You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Morning campers. The sun is shining in The Midlands, I've just done the long, 38 mile, commute to work and am now sat at my desk with coffee, porridge (consistency spot on this morning) and a ruddy great smile on my face.
However, enough about me, Le Tour is calling.
Starting in the small village of Moirans-en-Montagne in Jura, stage 16 will mark the first visit of the Tour de France to the capital of Switzerland. Bern is also the home of outgoing champion Fabian Cancellara, a native of Wohlen-bei-Bern who will call it a career soon, and BMC Racing Team owner Andy Rihs who has built the velodrome Suisse to develop the future champions of his country. Previously a sponsor in cycling with Phonak, one of his companies, Rihs is a true benefactor of the sport. After he took the yellow jersey in stage 5, Greg Van Avermaet said he had another mission besides helping his leaders Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen: trying to win stage 16 for Rihs. There's a short cobbled climb before the finish in Bern to make his wish a reality. Mark Cavendish expects a difficult sprint but a sprint. It's the last opportunity for the sprinters before the grand finale in Paris. The last time the Tour went to Switzerland was in Porrentruy in 2012. Thibaut Pinot was born a champion that day at the age of 22 but he's dealing with sickness rather than shining at the Tour this time.
[img] 
[/img]
Who's in the mix? Only [url= http://inrng.com/ ]one place[/url] to find out.
The Contenders: if the finish line was 500m earlier then Peter Sagan would be a much stronger contender but the long finishing straight means his sprint rivals have a chance to get into place for the finish. If he gets in a breakaway and it sticks then he’s an obvious choice. Given the hilly finish and his proclivity for going up the road Sagan remains the prime pick here.Greg Van Avermaet is another pick and ditto Michael Matthews as both have a fast finish suited for today’s stage. Both went in the high quality breakaway to Revel.
Would you bet against Mark Cavendish? His form is good and his confidence is higher but this is a tricky finish for him and all the other sprinters.
How many of the sprint teams will work to set up a sprint? If you’re getting that nagging feeling the Tour is about to come to an end all too soon then imagine how it feels for André Greipel and Alexander Kristoff who haven’t had seized their chances. It’s for this reason Lotto-Soudal and Katusha may work hard today to set up a sprint. The same applies to a lesser degree for Etixx-Quickstep and Marcel Kittel.
Perhaps the race leaving France brings the first French stage win comes via Bryan Coquard? He’s an outside pick but with his light build he’s suitable for the finish only, like Sagan, he’d surely want the finish line drawn at the top of the climb.
Fabian Cancellara is the local. The Cancellara of old might have tried jumping clear in the finish here and exploiting the cobbles but maybe today he’s more likely to go in the breakaway.
A couple of pics from yesterday, it was a stunning stage.
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
Morning Lunge, happy weekend. Great looking stage yesterday, I see Movistar are still holding themselves back. Am looking forward to todays itv4 coverage.
Right then. So, I think the sprint teams will really want this even though it is not perfectly suited too them, so whilst a break will go, and it will contain Cancellara, it won't stick.
GVA is a good shout for today, he can sprint but has also proved he can get over the lumps too. I'd love it to be Cav but I just can't see him getting over the hills intact, same for Kittel and Griepel too. Outside bet would be Degenkolb or dare I say it, Kritsoff, both of whom can climb better than the average sprinter.
It should be fun watching the sprint teams trying to catch a break (if it has a 5 minute or so plus gap) after the descent about 135km in, that could be quite an ask
38 mile commute on a sunny July Monday morning, nice way to start the week 🙂
38 mile commute on a sunny July Monday morning, nice way to start the week
Indeed it is/was. Was going to go half way and get the train like normal but the sun was warm and my legs felt good so why not? I'm going to do the long route home and the same again tomorrow so there is every chance I'll have done over 150 miles by Tuesday.
I'm now feeling very smug and awake whilst the rest of the office mope around with Monday blues.
How can there be Monday blues when the TdF is on.
Anything interesting happened yet?
Martin wants to spoil the party
THE PELOTON KEEPS FIGHTING
New gap at km 20.5: 18 seconds for Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step).
The Peloton don't want them to go
It's Nelson Mandela Day today so Dimension data will try something .
Remember Cummings win last year ?
Sketch fest?
[url= https://twitter.com/robhatchtv/status/755004587380203520/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw ]The road equivalent of 'sniper roots'* [/url]
Looks like there is still a fair old depression there despite taping.
* I f-ing hate that term, but it came to mind as the most appropriate
Good lord that looks bad for a bunch sprint.
mrblobby - Member
Good lord that looks bad for a bunch sprint.
Must by why Tony is going to save them the bother
It like the recipe for absolute carnage. Hope the breakaway succeeds and negates the sprint for all collarbones concerned!
Tony Martin's best chance for something from this years Tour ? Not been watching today yet.
That's a load of cars and motorbikes for just two riders.
Nice training ride for Tony and Julian.
I'm going Sagan for this one
Where is cav ? Break isn't going to stay away 😐
In and around, was 4th in the non contested sprint.
Thanks
Break has broken, time for me to stop checking all forms of internet so I can watch the hihlights without knowing the results, unlike the last couple of days when I've accidentally found out 👿
What an awesome mad run in, no real idea what's going on
Any ideas? That looks really disorganised.
Looked like Sagan to me but could be Kristoff.
Edit... oooh it is Sagan by a tubular!
And Sagan by mm!
Sagan from Kristoff by the looks of it.
French tv where giving it to Kristoff till they saw the photo. Sagan 🙂
Tough finish for all the sprinters. Sagan is really great.
Waiting to see which GC lost out today, Froome nearly got isolated in the mental corners on the run in. Nobody wanted to back off that finish
Any gaps in the peloton? Froome was right up there in the lead group. Could see some GC boys losing a few seconds.
