Used to hate the Mountain stages as used to find them boring.
Now I've grown up and now I understand the Tour more, I find them nearly as good as the Sprint stages i.e. the Mountain battles last longer whilst the Sprint stages give you that nervous anticipation for about 100km before... BAM that final km
Amazing stat no French, Spanish or Italian has won a stage on the tour this year. If it continues to and including Paris it will be the first time ever!
Expect massive pressure on those guys for the next two stages.
Its your fault if he wins now... I've just decided to hold off £20 on him!!
Haha
Yeah - sorry about that! Cracking effort from Bardet. Hat.
Garrghhhh why didnt I go with my instinct...
I was too cautious as at the time didnt think he'd get away from Costa like he did
To be honest I was shocked that with 3km I was getting odds of 11/4 on him to win the Stage, because of that I was a bit hesitant as the bookies dont usually want to just give me their money that easily
Reckon your right from what you said yesterday... the pressure was huge on a Frenchman to win either today or tomorrow and its partly what pushed Bardet up the mountain to win that one
Izagurrie is going down the descent off the Joux Plane like a bullet, in treacherous conditions. Nibali has bottled it and I don't blame him. Sean Kelly has called it unbelievable, which says it all.
I think it's a shame that Adam Yates is looking unlikely for a podium place. He's worked hard and taken everything on the chin. Always seems chipper when interviewed. I think he's got a fine future ahead of him.
The best parcours in years, in my opinion. And so good to see a proper hill-chase yesterday. All-out effort. SKY critics can have little to complain about as regards this year's TdF. Brailsford's boys controlled, defended and attacked, as required. The CheatStrong years pale into insignificance in comparison. Wonderful stuff from Adam Yates, too. Idiot 'fans' (and any remaining drug cheats) excepted, we have a truly excellent sporting spectacle. Chapeau!
I think it's a shame that Adam Yates is looking unlikely for a podium place. He's worked hard and taken everything on the chin. Always seems chipper when interviewed. I think he's got a fine future ahead of him.
I read in one article during the tour that Adam Yates was very blunt and to the point whenever you interview him...
Whenever I heard him interviewed it seemed the complete opposite and he was more than happy to sit there and have a chat
BBC pissed me off this morning... Chris Froome is the first Brit to have won three Tour de France's...
(1) He's the only bloody Brit to win more than one Tour (2) Surely it should be a case of stressing that he's just joined a group of seven riders who have only won at least three tours (the last of those coming from Indurain in 1995 when he won his fifth)
BBC pissed me off this morning... Chris Froome is the first Brit to have won three Tour de France's...
(1) He's the only bloody Brit to win more than one Tour (2) Surely it should be a case of stressing that he's just joined a group of seven riders who have only won at least three tours (the last of those coming from Indurain in 1995 when he won his fifth)
BBC and Cycling shouldn't even be in the same sentence. Their coverage is like their agenda, when it suits them.
BBC pissed me off this morning... Chris Froome is the first Brit to have won three Tour de France's...
(1) He's the only bloody Brit to win more than one Tour (2) Surely it should be a case of stressing that he's just joined a group of seven riders who have only won at least three tours (the last of those coming from Indurain in 1995 when he won his fifth)
BBC and Cycling shouldn't even be in the same sentence. Their coverage is like their agenda, when it suits them.
I'd sometimes like to see SKY get coverage of some of the events...
Reckon the sort of technology they've got available to make the Sport interesting would do wonders for it (i.e. Like a joint share between them and EuroSport)
BBC pissed me off this morning... Chris Froome is the first Brit to have won three Tour de France's...
(1) He's the only bloody Brit to win more than one Tour (2) Surely it should be a case of stressing that he's just joined a group of seven riders who have only won at least three tours (the last of those coming from Indurain in 1995 when he won his fifth)
BBC and Cycling shouldn't even be in the same sentence. Their coverage is like their agenda, when it suits them.
I'd sometimes like to see SKY get coverage of some of the events...
Reckon the sort of technology they've got available to make the Sport interesting would do wonders for it (i.e. Like a joint share between them and EuroSport)
I'm fairly sure that the TV coverage is all done by TF1/2/3.
TdF, like the Giro and the Vuelta, doesn't really need gimmicks; just decent, insightful, commentary and an understanding that, particularly on mountain stages, each stage is worth watching in depth.
Classy bit of beer drinking by SKY all with a bottle of leffe while riding towards Paris.
Leffe is good, but they could have had a better drink and endeared themselves to the locals if they'd have chosen a Pelforth Brune or risked a crash with a glass of La Choulette Ambrée. In fact with Sky's insistence on marginal gains perhaps I should write to Brailsford suggesting that I become the team's beer advisor. I wouldn't ask for a big salary, if they could just ferry me around for three weeks of beer drinking and tour watching that would be fine.
On other matters, I enjoyed Boulting and Millar's commentaries, but am I the only person who missed Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen?
Nope... Wasn't the same Tour this year without Liggett and Sherwen
BBC and ITV do seem to have taken the strange approach that its better having younger commentators these days (i.e. my Nan's ex-boss was Stuart Storey who also did the commentary for the Athletics and he was put out to pasture for that very reason).
Yet despite being enthusiastic the newbies doing it just dont have the excitement and gusto that the legendary commentators have (i.e. Liggett and Sherwen's voices alone would make the Sprints exciting whereas I just couldnt get as excited listening to Boulting and Miller)
Apparently Liggett and Sherwen never worked for ITV but for a third party who would sell-on the commentary package. In that sense, it's just a case of them bringing the commentary in-house. Apparently L&S were still there as usual and although we never heard them viewers in Australia and America did.
Comments
Now I've grown up and now I understand the Tour more, I find them nearly as good as the Sprint stages i.e. the Mountain battles last longer whilst the Sprint stages give you that nervous anticipation for about 100km before... BAM that final km
Hold on Yates!!
Yeah - sorry about that! Cracking effort from Bardet. Hat.
I was too cautious as at the time didnt think he'd get away from Costa like he did
To be honest I was shocked that with 3km I was getting odds of 11/4 on him to win the Stage, because of that I was a bit hesitant as the bookies dont usually want to just give me their money that easily
Whenever I heard him interviewed it seemed the complete opposite and he was more than happy to sit there and have a chat
(1) He's the only bloody Brit to win more than one Tour
(2) Surely it should be a case of stressing that he's just joined a group of seven riders who have only won at least three tours (the last of those coming from Indurain in 1995 when he won his fifth)
Reckon the sort of technology they've got available to make the Sport interesting would do wonders for it (i.e. Like a joint share between them and EuroSport)
TdF, like the Giro and the Vuelta, doesn't really need gimmicks; just decent, insightful, commentary and an understanding that, particularly on mountain stages, each stage is worth watching in depth.
Talk about throwing your toys out the pram!!
On other matters, I enjoyed Boulting and Millar's commentaries, but am I the only person who missed Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen?
BBC and ITV do seem to have taken the strange approach that its better having younger commentators these days (i.e. my Nan's ex-boss was Stuart Storey who also did the commentary for the Athletics and he was put out to pasture for that very reason).
Yet despite being enthusiastic the newbies doing it just dont have the excitement and gusto that the legendary commentators have (i.e. Liggett and Sherwen's voices alone would make the Sprints exciting whereas I just couldnt get as excited listening to Boulting and Miller)