UKH

The excitement begins!

No Cavendish, Froome, Dumoulin

Supposedly the "highest tour in history" with mountain top finishes, hilly stages and mountain bonus seconds.

Nice to have a proper stage for the grand depart too.

Wiggo reporting from the back of a motorbike on Eurosport, is he doing the full race.

where are the spoilers?

van Avemaet in the polka dot jersey. 

A dream result for Teunissen - beating Sagan on the line - a star is born?

Somebody went down very hard in the last crash. Hope they are ok.

Just watched the highlights and Thomas went down as well after a copper pushed back a section of barrier. I thought no one was allowed inside the barriers at the end of a stage

Sorry to be a nuisance. I don't watch much TV at all(Maybe once every 10-14 days.). So I don't pay for any type of TV other than the terrestrial license. If I could just get Eurosport and nothing else, economically, I probably would. So most years I ask on here where is the best place to watch the Tour. Please let me know.

Thank you, in anticipation.

Rob

ITV4, live everyday and highlights usually at 7.00 p.m. All good. 

Apart from the interminable adverts.

Thank you.

You can also get 1 month of eurosport online for £6.99.

Unless you want to watch every second live then the ITV4 highlights are great.

yes much better than the euro sports highlights programs

So Movistar riders already a minute adrift!

Why does a rider like Julian Alaphillipe not go for GC? Head to head he's stronger than everyone and to my untrained eye it seems he's pretty handy at climbing. 

It's not that simple - there's a world of difference between blasting up a 500m ramp in rolling countryside and sustained 20km climbs at altitude (which are critical to GC hopes). Different riders have different abilities to produce exceptional power over time (sprinters, puncheurs, rouleurs, climbers...) and for better or worse the big multi-stage races favour climbers (although being a climber is necessary-but-not-sufficient, as Bardet seems to be reminded each year). Perhaps with a different training regime (and a different team) Alaphillipe could become a GC climber, but it would also make him much less likely to win stages like yesterday's.

It's part of what makes road racing fascinating! IMHO of course.

If you are time poor, I like the gcn racing highlights on YouTube...

@bradwiggins posts on instagram are also worth a watch.  Well I think they're hilarious.

Whilst its quiet, does anyone else think the polka dot bike looks particularly naff ? Yellow bikes for yellow jersey teams is bad enough.

Brilliant stage today. GT and Alaphalippe with an epic tussle at the end of the stage. Bring on the Alps and the Pyrenees. 

Good (and a bit unexpected) to see G kick off at the end. Be interesting to see how Movistar ply their leadership from here. Quintana didnt show anything despite having arguably the strongest team into the final climb.

I think Thomas has laid down a marker. He's got the legs despite the interruption to his preparation. I think he'll be eyeing up a couple of stage wins on the big mountain days. Team Ineos have looked good so far. Who knows what Movistar have got planned but Landa looks unsure what to do, Quintana doesn't.seem to have the climbing legs he had 3 or 4 years ago and Carapaz isn't even in the team after his marvelous win in the Giro.

Always good to see the yellow jersey attack, it got G going.

Ineos seemed to be surprisingly bereft of domestiques relatively early.

Movistar with their odd tactics again.... go hard early, use everyone up, and then suffer on final climb leaving sky/ineos with one or 2 domestiques left.

Good day for G, shame alaphilipe couldn't hold on

Well Movistar set it up for Quintana but he just didn't get out the wheels.

But that's kind of my point, they didn't really set him up. as soon as Valverde ran out of Gas Kwiatofski (sp?) took over the pace and Quintana was isolated. Mind you it was an unusual finish for the tour so may be very different on the big mountains

Provided nobody has an accident I'll be happy to predict Thomas -> Pinot -> Uran for GC at this point.

It was an unusual finish. 25% leading up to the finish line and watching Alaphilippe fall into the barriers after crossing the line and Bardet lose his chain on the line made for compelling viewing. The big mountain days will present a different challenge with more tactics being played out and I would expect Ineos, with Kwiatowski, Pouls, Thomas and Egan to lead the way.

