|
Post by Bod on Jul 23, 2022 17:14:37 GMT
I was listening to Rob Hatch on Eurosport and he said this year's Tour has been the best he's ever seen. I don't know if I'm missing something but IMO apart from three or four stages it's been nothing out of the ordinary and I certainly wouldn't class it as memorable. Great performance from WVA yet again - superb rider. I prefer ITV4. I like David millar Knowledgeable but an absolute charlatan. Will never be forgiven for the things he said about his teammates when he was done for doping, when it turned out that he was absolutely hammering down the secret sauce too. Hypocrite. That said, he knows bike racing.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 23, 2022 17:29:47 GMT
Rob Hatch is a known hyperbolic offender. You have Kirby who is enthusiastic, rambling, all over the shop at times and who gets into crazy mode on very stage with about 15km to go (but I like him.) On the other hand, there is Hatch who overstates and seems to be in constant salesman mode. ‘This is the greatest day/ride/race/stage ever.’ It’s like the boy who cried wolf. If he really, really believes this was the best TdF he’s ever seen then he needs to be checked out for some type of neural disorder. Yes, I much prefer Carlton Kirby for all his excesses and meanderings. I know I'm a Sky/Ineos fan, so for them to be so far off the G.C. pace it's spoilt the overall Tour for me. Even so it's just been a decent Tour, with only a couple of genuine G.C. contenders with a few good stages, and a couple of excellent stages. The time gaps show just how big the difference has been between the top two and the rest - Thomas is 3rd at 8 min 13 sec for goodness sake, and Gaudu 4th at 13' 56" ! WVA has been the rider of the Tour by the proverbial country mile. I don’t really follow teams so that’s doesn’t bother me, but Ineos have managed to go from one of the most formulaic teams in terms of tactics to almost mercurial at times since they’ve changed philosophy.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 23, 2022 20:14:03 GMT
Not had winners and losers for a few days and have received a deluge of messages asking me to do another set. When I say ‘Deluge’ I actually mean none whatsoever, but nonetheless…
Winners.
Froome - may have been a DNS due to COViD a couple of days ago, but he has started to come into some type of form. He is a winner because by rights he should have retired and even though he has a massive salary it still takes some mental strength to ride and finish as far down as he has done for 3 years now. Not many riders, if any, with that level of success have continued to ride at a much lower level in terms of results. A stage win at the Vuelta would be a bit of a dream result.
Pinot - doesn’t have the legs he used to but is a warrior. Rides like a nodding dog but embraces glorious failure over conservative riding. Embodies French cycling by not winning much but appearing willing to keel over rather than just sit in the wheels. If he wept more, he’d be a shoo-in for the Légion d'Honneur.
Vingegaard - swatted Pogacar away like he was an irrelevance. Not satisfied by merely winning the Tour, he thought he’d risk is by descending like he needed to make up 3 minutes on Pogacar rather than vice versa. Who cares that he clearly rides an E-bike?
Gaudu - I thought Bardet would outlast Gaudu but happy to admit I was completely wrong. Has ridden well, in spite of the fact that his team profile picture appears to show a year 12 Sociology student.
Meintjes - bit of a pasting in the time trial but for a rider who has made a career out of being the invisible man, yet featuring in the GC, he showed more attacking flair than many of his closest rivals.
Lutsenko - the new Meintjes. Put your hand on your heart and answer honestly as to how many times you saw him during the race. If it’s more than two, I cry shenanigans.
Jumbo-Visma. Lost Roglic and Kruisjwik and still rode everyone into the ground. They do have the advantage that WVA is the equivalent of having an additional 3 riders on your team. Laporte then wins a couple of days ago, just to absolutely take the piss. As a team, they are probably as popular as weeping sores within the peloton. At some point, other teams will take great delight in doing them over so they may as well make hay for now.
Roglic - gets a special award for the damage that he inflicted on Pogacar during the stage to Col du Granon. He was already injured at this point and gave everything to grind down Pogacar. The stand out stage of the race for me. Mind you, there weren’t that many stages to choose from. He then repeated domestique duties until he abandoned.
Rolland - left the start ramp in the time trial, evacuated both nostrils, had a little look around and then settled in for what looked like a very easy pootle around. Amount of shits given by him? None. Nada. Zilch.
Colombian fans - at the second check point of the time trial a group wearing Colombian jerseys held up signs which said ‘Fuck you Deeside, we love NairoMan.’ Couldn’t believe it.
Geschke - got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days and finished a brave second in the mountains jersey to the strongest rider in the race.
Losers
Geschke - Got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days then lost it to someone who doesn’t care about winning it. Ouch.
ASO - there was a small tunnel at 1.5km to go today. The opportunity to paint a fake tunnel entrance nearby, Wile E Coyote style, should have been embraced. It would have been worth it to watch WVA smash through the brickwork like it wasn’t even there.
Press moto- shoddy shit and Bauer paid the price. Very lucky he didn’t go through the back window of the UAE team car. Awful work by the moto pilot. It’s also amazing that riders can hit a car at those speeds and just get up. Bauer said he decided to hit the car hands first as it would be a softer impact. Hard bastards.
Simmons - shaved his beard due to a feeling of follicular emasculation at the hands of Geschke. Continues to attack and get absolutely nowhere, really. Frustrates me as I think he’s a talented rider but can see he’s doing it to gain experience.
