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I can't believe its quite so boring today. What's going to happen next.
Surely something else is going to happen. Nibbles must attack again.
If Wiggins gets GC, Froome better get a shot at it next year.
+1
Froome could have taken the lead today I reckon...
LOL @CFH 🙂
Looks like Sean Yates has blown Froome's left ear drum 😀
would be a good race between them but Brad is stronger on the TT and Froome accepted that when he was interviewed after his as he said there was no way Brad would be slower. Not sure he would be leading but he would certainly be close [ would have won the Giro though which he only lost on time bonuses for stage wins they actually had the same time]
Next year looks like it would suit froome. Maybe Wiggins to go for the giro or viera.
Wow.
Wtf is froome got in his bidot - what a show from him
Dull, dull, dull.
(Scenery crap too)
Excellent stage
awww nibs and wiggs and friends again
Nice bit of respect between brad an Nibbles
Ahhh, isn't that sweet, they kissed and made up.
Another awful day for my team. Balls.
Wtf is froome got in his bidot - what a show from him
Drugs, innit?
That isn't going to get old for the duration of this Tour 😀
Nibali and wiggo friends again looks like
******** epic
Nice bit of respect between brad an Nibbles
What happened? (following by text!)
I nodded off for the last bit, did Henman lose to that swiss cock again?
evans lost 1.26 to wiggo 🙂 amazing
brad put his arm on his back as they crossed together nibbles responded and they shook hands
1. GBR WIGGINS Bradley 101 SKY PROCYCLING 48h 43' 53''
2. GBR FROOME Christopher 105 SKY PROCYCLING 48h 45' 58'' + 02' 05''
3. ITA NIBALI Vincenzo 51 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 48h 46' 16'' + 02' 23''
4. AUS EVANS Cadel 1 BMC RACING TEAM 48h 47' 12'' + 03' 19''
5. BEL VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 111 LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM 48h 48' 41'' + 04' 48''
portlyone - MemberWhat happened? (following by text!)
Crossed finish more or less together, hugs'n'kisses, flowers, wine and phone numbers exchanged.....
Wiggo doing his best to make sure a horses head doesn't appear in his bed one morning.
Froome either spent to hell or hasnt had his media training 🙂
Aww isn't that lovely. Did either look round to see if a note saying "Drop Me" was stuck to them? 😉
[i]Another awful day for my team. Balls. [/i]
On the contary I've had two stage winners in as many days 🙂
Still languishing down in 70th odd place though 🙁
Aww isn't that lovely. Did either look round to see if a note saying "Drop Me" was stuck to them?
LOL. So have to do that to someone.
Roche 6 mins down. Ouch.
Nice ride from Pinot again, the next "French cycling star"? (how many of those have their been?)
Froome will get a shot next year at one of the GTs. Although I think Rogers, Porte, Uran and Henao will be wanting shots soon enough too.
Fun day - well done Froome (watch out wiggo your no2 looks v strong!)
Any bets on Froome not being on Sky next year?
I'm getting a horrible feeling that Mr Wiggins is the chosen one for Sky for sentimental/media/marketing reasons.
Wiggins is definitely better than Froome against the clock but I get the feeling that if Froome was riding for himself he would more than make up for it in the hills. One on one for the GC my money would be on Froome.
I think Froome will stay with Sky. He gets a lot of support that he'd probably not get anywhere else, plus didn't he sign a 2 year contract at the end of last season?
Froome will have plenty of opportunity as he's a lot younger than Wiggo.
There's 3 Grand Tours for them to share between each other with plenty of decent support riders.
convert - Member
I'm getting a horrible feeling that Mr Wiggins is the chosen one for Sky for sentimental/media/marketing reasons.
I'd say it's more than Mr W fits in with the tactic of "grind the oppo to bits on the road, then win it in the TTs"
What a day.
Froome taking off like a man possesed then stopping short as his radio ear-piece explodes.
Rolland crossing the line with a bloody thigh showing through the big tear in his shorts, proper hard man style.
Nibali and Wiggins getting engaged.
Evans looking like he's just swallowed a lemon.
More dull boring racing like this please.
There are going to be some tired legs tomorrow.
I'm off to find a hat to eat 😳
My sky plus stopped recording with 4k to go. Did froome attack Wiggins or was it planned?