I thought at one point the plan was for Quintana to bridge up to Landa but he didn't have the legs.

Another great stage yesterday. How unlucky was Thomas with that crash. He did well to get back in the front but wasnt able to respond to the attack by the Frenchmen. Good to see De Gendt hold on for his win and having Alaphallipe back in Yellow makes for a very exciting few days in the mountains later in the week. Today's stage looks tasty as well.

Brilliant bike racing. 

Yeah, just caught the highlights.  De Gent and Alaphilipe always great for animating things and as Yellow Jersey holder one GC teams are going to have to plan a bit more seriously for.

Hopefully thats the worst of it for G with crashes !

Must say that I was a little disappointed that they attacked when G crashed.

essentially he was taken out by another rider, had a massive “mechanical” and they took the opportunity to gain time...is that really seen as an OK thing to do?

G isn't in yellow.

So?

Just seemed a bit sneaky. Your main rival for the race is taken out by another rider and you take the opportunity to attack.

Not crashing is part of racing. Fighting to be at the front so the crashes are behind you is part of racing tactics. Everybody in the race knows that so brutal but not at all sneaky.

If it were something external like tacks on the road or tear gas the race is unofficially or officially neutralised. There's also the unwritten rule you don't attack if yellow jersey holder has a mechanical or crashes.

A great day of racing, the bonus seconds on the climbs seem to be livening things up and a very good illustration that this is a team sport the way the Ineos riders expended themselves to help their leader. 

Ineos lack a superdomestique like Thomas and before that Froome. Thomas ends up alone.

Cheers, guess I should just sit back and enjoy De Gent and Alaphilipe’s great riding....really enjoying the race this year.

In Le Tours glorious history of cheating has a rider ever been taken out by a crash “Accidentally” 

That was a fantastic chase and a great result.

I love to see it when two top riders can work together because they have different goals (GC and stage win or sprint points).

After seeing the result of the crash, how safe are these carbon framed bikes. It was in pieces after what looked like a pretty innocuous looking tumble. They never said who's bike it was, but it wasn't G's apparently.

From the helicopter replay, it looked like one of the following riders (Thomas?) broke his fall by landing full on the bike in question. If that was the case, probably better the bike broke than the rider - presumably it'd have been vice-versa with a metal frame.

They’re fine. I’ve hit huge potholes on mine at racing speeds and it’s been fine. It’s rare that they break like that, but in any case it broke after crashing, rather than broke and then caused a crash. 

Didn't wheels go through a change years ago where in a crash they shouldn't break apart and skewer someone? Surely a frame snapping and impaling a rider should fall under the same scrutiny. Hopefully the manufacturer has had a look at it.

Who saw that one coming ? Luke Rowe is a bit of the unsung hero both for his work and as a road captain.

At what point, if at all, will they have to take Alaphilipe seriously as a GC contender and is it possible for DQS to rally round as a concerted Gc push ?

Ineos and Quickstep were immense today and wreaked havoc on the overall standings. Who knows what Alaphilippe will do in the mountains but we know what Thomas can do and he must be favourite to gain the Yellow jersey before tea time on Saturday. 

Alaphilipe - 1 minute ahead of the 2018 winner so he is the man to  beat.What is he like over 3 weeks and in the mountains?

He did fade a bit towards the end of the Tour last year, if memory serves. He'd be a worthy winner if he keeps hold of the yellow to the end, and fully deserves it now, but it seems like the ruthless efficiency of Ineos as a GC-focused team is likely to come up trumps. Not as interesting, but it'd also be nice for Thomas to win again.

I thought Millar's commentary yesterday was brilliant.

He basically said that the Pinot group should be very very careful not to burn all their matches trying to get back up to the lead group and not actually make it - and we all know what happened.

E

Millar is very insightful very early - he understands what is happening incredibly quickly.

Amazing how blase we have become about British cycling success: A British Grand Tour winner in 2011 and a TdF stage winner yesterday. 

