Tour de France - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 08:28 AM

It's already Stage 4 today and there's lots to talk about.

The first two days were a bit of a disaster weather-wise and we've already lost a couple big names to injury (Valverde with a broken kneecap and Izagirre with a fractured back). Another decent crash on Day 2 with Froome and others losing some skin.

Good to see Sagan get the win yesterday. It's hard to hate that guy.

It's also good to see Sportsnet is giving the Tour some good airtime. Seems like it's on repeat all day on Sportsnet World.

mrkajz44 · 07-04-2017, 08:37 AM

Always enjoy the tour, though the first week or so I usually don't get too involved. The breakaway never seems to work and you just wait the whole stage for the final sprint at the end (which is enjoyable of course).

I'm a big fan of Sagan, so great to see him win stage 3.

The Valverde crash just minutes into his time trial was pretty shocking, and its such a shame to see it happen mostly because of the poor conditions. All the best to him.

I was a fan of the Schleks in the past, but with them out I now need another person to root for. I guess Froome seems like a good guy, but is that just bandwagon jumping? I guess I'll see who wins me over when I'm watching.

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 08:44 AM

Cavendish and Dimension Data could be a fun team to cheer for. They ride on Canadian bikes (frames) so that's the closest we get to a Canadian connection this Tour.

FLAMESRULE · 07-04-2017, 08:45 AM

Yeah I've loved Sagan ever since I saw him race in the Tour of Alberta (which as an aside needs to get back to Calgary!!!). I've also like Quintana and Hesjedal...but Ryder is retired now.

FLAMESRULE · 07-04-2017, 09:14 AM

Ouch...tight finish today with a couple big crashes in the last 2km (one about 1.5km and second at 250m). Cavendish piled into the barrier at about 250m. Demare was the winner in Vittel and Sagan was 2nd.

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 09:15 AM

I shouldn't have mentioned Cavendish. He went down hard in the last 100 metres. Stunning end to Stage 4.

mrkajz44 · 07-04-2017, 09:34 AM

Looks like Segan boxed Cavendish out and sort of caused his crash. Reported that he is apologizing to Cavendish's team right now, but the replay didn't look very good.

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 11:25 AM

Sagan has been disqualified from the Tour. I'm not a fan of what he did but that seems really harsh. The herd of quality competitors is already getting thin. This is going to make things worse.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pete...our-de-france/

habernac · 07-04-2017, 01:37 PM

DQ his result maybe, but throw him out of the Tour? Insanity.

troutman · 07-04-2017, 01:46 PM

I like the Tour just for the scenery. Sorry I missed the stage in Koblenz.

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 02:18 PM

Half of my enjoyment watching the Tour and the Giro is the scenery. We have some lovely natural beauty in Canada but I would be in heaven to be able to ride through the countryside/cities of Europe and be able to take in the history and natural beauty on a daily basis.

Kicking Sagan out of the Tour will hurt ratings I'm sure. It's going to be much more predictable (Team Sky) without him in there.

zarrell · 07-04-2017, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KTrain

Half of my enjoyment watching the Tour and the Giro is the scenery. We have some lovely natural beauty in Canada but I would be in heaven to be able to ride through the countryside/cities of Europe and be able to take in the history and natural beauty on a daily basis.

Kicking Sagan out of the Tour will hurt ratings I'm sure. It's going to be much more predictable (Team Sky) without him in there.

Hurt ratings? Without a doubt. But it will only increase the unpredictability of the points race. Green jersey was a lock for Sagan, now it's interesting. Haven't seen the incident yet, but it sounds like a heavy handed result.

Baron von Kriterium · 07-04-2017, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zarrell

Hurt ratings? Without a doubt. But it will only increase the unpredictability of the points race. Green jersey was a lock for Sagan, now it's interesting. Haven't seen the incident yet, but it sounds like a heavy handed result.

We shall see, but I tend to agree with you. Green Jersey is wide open; Polka Dots hasn't really started and the Skyborgs aren't a guarantee for GC based on Froome's recent result in the Dauphine.

What Sagan did to Cavendish is no worse than what Cavendish has done to others in the past. Most recently:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-...omnium-8639487

Fuzz · 07-04-2017, 08:21 PM

I can't believe I forgot about this! Ugh, and my PVR wasn't grabbing them like it usually does. Oh well, lots of stages to go.

Fuzz · 07-04-2017, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

Yeah I've loved Sagan ever since I saw him race in the Tour of Alberta (which as an aside needs to get back to Calgary!!!). I've also like Quintana and Hesjedal...but Ryder is retired now.

Speaking of the tour of Alberta, WTF is going on this year?

Quote:

Beginning in Alberta’s majestic Rocky Mountains, the Tour will kick-off the first stage of racing with an epic return to the mountains in Jasper National Park on September 1. The ATB Tour of Alberta will then head back to Edmonton for the final three days of racing, which will be contested within the capital region September 2 through 4.

http://tourofalberta.ca/2017-race/

So, the tour of Aberta involves going from Jasper to Edmonton this year...booo.

KTrain · 07-04-2017, 08:51 PM

Cavendish is out. Shoulder injury.

The more I watch the video, the more I see Cav being at fault too.

KTrain · 07-07-2017, 11:48 AM

As close a finish as you're going to see today. A third win for Kittel.

Here's the general standings.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 28:47:51
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25
5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:43
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:47
8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:52
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:54
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01

FLAMESRULE · 07-07-2017, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Speaking of the tour of Alberta, WTF is going on this year?

http://tourofalberta.ca/2017-race/

So, the tour of Aberta involves going from Jasper to Edmonton this year...booo.

Yep. And it's been up north ever since that first year save a prologue in Calgary. It makes no sense to me. Watching them race through downtown Calgary was so awesome. We also watched the prologue at COP.

darockwilder · 07-07-2017, 06:44 PM

I still can't see how they didn't call that finish a dead heat. Not one image was conclusive in my opinion.

It'll be fun to get into the mountains.

FLAMESRULE · 07-07-2017, 08:04 PM

What a finish. The side view was so close but a whisker to Kittel. The rear view though seemed to clearly show Van boesen Hagan was ahead. Can't wait for the mountains.