diphthong

truth and i don't see him now clawing his way to the lowest step of the podium now but there are some seriously combustible riders ahead of him still such as his teammate, bardet, yates and landa
along will a few tough to figure out ones like mas, g martin, quintana and uran. buchmann is still hanging tough so he would seem to be recovered from the dauphine incident. it's still early and i think
mollema still ends up top ten...maybe sixth.

diphthong

down to 9th. the cracks have started to appear in the dam.

slcbob

^ well I've just cracked the top 3,000 of Gen Pop and the podium of our little enclave, so I agree with your assessment that, essentially, "there goes the neighborhood."

Any day as a single digit midget is a good day. Heck, even top 100 or 1%, which you're clearing handily. Sure, you're on borrowed time, much like Ahlaphilippe and our Adam have been, but it's well deserved and enjoy it in the very few moments you have left. At least you can Lord it over Bike Forums for a while longer.

Discussion today with Mrs. slcbob:

Phil on TV: there goes Lilian Calmejane, he hasn't been feeling well at all so far this Tour.
Mrs.: Isn't he on your team?
Me: Of course.
Mrs: Your picks are the kiss of death for these poor lads.
Me: Yes. I should name my team the Grim Reaper.

slcbob

FDJ might do well to pass their team lead to UAE. Or "ooh ahh ayy" as I can't calling them after Krtisoff's Bundy cheer on the team bus before stage 2.

Your faith in Pinot joins mine in Martinez. But we'll soldier on as worthy opponents do and see how the dust settles.

My faith in Zakarin was rewarded today. Or should I say lack thereof. He was looking real good for a win but there were descents involved. I'm getting old and punchy and can't quite remember all the riders that are dead to me after many years of squandered Velobucks, but most of them are retired now and heck, they're dead to me, so it doesn't matter. Zakarin is right there on the short list. Sure, he snarfed a few points for his minor placing today, but on principle I cannot yearn for those. I mean him no harm and am glad he only foundered rather than went full Zakarin into the mountainside.

Guillaume Martin almost made my VG team and did in Tissot land. Good riding for him.

Fantasy scoring hope for tomorrow: Dani Martinez and LL Cool Sanchez in a break. Fear for tomorrow: Ahlaphilippe isn't beaten. I definitely think he's got another stage in him before the end, but I hope not tomorrow.

2cam16

Loving Powless' performance in the Tour so far. We finally have a pair of young American riders that hopefully will be top contenders soon.

GrainBrain

Uran did extremely well in last year's Stage 13 ITT in Pau tying with de gendt for 3rd. He's looking very strong and closer to his 2017 second place form this year.

Calmejane would've been one of my choices, he really lit up in 2017! Ag2r had a good win today for the French at least!
I think he would've won it today but he shot through a turn somehow!? He managed to stay up but it looked like a wild ride. Still that's going to be a good boost for the teams classification!!

diphthong

*stage nine horrible prediction*...george bennett and alaphilippe were the first two names that popped into the old noggin. julian had a really tough day and i'll pick him again
but not for stage nine. i'll go with team jv letting george bennett have a go on the col de soudet halfway through the stage and actually winning.

slcbob

^ no. Ewan.

diphthong

^you think he can get up over those biggie climbs and huff it out to properly finish with authority? i like ewan but not that much...except in post #87 .
if either of us is picking ewan, it'll probably be wout if recent history is any indication...

i haven't been wrong (again) since i last spoke to the lady tho...like five mins ago.

diphthong

helluva early break on stage number nine number nine number nine with wout, reichenbach, barguil, carthy, de la cruz, kamna, pinot,
mollema, gaudu, rolland and hirschi...damn. hard-core. you can't make this stuff up...phenomenal quality in this break. here is some cut and paste (forgive the capitalizations)
**************************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************************
Now it's Hirschi and Kämna up front.

Reichenbach, Barguil and De La Cruz chase.

