Phil Anderson is under-rated in the general community and even in the cycling community - A gun rider !
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Oh, yeh, he was an out and out gun, when not many non-Europeans were getting a ride in the pros.
At the end of the 1982 TDF, when he came fifth and he was being raved about in the French and other European media, he chased down an Australian Embassy representative to ask what the Australian press were saying about him.
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Not in the real cycling community.
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Read articles listing the best ten Aussie cyclists in history and he’s not as high as he should be.
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Sprinters week at the TDF- Nailed on to win a stage - Groenewegen and Gaviria - Can win a stage Sagan, Demare, Cavendish - Will surprise if they win a stage Kittel, Cort, Colbrelli, Greipel, LaPorte - This post is predicated on large bunch finishes on a flat course.
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The most relevant precedent was Lance getting the UCI / TDF to agree his positive test was due to saddle sore ointment and so should be ignored.
Well, a boring leg got very interesting/important in the last 10 kilometres!
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And while I expect a new tour leader to get extra exposure, I wasn’t expecting post-race full frontal nudity!
Froome already down by about 45 seconds…good.
Re Petacchi and Ulissi, see the Q&A re Froome on the UCI site. UCi was not involved in those cases.
UCI and Froome comments on “possible “ unpublished WADA documents and the WADA Technical document formally adopted in 2018 drop WADA right in it, with the inference that WADA might have withheld data from the national cycling bodies ( Italian and Swiss) and that the respective national anti-doping agencies might have been a bit too eager. The UCI did note that another cyclist was cleared of salbutamol charg by a national body without any WADA appeals.
Froome isn’t the scandal, rather WADA ( and possibly CAS in regard to Petacchi).
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Gaviria outpoints Sagan and Kittel in stage 1 - Kittel came from a mile back and it was his best sprint for the year.
It was a crazy last 10kms with multiple crashes and mechanicals - Porte, Froome and A.Yates lose 51s and Quintana 1m and 12s - Somehow TVG and GVA finished in the lead group instead of waiting to help Porte - Strange indeed.
Valverde & Landa didn’t help Quintana nor did Thomas help Froome.
Context
You don’t expect Valverde and Landa as joint leaders, to help Quintana especially with 3.5km to go, while Froome fell with 5kms to go and Thomas is their second option - Yet Porte was caught behind a crash with 10kms to go and TVG and GVA rode into the distance - It was interesting watching the sprint finish - I suspect Gaviria needs Richeze to be in top form, as he brought Gaviria up at the right time and released him at the right time - This is key seeing Gaviria can make mistakes in the final.
Heinrich Haussler, now there is a blast from the past. Great effort to be back at the tour
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Well, it’s like that in the all sports. People crapping on about Lebron over Jordan never saw Jordan. The guy was even more next level.
Sagan wins the reduced sprint after crashes upset the favoured sprinters.
There was lots of crashes today. Sanchez out for Astana.
TTT tonight, you’d think a shoot out between Sky and BMC. Perhaps MS and QS fighting out the minor places.
MS has the disadvantage of going first.
MS riders need to stay on their bikes. Yates and Durbridge had silly crashes while Impey was brought down with 1.5km to go. Shame because he won a similar finish at Dauphine and could have finished top 3. Actually this was a finish that would have suited Ewan. EXPECT a top 5 from MS in the TTT and possibly a top 3.
BMC win the TTT, Sky, QS and MS all close behind.
Terrible TTT from Movistar.
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