Think we have Froome, tj, quintana and Yates and Porte spotted so far
Yay jens!
Yes all on same time
Good effort by Cav. He probably figured it was just like Guildford.
Good effort by Cav. He probably figured it was just like Guildford
I saw him win that - very impressive how quickly they went uphill on the cobbles.
and a couple of good snippets from Der Panzerwagen
Etixx-QuickStep's Tony Martin has had a relatively quiet Tour de France thus far. Underperforming in the Stage 13 time trial - by his standards anyway - it's clear he felt a need for a solid hit out. So, when he and teammate Julian Alaphilippe took off early on Stage 16, it looked like it could be a long day for Der Panzerwagen.Even so, Martin seemed to enjoy what was essentially a long training ride in preparation for the Rio Olympics.
"Sometimes it's not just about winning, but also about getting a nice performance and leaving something behind," he said. "We gave everything and even though it didn't pay off, we are content, because we enjoyed it."
[img]
[/img]His breakaway companion Alaphilippe had a somewhat different view. The Frenchman might have thought he'd hit the wall good and proper after his mishap in the wind on the Stage 13 time trial, but he hadn't tried clinging to Martin's wheel for nearly 200km as the German did his best motorbike impression."I suffered a lot. You can't even imagine how hard it was," said Alaphilippe.
"I don't know how he does it, but he's really incredible. Tony showed his class and what a huge champion he is, and I have learned a lot from him in this stage."
[img]
[/img]vs
[img]
[/img]
https://twitter.com/AleTegner/status/755103267445678082/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2016/07/19/martin-puts-everyone-hurtbox
No rest day chat thread?
Just reading the velonews tour notebook...
Now I appreciate all the work LeMond has done as a critical voice on performance, but he doesn't always present his case that coherently. From the article (and L'Equipe)...
"Froome turns the legs so fast that it’s contrary to the laws of physiology. What annoys me is to hear certain trainers say it’s all science fiction, which is disinformation. Others make us believe that they are ahead in science. These famous marginal gains of Team Sky? What a load of bollocks. There are no new training methods; it’s false. In this area, miracles don’t exist.”
Is his high cadence style contrary to the laws of physiology? Which ones are these? I'd bet it's still lower cadence than the likes of Cav are doing at the finish of a stage. And is he suggesting "marginal gains" is a cover for a team led doping operation? Think at the moment with Sky it's as much deep pockets as sports science.
No rest day chat thread?
I forgot, actually had to do some work today.
My view...
Nothing nailed on except Green
[img]
[/img]Cav 70% to find out his Rio flight is this week not next
Overall, some will drop time on the Summits.
For Froome even if he kills it off on the first one he still would need to cover breaks so he won't attack just defend. Movistar and BMC need to work together as they have the numbers and pick the sacrifice (TJ and Valverde) to try and get rid of Sky bodies on the approach. Froome and one other will be attackable and there will be minutes to be had at least on each other.
Wishing Adam Yates all the luck but I don't think he will have the legs for the last session.
oh and Trek are having a fun rest day
[img] 
[/img]
I forgot, actually had to do some work today.
🙂 Efforts are very much appreciated.
Movistar and BMC need to work together as they have the numbers and pick the sacrifice (TJ and Valverde) to try and get rid of Sky bodies on the approach.
Tejay and Porte both riding for themselves at the moment, I can't see either of them giving up a top 10 to try and get the other up the GC.
Valverde and Quintana an interesting one. Valverde still claiming he has no personal ambition for this race, but if Quintana struggles and there's a stage win or podium up for grabs then it'd not be surprised to see him abandon Quintana. Notice Sky stirring things up with Portal saying he reckons Movistar are backing the wrong horse.
Don't really think either team has the strength and depth to trouble Sky though. Valverde goes up the road, he's got Poels, Landa, Heano and Nieve chasing him down 😯
Great interview with Brian Holm yesterday. Der Panzerwagen is tired of chasing everyone down for km after km so he decided that today everyone can chase him. And it took the combined efforts of 5 teams.
Now that Jens has retired, i think he's my new favourite.
Pic Highlights
[img] 
[/img]
A tough week for France
[img] 
[/img]
Run Forrest Run
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
A moment to remember
[img] 
[/img]
Did he just beat me again
[img] 
[/img]
Look darling, it's amazing what you can do with 2mm
[img] 
[/img]
Why Did I follow him
[img] 
[/img]
Obligatory sunflowers
[img] 
[/img]
Paying Respect
No rest day chat thread?
Sadly, I too had work to do. Rest assured, normal service shall be resumed tomorrow.
[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/chris-froome-abandons-bike-after-realising-theyre-for-kids-20160715110878 ]Chris Froome abandons bike after realising they are for kids[/url]
[img] 
[/img]
My very longshot of being on the Forclaz tomorrow isn't going to happen, probably for the best as I think I may have died on the climb (or more likely push up) in the expected heat !
As above Froome doesn't have to do anything - my view is he'll take a bit more time after rivals attacks fail or they just don't bother
As for L'Equipe they've gone from celebrating fact Froome's clean when he won up Ventoux in yellow the first time to constant inuendo. Ignoring the fact Froome took time downhill 🙂 They are unable to deal with the fact the French have no competitive riders.
Quite amusing...
On a side note Cummings is in the BC squad for the Olympics after Kennaugh withdrew.
And Cav has gone home
With a lengthy and respectful statement. I think everyone knew he was going, just had to do it tactfully. You definitely don't want to upset the French!
He's had horse p.ss thrown at him in the past so Chapeau for showing respect !
Mrblobby I had that tune in my head watching it at the time