Cycling - UCI Protour Thread (Tour/Giro/Vuelta)

[Matty81]

Wonder if its his personal preference or Vaughters strategy to sit deep. Either way no harm done today concern is while he avoids the crashes he seems to lose time to the traffic jams. Apparently Contador took a tumble but otherwise no implications for the GC (even that probably won't impact).

Was looking at the race plan and its an insane finish, leading into the last day (which really has no impact on GC), there are 6 mountain stages in 7 days of racing.

Wouldn't think it will break open tomorrow but I will be interested to see how Schleck does, has been struggling all year, is he a GC contender this year? If so the field of viable contenders is huge.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Team Sky has shattered the field and Chris Froome may have won Le Tour today.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Still a long way to go in the mountains but all the other contenders are having serious difficulties

[Matty81]

Huge lead for Froome, TDF almost looks settled.

Disappointing season for Ryder just typified today. Injured by a crash on day 1 and performance was also not up to his potential, he was probably the first real GC guy dropped today. Got exicited to watch him in the giro, the tour de suisse and now the TDF.

You wonder if he'll ever get a chance to contend for a GC in a grand tour again. With his age and Talansky and Martin eclipsing him, he might me moving into a new super domestique stage in his career.

[habernac]

Froome was Superman today. Love seeing the peleton get totally wrecked by a youngster.

[J epworth]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

Team Sky has shattered the field and Chris Froome may have won Le Tour today.

Way too many big hills ahead to say Froome has won this yet, winner probably won't be decided till the Alpe D'huez x2 day

[zarrell]

I would say the duo of valverde and quintana are the only real threat left for froome. Dominant today.

[puffnstuff]

Anyone see the profile for tomorrow...1 cat 2 and then 4 cat 1's ...ouch!

[Nandric]

If anybody is still watching the tour, todays stage is fantastic. Echelons and lots of wind make for exciting flat stages.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Today is a great day. Alpe d'Huez!

[M*A*S*H 4077]

This descent on the way back around to Alpe d'Huez is a doozy. Bad roads, tight corners. Great fun to watch.

Ryder Hesjedal is having a decent day

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Has anyone gone to watch any of the Tour of Alberta this week? I'm going downtown tomorrow to hopefully park myself somewhere near the finish line.

[Matty81]

Ya I've caught a few bits and pieces, they've done well for year one, decent crowds and a good race. Sagan and Cadel getting wins has been great for their profile imo. Might be overkilling it on the alberta tourism ads just a bit though

Was disappointed not to see even one mountain stage though. Would be cool to see it expand into a two week stage race going right through the rockies from vancouver to calgary one day.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I thought I read somewhere that the floods changed the plan for a mountain stage. Not sure how accurate that is, but I too was disappointed there was no mountain stage (or stages) on the route.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

I thought I read somewhere that the floods changed the plan for a mountain stage. Not sure how accurate that is, but I too was disappointed there was no mountain stage (or stages) on the route.

Ya you're right, something about it screwing up highway access from highwood to canmore and the town couldn't make repairs in time. Too bad but I'm sure next year they'll manage it and they've done a very impressive job with organizing the event considering it started from scratch.

[bossy22]

Stage 4 was to be from black diamond over the highwood to Canmore. The high wood has been closed since the floods, so they had to reroute. It's too bad. Alberta has so much potential for an awesome stage race, but the best roads are in national parks, so they will never be used. They did a good job. Was a lot of fun watching it live.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

It was so much fun watching them live. I was down on the finishing straight just after the final turn and man they go fast. It's way faster in person than it looks on tv

[habernac]

Pat McQuaid is out, which is good news for cycling IMO

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bria...-uci-president

[craigwd]

It's pretty ridiculous that Sportsnet isn't showing the Giro this year.
I have no idea where to watch it now. Can't find a good livestream anywhere.

[craigwd]

double post. I was that angry