I like Nibbles and Contadoper. Quite frankly, when they can't be fucked then the grand tour is boring. They do all sorts of crazy shit that makes it fun and both of them are willing to lose in order to try and win, unlike boring Movistar.

Whatevs. The best thing that can happen is that Froome smashes 2 minutes into everyone in the TT so that it becomes abundantly clear that they need to attack. Right now this 23 second rubbish is convincing Movistar they can win this way, which they won't.

I'll take that action Pommy....I like Quintana.   He has been patiently stalking his prey waiting for that big Praying Mantis to make a mistake or show some weakness... and when he does....

http://thecyclingpodcast.com/

I love this podcast.

@adam ,Why is the tour boring you ?
We've had Cav's surprise wins, Breakaway victory's, collapsing 1 k to go signs ,Froome descending on his kids bike, And mountains galore to come 
I wish every day could be Paris Roubaix , but still, I'm loving the tour

I love this stupid podcast

http://www.speedmetalcycling.com/

I love that Froome is attacking I do...but....he has been burning a ton of matches...Geraint Thomas looked completely shelled at the end...Froome will need hid team and fresh legs for tomorrow's finishing climb...will he have either tomorrow??? Popcorn time at the Tour tomorrow...can't wait

Well that
[spoiler]
was unexpected!

[/spoiler]

Shortening Ventoux because of a few puffs of wind. Wusses!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPwAIo0fseM

I am really annoyed with Sky's controlling this tour down to the weather. You know they shortened thursday's stage because they didn't want as many attacks on Ventoux.

shits gonna get real on that climb...shortening it just means teams are going to go even harder to dismantle SKY and leave Froome isolated

@Adam Fabian
another bloody boring stage

Absolute mayhem.

Incredibly unclassy and uninspired riding from Movistar

Please...please somebody get me a GIF of Froome Dog running up the Ventaux

I get that racing against Sky is really hard.

[spoiler] At the same time, it blows my mind that just about every team with a GC hope sits around until the final climb.  And that some GC riders think it makes sense to trade pulls with Froome in the final kilometers of a climb.  

There is no way a big guy like Stannnard should be making pace for the pack on the penultimate climb. When that happens, chances are Froome is not going to be in trouble.  

So much wrong with the top teams.  Movistar and BMC are at the top of that list.  Though Astana could have picked up a tactical gambit from Nibali today: of course they didn't.  And Orica could have as well--no way Gerrans should have been setting the pace for Sky.  He should have been in the early break.     

And waiting for sky when they crashed on the descent was bizarre.  I understand waiting for the yellow jersey.  But his domestiques shouldn't receive the same deference.  'Sorry, Froome, but they aren't protected by you' is what Movistar should have told him.  'Bad luck, but that's racing. We'll take it from here.' [/spoiler]

Agree with all above .
I'm perplexed by the team Movistar has bought, Nobody strong for the flats and the climbers don't seem up to their jobs either,
Valverde is no road captain ( well not one to be trusted )

twoyacks said:

Please...please somebody get me a GIF of Froome Dog running up the Ventaux

Go to Deadspin, they have a pretty great gif going on.

Sitting up after the crash on the descent was ridiculous. I admire and understand sportsmanship, but that looked to me like gutless subservience. 

yes they do

Pretty sure this counts as breaking rule #42…

Crowds were not that crazy ,is this Moto the dude from red hook crit?

we don't see what was in front of him...I suspect there were drunk fucktards all over the road and he had to brake...where were the barriers?  The tour organizers are shit...the riders are all correct this year from the GC teams having to crowd the sprints to the shitty run ins to the finish to the utter lack of crowd control = disgrace and makes Red Hook look highly professional by comparison 

The organization of the Tour is not worth the event that represents. Every single year there is some problem of logistic, organization, medical cars, deflated flan rouge... you name it. Ridiculous french.

As crazy as yesterday's stage finish was, it is part of what I love about professional cycling.  

I love that the fans are so close.  I love that chaos is still possible.  I love that riders are willing to at least pretend that there are certain circumstances that they don't want to win.

As for all the blame heaped on the organization, I'm inclined to go easy on them. There was a few kilometers worth of fencing up by the original finish.  In addition, it was Bastille day, so that many more spectators.  And the folks who would have been spread out over four extra km, were crammed on what has always appeared to be a narrower road than the one above the tree line.  

I would have preferred to see Mollema attack Froome and get a few seconds on him, and that the chasers had a chance to gain or lose more time.  But the craziness reminds me that the Tour actually does a pretty good job most of the time.

We see this chaos at almost every bike race. Shit I was in the break leading Battenkill when a marshal sent me left instead of right. Whitey was nearly trampled by runaway horses at Catskills. How about semi-closed stages at the Giro, or team busses stuck under arches, or too hot, too wind, too cold, too wet, etc. The list goes on and on.

They took all the fans from the top of the course that was closed and jammed them down to the finish of the shorter stage. This one seems inevitable.

I'm happy nobody was hurt and the race wasn't ruined or changed for it.

Yes I'd love to see a "clean" polemic-free race, but that's really fucking hard. As is having a moto that doesn't stall in the hole-shot, if you ask Trimble...

GiacomoVischi said:

The organization of the Tour is not worth the event that represents. Every single year there is some problem of logistic, organization, medical cars, deflated flan rouge... you name it. Ridiculous french.

@GiacomoVischi Watch your language pal. 

I motorcycle marshall with a sidecar...for real...spun out on the chicane downhill at Central Park and almost killed me once....Oh and a towed sea plane drove across my path at Floyd once...I'm sure I have more...just need some coffee

.