Bad day for Andrew Talansky today. He came into the race expecting to contend for a podium finish. Instead, he had back problems today and barely finished inside the time limit. I find it remarkable that Chris Horner, at age 42, can still ride a Tour.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Hip Redux
I felt bad for Talansky. I've been there with back pain and he really looked uncomfortable.
Labrat
In no surprise to anyone, he didn't start today.
5K 20:23 (Vdot 48.7) 9/9/17
10K 44:06 (Vdot 46.3) 3/11/17
HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17
FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18
That's a shame but, once again, it shows how difficult it is to win the Tour.
Not just riding the tour
Brian Robinson, the first Englishman to complete a TDF (1955) was injured when his bike was hit by a car in Yorkshire.
He was also the first Britsih Rider to win a stage, and wear the yellow Jersey
(He also won the Dauhpine in 1961)
He is 83 and still VERY active. Hope I can manage to do the same.
Did you guys catch Kittel yelling at Chavanel about the crash? Heh, he was pissed!
Uffda
Nope, didn't catch that. I did see Sagan miss out on a stage win though.
I might have missed it, but do they actually get anything for winning the stage?
- Andrew
World Tour ranking points (a big issue when negotiating contracts for some)
22 500 Euros (Usually split amongst the whole team)
To put that into perspective, winning the green jersey at the end is worth only a little more 25 000 Euros
(this pales before the GC winner of 450 000 Euros)
As of the rest day, my quick thoughts.
Nibali has this locked up unless he crashes or has a really bad day.
Teejay van Garderen has a decent shot at a podium finish if he can stay in touch in the next few stages. These are sharper climbs than the Alpine stages so they don't suit him as well but he's a very good time trialist and he may be able to snag 60-90 seconds back from the pure climbers on that next to last day.
This has been, by far, the most unpredictable Tour I have ever seen.
I spoke too soon. Teejay had a tough day yesterday and dropped from 5th to 6th. We'll see how he recovers today.
Caretaker/Overlook Hotel
Ya, that was a bit of a bummer. Movistar just put the power to the ground & Teejay got dropped pretty bad.
Stil amazing how they do what they do so I can't knock Teejay. Just kinda shows he's human. But he'll definitely have to have at least one more good day before the time trial if he's going to get a shot at the podium. I wouldn't leave it all up to the TT to make up that gap.
Go Teejay!
Randy
The Tour has turned a bit boring. Nibali has completely dominated the race. It would have been interesting to see if Froome and Contador could have challenged. There might have been a battle for Yellow all the way to Paris.
Does look like the podium is set now.
The Green Jersey, Mountain jersey are sewn up. Both riders just need to finish to win them.
The white jersey is closer, but at over 90 secs that one seems to be won barring any accidents as well.
Only stage wins to play for, and after today, they are flat (Kittel) or the time trial (Martin).
The crashes really messed up this year as a exciting sporting event.
So long as Nibali stays upright, I don't see anyone challenging him!
Yes, and despite the fact that we here (and probably the good majority of folks) find that the tour has become less interesting, notice how much Phil, Paul & the gang are pitching how this is "the most interesting/exciting tour we've seen in years". I wonder how many cue cards have been written with that on it.
I get it, they've got to promote and there certainly have been good "moments" in this tour, but I wouldn't call it the best in years. It just ain't so.
Still, I like the fact that despite Nibali basically owning the yellow jersey, he still is doing as much attacking as protecting. He will be a great champion of the tour, assuming he wins!!
P.S. Maybe interesting if Sagan can challenge for at least one stage win before it's over!