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2018 Pro Cycling: Team Sky Goes Postal, the Chris Froome Saga (Plus TdF)


G650

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Just now, Knoxtnhorn said:

Good Lord I want to kick Taylor Phinney in the face.  Any of y'all seen his behind the scenes stuff?  

Check out Lance's podcast when he listens to a Phinney interview. It's priceless.

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1 hour ago, Jerry Callo said:

Did anyone else think that Groenewegan's broke in half?  They don't show a great video, but the bike looks really jacked up and he immediately grabbed his bike computer and waited for another bike.

Yeah, that's wild.

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

 

 

honestly surprised froome hasnt wrecked

He did.

 

 

 

This was a top 5 tour stage of my life, easy.

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Holy shit. It's real.

Anyway, did anyone notice that Taylor Phinney said "Salutations from Burning Man"? Lance was making fun of Taylor the other day and said "I don't get it, it's like Burning Man or something". Little inside jokes going on.

That's nothing compares to using an electric motor to power your bike.

They are allegedly using infrared on the bikes which is supposed to detect a heat source inside the frame. Don't know if they are really doing IR all the time though.

Edited by Thetexashammer
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47 minutes ago, G650 said:

This might be the single dumbest conspiracy theory I've ever seen in cycling. He clearly just put his chain back on. You can even see the crank still turning.

I like how the video starts mid-way

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Not a motor. Please don't start this, it's asinine. 

Utter carnage, but it made a great spectacle. I'm always amazed how some people (and teams, frankly) just fare better at the cobbles with respect to flats and mechanicals. While it seems like so many are on similar equipment (at least on the rubber side of things) there's clearly some dark magic with the mechanics, as well as the fact that the guys who grew up racing that stuff just know how to guide the bike better so that they have less chance of it. 

Bardet, not so much. Haven't seen a train wreck like that since Rasmussen's time trial fiasco in 2007. 

TVG seems like a nice kid, and let me say that he's 100x tougher than I am. But he doesn't have 'it' and I struggle to see where he would be most competitive. Good TTer, good climber but only on steady grades with no attacks, and always seems to fade physically or mentally in a 3-week race. Porte must be one of the least lucky cyclists ever, and while I wasn't sure he'd really challenge the podium this year, it sucks to see him leave so early. 

And from a rest day, they go straight to an epic mountain stage. All of the climbs tomorrow are nasty, but I don't know Gileres...and with 6km at 11.2%, I plan to keep it that way.

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20 minutes ago, Txzen said:

Bardet, not so much. Haven't seen a train wreck like that since Rasmussen's time trial fiasco in 2007. 

 

I have to say, I really want him to win now. After all that he talks about how beautiful the race is. Totally hooked now.

 

22 minutes ago, Txzen said:

 as well as the fact that the guys who grew up racing that stuff just know how to guide the bike better so that they have less chance of it. 

 

This is it, full stop. It's not just random luck, it's mostly a skill set. I think they should put these stages in every year to force GC riders to be complete cyclists. The TT and climbing parade needs to stop.

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19 hours ago, G650 said:

This is it, full stop. It's not just random luck, it's mostly a skill set. I think they should put these stages in every year to force GC riders to be complete cyclists. The TT and climbing parade needs to stop.

Have a cobbled TT.  That would be interesting.

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It doesn't look like anyone really has legs to attack, or at least attack over the pace of the Sky train - which is as dull and predictable as 'Le Train Bleu'. 

It's either tomorrow on Alpe d'Huez or maybe stage 17 - those are the only two mountain top finishes where I would think the opportunity to crack Geraint and/or distance Froome would occur. 

I could see someone taking time on the Portillion and descent on stage 16. There won't be any shakeups on stage 19, unless there's a crack on the Tourmalet. The Soulor/Aubisque isn't hard enough and there's too much descending to be decisive. Geraint might not survive that long, but Froome will have no problem keeping with his rivals.

Now or never, Movistar. 

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I just love how the American representation is Van Garderan - who has no heart and Phinney - who's too busy acting like an idiot to actually race.

If Froome and Thomas both biked off the side of a mountain tomorrow, then Kwiatkowski or Gomez would probably win the TDF.

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Van Garderen is not having a great Tour, but he has struggled to find what really suits him. A change of teams may be a good thing. 

Phinney is a rouleur, whose job is to bodyguard Rigo. His best results are in TT or on the cobbles. He's doing just fine. Not so much for Rigo. 

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I prefer the two riders from Texas, Lawson and Boswell, over TVG or Phinney.  Lawson is one tough kid and Boswell has been interesting in his interviews on NBCSN and the clips on the Move. 

Had high hopes for TVG a few years ago, but he just hasn't performed.  Phinney seems to do his job on the team well, but his interviews are annoying af.

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Phinney finished tied for 58th on the cobbles Sunday.  He finished 17th in last year's TT.  I guess that's ok but if TT is your specialty, you probably shouldn't be finishing behind riders like Uran, Roglic, and Landa.

I had hopes for TJ today.  I was thinking that he dropped back yesterday to save his energy for today.  He got dropped by a group of 23 today.  Said group wasn't even the Froome, Nibali, Quintana, Thomas, etc... group.

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3 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Phinney finished tied for 58th on the cobbles Sunday.  He finished 17th in last year's TT.  I guess that's ok but if TT is your specialty, you probably shouldn't be finishing behind riders like Uran, Roglic, and Landa.

I had hopes for TJ today.  I was thinking that he dropped back yesterday to save his energy for today.  He got dropped by a group of 23 today.  Said group wasn't even the Froome, Nibali, Quintana, Thomas, etc... group.

The thing is he isn't riding for himself. Even in the TT he is conserving energy to help the team.

 

That said, his interviews make me wish him doom.

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