The Cycling Thread

[Lineker]

He has now resigned.

[Adam]

Simon Yates has apparently failed an in-competition drugs test.

When it rains, it pours for British cycling...

[EddieG]

Where the hell did this Kruijswijk come from?

[Lineker]

Mark Cavendish has won the first stage of the TdF.

[Cymbols]

Exciting finish tbf. 

[Adam]

The sight of Chris Froome, in the yellow jersey, physically running up Mont Ventoux because he has no bike will live with me forever. Outrageous.

Basically, in a three man break from the peloton (first 5 riders were already clear, lucky for them) Richie Porte crashed straight into the back of a motorbike because, assumingly, the IDIOT fans are just all over the road, sending Porte, Froome and Mollema flying when they were all opening up a 30 odd second gap to Nairo Quintana and other rivals, and it just ruined the whole thing. If they don't make a decision about that then it's just a colossal embarrassment.

[Cymbols]

Unbelievable scenes. 

[EddieG]

Froome's lead got reinstated, he's back in yellow.

[Adam]

In the last Time Trial today, Froome beat Tom Dumoulin, who dominated the previous TT, by 21 seconds to win the stage and all but seal his third Tour De France. He's over 3 minutes clear now.

Adam Yates is currently still in a podium position too. I really hope he holds out.

[EddieG]

Shame for Dumoulin, hopefully he at least goes on and wins the gold in Rio, assuming he'll probably step down from the Tour the next few days too.

Great stuff from Froome today, hate to admit it, hope Mollema finishes on the podium.

[Lineker]

Sir Bradley Wiggins just announced his retirement from cycling.

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Doping will out.

 

As Greg LeMond says (and has been proven right repeatedly) "there are no miracles in cycling".

[Lineker]

Michele Scarponi: Italian cyclist dies in training crash - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/39677856

[Cymbols]

Sagan? More like Sagone. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Sagan's filthy on a bike. Yeah yeah yeah he's incredibly talented and strong (albeit prone to believing his hype a bit too much and showing some terrible strategic choices) but even on stage 3 his elbows are everywhere, he's always leaning into people, barging, rolling across the road. Always has done.

 

He gets away with it a lot because of who he is and his legion of fans on Facebook and in the Cyclingnews comments sections are rabid about the decision and blaming Cavendish. However I'm not surprised this has happened to him, it really was only a matter of time.

[Adam]

His team are appealing the decision to DQ him from the race, and Cavendish seemed surprised when told Sagan had been disqualified.

I first saw the incident on Twitter, and gifs and slow-mo made it look pretty innocuous. Then I watched the TV highlights and he appears to clearly swing his arm out of his body and into Cavendish, leading to a really bad crash for Cav and also for a couple of riders behind, which seems ot justify the assertion that his action caused unnecessary danger to fellow racers. I hope they don't go back on the decision.

Either way, the Tour is worse off without Cav and Sagan in it for almost the entire three weeks.

[PantherFan22]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/tour-de-france/esteban-chaves-is-struggling-for-oricascott-in-his-debut-tour-de-france-20170706-gx6fb9.html

Estaban Chaves, Orica's number 2 rider, supporting Yates, should not be riding

The poor guy needs time to grieve.. I feel for him

Operation Stop Froome

Team Sky (wearing white this year.. I don't like that) are set up to ensure Froome takes the Maillot Jeune on a tour around France.. If anyone is to stop them, now's a good time to start, eh?

Porte, Contador, Majka, Aru? c'mon!

Edited July 8, 2017 by PantherFan59

[Adam]

Operation Stop Froome?

Should that not just be "try to win the Tour"?

[MDK]

I've only just got my bike fixed and working again, okay the brakes have a bit of play in them but I like living dangerously, but I cant sleep and I'm watching the Tour de France highlights and that bloke stacked it into another rider and into a rock and he looks gone. And now I have second thoughts about getting on my bike tomorrow.

[Gazz]

Media trying their absolute best to make a scandal out of this whole Team Sky thing.

'They used legal performance-enhancing drugs!'

Yeah, well, they're legal, so they're going to.