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I do have Eurosport yes, and I’ve been glued to practically every race of the season thus far. It’s not easy to get an accurate measure of the form of Knees and Eisel to be honest because a lot of the work they do is often before the cameras come on, or hidden within the peleton. Eisel actually hasn’t done a great deal of stage racing at all this year and perhaps he paid the price for what was a disappointing classics display overall for Sky (though he himself performed well enough).
I expected Knees certainly to be in the Tour team, and I was surprised by the selection of both Lopez and Suitsou. The former looked very strong at Paris-Nice but has been on a downward trajectory ever since and struggled considerably in the Dauphine, form (or lack of it) that’s continued on into the Tour. Equally Suitsou was excellent in Trentino but his goal was peaking for the Giro, and although he dropped out of that early, it was a big ask for him to retain top shape through into July.
I think you’re right they do like to encourage British riders development if possible, but on what I’ve seen Stannard, Kennaugh, and Thomas all definitely merited their selections and the latter two were in exceptional form just prior to the start of this race. With Mick Rogers departure though you would have expected they’d want a bit more experience and knowledge within the team.
I also think they’ve been a victim of their own ambition somewhat. Brailsford clearly believed it was possible for them to win all three Grand Tours this year so split his resources accordingly. To me sending both Uran and Heano to the Giro may have been the best thing for Wiggins, but it showed a bit of over confidence with regard to the Tour De France – or extreme faith in his team leaders individual capabilities depending on how you look at it.
It should be said though they’ve been unfortunate. Thomas, Stannard and Kennaugh all tangled up in crashes they could do little about. EBH you could argue shouldn’t have been up there for the sprint at this stage in the race but he was still unlucky to be hit so hard. There’s also a feeling that perhaps they’ve over trained too much in Tenerife prior to the race and are now feeling the impact (i.e Kiryenka blowing up). Personally I felt Froome looked far skinnier than he should have been when the race began and that may be to his detriment come week three, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Stage 9 and Stage 13 have been two of the best in the Tour that I can remember in a long time....and as I’m not much of a Froome fan let’s have more of the same please!
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Knowing M.E, Knowing You.. Ah Ha!
David Silva loves Bakewell Tarts the best
He'll eat a box and leave none for the rest
De Gea's doughnuts never look the part
next to Silva's Bakewell Tart!
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