Tour de France *Spoilers*

[raindog]

killer stage today - everybody ready?

 

[Crackle]

So long as Martin doesn't solo to victory

 

[fimm]

Did you hear Kadri's interview afterwards? Lovely to hear him say he had to get rid of Yates before the final climb otherwise Yates would have beaten him.

Sorry for dragging up an old post, but I was intrigued by this. Was Kadri just being polite for the English-speaking press? How would he know of someone like Yates, who is in his first year with a big team and who only got called up to the Tour at the last moment? And did he really consider Yates a threat?

I was sorry to see Yates caught by the peloton, though.

 

[Beebo]

So long as Martin doesn't solo to victory

It will be very inmteresting to see how he goes today, can he recover from yesterdays efforts?
The guy who won on Saturday, (in the polka dot yesterday), had a nightmare yesterday up easy climbs with the peleton going at half speed, which is a good thing to see, if we're looking for signs of a clean race.

 

[The Couch]

Martin has proven in the past 2 years he can handle mountainous terrain (back again) like in the beginning of his pro-years. He wouldn't be able to do so in the highest mountains and he wouldn't be able to do so against climbers going for it.
However since the "climbers" in the chasing group didn't went full blow (but accepted the pace from the not-so-great Europcar guys) he could.
Furthermore, he had said at the end of the Saturday stage, he had a great feeling in his legs (which is probably why he put on his TT-suit in the morning of the Sunday stage to go into a long break and have a whack at it).
It was a great feat from a great rider, i'd drop it with that (unless future scientific evidence proves otherwise)

Something that has been for me (a bit too much) under-the-radar, is the other names that took some time back... people like Rolland, Feillu and Machado. Personally I think that Rolland and Feillu won't be that much with it (logic would dictate Rolland to start feeling the Giro in his legs in the later stages and Feillu hasn't shown much consistency in the last years).
However Machado has been riding a nice season (Criterium international, Giro Trentino, Tour of Slovenia), of course we don't know how he'll do in a 3-week stage, but with this move, he pretty much went from "protected rider/lieutenant for Konig" to NetApp main GC-guy. (Konig was a bit underwhelming this year anyway)
He just might be in with a shot to hold on to a top 10 placing.

 

[raindog]

Sorry for dragging up an old post, but I was intrigued by this. Was Kadri just being polite for the English-speaking press? How would he know of someone like Yates, who is in his first year with a big team and who only got called up to the Tour at the last moment? And did he really consider Yates a threat?

I was sorry to see Yates caught by the peloton, though.

I would think the Yates twins reputation is already well known in the peloton.
Simon is just taking every day of this Tour as it comes. I doubt he's got any great ambition. Matt White has said he can drop out any time he wants, no problem.
He might well surprise us yet though.

 

[RhythMick]

killer stage today - everybody ready?

1.5 km of 18%. Amazing

 

[beastie]

1.5 km of 18%. Amazing

Aye there is gonna be a lot of riders in big trouble today, the autobus are gonna have a nightmare to make the cut off if it all goes Garmin mental.......

 

[Dogtrousers]

1.5 km of 18%. Amazing

Just to put this into some kind of perspective for us mortals who pootle around the South of England, and feel quite chuffed with ourselves when we ride up "L'Alpe D'Huez of the South Downs" and have an ice-cream at the top. Let's consider what that means in real terms that we understand (if I've got my maths right).

Ditchling Beacon is about the same length and half the gradient. So it's like cycling up a double sized Beacon in the same distance. And it comes hot on the tails of a section of climb at 7% that is comparable to the Beacon.

And it's just one of four cat 1 climbs in the day. Not to mention three "little" ones.

And to top it all, all that is packed into a stage that is almost exactly 100 miles long. Just to make us feel even more inadequate.

 

[beastie]

Forza Nibali

 

[Stonechat]

1.5 km of 18%. Amazing

And I found 50 - 100 yards of 18% hard!

 

[mr messy]

!8% is easy..........oh you mean going up the way

 

[smutchin]

Lumpy stage? Bastille Day? Voeckler in the break? Who'd have guessed?

 

[jarlrmai]

ITV4 at work, don't tell the boss..

 

[raindog]

Voeckler and J Rod battling for mountain points in torrential rain - amazing!