Mas - has ridden like a bag of soggy dicks. Always going to be found out when he isn’t in form as he is a follower of wheels and when he has to find a plan B, he realises that he didn’t have a plan at all beyond ‘For fucks sake, don’t attack solo’ and then hyperventilating into a paper bag. Was a DNS yesterday and was not missed.
People of a nervous disposition - Vingegaard’s TT descent must have had Frans Maasen reaching for the heart medication.
UAE - Have a Rolls Royce of a leader but a pretty weak team. (I wanted to add a shit car analogy to balance out the Rolls Royce but know nothing about cars, so fill in your own blanks please.) Or rather, they have performed like a quite disjointed team. Leaving aside COViD, they are not really a dominant riding unit anyway. Majka and McNulty are strong, but Soler is inconsistent as is Hirschi and neither seem to function in a traditional domestique role. Ayuso will make a difference but for how long will he be happy to be number two?
Astana - The latest figures I saw, they had won just over €2,400. By way of comparison, Nick Schultz earned more than that on his own by finishing second in Megeve.
WVA - only won 4 stages, had 3 second place finishes, made the world TT champion toss his salad, romped the points jersey (which he held since day 2,) 4 days in yellow too, finished 5th in the mountains classification and featured in 5 massive breaks. Did he win the team prize on his own though? No. Ergo, he’s wank. To make matters worse, he cried after the end of time trial. Do you ever see Olivier Le Gac crying? Do you fuck.
Sprinters - dragging themselves through the mountains and hills at a crazy pace just to stay in the race, then absolutely fucked it at the end yesterday. Yes, it was an uphill finish but it was weak sauce to get so close and then sulk.
Bissegger - individual TT to start was a disaster when he crashed twice. Followed it up with a mechanical today and his chances at doing something respectable in the race were gone. Perhaps a bit harsh to include him in the losers list, but given the shit that EF have been wearing (both clothing and headwear) he deserves it and more.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 23, 2022 20:24:25 GMT
Not had winners and losers for a few days and have received a deluge of messages asking me to do another set. When I say ‘Deluge’ I actually mean none whatsoever, but nonetheless… Winners. Froome - may have been a DNS due to COViD a couple of days ago, but he has started to come into some type of form. He is a winner because by rights he should have retired and even though he has a massive salary it still takes some mental strength to ride and finish as far down as he has done for 3 years now. Not many riders, if any, with that level of success have continued to ride at a much lower level in terms of results. A stage win at the Vuelta would be a bit of a dream result. Pinot - doesn’t have the legs he used to but is a warrior. Rides like a nodding dog but embraces glorious failure over conservative riding. Embodies French cycling by not winning much but appearing willing to keel over rather than just sit in the wheels. If he wept more, he’d be a shoe-in for the Légion d'Honneur. Vingegaard - swatted Pogacar away like he was an irrelevance. Not satisfied by merely winning the Tour, he thought he’d risk is by descending like he needed to make up 3 minutes on Pogacar rather than vice versa. Who cares that he clearly rides an E-bike? Gaudu - I thought Bardet would outlast Gaudu but happy to admit I was completely wrong. Has ridden well, in spite of the fact that his team profile picture appears to show a year 12 Sociology student. Meintjes - bit of a pasting in the time trial but for a rider who has made a career out of being the invisible man, yet featuring in the GC, he showed more attacking flair than many of his closest rivals. Lutsenko - the new Meintjes. Put your hand on your heart and answer honestly as to how many times you saw him during the race. If it’s more than two, I cry shenanigans. Jumbo-Visma. Lost Roglic and Kruisjwik and still rode everyone into the ground. They do have the advantage that WVA is the equivalent of having an additional 3 riders on your team. Laporte then wins a couple of days ago, just to absolutely take the piss. As a team, they are probably as popular as weeping sores within the peloton. At some point, other teams will take great delight in doing them over so they may as well make hay for now. Roglic - gets a special award for the damage that he inflicted on Pogacar during the stage to Col du Granon. He was already injured at this point and gave everything to grind down Pogacar. The stand out stage of the race for me. Mind you, there weren’t that many stages to choose from. He then repeated domestique duties until he abandoned. Rolland - left the start ramp in the time trial, evacuated both nostrils, had a little look around and then settled in for what looked like a very easy pootle around. Amount of shits given by him? None. Nada. Zilch. Colombian fans - at the second check point of the time trial a group wearing Colombian jerseys held up signs which said ‘Fuck you Deeside, we love NairoMan.’ Couldn’t believe it. Geschke - got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days and finished a brave second in the mountains jersey to the strongest rider in the race. Losers Geschke - Got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days then lost it to someone who doesn’t care about winning it. Ouch. ASO - there was a small tunnel at 1.5km to go today. The opportunity to paint a fake tunnel entrance nearby, Wile E Coyote style, should have been embraced. It would have been worth it to watch WVA smash through the brickwork like it wasn’t even there. Press moto- shoddy shit and Bauer paid the price. Very lucky he didn’t go through the back window of the UAE team car. Awful work by the moto pilot. It’s also amazing that riders can hit a car at those speeds and just get up. Bauer said he decided to hit the car hands first as it would be a softer impact. Hard bastards. Simmons - shaved his beard due to a feeling of follicular emasculation at the hands of Geschke. Continues to attack and get absolutely nowhere, really. Frustrates me as I think he’s a talented rider but can see he’s doing it to gain experience. Mas - has ridden like a bag of soggy dicks. Always going to be found out when he isn’t in form as he is a follower of wheels and when he has to find a plan B, he realises that he didn’t have a plan at all beyond ‘For fucks sake, don’t attack solo’ and then hyperventilating into a paper bag. Was a DNS yesterday and was not missed. People of a nervous disposition - Vingegaard’s TT descent must have had Frans Maasen reaching for the heart medication. UAE - Have a Rolls Royce of a leader but a pretty weak team. (I wanted to add a shit car analogy to balance out the Rolls Royce but know nothing about cars, so fill in your own blanks please.) Or rather, they have performed like a quite disjointed team. Leaving aside COViD, they are not really a dominant riding unit anyway. Majka and McNulty are strong, but Soler is inconsistent as is Hirschi and neither seem to function in a traditional domestique role. Ayuso will make a difference but for how long will he be happy to be number two? Astana - The latest figures I saw, they had won just over €2,400. By way of comparison, Nick Schultz earned more than that on his own by finishing second in Megeve. WVA - only won 4 stages, had 3 second place finishes, made the world TT champion toss his salad, romped the points jersey (which he held since day 2,) 4 days in yellow too, finished 5th in the mountains classification and featured in 5 massive breaks. Did he win the team prize on his own though? No. Ergo, he’s wank. To make matters worse, he cried after the end of time trial. Do you ever see Olivier Le Gac crying? Do you fuck. Sprinters - dragging themselves through the mountains and hills at a crazy pace just to stay in the race, then absolutely fucked it at the end yesterday. Yes, it was an uphill finish but it was weak sauce to get so close and then sulk. Bissegger - individual TT to start was a disaster when he crashed twice. Followed it up with a mechanical today and his chances at doing something respectable in the race were gone. Perhaps a bit harsh to include him in the losers list, but given the shit that EF have been wearing (both clothing and headwear) he deserves it and more. great review I was shitting bricks watching his descent. Scarier than me hitting 40mph drscending horseshoe pass in the wet and mist this morning
|
|
|
Post by stokeuk474 on Jul 23, 2022 21:46:20 GMT
Not had winners and losers for a few days and have received a deluge of messages asking me to do another set. When I say ‘Deluge’ I actually mean none whatsoever, but nonetheless… Winners. Froome - may have been a DNS due to COViD a couple of days ago, but he has started to come into some type of form. He is a winner because by rights he should have retired and even though he has a massive salary it still takes some mental strength to ride and finish as far down as he has done for 3 years now. Not many riders, if any, with that level of success have continued to ride at a much lower level in terms of results. A stage win at the Vuelta would be a bit of a dream result. Pinot - doesn’t have the legs he used to but is a warrior. Rides like a nodding dog but embraces glorious failure over conservative riding. Embodies French cycling by not winning much but appearing willing to keel over rather than just sit in the wheels. If he wept more, he’d be a shoe-in for the Légion d'Honneur. Vingegaard - swatted Pogacar away like he was an irrelevance. Not satisfied by merely winning the Tour, he thought he’d risk is by descending like he needed to make up 3 minutes on Pogacar rather than vice versa. Who cares that he clearly rides an E-bike? Gaudu - I thought Bardet would outlast Gaudu but happy to admit I was completely wrong. Has ridden well, in spite of the fact that his team profile picture appears to show a year 12 Sociology student. Meintjes - bit of a pasting in the time trial but for a rider who has made a career out of being the invisible man, yet featuring in the GC, he showed more attacking flair than many of his closest rivals. Lutsenko - the new Meintjes. Put your hand on your heart and answer honestly as to how many times you saw him during the race. If it’s more than two, I cry shenanigans. Jumbo-Visma. Lost Roglic and Kruisjwik and still rode everyone into the ground. They do have the advantage that WVA is the equivalent of having an additional 3 riders on your team. Laporte then wins a couple of days ago, just to absolutely take the piss. As a team, they are probably as popular as weeping sores within the peloton. At some point, other teams will take great delight in doing them over so they may as well make hay for now. Roglic - gets a special award for the damage that he inflicted on Pogacar during the stage to Col du Granon. He was already injured at this point and gave everything to grind down Pogacar. The stand out stage of the race for me. Mind you, there weren’t that many stages to choose from. He then repeated domestique duties until he abandoned. Rolland - left the start ramp in the time trial, evacuated both nostrils, had a little look around and then settled in for what looked like a very easy pootle around. Amount of shits given by him? None. Nada. Zilch. Colombian fans - at the second check point of the time trial a group wearing Colombian jerseys held up signs which said ‘Fuck you Deeside, we love NairoMan.’ Couldn’t believe it. Geschke - got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days and finished a brave second in the mountains jersey to the strongest rider in the race. Losers Geschke - Got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days then lost it to someone who doesn’t care about winning it. Ouch. ASO - there was a small tunnel at 1.5km to go today. The opportunity to paint a fake tunnel entrance nearby, Wile E Coyote style, should have been embraced. It would have been worth it to watch WVA smash through the brickwork like it wasn’t even there. Press moto- shoddy shit and Bauer paid the price. Very lucky he didn’t go through the back window of the UAE team car. Awful work by the moto pilot. It’s also amazing that riders can hit a car at those speeds and just get up. Bauer said he decided to hit the car hands first as it would be a softer impact. Hard bastards. Simmons - shaved his beard due to a feeling of follicular emasculation at the hands of Geschke. Continues to attack and get absolutely nowhere, really. Frustrates me as I think he’s a talented rider but can see he’s doing it to gain experience. Mas - has ridden like a bag of soggy dicks. Always going to be found out when he isn’t in form as he is a follower of wheels and when he has to find a plan B, he realises that he didn’t have a plan at all beyond ‘For fucks sake, don’t attack solo’ and then hyperventilating into a paper bag. Was a DNS yesterday and was not missed. People of a nervous disposition - Vingegaard’s TT descent must have had Frans Maasen reaching for the heart medication. UAE - Have a Rolls Royce of a leader but a pretty weak team. (I wanted to add a shit car analogy to balance out the Rolls Royce but know nothing about cars, so fill in your own blanks please.) Or rather, they have performed like a quite disjointed team. Leaving aside COViD, they are not really a dominant riding unit anyway. Majka and McNulty are strong, but Soler is inconsistent as is Hirschi and neither seem to function in a traditional domestique role. Ayuso will make a difference but for how long will he be happy to be number two? Astana - The latest figures I saw, they had won just over €2,400. By way of comparison, Nick Schultz earned more than that on his own by finishing second in Megeve. WVA - only won 4 stages, had 3 second place finishes, made the world TT champion toss his salad, romped the points jersey (which he held since day 2,) 4 days in yellow too, finished 5th in the mountains classification and featured in 5 massive breaks. Did he win the team prize on his own though? No. Ergo, he’s wank. To make matters worse, he cried after the end of time trial. Do you ever see Olivier Le Gac crying? Do you fuck. Sprinters - dragging themselves through the mountains and hills at a crazy pace just to stay in the race, then absolutely fucked it at the end yesterday. Yes, it was an uphill finish but it was weak sauce to get so close and then sulk. Bissegger - individual TT to start was a disaster when he crashed twice. Followed it up with a mechanical today and his chances at doing something respectable in the race were gone. Perhaps a bit harsh to include him in the losers list, but given the shit that EF have been wearing (both clothing and headwear) he deserves it and more. Fucking brilliant 😂 Particularly love the Wile E Coyote tunnel reference. Absolutely 100% guaranteed WVA would just ride through it like it Can't wait for the Vuelta round ups 😁
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 23, 2022 21:54:19 GMT
Not had winners and losers for a few days and have received a deluge of messages asking me to do another set. When I say ‘Deluge’ I actually mean none whatsoever, but nonetheless… Winners. Froome - may have been a DNS due to COViD a couple of days ago, but he has started to come into some type of form. He is a winner because by rights he should have retired and even though he has a massive salary it still takes some mental strength to ride and finish as far down as he has done for 3 years now. Not many riders, if any, with that level of success have continued to ride at a much lower level in terms of results. A stage win at the Vuelta would be a bit of a dream result. Pinot - doesn’t have the legs he used to but is a warrior. Rides like a nodding dog but embraces glorious failure over conservative riding. Embodies French cycling by not winning much but appearing willing to keel over rather than just sit in the wheels. If he wept more, he’d be a shoe-in for the Légion d'Honneur. Vingegaard - swatted Pogacar away like he was an irrelevance. Not satisfied by merely winning the Tour, he thought he’d risk is by descending like he needed to make up 3 minutes on Pogacar rather than vice versa. Who cares that he clearly rides an E-bike? Gaudu - I thought Bardet would outlast Gaudu but happy to admit I was completely wrong. Has ridden well, in spite of the fact that his team profile picture appears to show a year 12 Sociology student. Meintjes - bit of a pasting in the time trial but for a rider who has made a career out of being the invisible man, yet featuring in the GC, he showed more attacking flair than many of his closest rivals. Lutsenko - the new Meintjes. Put your hand on your heart and answer honestly as to how many times you saw him during the race. If it’s more than two, I cry shenanigans. Jumbo-Visma. Lost Roglic and Kruisjwik and still rode everyone into the ground. They do have the advantage that WVA is the equivalent of having an additional 3 riders on your team. Laporte then wins a couple of days ago, just to absolutely take the piss. As a team, they are probably as popular as weeping sores within the peloton. At some point, other teams will take great delight in doing them over so they may as well make hay for now. Roglic - gets a special award for the damage that he inflicted on Pogacar during the stage to Col du Granon. He was already injured at this point and gave everything to grind down Pogacar. The stand out stage of the race for me. Mind you, there weren’t that many stages to choose from. He then repeated domestique duties until he abandoned. Rolland - left the start ramp in the time trial, evacuated both nostrils, had a little look around and then settled in for what looked like a very easy pootle around. Amount of shits given by him? None. Nada. Zilch. Colombian fans - at the second check point of the time trial a group wearing Colombian jerseys held up signs which said ‘Fuck you Deeside, we love NairoMan.’ Couldn’t believe it. Geschke - got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days and finished a brave second in the mountains jersey to the strongest rider in the race. Losers Geschke - Got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days then lost it to someone who doesn’t care about winning it. Ouch. ASO - there was a small tunnel at 1.5km to go today. The opportunity to paint a fake tunnel entrance nearby, Wile E Coyote style, should have been embraced. It would have been worth it to watch WVA smash through the brickwork like it wasn’t even there. Press moto- shoddy shit and Bauer paid the price. Very lucky he didn’t go through the back window of the UAE team car. Awful work by the moto pilot. It’s also amazing that riders can hit a car at those speeds and just get up. Bauer said he decided to hit the car hands first as it would be a softer impact. Hard bastards. Simmons - shaved his beard due to a feeling of follicular emasculation at the hands of Geschke. Continues to attack and get absolutely nowhere, really. Frustrates me as I think he’s a talented rider but can see he’s doing it to gain experience. Mas - has ridden like a bag of soggy dicks. Always going to be found out when he isn’t in form as he is a follower of wheels and when he has to find a plan B, he realises that he didn’t have a plan at all beyond ‘For fucks sake, don’t attack solo’ and then hyperventilating into a paper bag. Was a DNS yesterday and was not missed. People of a nervous disposition - Vingegaard’s TT descent must have had Frans Maasen reaching for the heart medication. UAE - Have a Rolls Royce of a leader but a pretty weak team. (I wanted to add a shit car analogy to balance out the Rolls Royce but know nothing about cars, so fill in your own blanks please.) Or rather, they have performed like a quite disjointed team. Leaving aside COViD, they are not really a dominant riding unit anyway. Majka and McNulty are strong, but Soler is inconsistent as is Hirschi and neither seem to function in a traditional domestique role. Ayuso will make a difference but for how long will he be happy to be number two? Astana - The latest figures I saw, they had won just over €2,400. By way of comparison, Nick Schultz earned more than that on his own by finishing second in Megeve. WVA - only won 4 stages, had 3 second place finishes, made the world TT champion toss his salad, romped the points jersey (which he held since day 2,) 4 days in yellow too, finished 5th in the mountains classification and featured in 5 massive breaks. Did he win the team prize on his own though? No. Ergo, he’s wank. To make matters worse, he cried after the end of time trial. Do you ever see Olivier Le Gac crying? Do you fuck. Sprinters - dragging themselves through the mountains and hills at a crazy pace just to stay in the race, then absolutely fucked it at the end yesterday. Yes, it was an uphill finish but it was weak sauce to get so close and then sulk. Bissegger - individual TT to start was a disaster when he crashed twice. Followed it up with a mechanical today and his chances at doing something respectable in the race were gone. Perhaps a bit harsh to include him in the losers list, but given the shit that EF have been wearing (both clothing and headwear) he deserves it and more. great review I was shitting bricks watching his descent. Scarier than me hitting 40mph drscending horseshoe pass in the wet and mist this morning Mentalism! Like that a lot.
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 23, 2022 23:18:31 GMT
Not had winners and losers for a few days and have received a deluge of messages asking me to do another set. When I say ‘Deluge’ I actually mean none whatsoever, but nonetheless… Winners. Froome - may have been a DNS due to COViD a couple of days ago, but he has started to come into some type of form. He is a winner because by rights he should have retired and even though he has a massive salary it still takes some mental strength to ride and finish as far down as he has done for 3 years now. Not many riders, if any, with that level of success have continued to ride at a much lower level in terms of results. A stage win at the Vuelta would be a bit of a dream result. Pinot - doesn’t have the legs he used to but is a warrior. Rides like a nodding dog but embraces glorious failure over conservative riding. Embodies French cycling by not winning much but appearing willing to keel over rather than just sit in the wheels. If he wept more, he’d be a shoe-in for the Légion d'Honneur. Vingegaard - swatted Pogacar away like he was an irrelevance. Not satisfied by merely winning the Tour, he thought he’d risk is by descending like he needed to make up 3 minutes on Pogacar rather than vice versa. Who cares that he clearly rides an E-bike? Gaudu - I thought Bardet would outlast Gaudu but happy to admit I was completely wrong. Has ridden well, in spite of the fact that his team profile picture appears to show a year 12 Sociology student. Meintjes - bit of a pasting in the time trial but for a rider who has made a career out of being the invisible man, yet featuring in the GC, he showed more attacking flair than many of his closest rivals. Lutsenko - the new Meintjes. Put your hand on your heart and answer honestly as to how many times you saw him during the race. If it’s more than two, I cry shenanigans. Jumbo-Visma. Lost Roglic and Kruisjwik and still rode everyone into the ground. They do have the advantage that WVA is the equivalent of having an additional 3 riders on your team. Laporte then wins a couple of days