Cycling thread

Bruce Wayne said:
Do the climb to Villard Notre Dame and if you have mountain bikes you can carry on around to the Col d'Ornon and back to Bourg. Lovely balcony road with some cracking tunnels.
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I think he means Bourg Saint Maurice, if he's planning the Iseran... Otherwise its a long trip over the Glandon and the Madeleine.

It's a pity as the Iseren is a good 50km from the town and the Cormet is both beautiful and right on the doorstep of the town. The only other option is the climb up to Les Arcs which is markedly less pretty. The resort at the top has some cracking views, though.
 

tommye said:
What a guy. Cycling has been crying out for a personality like Julienne for years. Hard not to like him and it would have been a pleasure to have watched him enter Paris in yellow. Alas...
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But the French love a guy who just fails to win. Witness their differing perceptions of Poulidor and Anquetil
 
Disgruntledgoat said:
I think he means Bourg Saint Maurice, if he's planning the Iseran... Otherwise its a long trip over the Glandon and the Madeleine.

It's a pity as the Iseren is a good 50km from the town and the Cormet is both beautiful and right on the doorstep of the town. The only other option is the climb up to Les Arcs which is markedly less pretty. The resort at the top has some cracking views, though.
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Ah, probably right, my bad.
 

Black Belt Jones said:
I'm off to Bourg tomorrow camping for a couple of weeks - anyone had a dig at the Col D'Iseran? They went over it yesterday from the other side - bit of a monster, think it's best part of 2k ascent from Bourg.

I'll be bringing the mountain bikes, though, as the kids aren't old enough for Alpine roadying. So need to hire a road bike for the day.
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Bon chance mon ami. Never done that one but those climbs take several hours for mere mortals.
 

Just thought G had a bit left in him there if things had panned out differently last few days.

Either way, one hell of a win for such a young man.

Disappointing end to what's been a cracking Tour.
Alaphillipe rode his socks off.
 
Toast said:
Just thought G had a bit left in him there if things had panned out differently last few days.

Either way, one hell of a win for such a young man.

Disappointing end to what's been a cracking Tour.
Alaphillipe rode his socks off.
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Only disappointing thing in the end was Pinot's freak injury. We will never know, but had he performed as he did in the Pyrenees he would have won.

I think everything else was pretty conclusive - Alaphilippe couldn't last the pace and v unlikely that G would have beaten Bernal with a longer course.
 
One of the best Tour de France's in years for interest and exciting racing, even if that's not actually saying all that much. It's usually outshone by the other tours but at least this year it wasn't the usual straightforward procession.

Ineos may have come one and two again and sealed the seventh win for the British registered team in the last eight years, but this time the result was in doubt until quite late on - with Alaphilippe the early leader surprising all by keeping yellow until almost the end.

Bernal the first Colombian and indeed South American to win makes a good story, how long before the protestors latch onto him?
 
Who do you reckon is more likely out of Pinot and Alaphilippe to bring the Tour home for La France, over the next few years? Pinot has that high mountain class but I reckon JA is the more likely contender. Would prob take a committed shift of focus, and I have no idea if QS could accommodate that, but is a pure racer and has a lot of the tools - if he was hanging in like that in the mountains after the year he has had you wonder what he could do on a pure peak for TdF GC.
If Wiggins can win the tour then JA certainly can - obv completely different riders but both non GC types who adapted (and had the stars align for Wiggins with a perfect parcours).

Although while Bernal is around perhaps the question is moot. There's having a lot of the tools, and then there's having all of the tools, and being 22 yo and on the strongest, deepest team.
 
Black Belt Jones said:
Who do you reckon is more likely out of Pinot and Alaphilippe to bring the Tour home for La France, over the next few years? Pinot has that high mountain class but I reckon JA is the more likely contender. Would prob take a committed shift of focus, and I have no idea if QS could accommodate that, but is a pure racer and has a lot of the tools - if he was hanging in like that in the mountains after the year he has had you wonder what he could do on a pure peak for TdF GC.
If Wiggins can win the tour then JA certainly can - obv completely different riders but both non GC types who adapted (and had the stars align for Wiggins with a perfect parcours).

Although while Bernal is around perhaps the question is moot. There's having a lot of the tools, and then there's having all of the tools, and being 22 yo and on the strongest, deepest team.
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Pinot has shown he's more likely to win the Tour for sure. As you say, Alaphilippe needs a big change in training and team mentality.

Big question for me is whether Ineos can keep 3 GT winners happy (4 if the Carapaz rumours are true). If they can make it work, I fear we will look back in 5 years as 2019 being the closest anyone came to beating them.

Throw in Dumoulin who will be back next year, and I'm not particularly optimistic for either Pinot or JA.
 

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