Froome's win of the Vuelta (in the golden age of drug taking) is a bit like the old climbing joke, Q: "how do you climb an E1 ?  A: Climb a HVS and wait for the new guidebook!"

Golden age of drug taking? pfffft http://www.climbing-records.com/2013/07/all-time-top-100-fastest-rides-on.h...

Ha yep,  my first ever E1 5b is now an E2 5C,  so I'm quite proud...

Should be an interesting couple of days with ITT and Tourmalet.  I really hope Alaphilipe keeps going,  he's great for the event....

Agree!

A question, though - has the tour always tended to be this back-loaded with the GC / Mountain stages? This year I've felt more than usually like I could just tune out the first couple of weeks apart from the odd check on whether anyone's crashed out. Is there usually a bit more shaking-out of GC contenders early on, or is this year totally normal in that respect but I've been distracted by the cricket and hence not as wrapped up as usual in the other aspects of the tour?

I hope so.  With all the build up for the Peyresourde, it was a huge anti-climax.

First week or so has been mostly good viewing though.

Remarkable stats! No one after 2006 gets in the top 100 fastest ascents of Alps D'Huez. 

It's pretty normal.... in general there's a weeks worth of flat/hilly stages at the beginning, a few days in the mountains followed by a few "travelling" flat stages to get to one mountain range or the other, then a weeks worth of big mountain stages with the odd sprint stage thrown in before paris.

If anything recent years have moved slightly away from this formula with a bit more front loading, and now we are going back to the more traditional.

It always used to be the case that a bunch of sprinters would abandon on the first mountain day as their only intention was to grab a few stage wins early on

He certainly kept going today - bloody hell that was impressive. The Petite Locomotive that could!

They don't make 'em like that any more 😉

You have to worry a bit too impressive. 

Lets see what it has taken out of him for today.

What on earth are Movistar doing today?  doing all the work for Ineos's benefit. Again they are going to leave their leaders Isolated with plenty of Ineos bodies left. Quintana's almost off the back too

Wow quite some fight in the last 2KM.

Vive la France!

Yup. He’s a bit unbelievable like the French said Froome was.

Top shifty eyebrows for Emmanuel Macron - credit where it's due...

Worrying for Ineos not only because G couldn't go at the end but because their entire team looked below best, despite Poels having liscence to sit back during the first half of the race.

that list is from 2013. Quintana did 39:22 in 2015 making him #22

more recent list here: https://ammattipyoraily.wordpress.com/2018/07/19/alpe-dhuez-13-80-km-8-11-1...

Alaphilipe can defend like a champion -shadow the guy who is second in the GC.

Another great stage win for Simon Yates, can't understand why he wasn't chosen as Michelton Scotts GC contender

Brilliant stage win but probably planning to defend Vuelta.

GC race heating up, very close for positions 2-6 and Alaphilippe looking very lonely without team support.

Simon Yates was ambling through week 1, though. Might have been different if he'd had to be up there every day.

 Three serious days to go, Final GC prediction.

1) Pinot - will continue to make just enough gains.

2) Thomas - will stay static as Pinot gains and Alaphilippe loses time.

3) Alaphilippe - will lose 40sec per day to Pinot.

4) Kruijswijk - will be static with Thomas.

5) Buchmann - will crack one day and lose some time.

6) Bernal - will be called into the service of Thomas and lose time as a result.

It’s been a great tour this year, i’m loving it...obviously be great if G wins and i’m cheering him on, but you have to say a French winner would be superb too...

Looking at the stage profiles...

Tuesday - sprint stage?

Wednesday - climbs to a plateau so a breakaway can be caught?

Thursday, Friday, Saturday - decisive mountain stages?

Should be a brilliant fight right to the end.

its going to be an exciting finish.  My moneys on G.

I’m at a music festival from Thursday....should I try to avoid the results for 4 days so I can watch on catchup on Monday !

I hope they create a special prize just for that look

Money on G, heart with Alaphilippe.