ago, just to absolutely take the piss. As a team, they are probably as popular as weeping sores within the peloton. At some point, other teams will take great delight in doing them over so they may as well make hay for now. Roglic - gets a special award for the damage that he inflicted on Pogacar during the stage to Col du Granon. He was already injured at this point and gave everything to grind down Pogacar. The stand out stage of the race for me. Mind you, there weren’t that many stages to choose from. He then repeated domestique duties until he abandoned. Rolland - left the start ramp in the time trial, evacuated both nostrils, had a little look around and then settled in for what looked like a very easy pootle around. Amount of shits given by him? None. Nada. Zilch. Colombian fans - at the second check point of the time trial a group wearing Colombian jerseys held up signs which said ‘Fuck you Deeside, we love NairoMan.’ Couldn’t believe it. Geschke - got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days and finished a brave second in the mountains jersey to the strongest rider in the race. Losers Geschke - Got in numerous long breakaways, held the jersey for 9 days then lost it to someone who doesn’t care about winning it. Ouch. ASO - there was a small tunnel at 1.5km to go today. The opportunity to paint a fake tunnel entrance nearby, Wile E Coyote style, should have been embraced. It would have been worth it to watch WVA smash through the brickwork like it wasn’t even there. Press moto- shoddy shit and Bauer paid the price. Very lucky he didn’t go through the back window of the UAE team car. Awful work by the moto pilot. It’s also amazing that riders can hit a car at those speeds and just get up. Bauer said he decided to hit the car hands first as it would be a softer impact. Hard bastards. Simmons - shaved his beard due to a feeling of follicular emasculation at the hands of Geschke. Continues to attack and get absolutely nowhere, really. Frustrates me as I think he’s a talented rider but can see he’s doing it to gain experience. Mas - has ridden like a bag of soggy dicks. Always going to be found out when he isn’t in form as he is a follower of wheels and when he has to find a plan B, he realises that he didn’t have a plan at all beyond ‘For fucks sake, don’t attack solo’ and then hyperventilating into a paper bag. Was a DNS yesterday and was not missed. People of a nervous disposition - Vingegaard’s TT descent must have had Frans Maasen reaching for the heart medication. UAE - Have a Rolls Royce of a leader but a pretty weak team. (I wanted to add a shit car analogy to balance out the Rolls Royce but know nothing about cars, so fill in your own blanks please.) Or rather, they have performed like a quite disjointed team. Leaving aside COViD, they are not really a dominant riding unit anyway. Majka and McNulty are strong, but Soler is inconsistent as is Hirschi and neither seem to function in a traditional domestique role. Ayuso will make a difference but for how long will he be happy to be number two? Astana - The latest figures I saw, they had won just over €2,400. By way of comparison, Nick Schultz earned more than that on his own by finishing second in Megeve. WVA - only won 4 stages, had 3 second place finishes, made the world TT champion toss his salad, romped the points jersey (which he held since day 2,) 4 days in yellow too, finished 5th in the mountains classification and featured in 5 massive breaks. Did he win the team prize on his own though? No. Ergo, he’s wank. To make matters worse, he cried after the end of time trial. Do you ever see Olivier Le Gac crying? Do you fuck. Sprinters - dragging themselves through the mountains and hills at a crazy pace just to stay in the race, then absolutely fucked it at the end yesterday. Yes, it was an uphill finish but it was weak sauce to get so close and then sulk. Bissegger - individual TT to start was a disaster when he crashed twice. Followed it up with a mechanical today and his chances at doing something respectable in the race were gone. Perhaps a bit harsh to include him in the losers list, but given the shit that EF have been wearing (both clothing and headwear) he deserves it and more. Cracking review - some really clever observations as well ! Nice mention for NearlyMan (or NeverMan) !
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 24, 2022 18:31:11 GMT
WVA = CBA.
|
|
|
Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 24, 2022 18:36:46 GMT
|
|
|
Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 24, 2022 18:38:43 GMT
I think he was more interested in crossing the line as a team tbh, he has set a points tally that I don’t think will be beaten. For me WVA = CBA should read; he is more than happy with his efforts for the last 3 weeks.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 24, 2022 18:52:58 GMT
I think he was more interested in crossing the line as a team tbh, he has set a points tally that I don’t think will be beaten. For me WVA = CBA should read; he is more than happy with his efforts for the last 3 weeks. Wouldn’t have killed him to go for the intermediate However how good was Pog shutting down ganna
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 24, 2022 18:53:53 GMT
I think he was more interested in crossing the line as a team tbh, he has set a points tally that I don’t think will be beaten. For me WVA = CBA should read; he is more than happy with his efforts for the last 3 weeks. As brilliant as he is (and he is) and even though he’s done it before, chances to win on the Champs should be grabbed with both hands. I wondered whether it was more an attempt to pacify a peloton who are slightly pissed off with TJV for riding so hard and for WVA being so good! He always races to win and contests minor sprint positions too so I think there is something more to it than a photo opportunity. Mind you, he didn’t look pissed off, so who knows?
