These summary videos and the onboard camera videos are great. I watch them with interest and enjoyment, since I'm heading to France in September to spend weeks riding through the Pyrénées :)
I'm away on holiday this summer and don't have access to any live coverage of the Tour, just these summary clips. I'm appreciative of them. However what's missing for me is Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin's dramatic commentary, shouting their legendary lines like: (Paul): "The man from _____ has CRACKED!" (Phil): "You are looking at the face of a very tired bike rider." (Paul): "This is unbeLIEVable!" (Phil): "He said he was going to to attack in the mountains, and now he is putting that to rights." (Paul): "The field are being put into difficulty after another BRUTAL ACCELERATION by the man from ____." (Paul): "Look at _____ digging deep into his SUITCASE OF COURAGE." Any fans of Phil and Paul, I hope you appreciate my imitation of their style. Cheers and ride on, all.
Completely agree! My special cable tv deal ran out and I didn't renew. I couldn't watch the tour for the first time in 10 years. (Phil): "There goes the Manx Missile!"
Haha that's funny I'm in Japan. Are you able to ride in Vietnam? If so how's the riding? If you ever have a chance to visit Japan, there are mountains everywhere and great riding.
Brian Messemer..couldn't agree more, used to write many a good column for the Daily Telegraph as well, I love the fact that he always refers to Merkcx as 'The Great Eddy Merck", exactly how it should be so that any newcomers to the sport are given the depth of his knowledge and an instant high bar with which to make any comparisons.
Roglic in Tour of Slovenia. He descended like a demon. I really believe being a skier enhances descent skills. Especially the sense of gravity, contour, speed control. And overcoming fear of bike and self as a unit.
Great riders for next year TdF. Alaphillipe was one of the most colourfull riders this TdF. But Alaphilippe is not one of the best climbers although he isn't bad either. He said it himself. So i doubt if Alaphillipe is "v" regarding a top 5 TdF listing? He could win the same climb shirt knowing that the other riders haven't this goal They want yellow. ;o)
Will Eigo Alaphilippe is probably never going to be a GC rider. He just isn't good enough or consistent enough in the mountains or TTs to compete for the GC in a Grand Tour.
That Egan Bernal dude is gonna savage everyone real soon once whoever has him, whether he gets traded or Sky keeps him or whatever, lets him loose to ride for GC.
beautiful profile of tour this year! THe best for me for about last 10 years. So much interesting! Not so much for sprinters :) but for fans great, many thanks to Mr. Prudhomme. I like to try with my friends the legends Tourmalet and Alp de Huez next year. It will be so huge but everybody should try this in your life - it is like life battle. :) Beautiful fight of Thomas, Froom, Roglic, Dumoulin in mountain. Beautiful tour for Lotto team, Kruijswijk´s mountain break will be one of the interesting point of this tour in history. Thanks to my legend Nairo Quintana for his "sprint" in royal etape at mountain. And so many thanks to Sylvain Chavanel´s BIG career and all boys. You are heroes of (fighting) cycling for fans from all over the world. Especially mountain cyclists, cause tour is about hard mountains etapes.
Does anyone know where I can find a full video of the ride through the city of Lourdes itself? They passed right in front of my uncle's bar and I missed it with the coverage we get in Australia
First GT he's finished whilst riding for himself (Giro 2017 he crashed before the GC battle really began, and abandoned a couple of days later due to the injuries)
Tobias Greven I was wandering if Mohoric gave Roglic tips about descending techniques yesterday. Rogla was clearly concerned about descent before this stage and Im sure they are in touch.
Froome is going backwards. Pity, as he has shown such fine form over the years. Has he reserved anything for the TT? Probably not, as the mountain stages are where time is lost and gained so the TT not going to help him. Thomas should win now. Second who knows?
Am I the only one thinking that Froome is trying not to win TDF, so Sky just " okay damn it you don't want Froome win...I call G.Thomas. now try to win us...!"
