2017 TDF
 

Amazing time trail for Geraint !!

Why was there just about NO coverage of him.

French directors , in Germany town . Say no more

probably not expected to win the stage ?

He just must have been on course for something special at half way mark

coverage seemed bit shambolic , couldn't even see peoples times until the actual finish

They just expected Tony Martin to win and Froome come 2nd so didn't bother as far I could see

Don't even know what happened to Roglic.

Valverde was bit a idiot wasn't he , poor sod

If Chris Froome doesn't win, it's because of Brexit

Hes already 30 seconds up

The Boy from wales, ...Doing well... is used to wet..and slippery roads,...:thumb:

Tbf the distance isn't really suited to Froomey so fair play to him. As you say he's already 30 secs up on his GC contenders, but for me the big surprise was Marcel Kittel.....I wasn't expecting that.

Plus I was expecting a bit more from Richie Porte but with the conditions etc it was tough going.

Poor Valverde

The first priority was to stay on the bike, and Geraint Thomas managed that brilliantly, first ever Welshman to win a stage!

Kittel has all the power , as long as could stay upright he had big incentives over such short stage in home country

The GC contenders are already on the back foot against Froome. I expect lots of attacks to capture back time and pressure Froome and Sky. Sky look strong. There aren't as many opportunities to build big leads due to lack of mountain top finishes and less TT miles. I think Contador has passed his prime, quintana's chances severely dented because of valverde crashing out. Bardet will need to work hard to compete. Exciting Tour for sure. If Froome has a good win on one of the mountains he will win the tour

id like to believe Porte can do something

If you look at the strength and depth of team sky you can see it is built around Froome with only one purpose - to win in Paris, looks like stage wins are secondary.

This is presumably one strong reason why Thomas appeared to be 'So What' after winning the prologue - that was his one consolation this year after being bumped out the giro

Was it semi deliberate elbow ??

Wouldn't like to say, not from that angle anyways.

Edit. Sagan has been disqualified from the TDF

It looked deliberate to me. Demare powered around Sagan, Cavendish was also coming through until Sagan's elbow did for him. A few other sprinters are not pleased with Sagan's actions, yes it's rough, but you don't intentionally knock the rider off

Thought it was too far out , and the speed Segan came to apologise was ...well a bit telling





good Sleaford Mods background track :)

Commissaries should be disqualifying Demare as well

Best French hope in 20 years , unlikely ;)

Cav out , unsurprisingly . Tough old game being a sprinter, espesh relatively diminutive one

I personally feel the DQ was a bit harsh.

The elbow was removed from the equation because they couldn't decide whether it actually made contact with Cav.

When you watch it closely it looks as if Cav makes contact with Sagan first and is already on his way down when Sagan instinctively reacts with his elbow that never even makes contact.

But.....what was reviewed was how Sagan moved and altered his line, which is actually illegal during the final metres of a sprint. Also.....what's helped them make their decision is it appears Sagan was the cause of the crash prior to this one when the 2 FDJ riders collided and took down Team Sky and others.

Sagan was originally penalised with a deduction in points, GC classification and a fine but DDD appealed this and ultimately he was DQ.

How do we know he's not taking drugs also?

Goodness knows. Apart from reg testing.

I think you've to put it out your mind to enjoy the spectacle

Well, maybe, but you can't help wonder.
After all, Mr Armstrong managed to cheat for years sure.

Causing two crashes, one of which led to a rider pulling out of the tour with a pretty nasty shoulder injury. I'd have said being disqualified was fair.

I think elbow might actually been pushed out of line , by Cav,after all

Well done Dan Martin !

Not much has been said about the other crash so whether that's true or not I do not know.

Poor ole Ritchie :(

Awesome Uran :D