Tour de France 2018

I do not think that Doumoulin can take 2 minutes from Thomas in a 31K TT. Thomas used to be the British TT champion and a World class pursuiter - both team and individual.
Geraint Thomas is the current British champion :). I think that Doumoulin may take some time out of Thomas on the time trial, 2 minutes is a big chunk to find.
Indeed. I agree with both of you. Still, last time these two raced in a comparable time trial (Stage 13 in 2016, 37.5km), Dumoulin beat Thomas by .... 2'00" exactly. And they both know that.
 
Wow, what a race today. That ascent and descent of Col d'Aubisque was absolutely enthralling.
 
Indeed. I agree with both of you. Still, last time these two raced in a comparable time trial (Stage 13 in 2016, 37.5km), Dumoulin beat Thomas by .... 2'00" exactly. And they both know that.

IIRC in 2016, G crashed and badly bruised his ribs early in the race... might have had some small impact on his riding I guess :thinking:
 
Well done to G, he has won fair and square and nobody can say he was lucky or had a fluke
 
Well done to G, he has won fair and square and nobody can say he was lucky or had a fluke

yeah he just did race a really straight race, quite a nice touch his wife being there at the finish, he might get his legs rubbed tonight
 
Nice one G, just keep it together tomorrow on the Champs Elysees.
Well done to Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin - great TT work by the top three.
 
Well done to G and all the others who succeeded in the various classifications, especially Peter Sagan who has definitely gone through the wars this past couple of weeks.
Still IMO the ultimate sporting contest.
 
Peter Sagan who has definitely gone through the wars this past couple of weeks.

That man is a beast, the way he kept up with world class climbers and he is build for sprint wins.
 
I think the toughest guy in the tour could be Lawson Craddock.

You have to give some consideration fo Philippe Gilbert who climbed out of a ravine and finished the last 65km of the stage with a broken kneecap.
 
You have to give some consideration fo Philippe Gilbert who climbed out of a ravine and finished the last 65km of the stage with a broken kneecap.

Not that brings meaning to the expression 'iron man'!
 
You have to give some consideration fo Philippe Gilbert who climbed out of a ravine and finished the last 65km of the stage with a broken kneecap.

yeah I saw that and boy that was some crazy crash
 
Apologies, the French TV commenator said that it was exactly the same spot.

I remember Fabio Casartelli’s death really well. He was a team mate of Lance Armstrong.
The peloton let the Motorola team cross the line all together on a following stage in tribute, then when Lance did a solo win he crossed the line dedicating the win to Casartelli.
It was all very sad.
 
I think this years tour has been one of the best for years, I wish the French would just move on from their hatred of sky and froome as it is really making them look pretty sad now.
 
I think this years tour has been one of the best for years, I wish the French would just move on from their hatred of sky and froome as it is really making them look pretty sad now.


I have been critical of Team Sky and Chris Froome in the past, but I don't hate them, and I certainly do not rank them along with Lance Armstrong and the like, so when I read this article in the Indy today, I was pretty angry.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...thomas-chris-froome-egan-bernal-a8469096.html

"The Tour de France may have a new winner, but for some he is cut from the same stained cloth as the last one."

"An article in Le Parisien this weekend compared the Tour de France to an episode of Columbo, “where the killer was known from the first minutes. In this edition, the killer was English,” the paper wrote, perhaps not aware that Thomas is Welsh. It has been a theme throughout the Tour: that Sky are suffocating the peloton, and that no one wants to watch its slow death."

They didn't have any complaints when Bernard Hinault was winning five Tours.

“Personally, I compare Team Sky to Real Madrid,” says French journalist Frederic Retsin, who has covered the Tour for more than 20 years. “I’m bored to watch Real Madrid win the Champions League three times in a row. Every stage is on TV live, all the stage. What is the interest? It’s boring.”

IMHO, anyone who finds Real Madrid boring doesn't deserve the title "journalist"
 
They write that garbage in France because if they actually reported the truth that currently the French just are not producing good tour riders then they wouldn't sell many papers.
 
They write that garbage in France because if they actually reported the truth that currently the French just are not producing good tour riders then they wouldn't sell many papers.

1st and 2nd in KOM, 3rd in points, 6th in GC and best young rider.
Doesn’t sound like a country that is “not producing good tour riders”.
 
1st and 2nd in KOM, 3rd in points, 6th in GC and best young rider.
Doesn’t sound like a country that is “not producing good tour riders”.
You forgot to mention 3 of the top 4, 6 of the top 15 and 9 of the top 20 young riders. That doesn't sound too unhealthy!
 
1st and 2nd in KOM, 3rd in points, 6th in GC and best young rider.
Doesn’t sound like a country that is “not producing good tour riders”.

Chris Boardman used to say that he never understood why a podium should have 2nd and 3rd steps - the only place which is important is the winner.
 
Back
Top