Pro cycling returns......and so do the crashes!

[Greedy Jambo]

7 minutes ago, Tazio said:

It all depends on the state of the road at the finish. I’m not sure Sagan will be willing to go full in with 3 weeks to go. The french sprinters will be going all out and Brian Coquard will be stung by just missing out on the french title so might go big. 

 I was just thinking that Sagan would be a little less feirt due to his top notch bike handling. We'll need them to start racing again, mind you. 

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, Space Pirate said:

 I was just thinking that Sagan would be a little less feirt due to his top notch bike handling. We'll need them to start racing again, mind you. 

Sprinters aren’t scared of anything once they hit the last 500m. They’re mentalists. 

[Cade]

May as well throw Sagan's name in the ring for the stage win and 1st yellow jersey.

 

 

[Cade]

Another big pile up

[Tazio]

2 minutes ago, Cade said:

Another big pile up

Luckily for them just after the 3k. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Looks like Kristoff is on form then,

I had forgotten all about him. 

[Tazio]

A good win for him. He needs to enjoy his day in yellow tomorrow and make the most of it. 

[Cade]

Mental first day.

More of the same tomorrow.

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, Cade said:

Mental first day.

More of the same tomorrow.

The organisers will be praying for a dry day as there are some huge descents tomorrow. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Mountain stage the morra. 

Pinot is a shoe in to fall on his arse again if its wet. 

Hopefully it's dry and we have a bit more of a race to watch, should be a few breakaways. 

 

[Cade]

Forecast says dry day, but with the amount of rain we had today there may well be slippy bits under the trees tomorrow to catch out the unwary.

 

 

[Greedy Jambo]

46 minutes ago, Cade said:

Forecast says dry day, but with the amount of rain we had today there may well be slippy bits under the trees tomorrow to catch out the unwary.

 

 

 

I hope it rains here, cos there's a massive bird shit on the bonnet of my car. 

[Tazio]

15 minutes ago, Space Pirate said:

 

I hope it rains here, cos there's a massive bird shit on the bonnet of my car. 

I’d rather it didn’t as I’m spending a fair bit of tomorrow afternoon on my bike instead of watching other people on theirs. 

[Greedy Jambo]

2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

I’d rather it didn’t as I’m spending a fair bit of tomorrow afternoon on my bike instead of watching other people on theirs. 

 

No no no, you better get yerself out early cos we need you here for the tour de france commentary. 

[Greedy Jambo]

I've no paid 6.99 for eurosport  just for ***** to go out on their bikes. 

[Tazio]

38 minutes ago, Space Pirate said:

I've no paid 6.99 for eurosport  just for ***** to go out on their bikes. 

Tough tittie, my ride tonight after the stage took me to a nice spot. 

[Greedy Jambo]

14 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Tough tittie, my ride tonight after the stage took me to a nice spot. 

 

Decent view like, no sure about the halfords bike. 

[Morgan]

54 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Tough tittie, my ride tonight after the stage took me to a nice spot. 

Nice bike.  

 

Great background.

[StSow]

14 hours ago, Tazio said:

Tough tittie, my ride tonight after the stage took me to a nice spot. 

Nice! 👍

[Greedy Jambo]

Sunny and dry the day 😃

 

I tell you what, I'm glad I got the Eurosport player, there's no adverts. 

[Cade]

Philippe Gilbert withdraws after suffering a broken kneecap yesterday.

Still finished the stage and only discovered the injury around midnight after complaining of pain when trying to get to sleep(!)

Tough blokes.

 

 

[Tazio]

Right. Quick 3 hours in the fresh air done and made it home for the last 50k. Nice great that it isn’t the usual flat first week. 

[Cade]

It's certainly refreshing not having the first week be piss-boring flat sprinter's stages.

Day 2 and we're up in the mountains.

[Greedy Jambo]

Dumoulin - what a fud. 

[Tazio]

Just now, Space Pirate said:

Dumoulin - what a fud. 

Too many stupid errors from lots of riders. You get the feeling they’re all a bit rusty In terms of riding in a bunch. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Yates looks the strongest of the 3 imo

[Tazio]

The peloton could still catch them on the flat last 2k. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Holey shit, how bad is Yates at sprinting 😂

[Tazio]

Just now, Space Pirate said:

Holey shit, how bad is Yates at sprinting 😂

He’s a climber so doesn’t have the strength to weight ratio. 