My sky plus stopped recording with 4k to go.
Eurosport? Ruined most of my highlight shows so far!
Phil Liggett on the Evans attack "Best Attack of the Tour this Year". Nice one Phil, you could say that if Evans won the stage & yellow from there, but making 15 seconds and not being able to keep the wheel of your team mate. It was a bloody catastrophe more like.
Bloody commentators not being able to tell the future and such. My nan could do a better job!
FWIW I thought that was a fantastic attack, he just didn't have the legs to hold off the sky train. I'm wondering if he was hoping to draw Wiggins out away from his team and into a 3 on 1 situation, but Wiggins didn't fall for it.
exactly, keep your hyperbole till the finish Phil.
exactly, keep your hyperbole till the finish Phil.
...Do you know what hyperbole is? 😕
i'll rephrase so you understand
exactly, keep your exaggerations and emphasis for effect till the finish Phil.
...Do you know what hyperbole is?
Do you know what mint condition is? 😕
LOL @ Yossarian! 😀
Could Froome's attack have been a team tactic to see if Nubali would or could follow?
No i doubt it I just think he did it in the moment
The thing he has is a change of pace...Brad can grind at a very high pace but he cannot change pace
No longer sure which one of them is the best tbh
What did froome loose with the punture + if he had continued to attack?
it's all pretty academic really if they were racing each other brad had the chance to drop him earlier in the climb when he(chris) struggled to keep in contact.
Fair point
TBH, it looks like Wiggins will win, but I won't be rushing to buy the DVD, makes an Indurain tour look exciting...
Fair Play! I Really picked the wrong stage! what a cracker!
Err, can we talk about Froomes emergence as a world beater in two years, which have been plagued by injury and illness? If he was Italian we'd be ripping him to shreds, that radobank doctor is earning his beans...
My sky plus stopped recording with 4k to go
You can set it to overrun by 10 minutes
Blimey, those are some long legs that bloke Froome has! 😯
Glitchy Bump
Froome does look like he can win it one day
junkyard, yeah, tomorrow!
the kids had clashed it with Postman Pat!You can set it to overrun by 10 minutes
Still hanging on to yellow by the skin of my teeth.....I'm going to miss it when it's gone :0(
Bradley, get off Rorschach's computer !
😉 😳
My sky plus stopped recording with 4k to go
My virgin tivo did the exact same thing (as did my mates). Really annoying!
[i]It's quite clever. Froome can attack and Nibbles will go with him, all these little digs will break Nibbles and Wiggo will just keep trawling on in his usual rhythm.[/i]
Thats exactly the points I was making when I said I'd like to see Froome attack.
wiggins/froome = hinault/lemond
so if froome continues to drag wiggins through the rest of the tour and stays in second and froome stays ahead of everyone else at the last TT (wiggins sets off last right?) do you think he'll ease off and let froome take it as the rightful winner? seeing as how he does [i]so far[/i] seem to be the better rider and presumably is being reigned in from stamping over everyone else to nurse bradley.
just an idea
[i]do you think he'll ease off and let froome take it as the rightful winner?[/i]
Not a chance. This is wiggins tour, froome will have his time.
cinnamon_girl - Member
Blimey, those are some long legs that bloke Froome has!
Smelling salts and a cold shower for CG
It's quite clever. Froome can attack and Nibbles will go with him, all these little digs will break Nibbles and Wiggo will just keep trawling on in his usual rhythm.
I reckon it might have been discussed as a general tactic, then when the situation arrose the DS gave him an earfull and/or the wording was more "Nibbles has nothing, sit up" rather than "Wiggins has nothing, sit up".
If they had gone the really interesting moment would have been whether Wiggins and Nibali would have worked together to catch him, or whether Sky would view the lesser of 2 evils to keep Nibali back from Froom and let Froom get close to Wiggins in the overall or try and catch Froom and keep the top 3 as they are.
+1 Froom was dropper erlier in the stage (nothing to say if he'd done less of the work Brad or someone else woudln't have been the one being dropped though?) and I don't think he'd have 2 minutes in his legs, I reckon it was one last kick to see what happend or to prove a point I don't think he intended to break away and stay away.Not a chance. This is wiggins tour, froome will have his time.
well I presume rather than it being "brad's turn" it was decided at the start that BW was the strongest all rounder and had the best chance of winning but froome (along with rest of team) seems to be doing most of the work, has energy left to spare and is pretty good TTer aswell, he may have been the better choice and is only in second due to team orders.This is wiggins tour
Not really expecting bw to give it up, just an idle though.
