The End.

Whelp, as I predicted, Chris Froome will win.  But what a ride these last few days in the Alps.

By the time the stages would end, I was exhausted just from watching.  Makes it hard to get out of bed and go to work.

It's easy to play armchair quarterback, but I was really hoping Quintana and Movistar would have attacked sooner on the final climbs of the last two stages.  I'm not there and I don't know what the riders are thinking or feeling, but it seems to me that Quintana never seems to be completely out of gas when he crosses the finish line. 

I did like Quintana's attacks today on the L'Alpe D'Huez.  Two smalls ones to shed as many Team Sky riders off the front and then one hard hit.

For those who doubt, today's stage was an excellent example of teamwork from Movistar.  Putting Winner Anacona in the break and the attack from Valverde were the decisive moves on L'Alpe D'Huez.  When Team Sky didn't react to Valverde's move, Quintana attacked, and bridged to him, then together they set a tempo equal, if not faster than Team Sky.

Once Quintana bridged to Anacona, Valverde's job was done, and Anacona upped the pace with Quintana.  Perfect team tactics.


Barring any major incidents tomorrow, here's how we should finish.

3. Nobody!
     No one wins!  Yea!  Playing for third!  Woot!

4. Marc Deussault - Vincenzo Nibali
      I can here Manny now, "Guess someone got a blood bag before stage 19."  It was a pretty impressive win by Nibali on stage 19.  Some controversy on his choice of attacking when Froome had a mechanical.  Even more interesting to hear Bob Roll and Christian Vande Velde in the post show agree with the tactic.  All for another post I guess.

5. Manny Treeson - Alberto Contador
    I can here Manny now, "I would have been in 4th if it wasn't for a blood bag."

9. Craig Housenick - Romain Badret
    Impressive riding by Badret to get back into contention in the Alps.

16. Blaine Rainey - Thibault Pinot
     Surprised he didn't pick Rein Taaramae or Tanel Kangert.  Great end to a very trying tour for Pinot.  Winning on L'Alpe D'Huez has almost as much recognition as winning the entire tour.

40. Arnold Serame - Ryder Hesjedal
     Rough tour for the former Giro winner, but like the Giro this year, he seemed to recover in the final week.  A kilometer or two too far on L'Alpe D'Huez today.

48. Toby Fleming - Richie Porte
     Interesting fact: Peter Sagan finished in 46th, almost 2 minutes faster than Porte.  No matter, I'm excited at the possibility that next year he'll be in the black and red of Team BMC.  He still showed well throughout the tour shepherding Froome.  You can't buy loyalty like that.

2. Dan Boland - Nairo Quintana
     I blame my poor showing on Nibali not taking his blood bag sooner.  I always thought Froome was going to win, but after the showing of Astana at the Giro, would have thought they had the team to rally around Nibali and put him on the podium in 2nd.  No matter, at least I didn't pick...

1. Mike Jenness - Chris Froome
     It always seems like a real option for third when you see is riding style in the mountains.  How does anyone go that fast looking like that?

DNF stage 17 - David Fish - Tejay Van Garderen
   This was a real blow to the Tour.  What would have been if he didn't succumb to sickness?  He did not look good that day he dropped out.  He never would have won the tour.  He, like Froome, needs more CLM miles to contend with the pure climbers like Quintana.  Next year he'll have Porte with him.  Double pronged attack for BMC or will Porte play chief lieutenant?

DNF stage 4 - Tom Beck - Fabian Cancellara
     Fabian has had a rough season, let alone a rough tour.  Is this the first tour where two yellow jersey winners crashed out while still in yellow?  Hopefully Spartacus returns to form to challenge for the worlds this year.

My next day off is Tuesday.  Hopefully I can put in one last blog post to discuss the Nibali attack on stage 19.  After listening to Bob and Christian present a good argument for not waiting for Froome, I've had to re-evaluate my stand on the matter.  Perhaps a point/counter point with Manny?

Thanks again for anyone who read this.  And please do me the favor of commenting on this post so I know we are reaching someone with our random trains of thought.  I hate talking for no reason.

Safe riding and I'll see you all on the road!








 

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Did that just happen?

This Is Why We Play For Third.

Three big mountain stages and what have we concluded?

Chris Froome is going to win.

