# Tour de France 2018 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 12, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792 "2018-07-12T17:29:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/41 "2018-07-24T20:56:39Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > It’s a very short stage tomorrow - three mountain climbs but just 65K. It’s actually a gridded start, which sounds quite gimmicky but given the state of the race maybe we’ll see some explosivity! I really hope so. The stages have been interesting for the breakaways and the chases, but the top 10 have barely changed in the past half dozen stages. It’s still interesting viewing, but there’s little volatility in the general classification. We need a stage to really blow things apart. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/42 "2018-07-25T00:55:23Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Did you see Phil Gil’s crash? Misjudged a corner and had a spectacular over the bars down a ravine - thankfully he was OK(ish), climbed back out and finished the stage. Believe he has pulled out of the Tour now as he hurt his knee in the crash. Just saw that. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/43 "2018-07-25T01:01:44Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Just saw that. Ouch. Me too. Ouch indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/44 "2018-07-25T11:16:08Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Great post mate. Would read again. I chuckled, but there is a serious point here, isn’t there? Maybe this isn’t the thread to be discussing it, so I won’t make a prolonged hijack, but what do the experts think about whether Team Sky is legit, or not? I did a quick Google search and found [this](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/david-walsh-chris-froome-salbutamol-adverse-test-result-vuelta-a-espana-a8115196.html) from December 2017 - I assume Walsh hasn’t publicly spoken about the subsequent dropping of the Froome investigation. I want to believe in Wiggins, Froome (and Thomas) and Team Sky but as Walsh has also said in the past, they said they would hold themselves to higher standards and they haven’t really done that. So the suspicion will always be that they are simply better at skirting the fringes of the rules than anyone else. None of that justifies the behaviour of some of the crown towards them, of course. Froome and Thomas must be somewhat glad that England didn’t get to the World Cup Final and beat France, not sure it would even have been safe for them to participate in that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/45 "2018-07-25T15:44:37Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I want to believe in Wiggins, Froome (and Thomas) and Team Sky but as Walsh has also said in the past, they said they would hold themselves to higher standards and they haven’t really done that. There’s a certain irony in seeing the guys with #PassOnPlastic on their jerseys throwing water bottles and food wrappers all over France. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/46 "2018-07-25T16:35:06Z")
Good racing today, if not the explosion we were hoping for. Superb climbing from Quintana - you can criticise him for the usual reasons of not doing it when it counts etc, but just in terms of watching an artist at work on the bicycle that was impressive. The G-Man looks like he has it - Froome cracked, he’s the strongest rider there. State of the gridded start - doubt we’ll be seeing that again any time soon. Would have been funny to see one of the Leaders go off cyclcocross style, just to highlight the ridiculousness of it all, in the event they all just casually clipped in and rolled off. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/47 "2018-07-26T04:08:13Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Good racing today, if not the explosion we were hoping for. Superb climbing from Quintana - you can criticise him for the usual reasons of not doing it when it counts etc, but just in terms of watching an artist at work on the bicycle that was impressive. The G-Man looks like he has it - Froome cracked, he’s the strongest rider there. > > State of the gridded start - doubt we’ll be seeing that again any time soon. Would have been funny to see one of the Leaders go off cyclcocross style, just to highlight the ridiculousness of it all, in the event they all just casually clipped in and rolled off. I keep hearing how good Quintana was, but it was as much a function of Sky feeling he wasn’t a threat anymore as it was his climbing prowess. After the initial attack he didn’t really add any extra time. If the GC crew felt he was a threat, they would’ve marked him. Every rider ahead of him is a far superior time trialist. I’m about 85% sure the race is over, but Saturday is hard. Some team needs to shatter sky up Tourmalet then keep the pace high up Aubisque and nearing the last 5k of the climb, Dumoulin and Roglic need to convince Bardet and his descending prowess to go with them with the promise of the stage win. The three of them can handle a bike and are strong enough to stay away on the descent. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/48 "2018-07-26T04:20:38Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Video won’t play in the U.S. > > I’d forgotten what a disgraceful zoo the spectators are on some of those mountain climbs. speaking of which, has the Devil made an appearance? My Fubo trial ended on Bastille Day, so nothing but clips for me. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/49 "2018-07-26T05:22:49Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > All the doping scandals pretty much soured me on the whole thing. It’s almost as if the winner will be the guy they weren’t able to catch cheating. Kinda funny coming from someone that watches the sport that has been the epitome of hypocrisy when it comes to drug testing. The Tour is there for Thomas to win. He hasn’t put a foot wrong the entire race, hasn’t even looked like he might possibly have potential to be having a bad day (unlike Simon Yates at the Giro, when there were small cracks in the armor early in week 3). And Froome is almost certainly going to end up 3rd, Dumoulin will pass him in the time trial. Dumoulin can win if he can take 4 seconds per km off Thomas on the last time trial, which I believe is a hilly 31km course. That doesn’t sound impossible to me. Either of those three winning would be really cool, for different reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/50 "2018-07-26T06:36:17Z")