Surely, the strongest rider in the race currently is Thibaut Pinot, if he continues with current form in the alps then he must be favorite for yellow in Paris.

Pinot is going deep. There will be only so many times he can do that. Fine if three more times. Otherwise G’s conservative consistency will win out.

NQ is the only one in the top 30 post 2008, and 8 of the top 10 are from the 90s  which I would suggest is pretty good evidence that cycling is cleaner than it was then (unless they moved the finish line up the hill in 2008!)

Well....if they followed those guidelines in the premiership you’d only have a couple left on the pitch at the end of the match.

That looks to be a very harsh call.

Hmmmmm, does that make it slightly easier for a French victory?

Pathetic decision. Was really enjoying this year till that.

What on earth has gone on that caused that decision to be made? From the limited video coverage it was something over nothing but to expel the team Captains is a pathetic decision and will seriously hamper Team Ineos over the next 3 days.

From BBC website...

"Footage shows Martin almost riding Rowe off the road and the Welshman appearing to retaliate by grabbing the German."

A bugger though that expulsions mar an exceptional tour.

I understand next year all non-French riders will be required to carry their own luggage in panniers, oh and make their own sandwiches. Ffs! I hope Alaphilippe is annoyed by this.

Was! Now all in for GB, Dutch, Colombian podium.

The footage shown on the news and elsewhere simply seems to be 2 people getting in each other's way and the riders didn't seem that bothered.  It does wiff a bit of a decision to help the frenchie which is a shame, as now if Alaphillipe wins by a small margin we won't know if that's because of missing riders or that Alaphillipe is good enough to do it

Loving the old footage where the riders are raiding cafes and wallowing in horse troughs 😀

Definitely a horse trough day today!

There had to be more to it than the view we’ve seen. Seemed totally innocuous compared to some of the sprint finishes.

I’m hoping that a) Luke won’t be that missed because they are in the mountains now and b) Geraint is going to be pretty motivated by it....

Clearer view of Luke pulling him back here...

https://mobile.twitter.com/TeamINEOS/status/1154120355453329408?ref_src=tws...

Did that bloke who pushed the rider into the ditch get thrown out last week?

Watch Rowe's right arm after Martin jinks Rowe almost off the road.

https://twitter.com/kd2357/status/1154080597146554369

Obviously both in the wrong and need to be punished. Just that DQ seems so over the top...

Now I've seen it or at least saw martin go backwards, I still think it's much ado about nothing.

This is what disquals are for: youtube.com/watch?v=wTUDHSkfQ5A&

If either of them had fallen it would have taken out a few other riders who would have crashed into them. That might be the thinking of the judges.

Yes I'm sure it had nothing to do with making Alaphillipe's run in a bit easier

No, nothing to do with that at all, honest guv....   

So much for GC contenders being whittled down one by one as somebody has a bad day. The top six is becoming a top six and a half.

That was an amazing stage. Bernal's or Alaphillipes? I don't think it will be that simple tho.

ETA: they certainly won't let NQ go out in a break again like that

I think Alaphilippe will be out of contention by tomorrow night. With 2 summit finishes he has no chance of recovery if he gets dropped again. Bernal or Thomas for me.

He looked strong didn't he but yes, the GC group will keep him in check and won't let him get out on his own again. I would imagine Quintana will not have a lot left in the tank after that effort anyway.

It is so close that all of the top six have to respond to all gc attacks to maintain their position or their hopes for yellow. That means alaphilippe has people to follow or even work with! I think he can hang on just as he has already hung on much longer than expected.

An unprecedented situation due to having so many in contention at this late stage.

Very funny to see Alaphilippe casually threading his way through to overtake the GC group on the descent today, he made it look so trivially easy.

Yet again, not at all as expected. 

What was Moviestar / Landa doing?

