Tour de France time

Garden Kitty

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To me this has been the most interesting Tour in ages. Action on almost every stage, and even at the intermediate sprints. Fights for almost every jersey (except for the white).

the Ineos situation is really interesting. My own thoughts (clearly knowing nothing about the specifics) is that they should have brought Thomas. By all accounts he's a good guy liked by almost everyone and he has a lot of experience. Froome is a harder call. Not sure about his form after the accident, and I get the impression he'd have been less willing to ride solely in support. Plus with him committed to another team already, they may have questioned his commitment. Of course, with the delayed schedule and the restrictions on training, who knows what form either of them had. In retrospect, you think almost any other decision would have been better, but at the time, the decisions may have made sense.

I'm glad they've been able to pull off the race so far with so few positive tests. That is really quite an accomplishment.
 

Aceon6

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My own thoughts (clearly knowing nothing about the specifics) is that they should have brought Thomas. By all accounts he's a good guy liked by almost everyone and he has a lot of experience.
I agree. If anything, he could have helped Bernal deal with the disappointment of not having the legs.
 

emason

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Leaving Thomas off the Ineos squad was a big mistake, but things really went wrong for Ineos when their DS Nicolas Portal passed away back in March from a heart attack at age 40. This was huge blow for Ineos.

ETA: I agree that this is the most exciting and interesting tour in quite some time. Every day seems to bring new surprises.
 

emason

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No, I didn't see any of the Dauphine, but I'm not thinking in terms of performance there, but in terms of 'elder statesman' experience. Also, I'm only advocating for Thomas, but not for Froome. Ineos is having a horrendous tour; I think Thomas could have been the steadying hand that they are lacking.
 

Aceon6

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Agree with @emason on this. The Criterium was weird in that some racers were just testing their legs. Thomas’ result was less than expected, but he didn’t exactly suck and looked to be racing into better shape. On a relatively inexperienced team, he’s needed. Froome is still healing and wasn’t even a consideration.

It’s a moot point. Bernal has abandoned, so the remainder of Ineos is just scrambling for scraps.

eta, Stefan Kung (Groupama) didn’t start today. The booth thinks he’s saving his body for the world championships.
 

Garden Kitty

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I saw an interview with Thomas where he said that he's targeting the Giro which is better suited for him this year with three time trials. He also indicated that he didn't want to ride the Tour as "support" presumably because he's not a pure climber and riding the Tour would have badly impacted his form for the Giro. If the Giro were before the Tour as it is in normal years, he might have targeted the Giro and then stuck around for as long as possible on the Tour. But with the order reversed, it may not be worth it to him.

Of course, that could also be the sort of thing that someone says when they're not in form and don't make the cut, but it does make sense.

I had a conference call this morning and I kept checking the stage during the call. Another exciting day and such pretty scenery. In a year of disappointing sports cancellations, the Tour has been a real highlight.
 

Aceon6

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Set your DVRs folks. Tomorrow’s mostly uphill time trial is going to be a doozy. 57 seconds is a lot to make up, but Pogacar did beat Roglic at Slovenian nationals.
 

Aceon6

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Holy time trial, Batman! Pogacar flew through and Roglic struggled. And Porte passes Landa to likely achieve his dream of being on a TdF podium.

Pogacar gets EVERY jersey save the green.
 
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Garden Kitty

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I had to go visit a relative today, so I recorded the stage. I couldn't believe the results when I got home. I feel so bad for Roglic but happy for Pogacar who lost time early on in a silly way.About the only thing this race was missing was a "villain" - all the riders who were in contention seem easy to cheer for. But I'm not surprised this Tour found another way to keep things exciting right to the end.
 

Aceon6

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I’m so happy that they were able to complete it! And in such an exciting fashion! Agree that the winners seem to be good guys and the only remotely villainous one, Sagan with his head butt, walked away with nothing.

The Giro starts in 2 weeks and overlaps with La Vuelta. I wonder if they too will be snow free.
 

Aceon6

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The Giro sometimes gets snow in the mountains because it's too early in the season. It will be interesting to see an autumn version.

I typically think the Giro tops the Tour for pure racing excitement but it will be hard to top this year.

And despite the little bit of argy bargy, I can't think of the guy who put together this classic video as a villain. :lol:
(although it's sad to think he's now divorced from "Sandy").
I’m still Team Sagan. I don’t think there’s a malicious bone in his body. Most of his incidents are when he has a split second to change positions.
 