He put his stamp on the first mountain top finish La Pierre-Saint-Martin.  Now all he has to do is have his team set an infernal pace, follow the wheels, control the breaks of his nearest rivals and always finish near the front.

Tour done.  First place taken care of. 

Everyone can preach in their interviews "The tour is not over".  Yes it is.

"There's still the Alps to climb".  Doesn't matter, unless Froome cracks more than once, 2+ minutes is hard to pull back.

Makes the tour a little boring for me.  I tried to watch this morning's stage to Plateau de Beille.  I might try again tonight (if I get home from work at a reasonable hour).  I read that all the contenders tried to break away on the final climb and one after another, Team Sky just reeled them back in.

*Yawn* a formula we see all to often.  Sky sets pace on the front, Froome tucks in and enjoys the ride.  Everyone tries to break away, Team Sky drags them back.  Boring.

What made last years tour exciting?  The loss of Froome and Contador left gaping holes on dominating teams.  Tactics had to change and victories in the tour were measured differently.

This is why we play for third place.  It brings a little more excitement to the tour if you are truly cheering for your rider.  At the moment, David Fish and I are separated by 17 seconds.  I personally think David is winning this year, All Tejay can do is hold wheels in the mountains.  Quintana can pull away if he wants to.  Granted he tried today, and was unsuccessful.  Perhaps he'll be successful in the Alps to gap Van Garderen.  And David will finish on top, and I'll finish on the bottom.

In other news, as a BMC fan, I'm liking the rumours of Ritche Porte coming to the team next season.  I've said it for years, BMC doesn't have enough quality climbers to shepherd the team leader (whom ever that may be) in the high mountains of the tour.  How often this tour have we seen TeJay alone on the final climb?  I hear Damiano Caruso has a cough that's preventing him from full power, but I'm sure he's got tired legs after his performance of at the Giro.


Well, that's enough stream of consciousness for tonight.  See you on the road.

Another Day ... Another 4 Mountains

So today they went up and down.  A Lot!  I have heard heard an interesting theory.  That this stage so hard that it neutralized itself.  For most of today it did feel that way.  Sky let a HUGE group (22 riders) get off the front.  They got 12 minutes.  Last climb hit and the big guys heat it up a bit (but only a bit) and basically they finished the stage together.    There was some digs from Movistar & Saxo and Sky road them all back.  Smart defensive riding on a very hard day.  Oh and there was WEATHER.  From 90 degrees on the flat to 60's and hail on the final mountain.  

I do wonder are these guys starting to get tried?  They are human after all these days right? Are they holding their energy for next week?  Or are they just riding to make it to the podium?   I am found of saying we will know when we know but we are starting to know at this point.  

Where we stand

Photos from the Day

From @jeredgruber 

From Cyclingnews

And this presented without comment... Caption it yourself

Data from the Day

Rodriguez's speed up the mountain on his way to the win

Into the rest day

First impressions was that this was an excellent day of racing.  I was at the edge of the couch as Sky came in.   The jersey for Tejay, as Dan rightly points out, was always going to be a reach but I did think was possible.  So when it became clear that Sky had brought a much stronger TTT team to the race then we saw in June then the narrative for me turned entirely to the separation between the contenders at the end of the first 9 days of racing around France.  Movistar showed up.  That much is clear.  They were disappointed clearly.  If they had not lost so much time on stage 2 ...would haves/should haves as all well and good but this why the tour is the tour.  No mistakes + Strength + Team = Results.  Lost any of these and time goes with it.

Clearly some interesting stories building as we head into the rest day.   I think we have a good idea of our protagonists in the race.  For me now what I will find interesting is going to who will animate the coming stages in the mountains.   Nibali has lost so much time that maybe he can really take a flyer.  It is a very dangerous position for the rest of the GC men to be in.  Even at two minutes back I can not image the rest letting him free but you can not chase everyone.  If you don't chase him down you let him right back in it.  I get the sense it is more luck and team discipline that has him so far back and not strength.  So we know more when we know it.

Oh and one other thing .... Froome looks STRONG.  Those pulls he put in at the front where massive.  It going to fun racing in the mountains with lots of strong folks having a go but if Froome is as strong as he looks who can really take him on?

Where we Stand

I am just going to call out Uran as dark horse to watch.  Only 1:18 back.  I bet out of all the GC men a bit back he may not get chased if the everyone else is watching each other.  Just what kind of form does he have?

