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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Isn't that racing? Tour de France 2013

On an exciting action packed day, Stage 16 of the Tour de France saw the rivalry continue long after the riders crossed the line.

The normally mild mannered Chris Froome had a few things to say regarding the incident that saw Contador come off his bike during the fast decent into Gap.

Contador had been in an aggressive move attacking Froome during the climb which was more psychological in nature rather than an attempt to take time. Then on the decent Contador continued his aggressive riding seeing him take a corner a little too fast and come off the bike, fortunately without any dire consequences. However, Contador's mishap caused Froome who was riding not far behind him, to have to change is line into the corner forcing him toward the end of the road having to slow down and unclip to get back on the road.

Turns out Froome wasn't too impressed with Contador's assertiveness, tweeting the following after the race:



Now I am a little bemused by Froome's comments. The last time I looked the Tour de France was a race. You take every chance you can get. It was not reckless riding, Contador was taking advantage of his (usually) superior descending skills and misjudged the corner. That's racing. Yes, it was unfortunate that Froome was hindered by Contador but... that's racing. 

My take on this is Froome was a little rattled by Contador this stage and although the yellow jersey is pretty much sewed to his back, the race isn't over until it's over and the leader of the race is always the wanted.

I think the next few days in the Alps are going to be rather interesting don't you?

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