heywoodu

Sort of, since I very much doubt the Astana (Fuglsang) and Movistar (Landa) boys are doing anything much different than the rest in terms of preparation.

Well yeah, with only one serious mountain stage to go (even without a mountain finish) plus a time trial, there's not a lot of doubt about it I guess If Thomas doesn't crash or get sick, nothing can stop him.

Yeah, Greipel is mad about it too. Nobody believes Demare, but I guess the judges 'accidentally' forgot to look at him. And you'll see, tomorrow he wins the sprint and is seen as the big hero.

No problem with that, as long as Demare doesn't get anywhere close to anything remotely resembling success

And he's back on his bike. Thank god, Sagan crashing out and handing Demare the green jersey would be the worst horror show of this Tour.

Chute Sagan

If you want to swim in a lake under around 1500 meters of ice, with water that is so cold and salty that (earthly) life is almost impossible, sure

Breaking science news! A huge lake of liquid water has most likely been found under the ice of Mars' south pole The first time actual liuid water has been found on Mars. https://www.sciencealert.com/vast-liquid-water-reservoir-found-on-mars-radar-planum-australe-subglacial-lake

Very much possible, the list hasn't been updated yet after yesterday's stage

Good point

It's an 'award' that's handed out on a Dutch forum every Tour de France, so it's about the Tour only I wouldn't say winning the Tour of Turkey is a good thing by the way, considering that track record

Durasek is throwing away his chances for the title of Most Anonymous Rider with two consecutive attacks These are still well on their way:

Or the organization just upped the time limit again (and let him hang to cars freely), anything is possible to save Demare's ass.

Most hype was about it being a very short stage, I'm still hopeful for that leading to some fun This start was a joke from the beginning

I think David Millar needs to try some more climbs then

Haha this start What an absolute flop

Nice to ask that to someone known for really good qualifications and superb starts

On the men's side it's mostly a matter of hoping for surprises. I mean, Martina has shown again and again and again and again that he knows very well how to peak at a championship event even when the rest of his season was mediocre, so even though in his current shape he's far from any favourite, it's never a smart move to count him out. Bonevacia (400m) and the 4x400m team will have to have one or two amazing days plus have the luck that some higher rated favourites don't have their best day, same goes for Comenentia in the hammer. The men's 4x100m might be the most realistic men's medal chance, since they're in great shape (broke the NR last week) and if there's one event where favourites can 'easily' get in trouble it's a sprint relay with dropped batons and stuff. In short: yes, there are some possible chances, no, none of them is a major medal threat. This is what I had listed somewhere else for the women: Schippers (100m, 200m, but she really needs to step up her game, because with her most recent awful performances she's barely even a threat. Of course she has the potential for double gold, no doubt about it, but she's been getting slower and slower every day since switching coaches) Samuel (outside chance in the 200m, mostly because she's been the opposite of Schippers: improving every race and now even beating Schippers last week) Women's 4x100m Lisanne de Witte (400m, not the favourite, but in current shape definitely a chance) Sifan Hassan (main favourite in the 5000m) I have no idea what Krumins will be capable of in the 5000/10.000 Visser (100mH, if she can get back to her NR-breaking level that she had in May/early June, before her recent couple of weeks out due to injury) Vetter (heptathlon) Yes, the goal of 7 medals is of course far from impossible, but to reach it certain people (mainly Schippers) need to show a whole lot more than they've been doing so far this year. 'Gun to the head', I'd say 5 medals.

Almost, 15:15.

[hide] Men's Tournament Knockout Round July 22nd - July 28th, 2018 16 Nations, Placement Matches, Quarterfinals Play-Offs, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match Semifinals Date & Time (GMT +2) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 July 26th 2018, h. 20:30 Serbia 3 Croatia July 26th 2018, h. 22:00 Spain 2 Italy [/hide]

Full Dutch team for Berlin: https://www.atletiek.nl/nieuws/nederland-met-46-atleten-naar-ek-atletiek-berlijn The target is 7 medals, as per the technical director. Realistically speaking, I'd say that is possible, but without surprises that's sort of the maximum possible.

It would only matter if people wanted to make a difference on the first climb (since you'd have to make up quite some ground on a climb, which costs energy), but I'm doubting any GC rider wants to play all their cards on the first of three climbs.

I'd rather stick a knife in my eyeballs, but thanks.