04:58:55 PDT
Reichenbach, Pinot and Barguil have pushed on further.

04:58:34 PDT
Swiss champion Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) is up there with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), David De La Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Mickäel Chérel (AG2R La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) are also up front.
**************************************************************************************************** **********************************************************

...oh...and daniel martinez decided to throw down as well along with omar fraile from astana. maybe we've got the stage of the entire race here and now...eff yes. let's do this.

2cam16

Pogacar means business! Nice finish to the stage!

slcbob

In keeping with Rule 87, I'm picking Ewan for the rest day. I thought Aru might give him a run for his money, but no. Pinot will be on Caleb's heels but doesn't have the finishing kick.

God knows, Hirschi deserves a day off. Well done. Oh so close.

GrainBrain

Those bonus seconds are dangerous! Am I to assume we just saw the three podium finalists with Bernal, Pogacar and Roglic - all finishing (including Landa) 11 seconds ahead of fourth through tenth today? I think everyone expected Roglic to make this kind of move after the JV train but nobody responded? Quintana seemed there but fell back. Did Roglic and Pogacar dig too deep today?

I saw Pogacar do this sort of thing last year at the Vuelta, if he can be sheltered in the flats and protected in the medium mountains he could very well wear yellow in Paris. Hopefully he can look to Formolo. Is it a big problem with Aru withdrawing?

diphthong

helluva stage. jj dyn-o-mite style. that’s what I was looking for on stages six and eight. sivakov better but still cemented as lanterne rouge. i believe that’ll change soon.

USAZorro

Better for Aru to go than to have someone unreliable riding support. Something is ailing him (physically or mentally). I'm in concurrence about your projected podium. They seem to be the three strongest.

Going to be bold and pick Ewan, Bennett and Van Aert for stage 10.

diphthong

formolo is super capable, as is polanc, as is de la cruz. pogacar will be fine. i think he's too young to know otherwise and that's an advantage.
originally picked pogacar for both teams thinking he'd finish 4th. now thinking he'll finish 2nd, approx 35-50 seconds behind roglic.
if pogacar rides either the vuelta or the giro, he's my pick to win it all currently.

diphthong

nice superman ii reference in the tdf tissot game. terence stamp is the bleep. loved him in the limey.

slcbob

So since Ewan is already picked, I'll predict Bennett and wonder if he will get pipped by Van Aert, who along with Hirschi are looking like the sons of Jor El (I'm not so hardcore that I could say that without looking it up). The pundits say this is a dodgy sprint. Let's hope they all keep their skin.

o.o.ga-booga -- good looking flick there. He looks like he's channeling a mix of Christopher Walken and Charles Bronson. Something to watch this fall after the compressed season and I get all the rest of my life in order.

slcbob

I already gave a small contribution to George at VG but I might make more of a dent in the endowment if he would introduce a feature like the one in Tissotville where you get to talk smack after a triumphant day in the league.

diphthong

it's a "short, sharp shock." luis guzman as his sidekick is awesome as well. peter fonda plays the sleazy, self-absorbed music producer lost in the
swirling mists of the 60's about as well as you would expect-perfectly. nice soundtrack as well with the old who single (a fave) but especially the byrds track.
it's the movie soderburgh did just before traffic (which is phenomenal as well).

diphthong

i made a few donations this year to cycling sites/blogs i've frequented the last decade but forgot about velogames. will need to throw george a bone as well.

i effing hate paypal tho.

*edit...still hate paypal but circumvented the nonsense. bone thrown.

diphthong

stage ten at the end of act ii, scene iv...sir elton was right...the king is dead (so far), lady macbeth has fainted and macbeth...er...wout has gone to scone/îll de ré to be invested in another stage win.

2cam16

Holy cow, this is turning out to be one fugly stage! Poor Tadej!

slcbob

I think the Sunweb train should get some assist points here.

Caretaker

Yessssss!