In addition to the effort of trying to hang on to the other GC guys, the effort of accelerating hard out of all those hairpins on the descent will have taken something out of Alaphilippe. Philip Deignan made the point that the GC contenders will have done a much higher volume of training to deal with the stresses of being in contention over several back-to-back days in the mountains. I think the odds are stacked against Alaphilippe, but I’d love to see aFrench winner. 

There's only one French man on the UCI Jury of 6 people.

E

Crazy events this afternoon.  Stage just been cancelled due to bad weather, lots of unhappy riders.

Reasonable decision though when you see the vid: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cycling/48222507

Terribly cruel on Alaphillippe!

Seems like the road ahead was iced up following a hail storm.

What's happened to that old Andy Hampsten spirit!

My Brother is in Tignes to see the finish... he's not happy!

Seems a ridiculous decision to take GC mid way through a stage - that is not fair in any way

Reasonable to stop and cancel the stage, not to remotely reasonable to take GC mid way through a stage.

what a way to ruin the best race in years

Faced with that, its difficult to know what else they could do ?

From coverage i couldn't work out exactly where that ice / flood was.

Sorry, yes should have made it clear, reasonable to cancel the stage, as that road was not rideable. Presumably they have to take the times from the last place on the road they had an intermediate timing gate, it would be the devils own job to work out times from their positions on the road at the instant Prudhomme pulled the plug (unless they all have GPS trackers / telemetry)

edit: spelling

It was in Val D'isere (at least that's what twitter tells me.

They could have just cancelled the stage... everyone starts tomorrow in same places as this morning 

No chance, not after that ride up the Iseren.

Well deserved 'win' and GC standing.

Terrible for Pinot, looking at the betting odds he was favourite this morning.

I've been hoping Alaphilippe could hang on and this will be a bitter blow for him.

Far from ideal but uncontrollable external events just have to be accepted and dealt with so a deserved stage win.

It even means yellow jersey holder has won a stage as a champion should. Unfortunate for Yates.

Lets hope Bernal can put some more time into the others so there is no lingering doubts (in some quarters) as to the legitimacy of the result.

Not sure about that AP might have lost even more time on the final climb.

Watching the descents is nerve wracking but watching AP descend is glorious. He makes it look like he has an impossible gravity enhancement.

A very unusual day for sure.....who'd have expected those conditions! Seams a reasonable judgement to me to take the timings where they did, not sure what else they could have done! Genuinely think Allaphilipe would have lost a lot more time if the stage had been completed. It'll be interesting to see how Ineos play this tomorrow but Pinot abandoning will be significant and I cant see anyone challenging Thomas or Bernal for GC now....

Yep. Allaphilipe would've lost more on the climb to Tignes than he would've gained on the descent.
Prudomme did a good job today.

E

Well I've done the Etape de Tour twice and we had hail / slush / snow on the summit of Ventoux and the following year at the top of the Tourmalet. 

The first was abandoned, but the following year the organisers let us carry on, and the descent of the Col de Tourmalet on the western side with the big drop offs was quite scary on road tyres when the surface is completely white.

This sounds reasonable to me.

I don’t understand how you can award a win in a race when there’s so much of it left and so much that could happen.

Just because someone is leading and looking good doesn’t guarantee them the win. That’s one of the beauties of sport.

Still, it’s not like it’s an important event, is it?

I'd like to watch you pedal through that mudslide 😆😆😆

Nature intervened. It was the right decision and everybody was equally effected . Well done to Bernal and gaining the Yellow jersey and commiserations to Pinot who.was looking his best ever at the TDF before today. Tomorrow will decide who's wearing the Maillot Jaune on Sunday.

I hope he wins. Alaphilippe has had a magnificent tour and I hope he can win in the next couple of years.  I wonder where the UKs next TdF winner is coming from? Froome is knocking on a bit, GT maybe but unlikeky. The Yates brothers? Simon looks stong and I don't understand why his Brother was designated team leader. I'm already looking forward to the Vuelta. 

Makes eminent sense to me, given the circumstances. 

I'm just watching eurosport highlights show......Bernal was so strong!!, Alaphilippe looked well cooked....ive never ridden in the Alps but chapeau to anyone who does, it looked brutal!