[Cade]

Yates weighs about 15kg, good for going up hill, pish for laying down big power

[Greedy Jambo]

3 minutes ago, Tazio said:

He’s a climber so doesn’t have the strength to weight ratio. 

A ken but that was a piss poor effort. Its no like he was up against other sprinters. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Yates weighs 58kg

Allaphilippe 62kg

 

[Tazio]

Just now, Space Pirate said:

Yates weighs 58kg

Allaphilippe 62kg

 

It’s not just about weight, non of these guys are carrying much timber apart from the specialist sprinters. Allaphillipe is a very good all rounder who can do a bit of everything but lost the tour last year when he blew up in the mountains. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Prediction for tomorrow?

 

[Tazio]

59 minutes ago, Space Pirate said:

Prediction for tomorrow?

 

Sprinters stage as there isn’t enough in the climbs to make them crack and creep in to the end in a grupetto. I think Sagan will certainly contest this one and get a place as he wants his points, but I’m not really sure what form any of the specialist fast men are in for a winner. Sam Bennett or Caleb Ewan depending how long the run in, Bennett is fast but Ewan is super explosive in a short sprint and goes properly balls out top when he gets a chance. 

[Boof]

6 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Sprinters stage as there isn’t enough in the climbs to make them crack and creep in to the end in a grupetto. I think Sagan will certainly contest this one and get a place as he wants his points, but I’m not really sure what form any of the specialist fast men are in for a winner. Sam Bennett or Caleb Ewan depending how long the run in, Bennett is fast but Ewan is super explosive in a short sprint and goes properly balls out top when he gets a chance. 

 

D'you reckon Caleb Ewan only having 5 team mates left will significantly affect things?

[Tazio]

6 minutes ago, Boof said:

 

D'you reckon Caleb Ewan only having 5 team mates left will significantly affect things?

Not this early on. In the long term he needs to copy Sagan’s style and learn to freelance onto other people’s wheels. Sagan has managed for years without a lead out rider and just done his own thing. Not an easy skill to master though. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Yeah, it's a bit of a predictable prediction from me but i think Sagan will have a go as well, the climbs aren't to deadly but there's 2 more than there was in the first stage and the route is a fair bit longer. 

 

Kristoff now holds the green Jersey and Sagan won't be liking that. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Thomas De ghent is due a breakaway soon, not sure if it will be tomorrow though. 

[Greedy Jambo]

Bradley Wiggins has his own show? 

His race updates are bad enough, surely. 

[Cade]

Wiggo always sounds feckin hammered.

Not the best pundit.

 

 

[Greedy Jambo]

Cousin refusing to work so the other 2 tell him to piss off and do it alone 😂

[Tazio]

17 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

Thomas De ghent is due a breakaway soon, not sure if it will be tomorrow though. 

De Ghent doesn’t even know when he’s going to do a breakaway never mind anyone else. He’s a complete maverick. 

[Cade]

Cousin made a tit of himself today.

Hope he suffers on his self-imposed solo time trial.

[Tazio]

Right. Not long to go and it’s into a headwind. This helps Caleb Ewan as he gets super low and aerodynamic when he sprints, The only issue may be not having Degenkolb with him but he needs to learn to manage without him. 

[Greedy Jambo]

I'm going for Pederson even though the Commentator thinks it won't be lol

He's sat right behind Kristoff. 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2020 by Space Pirate

[Greedy Jambo]

Decent endo from the King of the mountains

[Cade]

Had to do that the hard way.

 

Good stuff.

[Greedy Jambo]

Well the bookies arnae often wrong, the 2 favourites came in 1 and 2

[Tazio]

20 hours ago, Tazio said:

Sprinters stage as there isn’t enough in the climbs to make them crack and creep in to the end in a grupetto. I think Sagan will certainly contest this one and get a place as he wants his points, but I’m not really sure what form any of the specialist fast men are in for a winner. Sam Bennett or Caleb Ewan depending how long the run in, Bennett is fast but Ewan is super explosive in a short sprint and goes properly balls out top when he gets a chance. 

Boom! 
Called it perfectly I’d say.