I love the field of talent this year. With Froome racing the Giro and being under the magnifying glass for cheating (allegedly), I think it's anyone's race.

If I were a betting man, I'd probably still put money on froome, but Valverde, Landa, Domoulin, Porte, and maybe even Tejay have a shot.

Also, Lawson Craddock is a beast for making the time cut today and Chad Haga (the Aggie) is a must follow for some whitty tweets after each stage

What are Haga's chances of staying in the top 50 of GC? That would be pretty impressive

tk for tu juan said:

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What are Haga's chances of staying in the top 50 of GC? That would be pretty impressive

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His best result in a grand tour was 71 in this year's Giro... so top 50 is maybe a tall order. If Domoulin has some issues and falls out of contention, I could see the team sending him ahead to try for a stage win in week 3 or in a breakaway to help Domoulin in the mountains.

I just want to see a tour that isn't decided until the very end, which is now really the day before Paris. LeMond's win in 1989 is still one of my top 5 sports events.

JCRiley09 said:

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tk for tu juan said:

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What are Haga's chances of staying in the top 50 of GC? That would be pretty impressive

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His best result in a grand tour was 71 in this year's Giro... so top 50 is maybe a tall order. If Domoulin has some issues and falls out of contention, I could see the team sending him ahead to try for a stage win in week 3 or in a breakaway to help Domoulin in the mountains.

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Due to other commitments, I have only been perusing the headlines until they got to the Alps, but have watched the last couple of days. Domoulin is in contention for yellow and as no one rider can do it alone, that is a compliment to the teammates who supported him, including Chad Haga, who has some wonderful tweets regarding each stage on his Twitter account.

Sky with the one-two punch looks pretty good, but some of their former teammates that are GC for other teams now are holding their own. Thomas looked very very strong today and leaves me guessing if Sky will keep him as understudy or let him go for it. He says he is riding for Froome, but at this point, Froome may want to say to heck with it and ride as support for Thomas. Saw a fan try and knock Froome over and that is just reprehensible. Some fans might not agree with the recent ruling, but they should save their ire for the officials and not try and influence the outcome of the race as its being contested, IMO. Landa looked good and then so-so and then good again but Nibali gets the nod for sheer competitiveness after getting knocked off his bike and still catching up to the leaders. The Dutch rider who led the stage most of the way, notwithstanding, being able to climb back on and pedal up that gradient to finish seventh is impressive. Bardet showed his usual flashes of brilliance and then couldn't quite put the hammer down long enough to hold off the others and Quintana just sort of faded away. Rogolic (sp?) is lurking so I don't know if he is waiting til the next mountain stages near the end or what, but unless something slows the Sky Train, it is looking more like a fight for the other two spots on the podium.

Props to Alpe d'Huez, for wringing every last bit of energy out of the riders. As they head into some less challenging terrain and with most of the big name sprinters gone, will be watching to see who wants to go for a stage victory.

DP- guess Nibali hurt his back and is withdrawing. Really too bad. The organizers leave a lot to be desired when it comes to rider security and safety.

Moscon of team sky punched another rider on course and got booted today,

Gig'em Chad!

...and I am getting REAL tired of U.K. Postal (Sky).

Anyone but Sky.

Tomorrow's 65k stage should be a wild ride. Pulling for Tom Dumillon.

DP

Well, it was a little less predictable in parts, but at the same time, no one in the #3-10 spots seemed all that willing to lay it on the line save Quintana and Dan Martin. Rogolic and Dumoulin seemed a little half-hearted but maybe they were just gassed, or thinking ahead to Friday and the last mountains. Froome blew up, but those short climbs don't seem to be his specialty anyhow but it moved TD up to second and he seems content to let Sky take all the attention so he can focus on getting to the TT in one piece and not worn out. Bardet is very inconsistent and I fear is watching the other top riders pull away from him in the GC. Wonder if he will give it a go on the last mountain stage.

Edit to add-from the sofa-cycle, it is easy peasy to second guess physical and mental exhaustion so I'm not trying to make light of that stage-it looked brutal and the temps at the bottom were warm. I have watched this race for so many years, and watching a rider summon that last little piece of grit in an attempt to keep ahead of the competition is addicting.

I know this stage was designed for casual viewers and I like to think that I'm more than a casual viewer, but I am all in for more short mountain stages. That was great tv (that grid start was dumb af though).

Was any video released of the Sagan crash?

This is funny: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/police-officer-causes-chris-froome-crash-tour-de-france-stage-17-finish-mistaking-fan-388101

I want to see Dan Martin race a Tour without crashing.

Me too, but Martin is both exhilarating and frustrating and so you never know what you're going to get. His impetuous nature can catch the other GC leaders off guard, but it also can leave him losing chunks of time. He's a gambler and full of guts and I don't know what the rest of the pros think of him, but if he keeps them a little less self-assured then so much the better.

#18- I thought this was going to be a little recovery day for the climbers, but the peloton is brisk thus far. Quintana and Yates had a crash. Yates has had a rough tour this go round and Quintana looked like he landed on his shoulder. Just in time for the soreness on Friday, the last mountain stage in the Pyrenees. Rough luck.

