Tour de France *Spoilers*

[Monsieur Remings]

grand Tours that are only contested by climbers/tt'ers who can climb can be boring and repetitive. I would absolutely love it if Nibali "won it on the cobbles". His was a masterful ride. I would like to see more variety in the stage designs not less. Stage 5 was about right. Bring on more medium mountains, some dirt roads, a downhill TT prologue, cobbles and a MTT.

Are you disagreeing with Frank? Personally I'm undecided.

Saying that, I'd happily ride most mountains in Europe, unlike cobbles (unless you include the necessity of riding crap British roads).

Perhaps cobble riding is some form of Franco-Belgian crap-road envy...?

 

[mr messy]

I thought Nibali preferred the longer consistent gradients as he doesn't have the change of pace some of the others do. The finish just highlighted the contrasting styles of the riders in my view. Nibali was spent at the end but looked like held on longer than Contador thought he would. Question will be are the Astana team strong enough to support him when the attacks start in coming days.

 

[Stonechat]

Nibbles said he only lost contact at the end because he missed a gear , be did seem to be looking at his gears at one point

 

[rich p]

We'll have to wait to see how Nibali performs on the bigger hills as he has been pish this year so far. As Crackle pointed out earlier. Benefit of the doubt so far as Porte wasn't far behind yesterday (although on the limit) and he's been pish too.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

My take on yesterday's minor hills, Nibbles was looking great until the final few metres, if he missed a gear that explains it. Porte looked like he was just hanging on.
Great win from Kadri and a fine effort from Yates.
I expect Contador to put time into Nibs over the big climbs but will it be enough, that is the question. As Sean would no doubt put it.

 

[coffeejo]

Random question as I only watched the highlights. Was there a reason the breakaway was allowed to build up such a gap for the first time this Tour? Was it a different strategy for a hilly stage instead of the flat ones of late?

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Random question as I only watched the highlights. Was there a reason the breakaway was allowed to build up such a gap for the first time this Tour? Was it a different strategy for a hilly stage instead of the flat ones of late?

Earlier days there's more people within touching distance of the yellow jersey so their teams will chase down breaks. And the earlier stages were mostly flatter so the sprinters teams will be chasing down breaks too.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

My take on yesterday's minor hills, Nibbles was looking great until the final few metres, if he missed a gear that explains it. Porte looked like he was just hanging on.
Great win from Kadri and a fine effort from Yates.
I expect Contador to put time into Nibs over the big climbs but will it be enough, that is the question. As Sean would no doubt put it.

Nibali says he didn't have a mechanical problem. He told L'Equipe that he'd misjudged the way the finish would develop - he'd led for too long and then had difficulty responding to Contador in the final push.

VINCENZO NIBALI A-T-IL ÉTÉ VICTIME D’UN PROBLEME MECANIQUE ?
Quand Alberto Contador est parti à l’abordage dans la dernière montée, Vincenzo Nibali a été le seul à pouvoir le suivre. Dans les 100 derniers mètres, l’Italien a finalement lâché et laissé filer trois secondes («ce n’est pas très important»), samedi à Gérardmer. Certains observateurs ont alors cru que le Maillot Jaune avait été gêné par un problème mécanique : «Pas du tout, a expliqué Nibali devant la presse. J’ai fait une erreur dans mon choix de développement. J’ai emmené trop gros et c’était compliqué de suivre Contador dans le final explosif.»​

 

[jifdave]

getting my prediction in early today, if nibali is with contador at the top of the final climb, i expect him to push the descent and put time into contador. especially if wet

 

[Monsieur Remings]

I have a feeling that Europcar may try something today - Voeckler or Rolland. Saying that, neither are particularly on form, but... if the GC are saving their energies for tomorrow, a contender within 8 minutes of yellow on the escape, could light up the race...

 

[ColinJ]

Earlier days there's more people within touching distance of the yellow jersey so their teams will chase down breaks. And the earlier stages were mostly flatter so the sprinters teams will be chasing down breaks too.

And also, most of the riders probably fancied an easier day after a week of hard racing. The GC riders' teams were watching each other, the sprinters knew that they didn't stand a chance, and the other teams had already battled it out at the start of the stage to get into the break.

If you and your team were not strong enough to get you into a break only 20 seconds up the road from you, then they are not going to try once the gap is 3 or 4 minutes, therefore it soon stretches out to 10+ minutes.

There have been Tours in the past when the peloton relaxed too much and a break stayed away with a near Tour-winning advantage. Claudio Chiappucci nearly won the 1990 Tour that way. He gained a 10 minute advantage at the start of the race and Greg Lemond didn't claw it back until the stage 20 time trial.

 

[coffeejo]

Earlier days there's more people within touching distance of the yellow jersey so their teams will chase down breaks. And the earlier stages were mostly flatter so the sprinters teams will be chasing down breaks too.

And also, most of the riders probably fancied an easier day after a week of hard racing. The GC riders' teams were watching each other, the sprinters knew that they didn't stand a chance, and the other teams had already battled it out at the start of the stage to get into the break.

If you and your team were not strong enough to get you into a break only 20 seconds up the road from you, then they are not going to try once the gap is 3 or 4 minutes, therefore it soon stretches out to 10+ minutes.

There have been Tours in the past when the peloton relaxed too much and a break stayed away with a near Tour-winning advantage. Claudio Chiappucci nearly won the 1990 Tour that way. He gained a 10 minute advantage at the start of the race and Greg Lemond didn't claw it back until the stage 20 time trial.

Thanks

 

[Crackle]

When did Martin become a climber. I raised an eyebrow or two in the Tou de Suisse and they're flickering again now. Someone tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

When did Martin become a climber. I raised an eyebrow or two in the Tou de Suisse and they're flickering again now. Someone tell me I'm wrong.

How very dare you.

Just go have a look at his palmares and you'll find it littered with excellent climbing performances...surely that's what ITT means next to his name is it not? Some form of French abbreviation to show him as a climber.

And it's not as if he had a pack working together in numbers chasing him all day is it?

 

[Stonechat]

I thnk h'es best riding on his own like all good time triallers
Keep a steady effort