22-07-2017, 22:42
We now know why Maciej Bodnar was one of the riders taking it easy yesterday as he won the Time Trial in a time of 28m 15s, 1 second ahead of Michal Kwiatkowski and 6 seconds ahead of Chris Froome. Tony Martin was 4th a further 8 seconds adrift. There was a slight reshuffle in the Yellow Jersey competition behind Froome, as Rigoberto Uran rode a good race to move up to 2nd place overall. Romain Bardet just made it onto the podium in 3rd place, despite a poor race, holding off Mikel Landa by 1 second overall.
In summary, no stage win for Chris Froome in a very competitive Tour, but he was always in command thanks to a tremendous effort by Team Sky. It seems that Michal Kwiatkowski was regarded as the Man Of The Tour for his work for Froome and Landa and he almost got his reward today in a strong ride. It was always going to be too much to hope for the close challengers that Froome would lose an advantage going into any Time Trial and it proved to be so.
I somewhat agree with 0762 regarding competition, but it has been gratifying to see a close race this year and Froome having to dig deep and show his true class and commitment in warding off all attempts to overtake him in the 3rd and decisive week. However, Mikel Landa will be joining Movistar (presumably because of Nairo Quintana never really being able to mount a serious challenge) for next season and must be considered to be a definite GC contender in 2018.
As usual, I'll not be watching tomorrow's procession into Paris but will try to catch the last lap hoping for a sprinters' charge for the line to give a bit of excitement. In the absence of Sagan, Cavendish, Demare and Kittel, there still will be a competitive finish with Michael Matthews the man of the moment. Even so, there is still plenty of choice for the last stage winner, including Andre Greipel, Alexander Kristoff and Greg Van Avermaet, who would be the one for me.
In summary, no stage win for Chris Froome in a very competitive Tour, but he was always in command thanks to a tremendous effort by Team Sky. It seems that Michal Kwiatkowski was regarded as the Man Of The Tour for his work for Froome and Landa and he almost got his reward today in a strong ride. It was always going to be too much to hope for the close challengers that Froome would lose an advantage going into any Time Trial and it proved to be so.
I somewhat agree with 0762 regarding competition, but it has been gratifying to see a close race this year and Froome having to dig deep and show his true class and commitment in warding off all attempts to overtake him in the 3rd and decisive week. However, Mikel Landa will be joining Movistar (presumably because of Nairo Quintana never really being able to mount a serious challenge) for next season and must be considered to be a definite GC contender in 2018.
As usual, I'll not be watching tomorrow's procession into Paris but will try to catch the last lap hoping for a sprinters' charge for the line to give a bit of excitement. In the absence of Sagan, Cavendish, Demare and Kittel, there still will be a competitive finish with Michael Matthews the man of the moment. Even so, there is still plenty of choice for the last stage winner, including Andre Greipel, Alexander Kristoff and Greg Van Avermaet, who would be the one for me.
Cabbage is still good for you