Tour de France 2015

[Ullman]

Just been watching La Course. The weather in Paris is dreadful. There were numerous crashes and the sprint finish didn't materialise with Anna van der Breggen soloing to victory.

 

Going to be interesting on the Champs Elysees later.

[Futtocks]

Just been watching La Course. The weather in Paris is dreadful. There were numerous crashes and the sprint finish didn't materialise with Anna van der Breggen soloing to victory.

 

Going to be interesting on the Champs Elysees later.

Carnage in that race. Good break by the eventual winner, but every time the riders got to a corner, you expected another crash.

[Ullman]

The clock stops and Froome's won it officially now.

 

Really pleased for him and the whole Sky team and management.

[WearyRhino]

Fantastic race this year, except for the sprinters of course. Very happy with the result. To think I used to be happy if there was a British rider in the race and fairly ecstatic if they finished in Paris.

[WearyRhino]

I feared it might have been simplistic prejudice. How different to the welcome all riders from all nations received over here on the UK sections of the tour last year. I wonder if the French authorities will actually do anything to stamp this behaviour out? I'm so looking forward to seeing the Sky team cruise down the Champs Elysees and Froome don the winners yellow jersey.

It seemed to be the Dutch yesterday. Geraint Thomas shared a short clip on Twitter from one of the Sky team cars going up Alpe d'Huez passing 'Dutch Corner' and they were throwing stuff, jeering, booing and banging on the car.

[Ullman]

Fantastic race this year, except for the sprinters of course. Very happy with the result. To think I used to be happy if there was a British rider in the race and fairly ecstatic if they finished in Paris.

It really has been a superb race this year. I think they said at some point that the number of British riders who finished was the highest ever.

[stimpo-and-kat]

It seemed to be the Dutch yesterday. Geraint Thomas shared a short clip on Twitter from one of the Sky team cars going up Alpe d'Huez passing 'Dutch Corner' and they were throwing stuff, jeering, booing and banging on the car.

That's the madness of Dutch corner. Mountain was closed for five days before so will have all been on the beer all week

[Futtocks]

It seemed to be the Dutch yesterday. Geraint Thomas shared a short clip on Twitter from one of the Sky team cars going up Alpe d'Huez passing 'Dutch Corner' and they were throwing stuff, jeering, booing and banging on the car.

Just watched that - TdF fans can be utter knobs, can't they?

[WearyRhino]

Geraint Thomas has left a few videos on Periscope which show how quickly alcohol goes to your head when you've just ridden a bike 2500 miles.

[D Collins]

Two points.

Having watched the infamous stage 10, as I was watching it unfold live with Froome zooming up the hill and leaving the others for dead...I had conflicting emotions. A positive one in "wow"...and also..."this is unreal"..as in..not legit. Soon as the race was over (and before I had heard any comments, reports, backlash etc etc)..I mentioned these conflicting emotions to a mate of mine. The ensuing sh1tstorm was not a surprise as that was a freakish performance. I thought at the time he won too well..and that he should have eased off as he was only putting the spotlight on himself. As it turned out that margin of victory proved crucial in the end.

Having watched the itv doc...he's incredibly driven, very single minded. He rode his first tour de France a week after his mother died. I get the feeling he will do anything to win. Anything. Now I could be completely way off with these very strong suspicions and he could be clean...but it's hard to see that is the case. The tour is still reeling post Armstrong..and he was just the tip of the iceberg. Given that it's nigh on certain that there are cyclists in that race who are not clean, how can a clean rider demolish them?

[Wiltshire Rhino]

Two points.

Having watched the infamous stage 10, as I was watching it unfold live with Froome zooming up the hill and leaving the others for dead...I had conflicting emotions. A positive one in "wow"...and also..."this is unreal"..as in..not legit. Soon as the race was over (and before I had heard any comments, reports, backlash etc etc)..I mentioned these conflicting emotions to a mate of mine. The ensuing sh1tstorm was not a surprise as that was a freakish performance. I thought at the time he won too well..and that he should have eased off as he was only putting the spotlight on himself. As it turned out that margin of victory proved crucial in the end.

Having watched the itv doc...he's incredibly driven, very single minded. He rode his first tour de France a week after his mother died. I get the feeling he will do anything to win. Anything. Now I could be completely way off with these very strong suspicions and he could be clean...but it's hard to see that is the case. The tour is still reeling post Armstrong..and he was just the tip of the iceberg. Given that it's nigh on certain that there are cyclists in that race who are not clean, how can a clean rider demolish them?

So you're saying he should have eased off on stage 10 to avoid raising suspicions? A rider with something to hide might have done that but why would a clean rider ease off? He made a break, got a lead and kept it. Plenty of other riders made one-off breaks in the mountains too. Are they under suspicions as well?

[JohnM]

Two points.

Having watched the infamous stage 10, as I was watching it unfold live with Froome zooming up the hill and leaving the others for dead...I had conflicting emotions. A positive one in "wow"...and also..."this is unreal"..as in..not legit. Soon as the race was over (and before I had heard any comments, reports, backlash etc etc)..I mentioned these conflicting emotions to a mate of mine. The ensuing sh1tstorm was not a surprise as that was a freakish performance. I thought at the time he won too well..and that he should have eased off as he was only putting the spotlight on himself. As it turned out that margin of victory proved crucial in the end.

