Cycling UK Forum

I reckon G could have won the TT but decided he didn't need to, and taking risks on the final descent would have been a dumb idea.

Froome was initially awarded a time of 40"50' (i.e. faster than TdM's winning time) but when I looked at the VT again, Froome's on-screen clock stopped when he was short of the finish line for some reason.

Froome's TT was superb; he blew Roglic away and almost beat TdM.

The 'race of truth' had the top three in GC head and shoulders above the other riders; no-one else got within 30s of them, I think.

That Brailsford has had three different TdF winners like that means he is arguably one of the most successful team managers ever.

result!

cheers

Hi,
Roglic says he was ok post TT, but his high cadence (despite commentators comments implying Froomes high cadence) was a show of lack of power through tiredness , his climb was too low a gear clearly seen when standing, all the top three finishers had similar style.

Froomey did the job, G was usual modest even CB was wavering, TdMn deserved a place for having to take on the other two.

So Roglic lost it though Froome is always measured and a hard nut.

Cyril Haearn wrote:Many top British and French footballers are black, are there any black racing cyclists?

It's a fairly white sport but definitely progressing over the last few years. There was an African team in the tdf a couple of years ago as one of the wild cards. Obviously there are various races in the peloton. My chapeau this year would go to Geraint but Egan Bernal did a bloody awesome job in the mountains and I'm wondering if he is one to watch as a future winner/podium place. Quintana has obviously won the Vuelta and been second in the TdF. I have no idea what race he is but he counts as awesome cyclist in my book.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/ ... tn-qhubeka

Anyway enjoy your day today Geraint -I suspect there will be tears in HJtowers.

Brucey wrote: ... Froome was initially awarded a time of 40"50' (i.e. faster than TdM's winning time) but when I looked at the VT again, Froome's on-screen clock stopped when he was short of the finish line for some reason. ...

I saw that on the live Eurosport programme and was confused. On the ITV4 highlights they explained that the sensor on the finish line isn't the official timer. They said a policeman inadvertently stood on it just before Froome finished.

thirdcrank wrote:

Brucey wrote: ... Froome was initially awarded a time of 40"50' (i.e. faster than TdM's winning time) but when I looked at the VT again, Froome's on-screen clock stopped when he was short of the finish line for some reason. ...

I saw that on the live Eurosport programme and was confused. On the ITV4 highlights they explained that the sensor on the finish line isn't the official timer. They said a policeman inadvertently stood on it just before Froome finished.

I just saw that too; it is a bit mad but it kind of makes sense to me. At least the policeman didn't try and take a selfie and tip him off, or mistake him for a member of the public.....

cheers

Brucey wrote:That Brailsford has had three different TdF winners like that means he is arguably one of the most successful team managers ever.

Certainly the case he is, but having more money to spend than everyone else rather puts him in the Manchester United position that if he didn't deliver the best results that would be underperforming. Having said that, of course, he has delivered.

Pete.

pjclinch wrote:

Brucey wrote:That Brailsford has had three different TdF winners like that means he is arguably one of the most successful team managers ever.

Certainly the case he is, but having more money to spend than everyone else rather puts him in the Manchester United position that if he didn't deliver the best results that would be underperforming. Having said that, of course, he has delivered.

Pete.

Or Manchester City
Which team is the Leicester City of the peloton?
Will GT win again?

Bike racing is unusual in depending so much on teamwork in support of the star individual. I think that big money is needed for success, but it doesn't guarantee it by any means. There has to be something to motivate a team containing several potential winners to sacrifice personal ambition in support of a team mate. Money must pay a part but it can only be one factor. Several really strong riders have left Sky to pursue their personal goals but not fulfilled expectations, not least because they've not had 110% support from a strong team. An important event this year was Froome's early crash which put him behind Thomas on GC. Froome's only hope of the win from that moment was if Thomas slipped down the GC or went out of the race completely. He didn't. In spite of media attempts to whip up controversy, we've had no shouts of "Judas!" or any modern equivalent. While Sir Brad has been reported as criticising Sir Dave's methods, Team Sky has remained totally united, or it looks that way. I wonder if part of the reason for Thomas easing off towards the end was that the timing cock up may have led people to believe Froome had won the stage.

Aside from knowing Sky are up at the top of the budget list I don't really know the sizes of cash flow. But that they can spend more than everyone else does set me against Sky to some degree, because it's more enjoyable seeing underdogs win for me, punching above their weight. I don't hate Sky, but I certainly don't love them. While I can respect their use of the resources available to them to get the results they do, it remains the case that mountain stages led up hills by a large cadre of expensive super-domestiques crushing any attacks does rather make me want any attacks to succeed...

