NWR the Cycling Thread

Out in the desert for a group ride early tomorrow. They filmed the Jaku scenes from Star Wars here.

I thought I would get a cheeky short ride in before sunset. A mistake really as it was still 45 degrees when I got on the bike and 42 when I got off. Managed 75 mins and consumed all 3 litres of water I was carrying!

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Fantastic final day in the Dauphine.
That's a lot for the tour to live up to!.

The big questions for Ritchie Porte are a) will his team have enough quality to support him in the tour b) will he have one of his off days and blow it all.

Roll on July!
 
Porte by far the strongest rider the the Dauphiné, but they rather ganged up on him. When he gets over the disappointment, he should take huge confidence into the TdF. BMC probably need to take Rohan Dennis and TJ van G as well as Nicholas Roche to have the team strength needed. I don't think they will though. Hope the Tour de Suisse crashes haven't been too bad.

TdF looks surprisingly open. Maybe Froome is just a little under-prepared, maybe there is some truth in rumours discontent within Sky?
 
Ian

Froome is definitely under cooked-I suspect they have looked at his previous years and tried to adjust in the hope he doesn't fade for the Vuelta in order to bag 2 GT's but he looks dangerously under done as a result and I very much doubt that he can make that up in just 3 weeks.
What he will have is a fabulous team at his disposal-I expect that following the Dauphine Sky will now pack the team with climbers: My prediction is they will take Nieve, Landa, Thomas, Henao all for the mountains and just Rowe and Stannard for the grunt work (they won't have a pleasant time), they will also take Kwiatowski as an in between rider and probably Kennaugh as well although he never seems to live up to his potential. Thats some climbing power and they will be throwing those guys off the front in the mountains. I just don't see BMC being able to cope with that-Dennis is no use in the high mountains and TJ Van G is as underwhelming as Kennaugh-hes not the guy you want as your number 2 when the hand to hand stuff starts. As a result I can't see Porte winning despite quite clearly being the strongest at present.

John
 
Hi John
Talk of Knees being another option for the grunt work, and with Stannard having to abandon the Dauphiné, he might have to come in anyway and has been riding well. Wout Poels is another strongly tipped to make the cut, and you could look at Poels for Kennaugh and think that would be an improvement.

Not sure yet about Dennis in the mountains - the Giro was meant to test that transition, but his crash put paid to that. Would TJ be a good (or even willing) domestique? The jury is out. They have other guys, but would Hermans, Sanchez be a reliable last man? No IMO. They probably need a spread like Sky: Porte + 2-3 grunts, the rest forming a flexible team of climbers, some on form early, others expecting to build form towards 2nd and 3rd weeks. A team where the last helper on the previous stage, doesn't have to do the same on the next stage.

Going to be interesting.

regards
Ian
 
Was quite impressive how, on a single climb, Porte who had been chasing on his own for a while took well over a minute from Froome... This may encourage him (or others) to attack earlier in the mountain stages. Fuglsang also quite impressive...
 
Ian

I can't see how Poels could possibly be at the level required to influence the tour given how long he's been out.
I agree with you analysis regarding BMC and would say that if you look at those names and compare them with those available to Sky (or Movistar) they are not remotely in the same class.
Porte will be free styling without support a la Dumoulin.

John
 
Did the Medio Fondo route @ The Dragon Ride in South Wales with fun climbs up the Bwlch, Rhigos & the Devils Elbow (with Didi the Devil of Tour de France fame by the roadside cheering everybody on!). A tough day not helped by lashing rain, hailstones and scary cross winds on the descents! Very happy to have survived.
 
Porte/Froome revives the old if you're on form for the Dauphine you've peaked too soon for the tour debate.

It's only recently (IIRC from when Wiggins won) that it became the thing to win both, historically it was a bit of a no-no.

I suspect sky are trying to keep Froome fresh for the 3rd week of tour, as to allay the threat from Quintana, which ironically now they won't need to worry about now anyway as he'll still be cooked from the Giro ;)
 
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