TDF – Le Tour de France: Étape 8 – Intermediate Sprint in the Middle of a Fucking Climb Edition

Pau – Bagnères-de-Luchon (184 km)

Official depart: 12.00
Today's climbs:
>Col du Tourmalet (HC)
>Hourquette d'Ancizan (2)
>Col de Val Louron-Azet (1)
>Col de Peyresourde (1)

Get your butts ready.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=1bnzMouQ4-Q
youtube.com/watch?v=RHGeb4k69AY
youtube.com/watch?v=1ATydbtwpf4
youtube.com/watch?v=A3ariGnY2v8
youtube.com/watch?v=oT2HdqA8d0A
youtube.com/watch?v=8SKbQkhgNoU
youtube.com/watch?v=Wnsnx2fbQtQ
youtube.com/watch?v=a84vky0Obsw
youtube.com/watch?v=HBW1yRulVpw
youtube.com/watch?v=CSw3L46B46A
cyclingnews.com/news/contador-to-sign-for-trek-segafredo-on-tour-de-france-rest-day/
cyclingtips.com/2013/08/the-6-8kg-limit/
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

owww damn !

> Implying something happens

>implying Contador isn't going to fall
>implying Nibali isn't going to choke
>implying Froome isn't going to win singlehandedly and ride the yellow to Champs-Elysées

but Nibbles isn't going to ride for himself

> Contador gonna Contador
> Nibali gonna Nibali
> Froome gonna Froome

pls

Still watching tho

Also >Pinot

>using pedals

perfect timing

>(((coincidence)))

oh shit I didn't see that yesterday. Literally perfect timing

tough luck

>The Tourmalet has played a big part in Tour history, perhaps most famously in 1913. That year Eugène Christophe was the virtual yellow jersey when he broke his fork while riding the Tourmalet. Tour rules said he had to perform his own repair. He carried his bike down the mountain to a blacksmith shop in St.-Marie-de-Campan and made the repair. His bike fixed, Christophe resumed racing, but the hours lost meant he had no chance of winning the Tour.

>Christophe

insane... though i guess it's still better going over it than it landing on your head.

Does anyone watch the Col Collective videos on youtube?

Here is their one on todays last climb, the Peyresourde

youtube.com/watch?v=1bnzMouQ4-Q

Why Tourmalet can't into top finishes?

i think the tourmalet is tougher to climb from the other side...

>a b-belt accidentally caught on the g-generator power cable

>All the riders I had dropped during the climb soon caught me up. I was weeping with anger. I remember I heard my friend Petit-Breton shouting as he saw me, 'Ah, Cri-Cri, poor old lad.' I was getting angry. As I walked down, I was looking for a short cut. I thought maybe one of those pack trails would lead me straight to Ste-Marie-de-Campan. But I was weeping so badly that I couldn't see anything. With my bike on my shoulder, I walked for more than ten kilometres. On arriving in the village at Ste-Marie-de-Campan, I met a young girl who led me to the blacksmith on the other side of the village. His name was Monsieur Lecomte.

what time does the tv broadcast start?

1 bong and 24 bings

tfw not a classic french cyclist

Daily /OBE/ Backstage pass reminder:

Pre tour: youtube.com/watch?v=RHGeb4k69AY

Stage 1: youtube.com/watch?v=1ATydbtwpf4

Stage 2: youtube.com/watch?v=A3ariGnY2v8

Stage 3: youtube.com/watch?v=oT2HdqA8d0A

Stage 4: youtube.com/watch?v=8SKbQkhgNoU

Stage 5: youtube.com/watch?v=Wnsnx2fbQtQ

Stage 6: youtube.com/watch?v=a84vky0Obsw

Stage 7: youtube.com/watch?v=HBW1yRulVpw

MADMAN
A
D
M
A
N

What a waste of a great climb this early in the Tour.

is right. All the riders (rather, all the directeurs sportifs) will decide this is not a stage for attacks. Some of the slappier GCers will make a half-assed attack that will go no where.

Today is a day for the breakaway if only because no one will be bothered to chase them down.

oh god, not another british winner :(

who was the rekt rider here?

Simon Yates.

youtube.com/watch?v=CSw3L46B46A

Niiiiiice

I don't know why, but I find this bike hideous.

>Chinese bike with Itarian name.

Goddamn I love GCN so much, they are without question the Top Gear of cycling
>excellent production value and editing
>top-tier entertainment and comradery
>unending cheeky banter
>massive list of helpful videos and maintenance tips
>incredibly knowledgeable yet non-condescending or snobbish

>attack of the octopus on the tour

total benders

Will the UCI bicycle weight limit be lowered anytime soon?

not safe.

Not unless the bike manufacturers decide they need to sell ultralight bikes and make the UCI lower the limit.

Live from 14:10 today?

Why is there even a limit?

some teams have started adding weight to their bikes

live pictures due at 14.20

There used to be a limit for safety, back in the days of metal wheels and metal frames. Riders would reduce weight by drilling dozens of holes in everything. Sure, it's lighter, but it's also one bump away from breaking to pieces.

honestly the weight weenie market is so lucrative I couldn't see why this wouldn't happen

This.
They will attack tommorow on the last climb.
Froome will start at like halfway, when the Sky train is gone. Quintana will lose a minute and the rest a couple of minutes.

Then nothing for a week and in the last week, we will see the same shit like always:
>sub-toptier riders battling and trying to attack.
>Only Quintana will attack on the last two mountain stages.
>Froome will have his usual "bad" day, by losing barely a minute on Quintana.

It's gonna be 2015 again.

It's less dangerous if you fall.

P-pls no. It's a pity Contador is injured and Aru is in poor form.

>It's less dangerous if you fall.
Not really.

pls no

You can buy a 7kg bike off the shelf for less than $2000. If you want to get under the limit all you have to do is upgrade the wheels.

Many pros have to add weight to their bikes just to meet the limit. It should be lowered to 6.5kg

Quite the opposite. The parts are expensive, but they are also expensive to produce. More machining, more exotic materials, more QC. etc

Thus, a lower profit margin.

However, take the Legions of people who walk into a bike shop and say, "I want the bike that Wiggo rides". That Pinarello frame is made in China using technology that is at least 15 years old. It's pure profit for the company at this point.

Indeed, a shame that Contador is injured, because he could be the third dog. But I see him, attacking "La Vuelta" style, in the last week, but it won't work, thanks to UK Postal.

>It should be lowered to 6.5kg
I'd put it at 5.8 kg. Some people, like myself, would like a progressive weight limit.

This

That's what the French commentor said.

CONTADOR TO SIGN WITH TREK:

cyclingnews.com/news/contador-to-sign-for-trek-segafredo-on-tour-de-france-rest-day/

Why though? It's not like the racing was that much worse when everyone was on 10kg steel bikes. The number, even if it's arbitrary, just means that everyone's bike is more or less the same.

Look at F1. The cars of today are faster than they ever have been, but the racing is as bad as it's ever been.

>mfw this really happens

the lighter and stiffer the bike is, the harder it is to handle. it may very well be one of the reasons there are so many bad crashes these days. don't change the weight limit, it's unsafe as far as i'm concerned.

>quintana attacking

This is why they need to ban team race radios.

(Still, keep the radios for safety messages like "It's raining on the descent" or "there's a crash at 5km to go")

If the riders have to decide on their own tactics on the road, they will take many more risks and make many more mistakes.

Some guy goes off on a solo breakaway and his rivals lose track of him or get the math wrong and start to reel him in too late.

The riders today don't think. They just do what the voice in their ear tells them to. A rider may think, "I feel good today, I want to attack" but the guy in the car says, "No attacking today, the computer estimates your closest competitors feel good too."

And then...oh shit, there's one stage left and I lost 33 seconds in the last time trial...maybe next year.

Teams have super light frames(sub 800g), they have to intentionally increase the weight by adding a heavy power meter, heavy wheels or lead weights- these won't help in a crash.
Make a weight limit on the frame if you want in the name of safety.

Contador is ded. Tinkoff riders except Kreuziger are riding for glory because there won't be a Tinkoff team next year. If Kreuziger manages to stay with the pack we can see something but the way I see it Majka and other Tinkoff riders are gonna try solo breakaways and not really help Contador.
Well this just proves my point.

>The Tourmalet's climbing start
>The Live doesn't start because a shitty entertainment show

Reducing the size of teams would be a better stimulus for aggressive racing, IMO. Radio's should be banned though, along with power meter.

>eurosport is showing stage seven

Then you are pushing the safety limits. Froome's bike already has a weight limit of 70kg

I would not like to descend at 50mph on a 80g seatpost. Or sprint in a bunch with bikes that are ready to snap in two.

The limit was set 6.8kg years ago. It was fine then because it was dangerous to try and get your bike that light. Also it was expensive so rich teams would have had an unfair advantage.

Now it's just outdated. Everyone can meet the limit no problem. It serves no purpose.

I think they just need to lower it a few hundred grams. Everyones bike will still be the same

>This regulation was established in 2000 as a means to ensure manufacturers don’t push the structural integrity of bikes and so that teams are competing on a relatively similar machines. Thirteen years later and progress made in materials engineering, riders are still bound by this rule while competing.

cyclingtips.com/2013/08/the-6-8kg-limit/

Breakaway is formed:
Wout Poels (Sky), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Mikaël Chérel (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Stef Clement (IAM), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Tom Dumoulin (Giant), Paul Voss (Bora), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Dani Navarro (Cofidis) and Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange

>Pinot

Alaphillipe trying to get in the break. Will they let him go? He's probably not a GC guy but they don't know for sure

>stiff and light bikes are harder to handle
Nigga what? The stiffer and lighter the bike is the easier it is to handle. The stiffer the bike is the more precise it is. The lighter it is the faster it reacts to your commands.

Frame geometry also has a lot to do with handling. The bikes these guys are riding are much more agile than any Dutch city bike ever will be, even if they were the same heavy wet noodle that the city bikes are.

What all this does is that the bike will do anything you tell it to do. And it will do it instantly without waiting for confirmation. For a racer it's exactly what you want, for a granny riding in a city it's the opposite of what they want.

The same effect is seen in any sports equipment. The cheap shit sold to casuals is more forgiving but it doesn't offer the same performance and handling as the high end equipment. The high end equipment is superior in every way but only if you know what you're doing.

Skypostalwinslol

I will kill holtz if I ever cross his path.

>Nigga what? The stiffer and lighter the bike is the easier it is to handle. The stiffer the bike is the more precise it is. The lighter it is the faster it reacts to your commands.
If the bike is too light, it becomes twitchy at speed. Stiffness will help with cornering, but not stability. Longer chainstays would help this though.

Kill them, kill them all

Kimi Quintana

>hey let's talk about the race and stupid fan shit instead of showing it !

ALL OF MY RAGE
AND I'M PAYING FOR THIS SHIT

Pinot and Majka have attacked. GVA had been dropped

thank you.

Weight doesn't make the bike twitchy at high speeds. Frame geometry and not stiff enough frame is what makes for twitchy bike at high speeds. Obviously if you go superlight the frame will start to lose stiffness which would lead to less stability at high speeds.

Froome's gonna use his standard MO of waiting untilthe HC mountains in the Alps where when the clean riders are reduced to a crawl he flies up them like they're not even there to gain an impossible time knowing at that point only 3 days or so will be left.

Oh Poels...Great memories!

>I think they just need to lower it a few hundred grams. Everyones bike will still be the same

It literally doesn't matter.

Will it make the racing better? No.
Will it make the racing safer? No.
Will it make the racing more expensive, thereby forcing more teams out of the sport? Yes.

The only people who really should be concerned with lowering the limit are amateur riders who've been disqualified from UCI sanctioned races because their off-the-peg bike was too light once they mounted a set of racing wheels

or

weight weenies who spent thousands trying to get their bike under the UCI weight limit for bragging rights and are disappointed that no one cares because you can easily buy a sub-6.8kg bike at the bike shop these days.

>A spectator removed one of the anchors by mistake
>Yfw it really was that fatass

good sentence

I was too busy to enjoy the threads the past few days so enjoy a blurry OC of Cav before the stage begins.

I still dont understand why the fuck they cant start the coverage like 2 hours earlier. They already have the motos and helis there, and Im sure there are atleast a decent amount of people like us who would watch it.

First for Doping für die Haare.

CTRL+F

no "Horse"

The best meme of TDF Live Threads 2015 is dead boys

2 M I N U T E S

A FUCKING PIG THEY SHOW A FUCKING PIG INSTEAD THE TOURMALET

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Quintana can challenge him
Now Valverde is his bitch, he will ride for him
He needs to fuck him in the Alps because he won't survive a close time trial

What does HC stand for

>Now Valverde is his bitch, he will ride for him
Kek

>showing a documentary about wild boars instead of the race

It looks good though
It tastes like a really strong saucisson
I bought a 20% sanglier 80% pork saucisson once it was amazing

>Pinot in front

Ha!

because it's very expensive.

HARDCORE

>it's a Lelmond episode

>because it's very expensive.

NBCSN can afford it here in the states and we have like 10 viewers at 6an

Hors-catégorie