2019 Tour de France

[MAHJ71]

Anybody have NBC Cycling Pass? Wondering if its worth it for races beyond the tour..

 

[mexicohockey]

Seems not having the best of teams just might hurt Ala in the long run.. he's been by himself the last few stages.

Ala committed a stupid rookie mistake by trying to keep up with the climbers. Had he stayed with the Thomas group I'm sure he wouldn't have lost time on them.

 

[mexicohockey]

Wonder what happened with Mas, after the time trial he said he would battle for the white every day now with Bernal and then he dropped out of the GC yesterday and lost half an hour today. Viviani was working in front of the peleton

Viviani's facial expression was hilarious.
As for Más, I believe he was too confident with his own abilities and ended up completely wrecked on Saturday's stage. He appeared to be toast yesterday, and it's the best course of action to try to recover by slowing down in order to be of value to Alaphilippe in the Alps. I am sure we'll see him in some breakaway in order to offer a beachhead later in a stage.

 

[MAHJ71]

Ala committed a stupid rookie mistake by trying to keep up with the climbers. Had he stayed with the Thomas group I'm sure he wouldn't have lost time on them.

Yeah, I did see that. A mental blip.

I still think Ala could use more support from a teammate

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Mas per the team was sick.
He should have been with Thomas group at the very least, he is a podium finisher in La Vuelta already

 

[MAHJ71]

Incredible descent by Alaphilippe today. Saved his bacon!

 

[Yorkshire Leaf]

Incredible descent by Alaphilippe today. Saved his bacon!

Why the leading group let Pinot, who is know as a poor descender, lead them down was a strange decision. It let Alaphilippe get back to them.

Chapeau to Nairo Quintana, fantastic final climb to take the stage victory.

As for the GC I think tomorrow is the day they finally crack Alaphilippe but I have no idea who will benefit from it to take yellow.

 

[mexicohockey]

Wow, that's a tough break for Pinot. I feel incredibly sorry for the guy

 

[Yorkshire Leaf]

Me too, tough to watch just before he abandoned.

 

[Maverick41]

Wow, that's a tough break for Pinot. I feel incredibly sorry for the guy

Me too. He did such a great job trying to win back the time he had lost on the 10th stage.
I really loved his fight this tour, but once again he can't make it to the end, poor guy.

 

[mexicohockey]

Incredible. First Ala shows serious cracks and now the snow! That's some awesome stuff!

 

[Maverick41]

This makes for fun television, but I guess many of the riders aren't as excited about this.

 

[MAHJ71]

Totally bummed for Alaphilippe ... no doubt in my mind he's catching on the descent and then its a brawl on the final climb.

 

[MAHJ71]

And of course for Pinot.. having to abandon the race.. wonder when that injury really started..

Tough day for France as a nation all around.

 

[Maverick41]

And of course for Pinot.. having to abandon the race.. wonder when that injury really started..

Tough day for France as a nation all around.

Agreed.
I am very excited that Buchmann is still hanging around with the top guys, but I was really rooting for one of the French riders to win the whole thing, even though going into the second week I picked Bernal to win in an online poll.

This has to be one of the heartbreaking outcomes for France in recent years.

 

[mexicohockey]

Totally bummed for Alaphilippe ... no doubt in my mind he's catching on the descent and then its a brawl on the final climb.

Alaphilippe is a beneficiary of the cancellation. I am sure he would have lost around five minutes had the finish been in Tignes. Thomas, Buchmann and Kruijswijk are the riders who got hosed. For sure they were were counting on regaining time on Bernal on the last 30k working together.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Bernal was going to destroy them on the last climb, and Ala was going to lose easily 3-4 minutes.

Bernal showing he is the most promising climber in the peloton, by far. He might already be the best climber.

Tomorrow's stage is a joke. 59 km? I might as well get my bike and go with them. Gift wrapping the podium to Ala

 

[MAHJ71]

Bernal was going to destroy them on the last climb, and Ala was going to lose easily 3-4 minutes.

Bernal showing he is the most promising climber in the peloton, by far. He might already be the best climber.

Tomorrow's stage is a joke. 59 km? I might as well get my bike and go with them. Gift wrapping the podium to Ala

Probably (about Bernal)

But nothing has been gift wrapped to Alaphilippe.. he's earned just about everything he's did in this tour, with quite the opposite of the team support that Bernal has.

 

[mexicohockey]

Ala will drop to 5th from my point of view. This stage will be an insane carnage. Bernal for the win of the Tour, Thomas and one of Kruijswijk and Buchmann for the Podium. Bernal should also win the KOM.

 

[mexicohockey]

Showtime!

 

[mexicohockey]

Alaphilippe getting dropped as expected

 

[Savi]

What an incredibly disappointing stage this is. Nobody doing anything.

 

[Havre]

Riders are just too tired. I was hoping Kruijswijk could attack, but always unlikely with the shortening yesterday and today. And he clearly didn’t have the legs today anyway.

 

[Fighter]

Thanks' god there's Nibali to bring some excitement. Kruijswijk doing squat and not attacking one single time in the entire Tour together with the lame tactics of the Movistar team are the big mysteries of this Tour de France.
Congrats to Bernal a 22yo winner is something, this kid will be a damn good one and has the straongest team to support him. I hope to see him at the Giro d'Italia next year.

 

[mexicohockey]

Riders are just too tired. I was hoping Kruijswijk could attack, but always unlikely with the shortening yesterday and today. And he clearly didn’t have the legs today anyway.

Kruijswijk also didn't have a need to attack. As soon as Alaphilippe got dropped he had the podium spot under control. Was enough for him the stay with Buchmann who also hadn't his best day.

Overall a very entertaining Tour.