Tour de France

Would think it is between Pinot, Bernal & Thomas and probably in that order, though there have been plenty surprises so far. Alaphillipe will be under serious attack on Thursday from just about everyone, and he'll do very well to stay in yellow by the time the stage is over. His team weren't a factor the last day in the mountains and they'll have to do more for him over the next 3 days if he is to stay in contention. He'll probably win the fcukin stage now just to surprise everyone. 

Kruswijk is mainly a wheel follower, he can follow just about anyone at any pace but has yet to show he can put serious time into anyone by attacking himself. Buchmann I don't know a lot about, but his tactics so far have mirrored that of Kruswijk, maybe @13/1 he is the best e/w bet but you would be really only getting 1/4 odds on him to finish 3rd, unless he has something he hasn't shown so far. 

On the other hand, Kruswijk in particular will probably never have a better chance to win, mainly as Roglic would generally be his teams preferred GC rider if he was about, so between his absence and the fact he's so close to the lead of the race, hopefully he can muster up some form of attack over the 3 mountain days. 

All kinds of conspiracy theories about the French trying to weaken Sky/Ineos for the last 3 days by ejecting Rowe, but the jury had only one Frenchman on it, the organisers have thrown bigger names out before for similar offences (Sagan a few years ago springs to mind, and Mark Renshaw for the rather impressive feat of throwing a headbutt at another cyclist while in the middle of a sprint finish some years back as well) and in any case Rowe so far hasn't actually done a whole load to help Thomas or Bernal in the latter stages. 

Big 3 days ahead anyway for the top 6. 

Stage won by Quintana, who was so far back at the beginning of the day the main GC lads let him go into the breakaway, that won't happen in the next 2 days either. Climbed the last mountain a minute quicker than the previous fastest time, which was held by Frank Schleck. Schlek was allegedly a client of Dr Fuentes of Operacion Puerto fame, and although it was confirmed that a money transfer of 7 grand had taken place from the cyclist to the doctor, he was cleared of any doping allegations in 2008. Expensive doctor all the same.  In 2012, he was stood down by his own team for testing positive for a banned diuretic and later banned for a year as a result of that test. 

That is the problem with cycling, you simply can't look at lads today going faster than known dopers ever did and come to the conclusion they are clean athletes. Against that, the times set by the rest of the GC lads on that climb weren't anything out of the ordinary, or whatever ordinary is for top cyclists these days. 

Pretty much got the stage contenders right anyway, won a huge €25 on Valverde coming 2nd too 

Anyone wondering what would have happened Alaphillipe yesterday had the stage been allowed finish (or today's stage been longer) got their answer today I think. Thomas was the only one who could have taken it off Bernal, but even that much looked doubtful based on the mountain stage performances of both so far.

I wonder about the likes of Kruisjwick & Buchmann not attacking, at least Buchmann is a youngfella and might get another chance somewhere in years to come, but these conservative strategies will never beat Ineos in a race like that. An attack wouldn't have worked and everyone knows it, but at least Alaphillipe can go home & say he gave it his best shot, I dunno can the other 2 lads say the same.