Tour De France 2016 thread

http://www.1limburg.nl/sites/default/files/public/styles/article-detail/public/tom_dumoulin_mgl_roger_dohmen.jpg?itok=QUtEVkHB

He does look like Bobby! Or Bobby being his little brother.

It's very sad, his main goal this year was a gold medal in Rio on the TT. Uncertain if he'll start now due to his fractured wrist.

awful twist of fate there, all that training & preparation

Not the most exciting Tour GC wise but it's been a delight seeing Pantano and Alaphilippe blossom this tour. Yates too. The kids are alright.

It's strange really - when you look back at it, there have been lots of surprises: Cavendish rediscovering the form of five or more years ago, Van Avermaet attacking when in yellow and gaining more time when everyone expected him to lose the jersey, Froome attacking down a mountain, Froome in yellow going clear with Sagan in green on a flat stage, Froome running up a mountain....and yet, it still feels quite boring because we've known who's going to win for almost the entire race.

Otm. It'll be a short paragraph in tour history but a lot has happened along the way. Works the other way around, too: Quintana will be in the books forever with his third place, while he's had an absolutely terrible, invisible tour.
Ventoux stage will be in our collected memories for quite some time though. (and not because De Gendt won it, poor lad)

glad that it wasn't a crash-fest today. hopefully better weather for the ride into paris tomorrow

awesome that kreuziger made it into the top 10 on the back of today's ride with sagan.

O_O vid of iazguirre's descent during tour de suisse timetrial

https://twitter.com/cyclinghubtv/status/756868098758705152

Just remembered another surprise: the flamme rouge falling on top of Adam Yates.

I'm spotting a pattern with Dutch cyclists in the last three Grand Tours. At the Vuelta last year, Dumoulin surprised everyone by showing he could do it in the mountains as well as the time trials and heading into the final weekend he seemed certain to win - then got blown apart on the penultimate stage and slipped way down the standings (fourth? fifth?). In the Giro earlier this year Kruijswijk also looked certain to win, but then crashed into a massive bank of snow and ice at the start of a descent with just a few days to go and ended up losing minutes and slipping down to fourth. And now Mollema - OK, he never looked like winning, but he's gone from a comfortable-looking second place to falling right out of the top ten in the final days.

I think most people were expecting that with Yates too, so the fact he narrowly missed the podium is pretty encouraging.

yeah that Dutch pattern is quite irritating. even though Dumoulin was a total surprise to be in that position anyway. Kruijswijk made a stupid mistake, and undoubtedly deserved to win. He might win the Giro next year. (if it happens agáin, then it surely ís a pattern) Mollema always slips in the third week. I think the 2nd rest day might be the hardest stage for him! (and for a lot of riders)

Quintana will be in the books forever with his third place, while he's had an absolutely terrible, invisible tour.

yeah I wonder what this says about his talent. Weird stuff..

I feel so bad for Mollema. And the way he tried to break yesterday but didnt have the legs was very :(

welp that's it for another year, what an empty tensionless race this year for GC tho :/
sorry to see Rodriguez go, have always enjoyed watching him race

i am sure the Vuelta will be espectacular

also Purito might be there too, I assume he wil, to do another farewell lap :)

Any word on why Tony Martin pulled out?

knee pain, apparently

:(