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 24, 2022 19:16:09 GMT
I think he was more interested in crossing the line as a team tbh, he has set a points tally that I don’t think will be beaten. For me WVA = CBA should read; he is more than happy with his efforts for the last 3 weeks. As brilliant as he is (and he is) and even though he’s done it before, chances to win on the Champs should be grabbed with both hands. I wondered whether it was more an attempt to pacify a peloton who are slightly pissed off with TJV for riding so hard and for WVA being so good! He always races to win and contests minor sprint positions too so I think there is something more to it than a photo opportunity. Mind you, he didn’t look pissed off, so who knows? A couple of years ago I did a charity ride. 4 days london to Paris for the RBL. it finished on the champs with a lap of the Arc. One of the best days on a bike ever. When we turned a corner onto cobbles and you saw the arc it was emotional l took this: Attachment Deleted
|
|
|
Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 24, 2022 19:17:42 GMT
I think he was more interested in crossing the line as a team tbh, he has set a points tally that I don’t think will be beaten. For me WVA = CBA should read; he is more than happy with his efforts for the last 3 weeks. As brilliant as he is (and he is) and even though he’s done it before, chances to win on the Champs should be grabbed with both hands. I wondered whether it was more an attempt to pacify a peloton who are slightly pissed off with TJV for riding so hard and for WVA being so good! He always races to win and contests minor sprint positions too so I think there is something more to it than a photo opportunity. Mind you, he didn’t look pissed off, so who knows? He’s had an amazing tour, it could just be that he’s f@*ked.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 24, 2022 19:57:38 GMT
As brilliant as he is (and he is) and even though he’s done it before, chances to win on the Champs should be grabbed with both hands. I wondered whether it was more an attempt to pacify a peloton who are slightly pissed off with TJV for riding so hard and for WVA being so good! He always races to win and contests minor sprint positions too so I think there is something more to it than a photo opportunity. Mind you, he didn’t look pissed off, so who knows? He’s had an amazing tour, it could just be that he’s f@*ked. Wout doesn’t get fucked. Wout does the fucking. You may well be right though, but it’s a fun hypothetical. I’m more annoyed that Ewan had one final chance to salvage something after coming into some form and then sprinted like an absolute novice. Had the option of coming inside or going up against Kristoff in a shoulder barge near the barriers. He chose the stupid option and bounced off Kristoff like a trampoline.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 24, 2022 20:00:03 GMT
He’s had an amazing tour, it could just be that he’s f@*ked. Wout doesn’t get fucked. Wout does the fucking. You may well be right though, but it’s a fun hypothetical. I’m more annoyed that Ewan had one final chance to salvage something after coming into some form and then sprinted like an absolute novice. Had the option of coming inside or going up against Kristoff in a shoulder barge near the barriers. He chose the stupid option and bounced off Kristoff like a trampoline. With absolute hindsight Cav is sitting at home watching smug as fuck
|
|
|
Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 24, 2022 20:02:52 GMT
Of everything about the tour this year, the one thing that has pissed me off the most was Quick step didn’t take Cav.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 24, 2022 20:20:22 GMT
Of everything about the tour this year, the one thing that has pissed me off the most was Quick step didn’t take Cav. I think he’s had the last laugh in one way. This year was brutal and he would have had to suffer like a dog to survive, as did most of the sprinters and Jumbo strangled the race to the point where potential sprint stages became war zones from the off and spat the fast men out early on. Jakobsen is a faster sprinter too… I say that as someone who desperately wanted Cavendish to be there too and I hope he gets picked up by a team who treat him well next year and guarantee him a TdF spot. He’s going to probably look at somewhere that doesn’t have a GC contender but will put a team with him who can look after him. Can’t think of too many who would have the budget but guess it would only be a one year deal, two at most. Maybe somewhere like. Alpecin would be a good fit as they’ve lost Merlier and MvDP doesn’t want to do bunch sprints. Not sure Philpsen would be happy though 😂
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 25, 2022 20:05:34 GMT
Seems that we watched a different race than everyone else. Reading today and yesterday and a wide consensus is that this year was a 9/10! I just don’t see it. If I was being really, really generous, I’d give it 7.5. That is if I was off my nuts on uppers. Otherwise, 6 seems right to me. There was intrigue but not real tension. I’m probably yearning for previous Tours of which I have rose-tinted visions. I tried to look back on the race and be as objective as possible and read some quite persuasive arguments as to why this year was a classic, but then thought of how I felt when I was watching it and it puts it at a 6.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 25, 2022 20:26:26 GMT
As brilliant as he is (and he is) and even though he’s done it before, chances to win on the Champs should be grabbed with both hands. I wondered whether it was more an attempt to pacify a peloton who are slightly pissed off with TJV for riding so hard and for WVA being so good! He always races to win and contests minor sprint positions too so I think there is something more to it than a photo opportunity. Mind you, he didn’t look pissed off, so who knows? A couple of years ago I did a charity ride. 4 days london to Paris for the RBL. it finished on the champs with a lap of the Arc. One of the best days on a bike ever. When we turned a corner onto cobbles and you saw the arc it was emotional l took this: View AttachmentHow much did you notice the cobbles on there? I know it’s not the Arenberg but bike racing on TV gives an almost romantic notion of racing on them and the few times I’ve done it I’m still surprised that I didn’t break at least a collarbone. It was bloody horrible. ‘You need to go faster, so you don’t feel it as much’ I was told. Yes, slight problem there as I was going as fast as I could 😂
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 25, 2022 21:39:48 GMT