> [@4d3fect](#): > > speaking of which, has the Devil made an appearance? My Fubo trial ended on Bastille Day, so nothing but clips for me. I saw him in the Alps but only the once. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/51 "2018-07-26T06:47:16Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > The Tour is there for Thomas to win. He hasn’t put a foot wrong the entire race, hasn’t even looked like he might possibly have potential to be having a bad day (unlike Simon Yates at the Giro, when there were small cracks in the armor early in week 3). And Froome is almost certainly going to end up 3rd, Dumoulin will pass him in the time trial. Dumoulin is already ahead of Froome. In Stage 17, Thomas gained 5 seconds on Dumoulin, who gained 43 seconds on Froome. The top 3 are: 1. Geraint Thomas 2. Tom Dumoulin (+1:59) 3. Chris Froome (+2:31) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/52 "2018-07-26T08:13:20Z")
> [@4d3fect](#): > > My Fubo trial ended on Bastille Day, so nothing but clips for me. The best solution for cycling at the moment is VPN to the UK, and a Eurosport Player subscription. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/53 "2018-07-26T08:58:54Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I saw him in the Alps but only the once. There’s a brilliant photo of Alaphilippe and Didi from yesterday - first post in this thread from another forum: [https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tour-de-france-stage-17-bagneres-de-luchon-saint-lary-soulan-col-du-portet/page/5/](https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tour-de-france-stage-17-bagneres-de-luchon-saint-lary-soulan-col-du-portet/page/5/) ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/54 "2018-07-28T05:00:53Z")
I’ll just leave this here. > **[Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean? - Freakonomics](https://freakonomics.com/podcast/has-lance-armstrong-finally-come-clean/)** > > Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean? - Freakonomics ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/55 "2018-07-28T07:14:35Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > I’ll just leave this here. > > [Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean? - Freakonomics](http://freakonomics.com/podcast/lance-armstrong/) Fuck Lance. Seriously. He’s still not sorry for what he did; he’s just sorry he got caught. If he had just doped, I could forgive him. Miguel Indurain was up to his eyeballs in EPO and everyone still loves him. Whatever. Everyone was up to their eyeballs in EPO back then. The difference between Big Mig and Lance is that Miguel isn’t a giant flaming asshole. Lance did his level best to destroy everyone who had the temerity to question how he achieved his wins. Keep in mind that everyone was cheating and everyone knew everyone was cheating, so suggesting that someone was cheating was hardly like breaking the Watergate break-in. But Emma O’Reilly was a whore and Betsy Andreu was a crazy bitch and David Walsh was sued for libel. Fuck Lance. On the other hand, hell of a ride by Roglic getting away on that descent, though I was pulling for Bardet to achieve the same feat. A bit tired of Team Sky at grand tours at the moment. Hopefully someone else can come up with something at the Vuelta. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/56 "2018-07-28T22:03:59Z")
Tom Dumoulin wins stage 20, Garaint Thomas wins the tour (barring stage 21 shenanigans) Best US finish: Tejay Van Garderen in 32nd (he was third after stage 8) Brian ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792/57 "2018-07-29T21:46:18Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Fuck Lance. Seriously. He’s still not sorry for what he did; he’s just sorry he got caught. > > If he had just doped, I could forgive him. Miguel Indurain was up to his eyeballs in EPO and everyone still loves him. Whatever. Everyone was up to their eyeballs in EPO back then. The difference between Big Mig and Lance is that Miguel isn’t a giant flaming asshole. > > Lance did his level best to destroy everyone who had the temerity to question how he achieved his wins. Keep in mind that everyone was cheating and everyone knew everyone was cheating, so suggesting that someone was cheating was hardly like breaking the Watergate break-in. But Emma O’Reilly was a whore and Betsy Andreu was a crazy bitch and David Walsh was sued for libel. > > Fuck Lance. > > On the other hand, hell of a ride by Roglic getting away on that descent, though I was pulling for Bardet to achieve the same feat. A bit tired of Team Sky at grand tours at the moment. Hopefully someone else can come up with something at the Vuelta. 100% agree. Lots of former dopers are accepted - warmly, even - simply be not being an asshole. LA is simply incapable of not being an asshole. I have to admit - and it pains me to say this - but his podcast The Move is actually really interesting and informative, but the co-host will say something like, so Lance when you were winning the TdF, what did the pros do about xyz, and LA will come back with ‘well, Wikipedia now says I didn’t win any TdFs, so’. It makes me want to punch him in the face. “Dude, there’s a very good reason Wiki says that; sarcasm isn’t the best look for you, ok”? Everyone was doping. I fully agree with his assessment that someone not doping had essentially 0% chance to win. Just don’t be an asshole! Pete Rose and Lance Armstrong. Arguably two people that were one of the very best to ever play the game, banned from the game that they helped defined and defined them, because they could never understand the sport being bigger than any one individual. The Giro was more interesting and dramatic in a lot of ways this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Tour. A lot of great stories, we finally have a Texan we can really look up to and respect for the right reasons in Lawson Craddock, fantastic race by G and I’m super happy for him, Froome was the gentleman right to the very end and rode a fantastic time trial, Dumoulin a deserving win as well, Sagan in green again and soldiering on after a horrible crash, Cavendish riding to the end knowing he was going to get dq’d, some new sprinter starts made a name for themselves… Froome and Thomas are both over 30. Dumoulin is only 27. He’s not an explosive climber, but he’s clearly go the pedigree; could have a couple more grand tours in him if the team around him is there. How long before Team Sky is able to reload with Egan Bernal? Please please please Team Sky, kick Moscon off the team. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tour-de-france-2018/817792.md?page=2)