Le Tour de France 2013

[Hugh Jarse]

Andrei Greipel wins the sprint into Montpelier. Peter Sagan was 2nd and has the Green Jumper.

Simon Gerrens hands over the Yellow Jersey to Darryl Impey from Orica Green Edge. Simon 5 sec behind in 3rd place.

Interest building as they start heading into the mountains.

 

[Colin Windon]

Loving le tour prologue tonight on Fox. A lot better than the cooking show that precedes the SBS coverage.

Also helps to take my mind off the Wobs tonight!

 

[Nusadan]

Good to see Richie Porte get his own reward for supporting his captain Froome by finishing 2nd, most other cyclists doing the same as him would have blown up and fall by the wayside!

Been watching him for few years now, he should be the next Aussie winner of T de F!

 

[Jethro Tah]

Forgive me father mods for I have sinned - it has been nearly a year since my last confession GAGR Forum entry.

Thank goodness for the TdF rest day so I can catch up on sleep!

So what does everyone's podium prediction look like? Mine is 1-Froome, 2-Contador & and darkhorse 3-Mollema with Shleck an outside chance.

For reference, Top 10 after Stage 9:

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 36:59:18
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:25
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:44
4 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:50
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:51
6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:02
8 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:28
9 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:02:31
10 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:02:45

 

[Oz-pat]

Blimey, the 2013 Tour thread's pretty quiet this year!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Froome's performance was massive last night on the climb up Mount Mongrel.

Hard to see anyone claiming the Yellow Jersey from him now if he can stay fit and not crash.

 

[daz]

Froome's performance was massive last night on the climb up Mount Mongrel.

Yeah, that young Colombian kid looked tidy at the start of the climb, but the way Froome just hit the afterburners and streaked up the mountain was sensational. He just burnt everyone.

Huge credit to Richie Porte for a massive supporting role to get Froome in that position. Brilliant pace setting.

It also highlighted just how far Cadel has fallen since 2011. Boy, he looked to be struggling big time.

 

[Braveheart81]

Certain sections of the cycling media are starting to drop not so subtle hints that they suspect that Froome is a drug cheat.

His time up Mont Ventoux last night was the fastest ever, beating Marco Pantani's 2000 time.

It will be interesting to see how the overall power output is for Froome over the entire tour. At this stage it would seem likely that he will be up alongside proven drug cheats rather than the lower winning power outputs of riders considered clean such as Cadel Evans in 2011.

I find it interesting that Sky Procycling happily release the power output figures for the rest of their riders but don't for Froome citing that it is confidential.

 

[Gagger]

Froome's speed up Ventoux was scary last night, but then I thought the same thing about him and Wiggins last year

You're right about the power profile though BH, I believe that's the marker used to raise suspicion

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

That was a monumental effort from Froome last night up Mont Ventoux. But it wasn't just him, I thought his Aussie team mate Richie Porte was outstanding too. I kept waiting for Contador (a renowned climber) to attack but it turned out he had nothing in the tank. That young Columbian kiddie did good as well.

 

[cyclopath]

I love watching the Tour, but the absolute pasting Froome is giving them all is scary. Those couple of accelerations up Mt Ventoux were freakish.

 

[Gagger]

I love watching the Tour, but the absolute pasting Froome is giving them all is scary. Those couple of accelerations up Mt Ventoux were freakish.

It was like you up Parrawi road. Suspicious

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I love watching the Tour, but the absolute pasting Froome is giving them all is scary. Those couple of accelerations up Mt Ventoux were freakish.

Weren't they. Sitting there watching it with a mate last night and we both just looked at each other and went "WTF?".

 

[cyclopath]

It was like you up Parrawi road. Suspicious

That was the old bike. Look out.

 

[Ignoto]

You're right about the power profile though BH, I believe that's the marker used to raise suspicion

I think the bigger telling factor is, Froome doesn't seem to have an off day. We've seen every other rider in the Sky Team pay the price for busting a gut almost daily, ie Porte dropped huge time earlier on in the tour after having a great day the previous day. Froome on the otherhand, was able to stay with Saxobank/Movistar when they attacked. Then he was able to pull out a huge ITT placing and backed it up by winning Ventoux only a couple days later.

It'll be very interesting to see how the next ITT unravels, if Froomes up there while Contador etc are a couple of minutes behind, you have to really question how clean he is.

 

[Braveheart81]

The time he did up Ventoux was the telling factor for me.

Is Froome really a stronger cyclist (and in particular climber) clean than Armstrong, Pantani, Virenque, Contador etc. when they were cheating?

My opinion is no.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I was a little shocked when Phil and Paul said his Ventoux time was faster than Pantani did it in 2000, in light of the fact that Marco was later found to be a drugs cheat. It does raise suspicions but there's no proof so no point speculating really.

I hate that every remarkable performance in cycling has these kinds of misgivings.

 

[Braveheart81]

I hate that every remarkable performance in cycling has these kinds of misgivings.

I do too, but after following the Tour de France for a long time I've come to realise that the overwhelming majority of unbelievable performances have turned out to achieved through cheating.

I also accept that it is now far harder to cheat with the biological passport system. That certainly raises the chances that Froome is legitimate.

 

[Ignoto]

The time he did up Ventoux was the telling factor for me.

Any idea where I can have a look at the finishes times? Best I can find is Wiki telling me the previous winners and the distances.

I'd particularly like to know the 2001 time as it's the closest to this years distance and timing in the race ie Stage 14 and a distance of 221km where this years was Stage 15 and 242km.

 

[Gagger]

Anyone seen what Froome's time actually was and how it compares?

This article gives the previous records, but not Froome's

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-shorts-new-ventoux-record