Having watched the itv doc...he's incredibly driven, very single minded. He rode his first tour de France a week after his mother died. I get the feeling he will do anything to win. Anything. Now I could be completely way off with these very strong suspicions and he could be clean...but it's hard to see that is the case. The tour is still reeling post Armstrong..and he was just the tip of the iceberg. Given that it's nigh on certain that there are cyclists in that race who are not clean, how can a clean rider demolish them?

No. Not "anything." No criticism of any other riders, despite superhuman stage winning performances? No understanding of the testing regime? Just, "well, he did well on one stage, so he must be cheating.

[WearyRhino]

Two points.

Having watched the infamous stage 10, as I was watching it unfold live with Froome zooming up the hill and leaving the others for dead...I had conflicting emotions. A positive one in "wow"...and also..."this is unreal"..as in..not legit. Soon as the race was over (and before I had heard any comments, reports, backlash etc etc)..I mentioned these conflicting emotions to a mate of mine. The ensuing sh1tstorm was not a surprise as that was a freakish performance. I thought at the time he won too well..and that he should have eased off as he was only putting the spotlight on himself. As it turned out that margin of victory proved crucial in the end.

Having watched the itv doc...he's incredibly driven, very single minded. He rode his first tour de France a week after his mother died. I get the feeling he will do anything to win. Anything. Now I could be completely way off with these very strong suspicions and he could be clean...but it's hard to see that is the case. The tour is still reeling post Armstrong..and he was just the tip of the iceberg. Given that it's nigh on certain that there are cyclists in that race who are not clean, how can a clean rider demolish them?

So anyone who is significantly better than anyone else in a sporting endeavour has to come under suspicion? Well we might as well give up then. We might as well throw away all the record books, take away the gold medals, take back the knighthoods and MBEs, destroy the statues.....

People excelling and taking sport to new levels is what it's all about FFS!.

[WearyRhino]

No. Not "anything." No criticism of any other riders, despite superhuman stage winning performances? No understanding of the testing regime? Just, "well, he did well on one stage, so he must be cheating.

Quite. The truly galling fact is that one of Froome's accusers is Laurent Jalabert, a proven doper. Jaja is now held in such contempt by the French cycling public (not!) that they plaster his name all over the road on every stage.

I think D Collins should watch the documentary on Froome again and focus on the part where when at school in South Africa he got up in the middle of the night to go out on his bike rather than making wild assumptions based upon a supposed observation of a 'win at all costs' personality flaw.

[wackojacko]

I do feel it's worth pointing out that there are lots of doubters that aren't 'jealous Frenchmen'. It's quite hard to be a cycling fan and not be suspicious. Maybe that's a personality flaw but there are a lot of people (not saying on here) who don't wish to apply any critical thinking to it.

[Wolford6]

I think that part of the French fans' dislike of Froome is that he is not a traditional daredevil team leader. He and his team are regarded as technicians following single-minded set routines. An example of this is his winning of King of the Mountains shirt in this year's Tour. He didn't excactly fly like a bird up the Pyrenees and Alps, he was paced almost to the top of every peak by his team.

 

French fans are going to want someone to win and someone not to win ... it's human nature for fans of all sports. There were no genuine French contenders, so they all got solidly behind Quintana and Valverde. In their shoes, I would have as well.

[WearyRhino]

Nibali was flying up the inclines last year and was head and shoulders above everyone else. He won the Tour by nearly 8 minutes. I guess he must have been doping last year but not this. Or maybe he and Astana were just better than everyone else over the 3 weeks.

The key is Dave Brailsford (and lottery funding) and the team spirit he has established in every area of cycling he has been involved in. He'll be an enormous loss to cycling when he eventually goes.

[Futtocks]

If you are going to allow teams to compete, then you can't complain when one team works together better than the others. The whole Brailsford ethos is maximising every aspect of racing, from individual performance gains to strategy and tactics.

 

In track cycling, other teams and countries have appreciated what Brailsford is doing and have raised their game accordingly. At the next Olympics, GB will have it a lot tougher than in London.

[wackojacko]

Sure you can, in the same way you can complain that you don't like Wigan's structural play or you prefer Shaun Johnson to James Maloney because of his style.

 

And Nibali could've been doping both years, there are other factors at play.

[Wolford6]

Leopld Konig is young and finished in the top 10 of last year's tour. Then he joined Sky and the commentators hardly mentioned his name throughout this year's tour, Other top cyclists on the Sky team ... Ian Stannard, Nicolas Roche and Luke Rowe got one or two mentions.

 

You can't crab the efficiency of the Sky team but it doesn't inspire much emotion or affection in non-British fans. I can't remember a single Sky rider being in a breakaway.

 

For me, the best thing about this tour was Andre Greipel getting due reward for the effort he has put in over many years. Hopefully, Geraint Thomas will get something similar over the next few years.

[WearyRhino]

The best thing about this Tour was a British rider winning it in a British based team again. I look forward to the same for many years to come.

[wackojacko]

Mine was MTN. Teklehamainot [sic I'm sure] in polka dots and Steve Cummings (one of my favourite riders since I started watching cycling) getting that cracking win in Mende, great story.

[Wolford6]

Froome's about as British as Zola Budd. He's never even lived in this country. And he won't after he retires, either.

[wackojacko]

He's been studying international RL