Quotes from the Day

Tejay (BMC) ... when asked about his ability to reach for the win.

“That’s tall order. First we have to get to the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are going to be the test to see who’s actually fit enough to win the Tour. The Alps are going to be who has the stamina to make it to the end. We definitely passed the first phase of the Tour very well. With the way I was climbing and feeling in the Dauphiné compared to Froome I think I’m pretty close. We’re really not going to know that until we get to the third week to see who really has the depth to hold it. The Tour is a marathon. We’re not even close to the end."

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky):

I'm annoyed we didn't win. We should have won that. Fair play to BMC they did a good ride but it’s disappointing. It's been a tough week. A lot of people say it, that the Tour starts on Tuesday with the mountains, which is crazy, but we can be happy. We put time into everyone else bar Tejay, but we really wanted that. 

Images from the Day

From Cyclingnews

Data from the Day

And where their speed toped out.

Top recorded speed on stage 9: Roche (SKY) at 78.37 km/h at the 16.5 km point.

That is just a bit north of 48 mph ... I am guessing on a downhill stretch.  

As you where and happy riding. 

Too Much Hype

Sorry to the one person who reads the blog that I haven't been posting.  I've had a rough week of work, and will probably go back into stealth mode for the next week because I've got another busy one coming up.  Which is unfortunate since the mountains are coming.

I was able to watch today's TTT live since I had a stupid o'clock call this morning and at this hour (+6 since call time) they haven't done anything.  I don't like to post if I can't watch the stage live.  Social media really makes it impossible to not know the outcome of the race soon after it finishes.  I prefer my post to be raw reactions to what I watch.

I have been listening to the hype on NBC about Tejay possibly getting the yellow jersey after today's TTT.  They've been hammering that possibility home for the last couple of days.

I didn't buy one word of it.

I get it, NBC is the American media presence at the Tour, they have to pander a bit to their views (most of which are American).  But it was really too much and very misleading.

I wonder how many new fans, or less than knowledgeable fans, are disappointed that Tejay didn't get the jersey today.  I wonder how many of them think they didn't try hard enough, or blame the 4 riders who tailed off the back before the finish leaving only 5 to pull up the final hill.

I, for one, knew there was a very slim chance of him getting the jersey.  It is not wise to discount Team Sky.  They too are a well oiled machine who I'm sure have been practicing the TTT.  Haven't they finished near the to top, if not the top step of the TTT in races past?

In any case, congratulations to the boys of BMC for getting the win, if only by a whisker.

The real revelation, Movistar.  You look at that roster and aside from Alex Dowsett and Adriano Malori, you are pressed to find a time trial specialist.  And yet, they finished 4 seconds off the pace.  Impressive.  Very impressive.  They put Quintana in a very good position coming into the mountains.

I fell asleep last night to the NBC boys in studio with Alex Dowsett discussing today's stage.  It was refreshing to hear Alex state that he knew the TTT was the entire reason he was on the team to begin with.  After tomorrow, his job is to get Quintana safely to the bottom of the mountain and then try to finish within the time cut.  That's what I like about cycling, it is a team sport and everyone has a role to play.  You aren't all going to be winners, and your finishing time and place is not as important as just finishing the race in Paris. 

Rest day tomorrow.

See you on the road.

Thanks NBC...

Thank you NBC for deciding to have the live coverage on NBC and not NBCSN this am because when I got up later then I normally do there was no TDF on the DVR.    Well I knew right away that it must be on NBC and not where it should be on NBCSN.  Flipped it on to catch the last 2K live.  Well at least that was most of the action for day so there is that.  Up side I got to play with the live data beta site.  Interesting but more on that later.

Now as for the race.   Hmm... Nibali OH MY.    It is only 10 secs but why was it 10 seconds?  Just not sharp?  Headwind?  Distracted by another bidon?  We will know what there is to know on Tuesday when we get the mountains in ernest.

The other thing I took away from that sharp climb at the end was that the rest of the main guys seem to all be there or there abouts.   Tejay and BMC again have not put a foot wrong.  Tomorrow could be a very very big day for them.  So close to yellow and they are the world champions at the discipline of Team Time Trialling.  So again on the morrow we will know what there there is to know.

So lets have a word about tomorrow.  Appointment television for sure.   If I am correct this is latest a TTT has been in the tour.  The TV Folks said the tour had to get a special compensation from the UCI to have it this late.  Lots of teams are missing riders.  Time will be lost on the road for many.   It could be massive for some.   Oh and hey it ends going up hill. 