Theatregirl1122

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I’ve been behind by a few days consistently due to work but finally finished today. The wild thing to me about that time trial was the Roglic didn’t ride badly. He finished 5th! If Pogacar had won the TT by a second or two like is normal, Roglic would have kept Yellow. Pogacar was just on a different planet from everyone else. Roglic didn’t lose yellow; Pogacar won it.

I was super excited to see Sam Bennett get the win on the Champs! And Richard Carapaz and Michal Kwiatkowski riding over the line together was a great moment. Glad to see Kwiatkowski take the official win. He’s won a lot of other people a lot of yellow jerseys. He deserved his moment. (I was glad to see Carapaz get a moment, too. He’s the reigning Giro champion and Ineos basically gutted his season to be able to arrange their 3 tour champions in an away that pleased them.)

This was such an exciting tour! I don’t even know what to do with my time! Can Americans actually watch the giro?
 

Aceon6

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Can Americans actually watch the giro?
There are some pay options for the Giro and La Vuelta.Still looking for a free stream or one that would work with Opera’s built in VPN.

World champs on OlyChan starting Thursday. We’ll find out if the Tour dropouts did a smart thing or not.
 

Aceon6

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World Championship schedule on Olympic Channel. All times Eastern.
Today, Thursday, 24 Sep, 8:30 am, elite women’s ITT
Friday, 25th, 8:15 am, elite men’s ITT
Saturday, 26th, 6:30 am, elite women’s road race
Sunday, 27th, 6:00 am, elite men’s road race

The juniors and U21s aren’t racing this year. 2019 winners keep their jerseys through next season.
 

NinjaTurtles

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There are some pay options for the Giro and La Vuelta.Still looking for a free stream or one that would work with Opera’s built in VPN.

World champs on OlyChan starting Thursday. We’ll find out if the Tour dropouts did a smart thing or not.

Tiz Cycling archives videos and hosts live streams of the grand tours and classics: https://tiz-cycling-live.io/stream2.php
 

Aceon6

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So sad for Chloe Dygart crashing out of the TT while in the lead. I hope she’s ok.

Update: Dygert’s father is saying that her quad was severely damaged and that there’s tendon and nerve damage. She had emergency surgery in Bologna.
 
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Garden Kitty

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I couldn't read the details of Dygert's crash. So heartbreaking for her.

The Men's road race was as exciting as the Tour. I feel sorry that Mads effectively had a shortened season for his year as the champion, but he'll always have the stripes on the sleeve of his jersey.
 

Aceon6

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Has anyone found a free stream for the Giro? There’s a service called FloSports that’s $13/month, but I’m not familiar with it or its quality. NBCSports Gold, even if I wanted to pay the $55, doesn’t list the Giro.
 

Theatregirl1122

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NBC Sports doesn’t have the rights to the giro. I think I’m going to attempt flosports for a month? I can never watch the stage when it happens so I need on demand and the tour has honestly been keeping me sane while I work 14 hours a day.

Allez Alaphilippe! What a deserving and worthy World Champion! The commentators are correct when they say he’ll be one of the most popular world champs ever!
 

Theatregirl1122

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Has anyone found a free stream for the Giro? There’s a service called FloSports that’s $13/month, but I’m not familiar with it or its quality. NBCSports Gold, even if I wanted to pay the $55, doesn’t list the Giro.

Just as a heads up, FloSports isn't $13 a month, it's $150 a year. I was going to try it for a month to get the Giro, and have determined that they tell you it is $12.50 a month, but actually they are going to charge you $150 but that they are advertising it as $12.50 a month because $150/12 = $12.50. So there's no way to actually pay for a month.
 

text_skate

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Eurosport is airing the Giro. Probably one of the (more credible) streams you use for skating is working for cycling as well. Just a thought.
 

Theatregirl1122

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Eurosport is airing the Giro. Probably one of the (more credible) streams you use for skating is working for cycling as well. Just a thought.

Yeah, that seems like a good option for anyone who can watch when the race is broadcast? I have to watch after work as I am a teacher, so I don't think there is a way for me to watch the Giro so far as I can figure. At least not without paying $$$$.
 

Aceon6

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Did anyone watch today’s stage at the Giro? I don’t see Thomas on the board. Did he retire?
Nevermind, found it. He had a minor crash early in the stage that caused some leg pain and couldn’t match today’s pace. 12 minutes out now.
 

Garden Kitty

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It appears from my tv guide that RAI Sports is showing it in the US (but with Italian announcers). I used to have it, but they just discontinued my old cable package which had been grandfathered in from a prior company and I don't get RAI anymore unless I subscribe separately. On the plus side, I now get the Olympic channel.

I feel bad for Thomas, what an unfortunate way to end his race so early.
 

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