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#1
07-25-2019, 09:36 PM
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Tour de France; Close Race, 3 Stages Remain
Unusually tight race for the yellow jersey, this year. And a Frenchman in the lead! (Another rarity.) Top 5 riders less than two minutes apart, with two tough mountain stages remaining. It's far from over.
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#2
07-26-2019, 01:58 AM
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You forgot to mention that the leader and one of the guys chasing him with a legitimate chance to win are French! No French rider has won that race since 1985, so if that should happen, the spectators around Paris on Sunday’s largely ceremonial last stage (ending with several laps of the Champs-Élysées) are gonna be LIT!!! It’s also the first time since I’ve been following it closely (early 90’s) where any one of five or six guys have a really legitimate chance to win this late in the race and we really have no idea yet who will. An incredibly exciting and entertaining race!
-Ray
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#4
07-26-2019, 08:29 AM
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Pinot abandons. Much of the intrigue lost there...
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#5
07-26-2019, 09:06 AM
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Wild Stage 19, cut short due to excessive hail! Change in yellow; the Frenchman (whom I DID mention) is no longer in the lead. Colombian Egan Bernal likely to take the big prize.
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#7
07-26-2019, 04:10 PM
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DARN IT, Alaphilippe was gaining time on a descent that will not be counted because the officials decided to stop the race back at the top of the climb!! Yellow went to a worthy rider but we'll never know how things really would have ended. I just thank God that no rider or vehicle was swept off the road by that mudslide, and that the hailstorm started and ended before the riders were at the storm location.
__________________
Neil M, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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#9
07-26-2019, 09:01 PM
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Quote:
Ineos had two strong climbers in contention at the end - a huge advantage and they were working it. If the stage had gone all the way and one of the other contenders had caught Bernal (unlikely with Tibot out), Thomas would have just been sitting on and would have counterattacked and it would have been him in yellow. I guess France is gonna have to wait a little longer...
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#10
07-27-2019, 08:56 AM
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Alaphilippe benefitted from the stoppage. He would have lost 4 mins by the top of the final climb, no matter how much he closed on the descent. He was cooked.
He gave a tremendous accounting of himself in this Tour, and rode like a champion. He animated the race and made it much better than it might have been. But he’s not yet a man for the high mountains. Too many fast-twitch muscles. And he had no team, he just spent too much energy early. He’s had an incredible year, with a win in Liège - Bastogne - Liège, and a bunch of other wins and top placings. Allez Allephillipe!
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#11
07-27-2019, 09:00 AM
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With the penultimate stage complete, Bernal, the youngest rider in the Tour, will be (barring a freak occurrence tomorrow) the first Colombian to win the Tour. Team mate and last year's winner Geraint Thomas will finish 2d.
Alaphilippe, France's best hope for a podium finish, slipped to 5th, having been dropped hard on the final climb. Fellow Frenchman Pinot likely would have done no better than 3d, had he finished. Another green jersey (best sprinter) for Peter Sagan, possibly the best all-round road cyclist of our time. Having followed the Tour for nearly 30 years, I believe this was the most competitive and interesting one of them all.
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#12
07-27-2019, 10:39 AM
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Quote:
 The most fun to watch, that's for sure!Best, PJ
__________________
A Gibson A couple Martins
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#13
07-27-2019, 10:54 AM
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Definitely the most entertaining and we have Alaphilippe to thank for that. The most animated rider in the Tour, has been for a couple of years, but having him in yellow for most of this one made his exploits that much more thrilling to watch. It was a climb too far for him and if they hadn't neutralized yesterday's stage, it probably would have been two climbs too far for him Kind of nice to only see him drop off the podium on the last hard day. The guy's a fighter but he looks like he's enjoying it too, most of the time.
I suspect we're gonna see a lot more of Bernal. Although for just this year, it would have been interesting to see how it would have come out if they'd had Thomas attacking and Bernal riding the wheels, ready to counter, rather than the other way around. I'm not sure GT was as strong as Bernal, in which case Bernal still probably would have won. But he also might have been strong enough and he'd be in yellow again. But, once again, Eneos (Sky) had the numbers and could play the team game and it paid off. Would have been really fun to see a Frenchman riding into Paris in yellow tomorrow, but, not to be. Not for 34 years, not for at least one more. And unless Tibot can figure out a way to finish one of these grand tours, maybe not for another very very long time. I don't think Alaphilippe is the kind of rider to win a Grand Tour - it was kind of amazing how long he fought for it this year. But this was also one of the easiest in memory in terms of really tough finishing climbs, so he probably wouldn't do as well with the courses they select most years... -Ray
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#14
07-27-2019, 11:28 AM
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I really enjoyed that tour and tomorrow morning will be fun to watch. He had some good fortune come his way, but what a remarkable accomplishment for the 22-year old Bernal. I hope he has a few more victories there in his future.
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