Will be looking for Haga sightings today as Sunweb looks to keep Dumoulin safe from harm and prepare for tomorrow.

If anyone can get some time back from Thomas, Dumoulin, Froome and Roglic tomorrow, it might make the time trial a little more exciting. Save for mechanicals and crashes, which I wouldn't wish on anyone, time trials can be thrilling when they are down to seconds instead of minutes.

I don't know about Roglic, but Froome, Dumoulin, and Thomas are all world class time trialists. It would be cool to see a TT where someone like Quintana has a minute on the field and see if a TT specialist can take the jersey right before Paris. Did that happen one of the schleck/contador years?

I can't recall. There were some years where I only watched in small bits here and there due to family life. You are spot on w/regard to the top three. They are amazing to watch in the TTs. That's why some of the others will have to risk it or concede it. I kinda hope some of them will risk it. This perhaps is the part where my enthusiasm for sport forgets that for the sponsors, it is business and the riders, professionals who must guage their careers on more than just one thing. But since I am a fan, I can speculate just as much as the talking heads even if I don't have their illustrious CVs!

Bardet, although loved by some French fans for his breakout climbing debut and Tours since, is now at risk of being passed up by younger riders, IMO. I've heard his team doesn't have great equipment but I don't know if that's true. Quintana is banged up a little, but if he can marshal anything, at least try a few attacks or if Roglic does, then grab his wheel and follow. Roglic is the question mark for me. I really think he will try something tomorrow to go for a podium spot that will set up the TT you are envisioning.
Edit to add-and I forgot Roglic's team mate Kruisjlik(sp?) who is pretty strong too.

Guess we will know soon!

Congratulations to Aggie Haga on his inaugural Tour, what an amazing experience!

And Haga was like 10 seconds away from being able to wear the Stars and Stripes jersey during the TT this year. So close!

It'll be cool to see if he can land a top 15-20 finish in a couple days.

Have the 19th stage on right now. The climbs in this stage after 3 grueling weeks look brutal. These guys look like they're really suffering.

Yeah and they have to race the TT tomorrow.
Looks like that crash Quintana had a day ago is leaving him too sore to keep up.

Love the attacks. Landa has some moxie, but he def should have some energy since he never appeared to be working as hard as Val Verde for Quintana in the Alps. Looks like the Yellow group will catch him but it was a risk Movistar had to take. Race isn't over yet tho and the Lotto group is launching attack after attack.

Bernal ought to get a raise from Sky. Great work.

Those descents through the fog tho

Roglic with the attack and amazing win. What a stage!

Movistar needs to wise up and make Landa their GC guy next year.

Tomorrows time trial should be nervy. The announcers are saying it is suited to Roglic. He doesn't seem to play it conservative so I'm going to expect him to try and move up to at least second. Am hoping Froome lays down a time that Roglic will have to beat in order to remain on the podium.After suffering the disappointment of other key riders (Porte and Uran) crashing out and others a little beat up, it would be nice to have a little suspense going into the next to last stage. Hoping everyone has a good ride no matter who wins. As usual, the scenery (on television) has been spectacular even if some of the fans have been less than sporting.

I don't know. He's 74, and though much beloved by fans for his commentary, I know he wasn't supposed to do the main announcing last year and viewers protested a lot. (Edit: viewers protested about his removal) He has done it for so long, it's hard to imagine a broadcast without his voice but assuming he keeps his private life private, I would only be guessing that the daily Tour grind may be as hard on the journalists as it is the support staff for the riders.


Froome is such a competitor. Was hoping he would lay down a fast time and ending up thisclose to the World Champion in TT is pretty good. But watch out for Roglic, he is going to be a fun one to watch next year.

And how about Aggie Haga?! Way to ride! Hope he enjoys the ride into Paris tomorrow. An Aggie ring and now having ridden in the three big Tours, quite a resume! After reading his tweets, it is reassuring to know that mechanical engineers can be poets too.

So I'm a sucker and I buy the NBC Sports gold package. The ad-free version has these Australian guys that call the race. Once you get past the fact that they're not Phil Liggett, they are absolutely top notch and a competent successor.

That's good to know. I almost got it this year and probably should have anyway. I'm a softie for endurance sports.

Yeah, Phil has slipped a lot. Plus, I think he has some kind of man crush on Valverde. He mentions him every stage no matter how irrelevant he is that day.

Big Cat `93 said:

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I think he has some kind of man crush on Valverde. He mentions him every stage no matter how irrelevant he is that day.

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and Vicenzo Nibali, same thing.

I believe the Valverde 'thing' is Liggett's cry for a persona to encourage fans to support cycling and bring it out of the pharma shadow that has hung over it for quite awhile. He (Liggett) admires Sagan too as someone who is approachable and engaging and has not only talent but also some daring as well. Not sure I agree with his assessment of Valverde, but the man does take risks on the course.

Many professional cyclists appear to be aloof, but I honestly think that may be a tendency towards introversion for some of them and that many can be pretty nice people (albeit competitive). It appears to be a tightrope of keeping your competition guessing while being open and congenial to spectators- - all while being in a very small small group of elite athletes.

* oh, and even when a rider is clean, having everyone speculate that they're not.