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Le Tour de France (NWT)

deacs1995 said:
contador withdraws reportedly due to a sickness and fever
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definitely an unfortunate way to go out for him, but i'm honestly surprised he stuck with it even for as many stages as he did.

BobHWS said:
Today Froome surprised me and everyone else. And he doubly surprised everyone by gaining the win and the yellow jersey with a fantastic downhill attack ride to the finish.
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that was pretttyyyyyy much amazing. I tried riding like that on my ride today - it's hard enough to get down onto the top tube, but to do that AND pedal AND be going crazypants 50+ mph on a descent you don't even know?! absolutely bonkers. perfect and beautiful to watch, too - he couldn't have timed it any better.

vadimivich said:
Hailing on a mountain top finish ... Jesus. That looks unfun.
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yeahhhh, a whole lot of NOPE to that.
 
BobHWS said:
It was another surprising day today thanks to the effects of the wind on a relatively flat stage. However, I never expected to see green jersey wearer Sagan sprint for the win against yellow jersey wearing Froome. It just goes to show that anything can happen even on a seemingly routine day. Quintana and his team did a good job to limit his time loss to just 12 seconds.

It was disappointing to hear about the shortening of Thursday's climb up the Ventoux because of the anticipated high winds on the top of the mountain. This change might mean that there is less chance of a dramatic battle on the Ventoux. On the other hand, maybe it will increase the drama. On verra.
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Lol there was drama
 
Glad to see they corrected Froome's time due to the idiots blocking the road. Spectators should not be allowed to interfere like that (blocking the road). Very Surprised to see the rider who hit the motorcycle get up and continue riding. Also a very nasty crash on a downhill turn! Lots of drama.
 
BobHWS said:
I think the root cause of the crash that brought down Froome was the shortening of the final climb. As shown in the map below, the road to the top of the Ventoux is normally about 16K long. Because of the high winds , the stage finished at the 10K point.

Now assume that X thousands of people had planned to line the route to watch the climb. Normally they would be spread out (though not evenly) over the full 16K. Some people would be near the bottom, some near the middle and the most would be near the top of the climb.

When they announced the shortening of the climb, the people who had been planning to gather along the mountain did not change their plans-the same number of people showed up. But now they had to fit along a 10KM route instead of a 16KM route. Worse, the road where the finish took place (at 10KM) is more narrow and tree-lined than the top of the mountain, which is barren with lots more space for people to spread out. Since today's finish was lower down the mountain, it was also easier for people to reach the finish. Also, to make matters even worse, today (July 14) is a national holiday in France and the start of a long weekend. So more people would be free to attend the race.

In hindsight, the result was predictable: there were just too many people crowded into too small a space and that was what ultimately caused the crash. The police simply could not control the crowd. Perhaps the organizers should have anticipated the problem and limited the number of people who could access the road up the Ventoux. However, i don't think they ever do that, though they do close access to the road well before the riders arrive at the climb. People who want to see the climb know that they have to arrive at least several hours before the riders.

All in all, quite a dramatic day and in the end the organizers made the right decision to keep Froome in yellow.


PROFILCOLSCOTES_1.png
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Agree with Froome keeping the yellow jersey. Was quite humurous to see him running up the mountain after his frame was broken in the crash. But, very poor planning by the organizers by not having crowd barrier in the narrowest section of the climb. Looked like a cluster F in that section, jammed with crowds, cars, and motorcycles.
 
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Notice one of Buzz's Barnyard's on the right. uggg
 
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He may not be one of the all-time overall greats, but will be one of the greatest riders to race the TDF. You don't win the TDF this many times and not be considered one of the best TDF riders ever. I do agree whole heartedly with you Sagan.
 
So these descents are pretty difficult...
ct-french-cyclist-tour-de-france-crash-20160716
 
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