Look at that profile.  Now that is anything but FLAT.   So it is all going to come down a few key things.  What teams have the right group of ridders for this(I am looking at you BMC and Sky).   What teams have all 9 men in good health still.   What team has the right rhythm and plan for the day.   It will be very exciting to watch.

Where we stand

Images from the day

From steephill.com

And I just love these from Getty Images

Meanwhile at the tour of Austria this is what the podium looks like.  Presented without further comment.

Data from Today

Interesting...  the tour data first reported that the winner on the stage climbed the Mur at 39km/h but pretty quickly corrected that to 27.23km/h.  Beta... still in beta but I love the concept.

Surfing in France

Nope this blog has not turned into a travelogue, simply just that you have to watch how Cav surfs the last K of the race to find his line to the finish.  That is just straight up bike handling and instinct.
   


What a difference a day makes.  People were writing stories that Mark's star on the decent etc and now the headlines read he is back.

The truth I think lies in the fact that on any given day one or the other of these guys can get it very right or very wrong.  I split second of hesitation or picking the wrong wheel to follow makes the difference between being the hero or the goat.  So in this sprint just watch how Cav decides he has no clean path to the line and he surfs his way to clean air.  I can recall many a sprint from him where this is just how he won.  Just freelancing his way all the way to the line.  Timing in racing as in comedy is everything.

Where we stand

Images from today

From @simongillphoto



From Cyclingnews the close up.

Data From Today

Nothing here of interest today.  It seems they are very much in beta.  Folks out there on the internet are question the reliability of the data stream.  Things like top speed of the winning rider and such are being called into question.  So I suspect that is why we have not seen any interesting bits about how fast the big four were going in that final.

"Thats just the Tour"

The quote of the day so far me is Andrew Talansky on NBC after the race.

Thats just the tour

Clearly this how lot of riders see things.  There are about 190 guys riding small french road in the first week when there are always crashes.  Being the status quo does not make it any less awful to see.

Quickstep won the day but lost so much more with a reported broken collarbone for Tony.

Where we stand

Images from the Day

From Cyclingnews 

Also from Cyclingnews an image of teamwork.  All the boys helping Tony get across the line.

Data from the Day

Not a lot of interesting data points today but here is an image from the new live tracking data web site I have been getting the data from.   Wish I woke up earlier enough to watch the race like with it running but frankly I like to sleep to much.  I know the plan is to use this data live during the race as graphic overlays but I think that as still refining the data stream before that goes live.  So right now it comes down to me reading their twitter feed to dig out the bits I think are most informative.  

As you were and happy ridding.

The Quite Day

For months on paper it seems everyone thought that today would be one for the sprinters and a quite day for most.  Well let's see, a sprint finish ... yep that happened.  But judging from the way the GC teams were lined up all along the front not sure they would call it relaxing.

Where we stand tonight.

  

Images of the Day

Think this one from @jeredgruber sums up today and feeling for the rest of the tour.  Windy and stormy today and a sense of something ominous on the horizon.

If you have not checked out Jered Gruber's images you should.  I think he is my favorite photographer currently shooting the sport.  You can see his stuff on Peloton Mag's site often and he has been doing stories on Strava's site.  I urge you to check out his photo essay on yesterday's stage.  WOW. 

Data of the Day

Not much to report on that front except this Greipel gent is fast. Yea I know, hardly newsworthy.  What I really want to know is what was Sagan's top speed in the last 100M.  He was motoring.  

And In Last Place...

Two cracked vertebrae from yesterday horrible crash prevented Fabian Cancellara from starting today's 4th stage over the cobbles.  I can't imagine climbing the Mer du Huy healthy, let alone with two cracked vertebrae.

In any case, Tom Beck will be our 10th place finisher in this years pool.  First one out.  Sorry.

See you on the road...

Welcome to France... Here have this cobble as our gift

So this whole week so far can best be described as proper bike racing.   None of this lazy spin around the countryside with a bit of argy bargy at the end.  The first week of the tour is always nervous and often a crash fest but the past few years the route seems to have elevated the first week to a critical test for the GC men not to only stay safe and upright but gain time on the others through strategy and luck.