Seems that we watched a different race than everyone else. Reading today and yesterday and a wide consensus is that this year was a 9/10! I just don’t see it. If I was being really, really generous, I’d give it 7.5. That is if I was off my nuts on uppers. Otherwise, 6 seems right to me. There was intrigue but not real tension. I’m probably yearning for previous Tours of which I have rose-tinted visions. I tried to look back on the race and be as objective as possible and read some quite persuasive arguments as to why this year was a classic, but then thought of how I felt when I was watching it and it puts it at a 6. Yes, I agree with you. Eurosport (not just Rob Hatch) were all enthusing about it throughout the Tour, and I've read three different articles saying how really good it was, and one article said it was "undoubtedly one of the best ever" ! I've previously posted about my feelings during the Tour, and for me it was a 6, possibly 7 at best.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 25, 2022 22:47:49 GMT
A couple of years ago I did a charity ride. 4 days london to Paris for the RBL. it finished on the champs with a lap of the Arc. One of the best days on a bike ever. When we turned a corner onto cobbles and you saw the arc it was emotional l took this: View AttachmentHow much did you notice the cobbles on there? I know it’s not the Arenberg but bike racing on TV gives an almost romantic notion of racing on them and the few times I’ve done it I’m still surprised that I didn’t break at least a collarbone. It was bloody horrible. ‘You need to go faster, so you don’t feel it as much’ I was told. Yes, slight problem there as I was going as fast as I could 😂 On the rare occasions I’ve ridden on cobbles I think the faster you go the less you do feel them but it depends. I’m mostly up hill I’m Yorkshire on them I had a text earlier. Do I want to ride out to Wolverhampton next Thursday (from market Drayton) to watch the commonwealth games TT Hell Yes. I might get to see that fellow Welshman crash
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 26, 2022 10:09:31 GMT
How much did you notice the cobbles on there? I know it’s not the Arenberg but bike racing on TV gives an almost romantic notion of racing on them and the few times I’ve done it I’m still surprised that I didn’t break at least a collarbone. It was bloody horrible. ‘You need to go faster, so you don’t feel it as much’ I was told. Yes, slight problem there as I was going as fast as I could 😂 On the rare occasions I’ve ridden on cobbles I think the faster you go the less you do feel them but it depends. I’m mostly up hill I’m Yorkshire on them I had a text earlier. Do I want to ride out to Wolverhampton next Thursday (from market Drayton) to watch the commonwealth games TT Hell Yes. I might get to see that fellow Welshman crash Nothing would be more G than doing 3300+km through France, Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands and then crashing in Dudley!
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 26, 2022 11:13:04 GMT
On the rare occasions I’ve ridden on cobbles I think the faster you go the less you do feel them but it depends. I’m mostly up hill I’m Yorkshire on them I had a text earlier. Do I want to ride out to Wolverhampton next Thursday (from market Drayton) to watch the commonwealth games TT Hell Yes. I might get to see that fellow Welshman crash Nothing would be more G than doing 3300+km through France, Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands and then crashing in Dudley!
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 26, 2022 20:57:29 GMT
Will there be enough interest to get a Vuelta thread going? Alaphilippe is schedule to ride now (but tested positive for COViD yesterday and withdrew from the Tour of Wallonie.) Pogacar is now removed from the UAE start list, but that was never going to happen anyway. Roglic is touch and go due to his injuries but I can rest easy because Mas will be there and Deeside can do similar because Quintana is too…
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 26, 2022 21:14:35 GMT
Will there be enough interest to get a Vuelta thread going? Alaphilippe is schedule to ride now (but tested positive for COViD yesterday and withdrew from the Tour of Wallonie.) Pogacar is now removed from the UAE start list, but that was never going to happen anyway. Roglic is touch and go due to his injuries but I can rest easy because Mas will be there and Deeside can do similar because Quintana is too… Oh what joy ! My mate Nairo's doing the Vuelta. How the hell do Arkea-Samsic always seem to get wildcard entries (apart from the fact that they're a FRENCH team !) for the Grand Tours ? As for a Vuelta thread - maybe start one but depending on the final starting line-ups it might fall a bit flat.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 27, 2022 11:26:02 GMT
Will there be enough interest to get a Vuelta thread going? Alaphilippe is schedule to ride now (but tested positive for COViD yesterday and withdrew from the Tour of Wallonie.) Pogacar is now removed from the UAE start list, but that was never going to happen anyway. Roglic is touch and go due to his injuries but I can rest easy because Mas will be there and Deeside can do similar because Quintana is too… Oh what joy ! My mate Nairo's doing the Vuelta. How the hell do Arkea-Samsic always seem to get wildcard entries (apart from the fact that they're a FRENCH team !) for the Grand Tours ? As for a Vuelta thread - maybe start one but depending on the final starting line-ups it might fall a bit flat. Almost unbelievably, they are ranked 10th. Ahead of AG2R, Cofidis, Trek, EF, Movistar (snigger,) Bike-Exchange and a host of others. Next year they have been promoted to a World Team, so lots more invites coming their way. They have just accumulated consistent points through decent placings but doing nothing memorable. We should use them as our template for promotion…
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 27, 2022 19:03:52 GMT
Bernal is scheduled to ride the Vuelta, according to the race director. Ineos, however, are saying nothing, but their current confirmed line-up only has seven riders.
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 27, 2022 19:09:53 GMT
Bernal is scheduled to ride the Vuelta, according to the race director. Ineos, however, are saying nothing, but their current confirmed line-up only has seven riders. Good to see him back if true.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 27, 2022 21:34:18 GMT
Watching the women’s TdF. Racing is decent but some of the race awareness is a bit sketchy at times (not that the men aren’t guilty of this too though.). Don’t know if anyone saw it but couple of days ago Frain ran over a rider who had crashed. Actually rode over the top of her. There was a crash up ahead, then bunch had slowed to a stop and Frain was chasing to get on, with her head down and hit another rider at a hellish pace.
On todays stage, Garcia, the Spanish champion had a bike change due to a puncture, then got another puncture and as she stopped with a teammate to swap bikes neither of them looked behind and they cleaned out a rider who was coming up behind them. Garcia offered no apology, rode off and then not long later got hit by her own team car! Madness.
|
|