[I know I am a hopeless romantic but...]
I would like to see Sky reach the point where they can drop 'team orders' between Froome and Wiggins and let them race. It's clear Froome has a turn of speed that Wiggins can't match but I'm not convinced [i][b]yet[/i][/b] that he's the better all-round rider.
seeing as how he does so far seem to be the better rider and presumably is being reigned in from stamping over everyone else to nurse bradley.
Not sure you can be that certain this would happen
Wiggo dropped Froome on the hardest part an nursed him up so we cannot be certain what would have happened to Froome had he been dropped when he was struggling
Wiggo is still a far better TT than Froome
I accept it would be very close if they were in different teams but remember the same folk who "nurse" Wiggo up have also nursed Froome up. Had froome not cracked and had to lead Brad up then he may have "cracked" further up like brad sort of did. We dont know if Froome could have sustained it to the top either see Nibbles or cuddles for example
He does have superb recovery and he ha s change of pace that Brad lacks though
I assume Sky know who is actually the strongest rider [ froome said there was no chance Brad would be slower than him on the TT for example] though and I assume one day Froome time will come.
[i]It's clear Froome has a turn of speed that Wiggins can't match[/i]
I wouldn't be so sure of that, Wiggins doesn't need to match it.
yeah that'd be good but wiggins will likely kick arse in the TT, how much potential time has froome already lost by having to stick with bradley on the climbs? We'll never know. I know it's a team event but being ferried around the whole tour by your team mates then kicking botty in the TTs to win seems a bit...mleh when there's another potential winner in the team.I would like to see Sky reach the point where they can drop 'team orders'
BTW how much team help did evans get last year? I only ever watch a bit of the tour but what i did see he seemed to be mostly on his own where as Cav last year (and bradley this year) was surrounded by the team and wouldn't have done nearly as well without them.
Aye but it is the modern way...gone are the romantic times when folk used to attack everyday and try and win every stage.
the other thing yo are forgetting is e dont know what effect it would have had on Froome to attack every day and how he would have recovered. Perhaps he can only attack because he has been "slowed" by nursing Brad. the team are also helping him.
the other issue is you build a team to let your strongest member win and the Wiggo strength is the TT and the rest is about not loosing time. in essence we will never know
seeing as how he does so far seem to be the better rider and presumably is being reigned in from stamping over everyone else to nurse bradley.
Indurain won his tours by doing this and to some degree so did LA though he could also win hilly days. as did Cuddles last year - Contador could do both
It is the best way to win these days if perhaps "unfair"
he is strong on the mountains so did not need help from his team - have a look on the flats to see where his team are- you build a team to help you with your weakest areahe seemed to be mostly on his own
Well, if BW is the best time trialler, it seems to make sense to make him the leader on a tour that's fairly heavy on TTs and light on big mountains. Maybe if it's more mountainous next year we'll see CF go for it.
It will be interesting to see what happens later in the tour with regards these two.
By the way, Mrs Grips is now getting into this which makes me happy, I get to explain cycling to her, although I know even less about it than I do cricket and rugby which I also had to explain to her after we were married 🙂
It obviously makes sense to stick to the plan for Sky to win as a team, but how good would it be if they let Froome and Wiggins to race against each other? There would obviously be a risk of letting Nibali in (which is why they won't do it), but it would suit everyone. Froome would get his chance, and Wiggins would be able to win without the doubt as to whether he was the best man or not. Does Wiggins really want that hanging over him?
I think if Froome had actually made the break he would have been allowed to go. Unfortunately everyone else in the group apart from Wiggins stuck with him, so all he would have done was bring their closest rival nearer to the yellow.If his break had worked and he'd dropped the group, leaving Brad with Nibbles, then I expect it would have been fine for him to catch up a few seconds on Brad.
The point is that Sky want yellow, and Froome dragging Nibbles closer to it is not what they want. Froome getting closer to it without helping his team's rivals would probably have been fine.
how much potential time has froome already lost by having to stick with bradley on the climbs? We'll never know. I know it's a team event but being ferried around the whole tour by your team mates then kicking botty in the TTs to win seems a bit...mleh when there's another potential winner in the team.
