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.