Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2014

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• Wow, had a feeling about Froomy, after crashing yesterday yikes, I don't like him but I didn't want that to happen to the poor fucker, thats bike racing. Lots of respect for Nibali.

• @Chris

  There were a lot of strong performances out there but Nibali was in a different league today. To ride away from Sagan and Spartacus towards the end was amazing.

  This.   Nibbles looked like a man on an absolutely obsessive mission.  He realised he had the chance to gain more time and went for it big-time.  He knew it was terrain he's not overly comfortable on, but smashed it up.  He has gone up yet another notch in my estimation and is almost overflowing with the V.

• What a day!  Vast amounts of cowbell from G...I actually fetched mine from the kitchen to rattle as I watched.  Nibbles was a revelation.  Froome is making a real habit of falling off his bike early in races...didn't he fall off earlier in the year during the roll out on one of the early season races?

  Luckily (because there is certainly no skill at my end) I did not have him in my picks which as rocketed me to top 10 in the VSP (must take a screen print because it will be very short lived I am sure!)

  Only thing is, I am wondering if I should have picked Talansky rather than TeejaytheDJ?

  need more cowbell from nicemusicltd on Vimeo.

• @Mike_P

  @Chris

  There were a lot of strong performances out there but Nibali was in a different league today. To ride away from Sagan and Spartacus towards the end was amazing.

  This. Nibbles looked like a man on an absolutely obsessive mission. He realised he had the chance to gain more time and went for it big-time. He knew it was terrain he's not overly comfortable on, but smashed it up. He has gone up yet another notch in my estimation and is almost overflowing with The V.

  Totally agree chaps. I did think his sudden improvement in form when he went to Astana was a little suspicious, but I'm over that now and I've become a big fan. He smashed the Giro last year, attacking and winning in the maglia rosa in the snow on the penultimate stage, and he's clearly set out to smash the Tour this year. His attack into Sheffield was impressive in itself, but his ride yesterday was something else. It's like he said to Vino "look, mate, your version of my national champion's jersey is  a fucking abomination, and an insult to my country, so I'm planning on wearing something else for the next three weeks".

• @LeoTea

  I see Froome is getting some sympathy, but not much else, so I think it's time to profess my Dirty Froome Love.

  The first time I saw Froome race was in the 2011 Vuelta when he did that storming TT that put him in the top 3. His subsequent experience in that race, having to wait for Wiggo, even though he was in red made my appreciation for him grow (particularly when Wiggo would do his stupid hill-getting-steeper, must-tuck-lower routine). Froome should have won that race.

  On the Tour in 2012 he won one stage, and should have had another 1 or 2, but again Wiggo's need to have his hand held on the steep stuff cost him.

  Finally in 2013 Froome was given his head. He took yellow in style, attacking earlier then he was supposed to. And then the next day, he clung on when Garmin decided they were going to fuck with everybody. He then won with style on Ventoux, accelerating away from Bertie, and then slowly dropping Quintana. He showed his class on the last mountain stage, having a go and attacking Quintana, even though he didn't have to. The one complaint made about Wiggo in 2012 was that he had no panache on the bike. Froome is the opposite; as far away from a trendy mop-top mod as you can get, but you can't accuse him of riding like a robot.

  Stage 2 on the Dauphine this year is a shining example. Left alone with 6km to go, he rode damn near everyone off his wheel, and not by slow strangulation. He jumped, decelerated, jumped again, and then just rode as hard as he could to the line.

  Yes, he does look like a spider humping a lightbulb, and his fascination with his stem is a bit puzzling. But he's making the most of his God-given physiology, no matter how unorthodox it might be.

  The race is going to be much poorer without him.

  Much is being made of the "should they have taken Wiggo to the Tour" question and there are a couple of points probably being missed:

  1.  Wiggo is in awesome form.  It has been hinted that he did not want to ride Domestique, that is his choice.  Froome rode for him, so why not return the favour?

  2.  Froome is the defending champion.  For all of hard nosed commercials it would be a brave team that dropped a defending winner (who was also in good form) in favour of another.  Wiggo is a big fan of the history of cycling and respects this.  He knows he should not depose Froome so he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

  3.  Wiggo wants to ride the track at the next Olympics, the new schedule probably works quite well for him.

  Personally I love them both...but they are very different.  They both have the ability, Froomedog is quieter but his riding is much more exciting to watch, attacks, staring down his rivals and a great climber and timetrialler.  Wiggo has panache off the bike, he is brash and has style but he rides to a power meter and rarely does anything that is not calculated.  He won the tour by doing the absolute minimum, relying on his team and was clinical in his execution.  Awesome...but not as exciting.  Having said that calling the press a bunch of cunts was pure genius and I love him for it.

  Chalk, Cheese....C'est La Vie.

  The question is not if, but when, he will leave Sky.  Which team will pick him up?

• Wigan Athletic. Sorry, I mean Sharp-Cannondale.

• Just trawled back over the last couple of pages and of course, the main talking point is Froome and what may now happen on GC, but holy cow, this guy needs celebrating.  What a ride. Boom !!

• The thing that struck me most about what state Froome was in was that having got in the car he was unable to close the door himself.  He clearly wanted it closed to shut out the cameras but was unable to grip or pull it himself and had to ask for it to be closed.

• @Geraint

  Wigan Athletic. Sorry, I mean Sharp-Cannondale.

  Thing is though if he is going to train for the Olympics track it's not really compatible with the requirements for a stage race.

• @Teocalli

  The thing that struck me most about what state Froome was in was that having got in the car he was unable to close the door himself. He clearly wanted it closed to shut out the cameras but was unable to grip or pull it himself and had to ask for it to be closed.

  He almost looked to be in a state of shock. Or maybe he was expecting a minion to do it for him (no offence @minion).