Scottish Elises

Fantastic results, 1 & 2, 1 in the Sprint.

tut

Oustanding tour for Sky. From basically a startup co to winning the biggest prize is some feat. I wonder how many years Froome will stay as a no2?

I've been watching the tour de France coverage on TV since early 1980's....Great to see the 1st British winner in Bradley and the way the Sky team have managed it in 3years.

Really like Cavendish,the sprinters are always prima doñas but Cav does seem to be humbled at times with his huge achievement of his sprint wins and how much it is a team effort. Love seeing the sprints from the overhead camera afterwards which really shows the final speed and acceleration and the speed differentials.

Fantastic result, and the way that Sky rode through the three weeks was incredible, and great to see that one of my childhood heros, Sean Yates is still alive and kicking, calling the shots from the Sky team car.

Chris Hoy hailed this as the greatest British sporting achievement of all time. I agree - it is right up there with Bannister's 4 minute mile, Redgrave's 4 Olympic golds, and JYS's 3 world championships. Of the top of my head I can't think of anything else with even remotely compares.

Arise Sir Bradley Sideburns anyone?

GRAHAM wrote: I wonder how many years Froome will stay as a no2?

It all depends if Sky want to make him number one, or if he honestly thinks he would be a real contender as number one at a different team, he's a fantastic rider, a great climber who can time trial, but he also benefits from the other sky riders around him, especially Porte and Rogers in the mountains, and the whole Sky set up is probably so far ahead of the other teams right now that it is unlikely he would have been so well prepared for the Tour if he was in another team. He also get's paid a pretty good wage to not be the team leader, probably more than any other team could pay him to be number one.

ryallm wrote:Chris Hoy hailed this as the greatest British sporting achievement of all time. I agree - it is right up there with Bannister's 4 minute mile, Redgrave's 5 Olympic golds, and JYS's 3 world championships. Of the top of my head I can't think of anything else with even remotely compares.

Arise Sir Bradley Sideburns anyone?

.....EDITED.......

tut

Oops

tut wrote:

ryallm wrote:Chris Hoy hailed this as the greatest British sporting achievement of all time. I agree - it is right up there with Bannister's 4 minute mile, Redgrave's 5 Olympic golds, and JYS's 3 world championships. Of the top of my head I can't think of anything else with even remotely compares.

Arise Sir Bradley Sideburns anyone?

.....EDITED.......

tut

Your also forgetting wiggos was the first british athlete in 60 years to win 3 Olympic medals in one games .......i just don’t think Bradley realised what he has done! As being the first brit ever to win the tour de france! ….that is quite astounding IMO.

As a kid i remember watching TDF and being in awe of it all......on the question if a brit would ever win it back then was seen as a no change ever feeling......i was quite blown away with Cavendish to be honest, but wiggo has taken the candy floss and gone.

you can forget the question off, who was the first brit to win the tour de france in trivial pursuit for 50 years…..

Can't deny his triumph, but the only quotes and interviews I've seen don't exactly make him come across as humble with it. Not a sport I follow so maybe that's the norm, but didn't make me want to engage with the event. Are they all like that?

GilesM wrote:

GRAHAM wrote: I wonder how many years Froome will stay as a no2?

It all depends if Sky want to make him number one, or if he honestly thinks he would be a real contender as number one at a different team, he's a fantastic rider, a great climber who can time trial, but he also benefits from the other sky riders around him, especially Porte and Rogers in the mountains, and the whole Sky set up is probably so far ahead of the other teams right now that it is unlikely he would have been so well prepared for the Tour if he was in another team. He also get's paid a pretty good wage to not be the team leader, probably more than any other team could pay him to be number one.

It may depend on the route and the time trial content, this years route had more time trial miles and less mountain finishes so was ideal for Wiggins. Also down to the strength of the other teams, Sky seemed to have every base covered. At the end of the day it was a team success and they all played there part to perfection - very strong leadership. Contrast that with a couple of years ago with Armstrong and Contador in the same team, disputing who was team leader.

kerryxeg wrote:

GilesM wrote:

GRAHAM wrote: I wonder how many years Froome will stay as a no2?

It all depends if Sky want to make him number one, or if he honestly thinks he would be a real contender as number one at a different team, he's a fantastic rider, a great climber who can time trial, but he also benefits from the other sky riders around him, especially Porte and Rogers in the mountains, and the whole Sky set up is probably so far ahead of the other teams right now that it is unlikely he would have been so well prepared for the Tour if he was in another team. He also get's paid a pretty good wage to not be the team leader, probably more than any other team could pay him to be number one.

It may depend on the route and the time trial content, this years route had more time trial miles and less mountain finishes so was ideal for Wiggins. Also down to the strength of the other teams, Sky seemed to have every base covered. At the end of the day it was a team success and they all played there part to perfection - very strong leadership. Contrast that with a couple of years ago with Armstrong and Contador in the same team, disputing who was team leader.

The long time trials certainly helped Wiggins, but he showed he's not too bad at going up hills, and if Froome had been allowed to ride away on tat one climb then things may have gone wrong for both riders, something the Sky management were not prepared to risk. Sean Yates was very unimpressed with some of Froome's exploits, his view was simple, Froome is paid very well by Sky to do what he is told to do, it wasn't about making sure Wiggins won, it was about making sure Sky won.

Back in about '85 or '86 Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond had a similar problem, that got a bit messy if I remember rightly, although they did kiss and make up for the press.

I think it was a little unfair for the media to say that Froome was in a position to beat Wiggins.
Wiggins wasnt racing Froome.
Yes, there were one or two mountain stages that Froome maybe could have taken a couple of minutes out of Wiggins lead but that was the opposite in every other stage.
Had Wiggins been racing against Froome, imho he would have been dealt with long before then.