Lets say Cadel Evans today starts getting some time back and froome can cover him but wiggins can’t. They both pull time on wiggins and within 3 days wiggins isn’t holding the yellow anymore. I’d like to see someone go for it.
I’d rather see an exciting tour than the go as slow as you can to win tour on this year. Let Froom attack wiggins the team can still have a one two finish.[/quote]
Cadel doesn’t appear to have the legs to attack anything. For sure it’d be exciting to see someone attack and Wiggo unable to respond. In that scenario Froome would have to go up the road. But it needs a real big attack a la Andy S. last year; Wiggins has too much time and the ITT to come. Also they aren’t going slow; EBH-Knees-Rogers-Porte-Froome-Wiggins are basically gangbusters from hell. The reason attacks are so few and far between is that they going so fast to begin with only the top GC contenders can hang on. And all they can do is hang on. By the time the first 4 Sky riders drop off no one has the legs left to do anything but ride tempo.
yeah this year is all about the time trail
it’s good to know they are not on drugs and it is great to see some real racing out front, like last time. A stage win is still really something, especially with so many teams yet to get anything…
The course next year is going to be lumpy. Its the 100th tour so all the big climbs will be visited. Sagan is way too big to compete on GC. Maybe over the next 5 years he’ll drop weight and work on his climbing but only then will he be able to compete on big climbs. Just look at Wiggins anorexic body to understand the sort of sacrifice you have to make; he’s 190 and weighs 70 kgs. Sagan is 184 and 73.
Maybe they should think about changing the race format, as a sprinter will never stand a chance of winning the TdF, and the only justification for having flat stages now is to give the sprinters an excuse for showing up. Maybe they should divide it into separate contests – a sprint contest and a mountain contest. That way the sprinters don’t have to waste their time on the mountain stages, and the climbers don’t have to be excessive baggage on the sprint stages. Another change that would go a long way to making the race more interesting might be to have a separate time trial contest – that way we could avoid the boredom of seeing someone build up a huge time trial lead and then just sit back in the peleton counting on his team to defend his lead, instead of being out front actually doing some real contesting.
Yeah but, nah but, then it wouldn’t be the TDF…The beauty of the race is that it doesn’t necessarily make sense. Sprinters can’t win yellow, GC contenders can’t win sprints, classics specialists only win stages with uphill run-ins etc. etc. Its greater than the sum of its many parts which is what makes it such an engrossing spectacle. However, a bit like cricket and baseball, you need to spend a fair bit of time absorbing all the arcane lore attached to it to really get what’s going on.
It already is divided into several different parts, but they run them all simultaneously for the sheer schadenfreude of watching Cav suffer big time going uphill in the caravan.
Team SKY constantly holding Froome back is really starting to bother me. He would’ve certainly caught Valverde and won stage 17 if let off his leash. Wiggins was in no danger from the other GC contenders on the final 4km, so why force Froome to stay and hold his hand? I really think Froome is a more deserving winner of the tour this year.
Quite a lot of people – myself included – felt the same way. It certainly would have been a nice ‘Thank you’ for all the work he has put in. Made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. There have been some fun and exciting individual stages, but as far as the yellow jersey competition goes, it certainly has been huge bore. Too much emphasis on ‘team tactics’ and not enough mano a mano.
It amazes me how people go on and on about “the Froome situation”. Sky is 1st and 2nd in the GC, Froome has a stage win already. The whole team was built around Wiggins and the team’s plan has been executed to perfection. This achievement of Sky ranks as one of the greatest achievements by any British sporting team, ever (team being the operative word). And today we even got to see the yellow jersey leading out Cavendish for a glorious win. Still I guess tomorrow Froome-dog has a chance of sorts, he can go as fast as he likes and Wiggins will be behind him the whole way.
the time trail element seems to have emphasised the team first approach. sky live and die for the team. i wonder if the reason Froome is being held back is simply for the fidelity of the team. maybe they think if they let him go they might lose their grip on the yellow. As I understand it, they pretty much knew that with Wiggins, they had this in the bag - since last year. It’s what they’ve been working for the whole year.
not that I’m in favour. the mountains make for much better racing. TT is so boring… at least when their is only going to be one winner.
Wasn’t going to watch last night, but I couldn’t stay away, and it was greeeaaaat to see Cav clip the wings of the likes of Sagan, Goss, Farrar, and Greipel. Love the energy and raw emotion he brings to every race. Well, at least one of my favorites got to shine for a bit.
If Wiggins puts a lot more time on Froome in the time trial it will help to end all of the speculation and validate Sky’s decision making. But even if Wiggins goes into Paris with a three or four minute lead many will still be wondering if the Froome dog could have put that time into Wiggins in the mountain stages. It’s a pretty natural question to ask, ‘Who can beat Wiggins?’ Yeah, maybe Froome can. It will be interesting to see if Sky can accommodate his ambitions.
But I think one cannot fault Sky. They thoroughly smashed the defending champion and successfully defended their time advantage. It’s not their fault that the other teams couldn’t get their shit together and launch a viable attack.
I reckon the tour overall has been pretty good. We’ve seen Cavendish win without a lead out, Voeckler getting two great stage wins, the defending champion crack and Sagan flexing his organically certified muscles. My only gripe would be the number of time trials. Zero sounds like a better number.
Can you imagine Evans putting on the apron and performing domestic duties for Van Garderen next year?
commentator on Euro Sport made the point that having two time trails in a tour gives the riders something to defend and something to fight for. Certainly has this time. I see how that makes the stages in between more exciting. He also made the point about not being doped. I really appreciate that.
