Decades from now, riders will compete not only for the general, points, and mountain classifications, but also for the Sagan classification awarded to the rider with the most second place finishes.
I really thought he would take that - was in an excellent spot. Great stage to watch. Think Sagan has been on the podium in second or third 24 times in the Tour. since 2012.
Peraud’s crash was bad, although I didn’t catch what caused it - it must have been a very rough road surface, left him with mangled arms, bibs shredded and his bollocks hanging out! Back on the bike like a warrior.
Ah, yes, le maillot beige.
And carried bottles up to his team mates. :eek:
heh. 
People still do the bungee jumping thing?
Weird.
Would have been more interesting had the jumper been duct taped to a bicycle.
Okay… can I just say -
Fuck you Hannah, and the horse you rode in on.
And no, Neil Patrick Harris, not the horse. I literally wouldn’t do that.
I know Millar disagrees, but I reckon the tour is all but over. The only real hope is for a few guys like Contador and Quintana and Valverde (maybe Van Garderen? But I’m less sold on him) to gang up on him. I’m not sure any of them have the form, however.
I am quite happy, as a fan of Bardet and Pinot, that they are both making a real effort to salvage their tours. Especially Bardet who is headed back toward the top 10 - and considering his terrible start would be quite an accomplishment. You have to figure 2 or 3 guys ahead of him will have a bad day in the Alps and he has proven more than capable of staying with the big guys in the past. I expect lots of attacks from the two of them.
I’d also be willing to put a little money on Pinot to show on Huez who has seen his gc chances fizzle but is showing he is rounding into pretty good form.
Froome seems unbeatable.
I think Quintana assured his 2nd place finish.
I think Tejay is showing signs of cracking. He’s going to slip further in the Alps.
I’d like to think Valverde is only going to get stronger and assure a podium standing but he’s not consistent enough of a rider for me to invest too much emotionally in that outcome.
Did I hear right… a fan punched Richie Porte? WTF?
Also, who was Tinkoff talking about firing with two months pay? That guy is such an ass.
What looks promising for me is the prospect of Contador attacking. He says he should be fitter by the Alps (we will see) so if that’s even close to being the case, you can expect him to give a go. Lots.
I’m not sure about that. Some say the terrain in Alps suits him better. I still think he has a real shot at the podium.
There’s still life in the GC I reckon - Froome is looking imperious, but all it takes is one mediocre day. Un jour sans, as they say. Quintana looked in great nick there, Valverde’s got good legs atm.
Froome got a faceful of pish flung at him today - some cretin in the crowd. Froome’s a very mildly-spoken, polite chap, even by English standards, but he was obviously well wound up about it in the post-race interview.
It really seems as though he’s just defending his position though, rather than attacking to move on up. He’s already lost his second place, and with the people behind him attacking more than him, I anticipate him losing more ground.
Well, the pro-Tejay line would be that he is better suited to longer, less steep climbs rather than the shorter steeper ones such as at the end of Saturday’s stage. The climbs in the Alps tend towards the former type, and so Tejay should do better there than he did in the Pyrenees relative to the pure climbers like Quintana. We’ll see, I guess. I’m less enthusiastic about his chances for a podium finish than I was earlier. It seems to me like Movistar might well conclude than winning the GC is out of reach and shift their goals to putting both Quintana and Valverde on the podium. With Nibali out of contention and Contador looking vulnerable, that seems quite achievable given the current standings. If Valverde blows himself up for Quintana in one of the Alpine stages, then all Tejay needs to stay on the podium is to hang with Contador, but if Movistar are no longer riding for the win then that won’t happen and Tejay’s position is far more precarious.
Mind you, it could be precarious anyways if Bertie recovers his form in the last week. Sure didn’t look like it yesterday, though.
Little bit annoyed with hearing about Tejay’s ‘bid diesel engine’. What good is his big diesel engine when his transmission only has one gear? That guy is not getting up the Alps any quicker than he got up the Pyrenees. He’s proven he can hang okay with the top climbers in the low gear, but in classic form of a diesel engine, he doesn’t have it when the accelerations start coming.
He’s a good rider. Just not podium good.
For a minute there, I held my breath for Ryder Hesjedahl when he was in a break. Alas, only for a minute.
^ Agree. The top riders and their teams are going to have to start doing something other than sucking off team Sky’s wheel all day long. This goes for Tejay as much as any of the other contenders. Otherwise, they are all just riding for 2nd place. 3 mins is not insurmountable at this point, but these teams had better start doing something other than the status quo in the Alps if they want to change the current order. They are all fast running out of opportunities.
Unless Froom cracks there is nothing anyone can do to beat him. Simple as that.
It pretty much is, actually, unless Froome cracks in the Alps. It does look like Movistar and Tinkoff Saxo will be attacking, but they can’t win the race. They can only hope Froome loses it.
Sagan second again. He even joked about it afterwards - “I knew the descent from two years ago and from seeing it on television with the Beloki crash. I was again very close. I’m glad because I was going for second place. No, I’m joking. I really don’t know what I should do better. I tried everything.” Green jersey an absolute lock now, barring crashing out of the race.
Yeah, but the real story of Stage 16 is Geraint Thomas bouncing off that lamp post and into a 10 foot ditch only to get back up and finish with just a few seconds lost.
Sagan needs to learn to settle down and focus. He’s just all over the place during a race. Wastes tons of energy going back to the car and up front again. It also feels a little bit like he’s not getting the coaching and management that would help him develop his GC rider skills because no team wants to lose a great sprint man. Clearly he’s got other asperations.
Tejay retires - struggled horribly today and is ill with something. He seemed to be fighting through it but it was too much. Looked (understandably) devastated at having to call it a day.
Paul Sherwen v upset that his stock of cliches now reduced by one - the big V8 diesel now up on blocks.
Froome took that descent like a boss - he may pedal like an octopus falling out of a tree, and stare at his stem all the time, but it gets the job done.