Today was racing was from the gun.  Splits because of pressure to be at the front before each section of pave and some cross winds thrown in for good measure.  All the big teams showed up today and got through the test.   

Poor FDJ.  It always seems someone is caught out by the stones and today it was Pinot.  

My one question about team tactics was BMC right after the last section of Pave.  They rode a prefect race up until this point.  They were in the front group with two riders.  When Sky asked them to ride to keep the gap on Bertie and others they declined.  At first I thought that Tejay must be in the second group but no he was up front.  Why did they not press their advantage?  Was Greg in the second group and they want to try for the stage wine as well as time?  Hard to know.

Here is the Velon on bike video from today:

Quotes of the day.  

Tejay speaking about what got him through the day...His Team

"Hard hitting head bangers"

Trentin.. who saved the day by handing off his bike to Tony at the critical moment.

"I just hope Tony doesn't want to ride my bike for the rest of the Tour"

Where we stand

Today's Images
So many great ones so for give me...

From ‏@sporza_koers That would be the king of the cobbles Boonen congratulating The new leader of the race.

From @Cyclingnewsfeed 

From  ‏@cyclingtips 

From @mattrabin 

And from the man himself ‏@chrisfroome one of my favorites  

Data of the Day

Any doubt about Froome's form?  Take this with a grain of salt as it is generated by the on the new on the bike telemetry unit.

As you were and happy riding.

This is no sport for the faint of heart

Well that was dramatic in the extreme.

We all know the headlines and have seen (perhaps replayed too much) the crash and the aftermath.

Here is a great on the bike video footage that really shows the speed and the point of view of the rider.

Images of the day

From @Cyclingnewsfeed 

From @velonews  We will miss you Fabulous

From @BMCProTeam Another no mistake day for Tejay

Today's Data

Ever Want To Be A Tour Mechanic?

When I discovered that I was never going to race in the Tour de France, let alone in Europe, I thought I could be a team mechanic for one of the pro teams.  The manager of the shop I worked at in Hawai'i went to school at Barnett's Bicycle Institute.  He was very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of bicycle repair and he taught me a lot.

So I thought I would follow in his footsteps and go to Barnett's and get my certificate in bicycle repair. 

Then I met a girl.

Anyway, I found this on line today, it's from that massive crash today on Stage 3.  It's really quite cool.



I felt that little spark again of wanting to sit in a follow vehicle and swap wheels and bikes, spend my evenings washing and rebuilding the team machines.  Making adjustment on the fly. 

A different kind of touring from the one I ended up doing for many years.

Kudos to those unsung hero's the team mechanics.  They are the backstage crew for the moving circus that is professional bicycle racing.

See you on the road.

And the the heavens opened up...

So just another boring first week Le Tour sprint stage... Blah blah blah... except that is exactly what did not happen.    Sure when everyone looked at this day on the map it was clear it could one of two ways.  Cross wind madness or boarding pancake flat spin around Holland resulting in a win for Cav.

Ok so we all know what went down.   The rain and wind (not to mention Saxo and Quickstep) blew the race apart.   Crazy day.  Edge of you seat stuff and with not a hill to seen.  I think the most elevation gain was most likely a bunny hop over a bit of street furniture.

This year I think I might do what I did last year... call out some good images from the day and some choice tweets.

I got to say the official live data thing from the tour is pretty great.   Check out their twitter stream.

https://twitter.com/letourdata

So Greipel was moving fast...

But it turns out Fabulous Fabian was moving faster on one point in the sprint.

Lots more good stuff over on their feed.

As for images that sum up today...

From @grahamwatson10

From @pelotonmagazine 

and from @jeredgruber 

And as for tomorrow let me calming point out this... MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY MUR DE HUY.  

Not that I am excited about it or anything.

OK as you were and happy riding.  

Draft Order is Determined...

Alright here it is the draft in all it's glory...

Draft order in case you were laughing too hard at my assistant

1. Marc Deussault
2. Daniel Boland
3. Mike Jenness
4. David Fish
5. Manny Treeson
6. Blaine Rainey
7. Arnold Serame
8. Craig Housenick
9. Tom Beck
10. Toby Fleming

Here's the list of for everyone's top five.  Highlighted in yellow is your pick.

Final list is in the column to the left of the blog.

Good luck everyone!  I'll comment tomorrow about how I think it all shook out.  Right now, have to tuck my lovely assistant into bed.

See you on the road.