But he didn't though, Bradley had to stick with Froome erlier in the stage.
If BW hadn't then maybe...........
BW would have been in the group alone
CF would have been chaseing from a group further back
CF's 'attack' would just have been bridgeing the gap to BW's group and damage limitation on his standing relative to Nibbles.
Any GC contender would have needed help on the hills, that's why there's a team, if CF was leader then there's be another climber to pace him and we'd be having the same argument with different names.
I like Froome but some people here need to get a grip, just because he briefly dropped Wiggins near the end of a tough stage doesn't mean he's much stronger and the rightful leader/winner. Wiggins is thinking about getting to Paris, any TdF rider gradually loses form over the course of the race - why kill himself going into the red at the end of a stage when he gains no real advantage from doing so. Clearly he was put into difficulty but he didn't need to respond so we'll never know if he was able to.
There's a lot of is' buts and maybe's going on here.
[i]how good would it be if they let Froome and Wiggins to race against each other?[/i]
Destructive I would think and no good for team morale.
Perhaps the ds said to froome that if he was 100% sure he can drop nibali then go for it. The last thing he would want to do is drag nibali with him taking time out of wiggins lead.
Froome for Vuelta win.
They generally don't plan a race on the spot as it's happening. It's months of preparation.
Wiggo has won both the Dauphine and Paris-Nice this season. Froome has been ill or running over pensioners. Had Froome been pushing Wiggo earlier this season, added to last years Vuelta we may see a different plan from Sky. But we don't so they'll continue as they are (seems to be going pretty well).
Don't worry about Froome, he's 27 and has plenty of opportunities (this years Vuelta maybe), and Sky have a ready made team for him (to stay with). Wiggo's opportunity is now, he'll not have the legs in a year or two as Evans may have demonstrated yesterday.
Destructive I would think and no good for team morale.
Absolutely. My point was more about what it would be like for us spectators to watch, although I can understand why that won't really factor in the team's considerations.
The bigger point I think though is whether Wiggins wants this hanging over him. Anyone in the know will appreciate that it's a team sport and that his win will represent a win for the whole team, but nonetheless there'll always be a question over whether he was the most deserving. From a sporting point of view then surely it would be better for this doubt to be eliminated, and it seems to me there's only really one way to do that.
possibly but it will never happen.
hinault and le mond 1985 for example
Hinault did not repay the compliment in 86 when le mond - the team leader was repeatedly attacked by Hinault who lost to Le mond eventually.
http://www.cyclingrevealed.com/oct05/top25-19.html
I suspect that Froome knows brad is stronger overall [ just but it will be close] but not on the hills. We would end up with brad attacking him on the flats and that could result in both being worn out for the next lot of hills and Nibali winning.
that's kind of where I was coming from but TBH it's gonna be career suicide to give up being the 1st british(ish) man to win the tour.The bigger point I think though is whether Wiggins wants this hanging over him
yes jury is still out on whether froome is any better but has wiggins ever taken a turn upfront? the rest of the team are battering themselves at the front all day I'd expect the headman to be able to pull away at the end of the race. Like I said not seen a lot of the tour but I have twice seen froome lead wiggins up the majority of the hill finish and still have the legs to race off ahead of him for the line. could well be wiggins saving his legs when he can but it [i]might[/i] be froome is better.Wiggo dropped Froome on the hardest part an nursed him up
Froome is better at hill climbing but that is to where brad will win the race but it is where he can loose it.
if Froome was team leader that is where he would attack
Wiggo was upfront yesterday when Froome mini cracked and led the chase back to nibbles and when Froome rejoined [ could brad have attacked him then during his mini crack and would Froome have then had the legs and heart to respond] he then attacked
Vuleta [ tour of Spain] showed Froome is a far superior climber than Brad and would race differently to win.
i think if they attaced on the hills Brad would attack on the flats an they could burn each other out and neither win so Sky wont risk it.
i assume the stats from team Sky show wiggo to be the stronger over all or else they would support Froome as leader??
I am enjoying this one today - partly 'cos DM is in the break & mostly 'cos he's on my team!!!