Full respect to Alaphilippe though....he has honoured the jersey in a way ive not seen for years!

Fictional outcome if continued: bernal powers on and gained unbeatable time gap on the other GCs,   Alaphilippe overcooks it on a corner (due to fatigue and taking risks, as he admitted previously) and crashes out of the tour. 

Disc brakes.

Tomorrow's stage is being shortened to 59km. 

https://twitter.com/letour

Bloody hell. Never thought of that.

Disappointing end to what has been the best Tour de France for years. I wonder what Thomas can muster up on Val Thorens. Last chance saloon for everyone. 

Me neither.

I thought it had run its course by then, JA wasn't going to get anywhere near Bernal. If anyone has a gripe, it's Simon Yates, could have had another win there.

What was the time gap between Bernal and JA when the race was stopped?

Would Bernal have been able to keep up his pace on the final climb? would JA have recovered enough to claw back some time?

Why couldn’t the race restart after the hail affected section which was, according to Wiggo, only a few hundred metres long?

Would JA, Thomas or Bernal have crashed out or blown up, or punctured or had a mechanical?

All possibilities.

No wonder Bernal and Thomas were two of the few top riders smiling at the end.

Didn't you see the massive landslide that covered the road with mud that probably 2 - 3 feet deep ?

'It was in Val D'isere (at least that's what twitter tells me'

The  ice / snow looked to me as though it was on the main road which runs below Val d'Isere beside the lake, on the way to the Tignes turn-off. The mud slide was not so easy to place, but looked more like the road between Tignes les Brevieres and Tignes les Boisses.

https://en.tignes.net/what-to-see-do/events/tour-de-france

Correction - the hotel in this photo of the mud slide is at Le Reculaz, clearly shown on the map in my previous link

https://deadspin.com/tour-de-france-stage-abruptly-called-off-mid-race-afte...

I don’t think it’s that - it’s good lines, fluidity and bravery. 

No.

I was going off the highlights and Wiggo’s comments on Eurosport.

LA/Big George put it down to discs, which JA alone had on that descent where he overtook a whole bunch of riders. I've never used them, but I can see how braking crisply a second later than the rim guys would get you down faster. 

It's all speculation but was looking like the most probable outcome would have been Alaphilippe losing more time on the final climb. With the shortened stage today and shortened stage tomorrow one massive effort and he could still finish on the podium, which would be great result and well deserved.  

Tour de France 2019: Egan Bernal leads after hailstorm stops stage 19 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/49129146

Thanks for that 

Indeed.

I was getting too emotional having been rooting for JA since he gained the yellow jersey.

Sport will do that to you!  

I have to admit, I'm still not really comfortable with the decision to take the times from the top of the Iseran. If it was a flattish stage and a break had been 15 minutes clear at an intermediate sprint point just before the stage was halted, it'd obviously have been daft to give the breakaway riders the 15 minute advantage in the GC. Today was a lot less clear-cut, but with a solo rider in front with 35km and a category 1 climb still to come, I'm not entirely happy with the race officials essentially calling it for Bernal at that point.

Disc brakes don't improve stopping ability except in the wet.  A well tuned set of rim brakes can lock the wheels - that's as much stopping power as needed. In fact on a long descent hydraulics can boil where as brake blocks & cables won't.

He's just a better descender - just like a moto gp racer is faster round corners than your average joe on a bike... it's about feel and understanding where the limit is and moving your weight correctly

You could see some took a very conservative more central line, others were literally racing line verge to verge. It's a risk but that's enough to give you a few kph more. 

