Tour De France

[ekhibee]

I see Froom has 'all but won it' again. I'm one of the uninitiated, would somebody explain how the scoring's done? I mean every time I hear anything about it, it says so-and-so won a particular stage but Froom is still well out in front. It's not as if he wins many of the stages at all but still manages to finish well out in front somehow. I just wondered how he manages it or how the scoring's done.

[Radium]

He has completed it in the shortest aggregate time.

Sprinters can't climb mountains so lose any gains there.

Froome is good in the mountains and TT so picks up time on others in these stages.

Sky as a team have stopped anyone with a chance of beating him getting in a breakaway.




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[JeMeSouviens]

I see Froom has 'all but won it' again. I'm one of the uninitiated, would somebody explain how the scoring's done? I mean every time I hear anything about it, it says so-and-so won a particular stage but Froom is still well out in front. It's not as if he wins many of the stages at all but still manages to finish well out in front somehow. I just wondered how he manages it or how the scoring's done.

There are basically 4 types of stage:

Flat - the whole field generally stays together as (apart from some windy days) it's very hard to get away from the pack. At the end the teams will organise to send their fastest sprinter over the last wee bit to hopefully win the stage. Everybody finishing in the main bunch is given the same time so there's usually no change to overall standings.

Rolling - some hills but nothing major. Breakaways are possible, generally they work best if a few riders work together so they can share time at the front. The teams will decide whether to spend energy chasing down the break depending on who's in it and their overall race situation.

Mountain - cripplingly huge climbs in the alps and pyrenees. The main overall contenders have to be able to do well in these stages. The sprinters will be hanging on just trying to get through it. The field usually breaks up and there can be big movements in overall standings on these days.

Time trial - the riders go out individually over a much shorter stage. This is a real specialist discipline so you get guys who are brilliant time triallers that have no chance of the yellow jersey, but again the leading contenders have to be good at this or they can lose minutes.

The yellow jersey wearing overall winner is fastest aggregate time. The green jersey for the points winner is based on placings in stages and some timed sprints during the stages.

[JeMeSouviens]

So Froome and Sky - brilliant performance or most creative pharmacists? :dunno: