Tour de France 2017

wow super snidey from aru. froome will be raging

lol aru.

shit

ugh that's not good

horrible horrible crash. gc carnage today.

jesus that was brutal

completely misread the line. feel sorry for martin.

rooting for barguil but he'll surely be caught.

barguil!

oof, uran on his two speed bike did it!

wanted uran, and i think yup

lol

plenty of great today but

So boss. https://t.co/fVEhy8KLJ0

— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 9, 2017

plenty of great today but
🐦[So boss. https://t.co/fVEhy8KLJ0🕸
— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 9, 2017🕸]🐦

yeah that's nuts. ag2r attack was highlight of the day for me. co-ordinated team plan which completely defined the race but, as is the way of cycling, couldn't ultimately control it.

it's really bad for general gc competitiveness that it's been such a brutal day. v hard to see quintana getting back tho i think he has the capability. porte going out is a massive shame as he would be combative and competitive. and always a shame to see geraint thomas going out - again! - as he's fundamentally likeable tho you do start to wonder if it's something more than just being ill-starred.

That Porte crash is going to give me nightmares. It's just hard to believe that a human being could survive that - and yet it could have been so much worse. Not what you wanna see when you're just learning to cycle!

really horrible. seeing him crash into the mountain rock at full speed is horrific. i think it was the '90s cyclist Gianni Bugno who had a horrific crash descending and then had to learn to descend all over again. He had completely lost his nerve (understandable when you see a crash like that) and learned to regain his composure by listening to Mozart when going downhill.

key thing when learning to cycle (for me anyway) was to look where you want to go rather than the direction you fear you're going. i still misread corners tho - and i don't mean racing, i mean going a little bit faster than usual (lol 14mph or something) around hyde park corner. go into them too early and have to compensate by drifting out. terrible technique.

nothing like hurtling down an alpine descent. starts getting a bit hairy at 40mph though. don't know how these guys touch 50 or 60... think dowsett even uploaded a pic of a ride where he hit 70mph once. 😶

thing is when i was young i used to love it. and now when i'm even close to touching 35/40 i worry that the slightest bit of eye watering or momentary confusion and boom. and so i start padding my brakes in a rather elderly fashion. need more mozart.

^^ It's the same for me but I'd file it under a desire to stay alive taking over.

and always a shame to see geraint thomas going out - again! - as he's fundamentally likeable tho you do start to wonder if it's something more than just being ill-starred.

Exactly the same goes for Gesink. Great yesterday, looked very promising, but something always goes wrong.

Such a shame for the GC though. Can't see Quintana doing anything proper any more, and Contador is completely gone. Probably only Aru/Fugelsang who could try something. It'd be harsh to expect anything from Dan Martin (who regained an amazing amount after the crash) at this point.

yeah, also dan martin said he was struggling to stay with the accelerations on the last climb. hard to see him being able to put the pressure on Froome.

that said, froome has lost his most able climbing lieutenant today so may be vulnerable, tho he seems more than capable of handling anything that gets thrown at him in the mountains and then some.

On one hand, that was an amazing day's racing, but I'm mostly feeling gutted that riders I like have crashed either out of the race or out of contention.

key thing when learning to cycle (for me anyway) was to look where you want to go rather than the direction you fear you're going

Echo this. Look around the bend, not at the bit you're worried about overshooting into.

Phew, just caught up with the broadcast and everything that one could say has been said. Insane. Not to mention also that George Bennett sneaking into the top ten is pretty damn great (kinda in his corner following his California win the other month). And Uran sneaking that with a fucked up bike! Glad Barguil got king of the mountains at least.

Will also say that it was good to see Froome out on his own without his usual wall-of-white-jerseys.

Anyway: yeah I think we all need a day's break. Bring on the Dordogne.

feel a bit :/ for Barguil/Bardet not getting the final win across the line after such heroic efforts, but at least Barguil gets the KOM. talk about gas, holy shit

never forget him almost plowing into the wandering cow on a descent a couple of years back

gutted for Thomas and Porte. That Porte crash had me in tears, that was horrific to see him fly into that cliff at full speed.

the mountains always seems to yield horrors, that was true nightmare fuel for sure

Gesink fractured L1 vertebrae :/ Rotten luck, dude was a powerhouse yesterdat

lol

Congratulations Rigoberto Uran, first tour de France single speed stage win since 1937#tdf #SBSTDF

— Nick Squillari (@N_Squillari) July 9, 2017

ugh Thomas' fracture D:

Such a shit day!!! Nowhere to go when Rafa went down right in front of me. But I'm ok though, thanks for all your messages!! pic.twitter.com/lUTi9m6Nzy

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 9, 2017

last one from Kittel sums it up

Sprinters + mountain stage = 💩
I'm ready for a rest day. #tdf17 #stage9
📸 @AleTegner pic.twitter.com/P7VPxO3n4E

— Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) July 9, 2017

Obviously he should just keep his hair like that.

Helmet hair, I like it as well

lol right!?
i also saw that Nate Brown has the most hilarious helmet tan on like 2 inches of his forehead

i think i also saw that Mark Renshaw & Arnaud Demare didnt make the cutoff? anyone else see that?

Yep, along with Trentin and three team buddies of Demare iirc.

what a turn after such a huge start

Acres of space in the FdJ bus for whoever is left on that team

lol yeah *spreadeagle*

So let's see here, in terms of notable names

Valverde
Cavendish
P. Sagan
Gesink
Thomas
Porte
Demare
Renshaw

Doubtless missing a few. And I'm sure Froome would be more than happy if Aru mysteriously came down with an illness after today.

Just caught up, brutal day. Someone ban Lemond from doing his live analysis sections on Eurosport, I swear every time they cut to one there has been a heavy crash.

Hfs how old is renshaw, did his scooter run outta juice? His og lead out cred is unfuckablewith imo.

I dint know he was still racin

yeah i knew he was in bc they namechecked him once or twice in a couple of early stages

rough trot for a truckload of lads

lol: aru says he didnt know froome even had a mechanical! froome says he didnt know aru was behind him! welp i guess no-one knows anything *shrug*

that whole flap was a storm in a teacup anyway

Andy Samberg fake doc "Tour de Pharmacy" was predictably kinda lazy, but it had its funny moments and was really short. And special secret (but not secret) cameo making the most of his disgrace by further humiliating himself, with some good gags.

i didnt know charly wegelius is the poohbah of cannondale team

i just ordered his book to read

Official medical report is now in: Porte has a fractured clavicle & a fractured pelvis :(

Yech.

so brutal, cannot imagine the pain of that :/

thing is when i was young i used to love it. and now when i'm even close to touching 35/40 i worry that the slightest bit of eye watering or momentary confusion and boom. and so i start padding my brakes in a rather elderly fashion. need more mozart.

― Fizzles, Monday, 10 July 2017 3:03 AM (fourteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I hear you. Just learnt this weekend that a friend I had lost touch with came off his bike on a descent because he hit a pheasant. He recovering but has paralysed vocal chords to can't speak or swallow. The pros at least have people clearing the road and the organisers and local authorities to fix potholes - still terrifying though, when I Ali was descending at his best I had to watch from Behring my fingers.

At least G still has his sense of humor

Jersey for sale... Only worn once. Not in 100% condition, slight signs of use. Might need a wash… https://t.co/eHpshwDVTT

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 10, 2017

And a video message from Porte
poor fella

📹 #TDF2017 @richie_porte speaks about his condition, the crash and his supporters around the world. 📝 👉 https://t.co/tmaSTiZ0RZ pic.twitter.com/sS8lYJVRQS

— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 10, 2017

And back we go. Classic lazy stage aside from the sprint and end, and I never mind those. Kittel is looking more like a lock for green, I'd say. (Not the way I wanted to see Sagan's streak broken but there we are.) Best thing about today was all the insane architecture in the Dordogne, all of which I want to visit.