You gotta love the courage of Moviestar, the spirit of an underperforming Bardet, the strengh of Roglic. And you have to respect the dominance by Sky with their superior quality on and around the bikes. Even if they take a lot of fun and drama out of this sport with their professionalism on every level. As did US Postal before or to a lesser extent Once in the 90's. Best team, best supporting rider in the mountains with Bernal, and somehow hardly ever they panic and mostly have a spot-on strategy. For the future one could hope the UCI finds some ruling to counteract the current situation, until then it is what it is. But unlike Sky who seem to be lead by a master brain, among the opposition somehow there's always at least one team who manages to kill every effort by the others when Sky offers a rare opening. Today it was up to Sunweb to replace their minds with a bunch of brokkoli. What were they thinking? Of course, Roglic is a dangerous opponent for Dumoulin's ranking position, but you needn't to immediatly push the big red panic button as soon as Roglic kicks. From this moment on Thomas knew he had the upper-hand on Dumoulin, unsurprisingly he won every little mental game till the finishing line. Dumoulin did the job of Bernal and Thomas never had to stick his nose into the wind to control Roglic's lead, one of only 2 dangerous opponents left. And rightfully he overtook Dumoulin within the last meters and grabed the bonus seconds, to rub his incredible stupidity into his face.
duga 105 wouldn't call it incredible stupidity. Dumoulin knew after a few attacks that he couldn't crack Thomas, so he was more focused on keeping Roglič close. The fact that he carried Thomas on his wheel didn't really bother him.
Team Sky was overtaken by Dutch Team Lotto Jumbo. First Geesink who did ride a high speed and made the first brake up. Then Kruijswijk attacked and after that Roglic. Good to see that also Movistar and Bardet did attack. The tour needs that. Froome and Dumoulin have ride the Giro and i think that lost a few percentages of there strength. Thomas has hold pretty strong knowing that he had always has a very bad day losing many seconds or minutes. Not this time. Roglic seems to be the best man the last week in the Tour. Thomas played good poker after the race he said "I don't think I was as comfortable as I looked - I need to start playing poker. I was able to just follow Dumoulin". You say Sunweb but you mean Dumoulin. ;o) Bit i understand what you mean. But if Dumoulin let Roglic go waiting for Thomas (Froome and Bernal weren't always there) then he could loose even more seconds then he did know. (There wasn't a teammate like Kelderman, who had an accident a week for the tour, or Sam Oomen who did ride the Giro for the first time and went 9th) Cycling is also a game, being (un)lucky, having a good/better team (the more money the better), tactics etc. Afterwards is easy to talk. Thomas could loose some seconds but he will still win imho. The positions 2, 3 and 4 are more interesting today. We will see. p.s It's like football. People take less into the account that the team with the biggest budget can buy the best riders. This is why i find it interesting that teams with far lesser budget, like Lotto NL Jumbo did during this stage, can beat teams with a budget which is 2 times bigger. Tour de France team budgets 2016 (estimated). I can't find budgets of 2018 or 2017? Team Sky - €35m Katusha - €32m BMC - €28m Tinkoff - €25m Astana - €20m Etixx-Quick Step - €18m Movistar - €15m Lotto-Soudal - €14m LottoNL-Jumbo - €14m Dimension Data - €13.5m Orica-BikeExchange - €13m Giant-Alpecin - €12.5m Trek-Segafredo - €12m Ag2r La Mondiale - €12m Cofidis - €11m IAM Cycling - €10.5m FDJ - €10m Cannondale - €10m Lampre-Merida - €7m Direct Energie - €6m Bora-Argon 18 - €4.5m Fortuneo-Vital Concept - €3.5m Source: cyclingweekly .com
I'd agree it would be a race for positions 2-4 if an in-form Froome would be in place of Thomas, as he is an absolute mental freak, and well proven. Unlike Thomas, who could fill a book with incidents that happened to him throughout his career, when in promising positions. Some of them self-inflicted, some not. We only have to look back to the Dauphine, where Thomas crashed in the TT. Of course overall Thomas was before and after stage 19 the favorite to win. With this unique constellation that the 4 top riders in the race are all excellent in TT. With a slight edge for Roglic and Dumoulin in this department. As Froome seems to have run out of energy, it's probably only a race for positions 1-3. So at worst Dumoulin falls back to 3, Thomas on the other can still lose the Tour, so has much more to lose. You gotta play with this mental advantage. You have to take risks to win the tour! Dumoulin might never will be in this position again. Aru and Pinot absent, Uran and Porte crashed out, Froome, Bardet and Yates underperforming and Bernal blocked through his role in the Sky pyramid and an unproven leader with some drama history. The stars might never be aligned so promisingly again. In a few years nobody will care if you finished 2nd or 3rd. It's a podium finish, which is excellent, but no win. IMO When Dumoulin realized, he won't get rid of Thomas, he just should've stopped leading, and let Sky decide what's next. And study Thomas if he's mentally ready for this situation. Or starts doing mistakes, pressured by Roglic. He surely wouldn't have felt comfortable letting him ride away too far. At worst they would have lost 10 seconds in the climb, when waiting for Froome and Bernal. And then he could have saved energy for the TT today, and if there's an opening in the downhill attack or grab the bonus seconds at the finishing line by sprinting out of the slipstream. Im especially surprised by the decisionmaking of Sunweb, until then they were flawless tacticaly throughout the Tour. The words of Thomas about pokerface you quoted sums it up pretty well IMO.
