Yeah. You gotta get NBC Gold. No ads but different announcers. The commercials are too too much.
haha van Aert was unknowingling gave Viviani the perfect lead out but Viviani couldn’t get around him. The look on Viviani’s face when he looked over, “who the hell are you???”
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meanwhile poor michael matthews sitting pretty behind his leadout man as the entire sprint field goes around him…
I thought that was weird. In one of the overhead replays, he had a gap behind his lead out man so he either didn’t have the legs or fell asleep at the wheel.
Problem is he can’t really go for KOM while he’s in yellow as he won’t be allowed to get in the breaks that typically hoover up most of the KOM points. And he clearly wants to hold onto yellow as long as he can, and certainly isn’t going to disrespect the jersey by deliberately losing time to put himself out of GC contention so he can get in breaks again. By the time he loses yellow he might have too much to make up on the KOM competition.
Woo Caleb! Happy for him to get the win.
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crazy how many second and third place finishes he’s had this tour, really really consistent. Glad he pushed through and got the win today after a rough year last year!
Specialized couldn’t have asked for a better Shiv TT launch, eh? Tomorrow is going to be a treat. Well done, Tour organisers: good blend of stage types, where the needs of the next day have to be taken into consideration.
Real nasty crash for WvA: really didn’t need to see the multiple replays of him being dragged off the bike. Fingers crossed he’s not out of the game for too long.
Too bad that split happened this week. If all GC favorites were still in play the second half would be awesome. The way it’s shaped now it’s GT’s Tour to lose.
From what I have read, it sounds like he suffered some pretty serious lacerations and underwent surgery. 
But honestly, what an absolutely insane ride from Alaphillipe. Totally expected him to lose time and yellow today. Really hoping this means there will be fireworks on the Tourmalet tomorrow. Should be really telling for who is most likely to take yellow down in Paris after those results. So much elevation still left to conquer.
Anyone else suspicious of Alaphillipe? He sure looked fresher than the others after supposedly burying himself for the ITT. He even skidded to a stop and jumped off his bike like he just finished a recovery ride. 
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Joan of Arc, Louis Pasteur, Claude Monet… Julian Alaphilippe 
I watch high-level athletic performances like those at the TdF and in other sports for entertainment. I assume there’s a decent amount of doping going on one way or another (TUEs, etc.) and try not to let it detract from the story. Enjoy the show and don’t sweat the dirty side. It’s always going to be there.
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Yeah, sure, for the first minute or so. Then he shoved his way through the crowd to slump against the barriers.
How would you act if you just won a TdF TT whilst in the yellow jersey and you were over-dosing on adrenaline? (Not to ignore the fact that he’s FRENCH!)
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Nothing suspicious so far. We will see how the rest of the race plays out. This course was well suited to him and it was a shorter TT. Geraint probably would have done better on a longer course. Burying yourself for 35 minutes is very different than 55 minutes.
If Alaphilliple wins (which is possible at this point), it will be very close. He will have to fight very hard to keep the damage down in the mountains, but he has enough of a lead where if Thomas isn’t perfect, the math works out.
Honestly, I’d love to see Alaphillipe win. He is an incredible rider who is aggressive and an incredible descender.
Let’s leave the doping suspicions aside until there is actually something worth examining.
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Agree, would be great to see Alaphillipe win. He has “panache” in buckets. Team Ineos is a lot stronger than DQS however, which at some point will come into play.
Apparently, however, there’s some talk that other teams may help Alaphillipe/DQS to get a French winner and avoid another Ineos win. High drama!
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+1000
I find these armchair doping accusations that are based on watching race footage (rather than actual testing) to be tiresome at best. What is the point? We are not helping pro cycling heal this way.
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I think I like the sound of that. Nothing against Ineos but the thought of one team versus 165 riders is interesting 
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I think Alaphilippe (1 L, 2 Ps, guys, get with it, this is like people trying to spell “necessary” 
) has the potential to go from Fleche Wallonne winner to TdF winner.
But I don’t believe he, or anyone else, has the ability to do that in one season. GT was 56th at Liege Bastogne Liege last season before winning the Tour.
Yes, I fully expect if Alaphillipe is dropped on a climb for other French riders to try and help pull pace him back. But we’ve seen that in the past with Voeckler, etc. So that wouldn’t be anything new.