Wrong....disc brakes provide greater controlled friction. You can modulate your speed down in a shorter distance consistently ie: come into the corner faster and brake later. Because you are using just a single finger and far less effort; towards the end of a long descent you aren't suffering forearm fatigue so your braking control remains constant. Disc brake set ups usually use a thru axle which stiffens the fork given better control in the cornering process. Hydraulics don't boil unless they're badly set up with loads of air bubbles; and how many TDF riders are sent out on a badly prepared bike. A disc can be glowing and still deliver reliable performance. When the pads are worn down, bin them and fit a new set in five minutes. If I'm weight conscious I can run small discs; and then on the big descent days swap in bigger discs (spacing out the calipers on adapters). Takes about twenty minutes.

Grupetto (sprinters, domestiques) will be very happy to have 2000-3000m less climbing in the tour.

Starting to sounds like they might not have any more climbing at all to do! 

What's today going to be then?

A 35km, 1900m uphill sprint chasing Ala-p down.

Full gas from the start as you don't have the distance to catch somebody off the front? Many more possible winners in teams and individuals who lack the endurance to win the full length  stage.Chaotic racing as so many in the mix.

https://twitter.com/TeamINEOS/status/1155031770733174784?s=20

The caravan has been cancelled so it was looking like the stage might be going that way too but looks like they’re going ahead. 

If he treats this as a time trial of constant metered effort up a fairly uniform gradient...

Polka dots up for grabs as well, could be a crazy day ... 😀

How much choice do you think the riders have over whether they are discs or rim brakes. They ride what the sponsor wants.

Intrestingley Wont Van Art was on rim brakes yet when riding cross he is on discs. It’s all about convincing the punters they need the latest kit.

Only if you're Tim Wellens. Nobody else has enough points to catch Bardet.

Not true I think there is about 5 riders who could catch him as there is 40 points on offer at the finish.

Didn't realise it had been bumped up that much. Fair enough!

I’ve ridden both types in the Pyrenees and the alps.  No difference if the bike is set up right and your brakes are.  I set the 7th fasted time on one decent in the pyrenees, now down to 14th and that was on KCNC brakes which are half the weight of dura ace but also half the stopping power, with a squeeze these still locked both my wheels and stopped me in 2-3m due to a car.   If you’re fatigued descending, your bike and brake setup is probably wrong.

Cheers

Toby

Ineos defending yellow and taking it over the line. Even resumption of normal service is unexpected (for me).

A great end to a great tour. Chapeau to Bernal and Team Ineos who showed their class yet again. I can't imagine what Bernal may be capable.of winning but the future is very bright for Colombian cycling. Roll on the Vuelta!!

Best Tour I’ve watched. Loved it. What a cracking lad Bernal is, and Alaphilippe lit the whole race up. 

By the way. I did a Cotswold double hundred miler yesterday with over 3000 metres of climbing.  It was savage. I only mention it because I know you are from somewhere in that area.

Discs do come in to their own when it is wet but agree, in the dry rim brakes are perfectly ample on the road.

Another advantage for disc brakes on road bikes, and especially TT bikes, is that they allow much more freedom in shaping the wheel rims, e.g. according to aerodynamic criteria. Also makes it easier to produce all carbon rims without having to worry about balancing friction and abrasion.

CB

Trying not to go cold turkey by listening to some of the Wiggins/Eurosport and ITV4 blogs. A great tour.

Not quite the best tour I've watched (I was in Paris in 1989 for the 8 second timetrial win of Lemond), but def best since then!

Chapeau! Yes, I saw a few folks out with numbers on the handlebars when I was out yesterday. Did you go down Stanway hill? 

Totally agree, I'd have them on everyone of my other bikes that don't currently have them.   I've had a couple of friends return 5k  race bikes due to disc issues, they miss the braking but not the noise and faff, they were glad they did when they heard the same braking noise in the tour now they use them.

I like the idea of discs on race bikes though, no more worries about wearing out rims which means less pause for thought when buying expensive wheels!

Cheers

Toby

It was the Great Shakespeare ride on Sunday. I went down Stanway hill on Saturday on my way to Winchcombe and Corndean lane 

Ah, I see. 

Help!!!

I seem to be wandering blind through a black void.

What's a man to do?

Get out on yer bike !  pretend to be (insert name of inspiring rider here).