A lot of is true. But Dumoulin, and all others, are riding at there limits. And the riders have to act within seconds (or you don't). Dumoulin rides calculated and he decides what to do or not. He attacked a few times being at this limit. Thomas could follow (afterwards he said he played poker: he won). On the couch it's easy talk. Dumoulin als has ride the Giro (like Froome). Maybe he lost a few % of power. He also lost 52 seconds when he broke his wheel. He also lost his best climbmate Kelderman a week for the Tour and Sunweb wasn't as good as team Sky (Budget Team Sky €37mln vs LottoNL-Jumbo €16mln)
What is your opinion on this? A yellow yersey rider has to be infront for X amount of time to keep his yersey, to counteract sky's pathetic plays the last few years
Qopiq q That makes no sense whatsoever, and completely takes away how the Yellow Jersey is awarded. The rider first in the General Classification, with the lowest time from the race, gets to wear it. And that should never be manipulated with.
The British (probably English) commentator can pronounce the Dutch name Kruijswijk, but can't pronounce correctly the British name Geraint! It's pronounced Ge - as in Get, r - as in Rain, and aint - as in (p)int.
Great to see the great Team Sky overtaken by Dutch Team Lotto Jumbo. First Geesink who did ride a high speed and made the first brake up. Then Kruijswijk attacked and after that they came together. Dumouin attacked a few time but Thomas could follow. Thomas said "I don't think I was as comfortable as I looked - I need to start playing poker. I was able to just follow Dumoulin" Then Roglic attacked. Froome could not follow. Roglic made a great downhill ride but it suprised me that mister TT Dumoulin couldn't follow on a part of the stage which wasn't difficult? Did Roglic had some help by the motorrider? Being said, Roglic was the best. Pity that Thomas didn't let us show that he can do more then defend his place and jump in the last km only.? But Thomas didn't break (again) so he is the well deserved winner this tour. It seems that Froome and Dumoulin who have ride the Giro are less good as they should. This is why i could see Roglic take the 2nd place from Dunoulin after the TT. Thomas could loose 30 secs maybe but that's it. We will see.
Which part was not difficult? Go down 20 km with a max speed of 92 kmh on a 2 cm wheel ... and take a look at this year's 10km ITT Tour de Romandie, where Roglič was 2.30 better than Thomas, and tomorrow is 30km ITT, I do not think Thomas will be the Tour de France winner And yes Jernej, that's not Roglič in the shot at 0:49
Jan de Boer, Did Roglic had some help by the motorrider? Being said, Roglic was the best. Are you saying that Roglic did not have some help by the motor bike or are you saying the motor bike didn't help that much? Is this cheating or not? Dumoulin doesn't agree with you.
Am a Dumoulin fan but also a cycle lover and to be honest, Roglic was the best at stage 19 with or without help by a motorrider. ;o) Dumoulin agreed with that. But he was also frustrated. You can "stayer" different ways: close behind a car or motororider (you go faster) or follow the same course of a motorrider or car downhill. To win seconds downhill, on the downhill part of a road which was pretty wide, on Dumoulin is almost impossible? But the motorrider with cameraman must also film the race so it's a difficult one. Maybe Dumoulin should be in front next time? ;o) p.s It's media but they don't say to Roglic that Dumoulin said dhat "Roglic was the best anyway and you can complain him but he was in favor because of the motorrider" they only told Roglic that Dumoulin said that he was "in favor regarding the motorrider". They are being very selective and looking for "things".
Not many parts were easy. ;o) I hope you are right. I also favor Roglic before Thomas but after Dumoulin ;o) You must be a Roglic fan. ;o) Dumoulin is the world time-trial champion, the fastest man in the world against the clock. But he is also tired after riding the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France back to back. This is why i think Roglic, who is 2nd best TT rider in the world behind Dumoulin, can favor his skills being more fit. How much seconds Thomas will loose we have to see. There are all great sportsmen that's for sure. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_Road_World_Championships_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_time_trial
Dumoulin made a mistake by doing all the work when Roglic attacked. At one moment Roglic escaped in the climb....Froome got behind, Thomas was the only sky man. Why should Dumoulin be the one to chase Roglic......If Roglic should have taken a minute of more at that moment (and he could because he was flying yesterday) Thomas Yellow jersey was in serious danger. But Dumoulin did all the work, allowing Thomas to do nothing.
