Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
And that's a superb win for Bardet.
And that's a superb win for Bardet.
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
That was a brilliant stageComment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Mollema must be a fair way back. Yates lost a bit of time, as did Porte. (And Froome of course, but he has plenty to spare.)
Bardet up to second!Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
That reinforces my belief that one day Bardet will be the man to end France's drought in the Tour.
Brilliant stage, best of the Tour by an absolute mile.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
It's going to seriously close between Bardet, Yates and Quintana for second, isn't it?Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I'm with you on that. He is much more resilient than Pinot or Barguil.That reinforces my belief that one day Bardet will be the man to end France's drought in the Tour.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
*Starts to ponder Bardet's chances of winning Olympic gold*Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
1.FROOME
2.BARDET 04' 11''
3.QUINTANA 04' 27''
4.YATES 04' 36''
5.PORTE 05' 17''
6.ARU 06' 00''
7.VALVERDE 06' 20''
8.MEINTJES 07' 02''
9.MARTIN 07' 10''
10.MOLLEMA 07' 42''Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
We know that Bardet can descend, so there's going to be a lot of hoping he doesn't recover tomorrow and trying to get rid of him before the top of the Joux Plane. Otherwise Quintana can forget second.
I suspect Yates will settle for trying to defend the white jersey tomorrow and seeing where he ultimately ends up on GC.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Possibly dim question, what did Thomas do after Froome took his bike? Wait by the side of the road for the Sky car to catch up?Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I assume so, probably only had to wait a couple of minutes for the car and then tapped up the final climb to finish 6.33 down.
Froome visibly wincing on the podium. Hmm.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
This descent in the rain is terrifying.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Aru lost 17 minutes on today's stage, I wonder how much was because after a while he just gave up.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Been out so didn't see the stage, but was it really as nothing as the internet suggests?Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
GC wise yes. Still a decent stage though.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I see that Purito and Meintjes are both on the same time and separated by the hundredths of a second from the time trials. Seventh place is definitely worth racing for in terms of prestige, money and ranking points so I expect Purito to man mark all the way round the Champs and both to finish high up on the stage.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
This coverage of La Course is an absolute joke, lots of tourist views of Paris interspersed with occasional shots of the race.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I was enjoying the lack of commentary though. The ambient sound was great.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Heh, Quintana "attacks" on the final categorised climb of the race but Kreuziger holds him off for the KoM point.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Bloody hell, Purito was clearly sleeping there, lost 30 seconds and slipped from 7th to 10th.
Great sprint from Greipel.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I wonder if Cav is second guessing his decision to leave early, with EBH finishing up in fourth?
Apart from a descent by Bardet and a 30 second attack by Mollema, Froome seemed in total control. If Froome has the same form next year what could the other teams do differently?
I too had each way money on Bardet (£1), but perhaps more satisfying was watching Louis Meintjes Zubeldiaing his way to the top ten at 11-2.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Sky certainly seem to have got the whole teamwork thing honed to perfection. The standard of the guys they are able to get pulling for the leader is something else - they would be leaders of half of the other WT teams. But, even that aside, Froome himself looked pretty much the strongest guy there overall, and Bardet pleasingly probably the closest to him. Not much to choose between Porte, Quintana, Aru, Yates and others - some good days, some bad days, but none had the mix of consistency and, to give the winner his dues, the killer instinct to get the time gaps needed. But, as we thought at the start, it was the ITTs wot won it.
Betting wise, Bardet's double return of podium and best French rider along with a couple of Cavendish wins means I end up a couple of pounds to the good on my initial tenner. I came close on a couple of stages but missed out - the worst being a failure to take Oliveira each way instead of for the win on the first ITT.
Whether this simply becomes an Olympics or Vuelta kitty, time will tell.
Froome now moves into a rarefied group - winners of more than two Tours de France:
[strike]7 Lance Armstrong (USA) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005[/strike]
5 Jacques Anquetil (FRA) 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964
5 Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974
5 Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985
5 Miguel Indurain (ESP) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
3 Philippe Thys (BEL) 1913, 1914, 1920
3 Louison Bobet (FRA) 1953, 1954, 1955
3 Greg LeMond (USA) 1986, 1989, 1990
3 Chris Froome (GBR) 2013, 2015, 2016
And since I'm in a statsy kind of mood, I decided to list the manufacturer of the bike that won each stage on this year's race (for some reason I did this in reverse order).
21 Ridley
20 Canyon
19 Focus
18 Pinarello
17 Canyon
16 Specialized
15 Scott
14 Cervelo
13 Giant
12 Ridley
11 Specialized
10 Scott
09 Giant
08 Pinarello
07 Cervelo
06 Cervelo
05 BMC
04 Specialized
03 Cervelo
02 Specialized
01 Cervelo
Manufacturers without wins:
Argon-18
BH
Bianchi
Cannondale
Lapierre
Look
Merida
Orbea
TrekComment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
Something of the Euros about that Tour, I suppose. It's not going to be remembered as an all time exciting one, but there were some memorable moments and stages.
I can't help wondering what difference it would have made in the mountain tussles if Contador had been there too. I don't think he would have won, but suspect he would have spiced things up, caused counter attacks from rivals, and that could have pressurised Sky more.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
I had got to the feeling the Froome was one of those boring, mechanical Tour winners. Plods around in the pack, has a strong team that negates attacks, and wins time in the time trials. But this year, Bardet apart he was also probably the most attacking of the lead riders. Porte tried a couple of times, as did Valverde. You wouldn't expect Yates to try. But it wasn't much. And Quintana's lack of attacks was a big let down.
Froome, meanwhile, actually went for it on a handful of occasions, and would probably have finished further ahead if his attack with Porte and Mollema wasn't ruined by the motorbike crash.Comment
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Mont St Michel, my belle - Tour de France 2016
For me this has been the year Froome has won me over and earned more than grudging respect.
Best team yes, but also the best and strongest rider.
Also provided great entertainment when he decided Mont Ventoux was a triathlon stage.
I also liked Jarlinson Pantano. Jarlinson!Comment
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