There is also the distortion inherent in Skye's overt focus on the Tour. Again, it makes excellent pragmatic sense because the money comes from a sponsor and the sponsor wants airtime and to many people cycle racing = Tour de France. With Froome they did finally crack the Vuelta and Giro this last year but it's still the case that outside of the Grand Tours and the smaller tours used for warmups they're arguably bit pants. Quickstep obviously focus more on Belgian classics, but it would be interesting to see how much gets spent on them by Sky and QS and how the bang/buck ratio stands up there.

Several teams get extra kudos from me for running ladies' teams too: Mitchelton Scott, Sunweb, Lotto Soudal and Movistar. I get the impression one could run a whole year of a top women's team for less than it costs to pay Chris Froome, and Sky still haven't got around to doing it, despite talking about pretty much since they formed.

Pete.

Just to show I'm paying attention:

pjclinch wrote: ... There is also the distortion inherent in Skye's overt focus on the Tour. ....

I think Sky are simply following a trend started some years ago eg Indurain, Armstrong, both in concentrating on the TdeF and riding with a team of strong domestiques. In a less sophisticated era, Anquetil did the dominant team thing and very little interms of the classics. The lack of wider interest in the classics has led to several being discontinued.

Brucey wrote:I reckon G could have won the TT but decided he didn't need to, and taking risks on the final descent would have been a dumb idea.

Froome was initially awarded a time of 40"50' (i.e. faster than TdM's winning time) but when I looked at the VT again, Froome's on-screen clock stopped when he was short of the finish line for some reason.

Froome's TT was superb; he blew Roglic away and almost beat TdM.

The 'race of truth' had the top three in GC head and shoulders above the other riders; no-one else got within 30s of them, I think.

That Brailsford has had three different TdF winners like that means he is arguably one of the most successful team managers ever.

result!

cheers

Spot on,as TdM said after the TT,G has been consistently the stronger rider throughout the race.No one can argue with that,G deserves his win,and also what surprised me is that he is genuinely surprised he's won.
We've met G on a couple of occasions in cafes in Cheshire and he was just as unassuming,genuinely friendly and approachable as he comes across when interviewed on TV.
An ordinary man who's capable of extraordinary athletic feats.
We mustn't forget that Froome put his own ambitions to one side when he realised G was the stronger rider and worked for him,the mark of a real team player.
Egan Bernal has been a revelation,at 21 he's displayed the strength of character and the cycling mind of a much older rider,not to mention his physical strength,an incredible athlete,truly amazing!

MrsHJ wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:Many top British and French footballers are black, are there any black racing cyclists?

It's a fairly white sport but definitely progressing over the last few years. There was an African team in the tdf a couple of years ago as one of the wild cards. Obviously there are various races in the peloton. My chapeau this year would go to Geraint but Egan Bernal did a bloody awesome job in the mountains and I'm wondering if he is one to watch as a future winner/podium place. Quintana has obviously won the Vuelta and been second in the TdF. I have no idea what race he is but he counts as awesome cyclist in my book.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/ ... tn-qhubeka

Anyway enjoy your day today Geraint -I suspect there will be tears in HJtowers.

The 2018 Trek-Segafredo team had [Ethiopian] team member Tsgabu Grmay
He has previously rode 2016, and 2017 TdFs.

This year he was an early withdrawal during stage 2 due to illness.

Looks like a Sunday clubrun through la France peripherique, they spent a lot of time in la France profonde earlier, a bit of alcohol, lots of yellow and y ddraig goch mawr, of course, Plus One

Cymru am byth!

re team budgets; this list was published (originally by l'equipe, I think) in 2016

2016 Tour de France team budgets (estimated)
Team Sky – €35m
Katusha – €32m
BMC – €28m
Tinkoff – €25m
Astana – €20m
Etixx-Quick Step – €18m
Movistar – €15m
Lotto-Soudal – €14m
LottoNL-Jumbo – €14m
Dimension Data – €13.5m
Orica-BikeExchange – €13m
Giant-Alpecin – €12.5m
Trek-Segafredo – €12m
Ag2r La Mondiale – €12m
Cofidis – €11m
IAM Cycling – €10.5m
FDJ – €10m
Cannondale – €10m
Lampre-Merida – €7m
Direct Energie – €6m
Bora-Argon 18 – €4.5m
Fortuneo-Vital Concept – €3.5m

obviously things have changed since then (teams have been renamed or have even gone altogether) but I don't expect the range of budgets to be much different now. Is there a 2018 list?

cheers

Brucey wrote:
Froome was initially awarded a time of 40"50' (i.e. faster than TdM's winning time) but when I looked at the VT again, Froome's on-screen clock stopped when he was short of the finish line for some reason.

As a timekeeper, I reckon he shouted out his number whilst still about 8m short of the actual finish line - a common 'cheat' used by testers