle!

[SwissVan]

Gonna sneak out a tad early and work from home for at least the last 90 minutes of the stage. Best I can do. Have meetings

 

ITV4 locked and loaded on the office desk

 

['Dale]

Did you take that pix on the descent? 

 

At the summit

 

 

 

[Shebeen]

Andy Schleck was the last one.

what does Contador say about that?!.....

[gummibear]

what does Contador say about that?!.....

Bwhahaha.....its all in the steak [emoji3052]

[Ozzie NL]

I'm SOLD, I'll start making arrangements to attend this wonderful spectacle!

Cloggies......can't take them anywhere

[Vetplant]

Just to make it even more enticing: at the top of the HC climb today there are some Bonus seconds available.

 

One note: The last 2.1km to the finish is "flat" with gradients below 2.9%. Don't know if this will influence the result for stage honours or for the GC. Let's see... 

[Corrado]

Cloggies......can't take them anywhere

bwahaha @ the saffa dinosaur

[Imploder]

Brailsford:

"

We came in here wanting to win it – we still want to win it. There comes a point in time where it’s all or nothing. The person who’s willing to die the most is going to win it. The one who’s turning himself inside-out is Alaphilippe.

We want to win. This is coming down to a man-on-man GC battle. There’s six guys fighting it out, and two of those are from the same team. We’ve got to make that count

"

ooh this should be good!

[Vetplant]

Brailsford:

"

We came in here wanting to win it – we still want to win it. There comes a point in time where it’s all or nothing. The person who’s willing to die the most is going to win it. The one who’s turning himself inside-out is Alaphilippe.

We want to win. This is coming down to a man-on-man GC battle. There’s six guys fighting it out, and two of those are from the same team. We’ve got to make that count

"

ooh this should be good!

One-Two punch? Let's see if they can pull this off...

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Just because the other guys aren't pulling faces and milking it for the french TV doesn't mean that they're not pulling themselves inside out. If the history of this sport has taught me anything, it's this.... if it seems too good to be true, it normally is. How an out and out puncher can become a high mountain climber in one tour befuddles my brain

[m-squared]

Where's Cummings?

[Vetplant]

Just because the other guys aren't pulling faces and milking it for the french TV doesn't mean that they're not pulling themselves inside out. If the history of this sport has taught me anything, it's this.... if it seems too good to be true, it normally is. How an out and out puncher can become a high mountain climber in one tour befuddles my brain

To be fair:

-JA did win the PolkaDot last year, so the man can climb

-JA has been in the form of his life, he has won every one day stage he has entered this year except for the ones where MvdP was riding. He has won a stage in every stage race he has entered this year.

-Gee had much less achievements on his palmares coming into last year's TDF compared to what JA had coming into this year.

 

 

Exceptional ride by JA, no doubt. Totally unbelievable? Not so much more unbelieveable than the win by Gee last year....IMHO

 

(PS. I still expect JA to crack tomorrow, then this whole discussion is moot)

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Yeah, I hear you, there's no doubt he's an exceptional bike rider and on a blinder of a season but I'm still not buying what he's selling. Time will tell however.