Stage 18: Annecy ITT SPOILER

Kléber
Kléber Posts: 6,842
edited July 2009 in Pro race
Paris is almost in sight now. After two hard days in the mountains spent working the 39 ring, the riders have to switch to the 55 chainring for today's 40.5km time trial around Lake Annecy.

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For once I agree with Lance Armstrong who said "maybe one of the prettiest spots in France or anywhere for that matter" when talking about the area. A shame the forecast is for heavy showers and wind, as on a summer's day the lake is crystal clear with a blue hue worthy of a pacific atoll.

But no chance for tourism today. The route is pan flat except for the short Col de Bluffy, which is steep enough to stretch out some gaps, especially for the rider that goes off too hard.

I see three sorts of contenders for the race today. First are the TT specialists like Cancellara, Millar or Grabsch. Next come the GC contenders able to clock good times, like Wiggins, Armstrong or Kloeden. Then we have the Grand Tour specialists who, if they'd normally get slaughtered in a long time trial like this, can count on their recovery powers to be contenders, the likes of Contador, Sastre and the Schlecks come here. Remember last year everyone wrote off Sastre but he ended up conceding only 30 seconds to le whingeur Evans.

For PTP pickers, remember the race starts very early. The first rider, Yauheni "Hooter" Hutarovich is off at 10.10 BST / 11.10 CET with World TT Champion Bert Grabsch off soon after, so think about posting your pick before the race begins.
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Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Just as Wiggins has improved his climbing ability, Contador has improved his TTing.

    Out of the top 10 I really haven't a clue who's going to shine but I think Contador will extend his lead today. I don't think (unfortunately) Wiggins will do enough to improve on his current placing of 6th.

    I would love to see Wiggins take a stage though to reward his firing of the British Public's excitement!
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Just as Wiggins has improved his climbing ability, Contador has improved his TTing.

    Out of the top 10 I really haven't a clue who's going to shine but I think Contador will extend his lead today. I don't think (unfortunately) Wiggins will do enough to improve on his current placing of 6th.

    I would love to see Wiggins take a stage though to reward his firing of the British Public's excitement!

    I agree. I'm not a big fan of him, but it would be good to see him come out of the Tour with at least a win against his name.
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    Wiggins always seems to be second or third in these GT ITTs, but he has normally eased up on the previous days' stages. It will be interesting to see how he goes having worked so hard over three weeks and especially after the effort he put in yesterday.

    I hope he can put in a good showing here, but he'll be doing well to overhaul two or three of the guys above him - perhaps Klodi as he looked spent yesterday and Schleck Snr, if he has one of his TT nightmares.. Armstrong's expecting Wiggins to "school him in TT" today, but I really don't know if Wiggins will have enough to close the gap between them.
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Philip S wrote:
    Wiggins always seems to be second or third in these GT ITTs, but he has normally eased up on the previous days' stages. It will be interesting to see how he goes having worked so hard over three weeks and especially after the effort he put in yesterday.

    I hope he can put in a good showing here, but he'll be doing well to overhaul two or three of the guys above him - perhaps Klodi as he looked spent yesterday and Schleck Snr, if he has one of his TT nightmares.. Armstrong's expecting Wiggins to "school him in TT" today, but I really don't know if Wiggins will have enough to close the gap between them.

    I still wonder about Klodi. He certainly would be a good poker player.

    There we were yesterday saying, 'he's making this look too easy, at least breathe heavy" and literally 30 seconds later, he falls in a heap.
  • pollys_bott
    pollys_bott Posts: 1,012
    Sorry if this is a daft question, but why does each thread for a TdF stage have 'spoiler' at the end of the thread title?
  • OffTheBackAdam
    OffTheBackAdam Posts: 1,869
    Because as time goes by, they'll be race results in here & those who work for a living, might not want to know what happened until they sit down for their late evening Eurosport round-up?
    Remember that you are an Englishman and thus have won first prize in the lottery of life.
  • matterai
    matterai Posts: 176
    Pollys Bott - as OffTheBackAdam said they could be spoiling (hence Spoiler) it for others
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    What time are the big boys off?
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    What time are the big boys off?
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    11h10 : Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ). 11h54 : Bert Grabsch (Columbia). 12h42 : Michael Rogers (Columbia). 13h42 : Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank). 13h56 : David Millar (Garmin). 15h41 : Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step). 18h20 : Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel). 16h23 : Christophe Le Mével (FDJ). 16h26 : Christian Vande Velde (Garmin). 16h29 : Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas). 16h32 : Bradley Wiggins (Garmin). 16h35 : Andreas Klöden (Astana). 16h38 : Lance Armstrong (Astana). 16h41 : Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank). 16h44 : Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) 16h47 : Alberto Contador (Astana).
  • sheepworryingbhoy
    sheepworryingbhoy Posts: 167
    Annecy is possibly one of my favourite towns I've ever been to & I'm not happy because the missus has the day off to watch it live while I'm stuck at work :cry:

    I think it would be great if Bradley could get the stage win, he deserves to be up on that podium at least once this tour.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Looks dry in the area at the moment on the radar with storms about 100km out to the west. If it is showery then there could be a fairly random winner today who takes advantage of the best conditions.
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    Looks dry in the area at the moment on the radar with storms about 100km out to the west. If it is showery then there could be a fairly random winner today who takes advantage of the best conditions.

    Therefore I'm tipping Menchov. His bike handling skills are amazing!
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    SpaceJunk wrote:
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    Looks dry in the area at the moment on the radar with storms about 100km out to the west. If it is showery then there could be a fairly random winner today who takes advantage of the best conditions.

    Therefore I'm tipping Menchov. His bike handling skills are amazing!

    :D
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Kléber wrote:
    11h10 : Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ). 11h54 : Bert Grabsch (Columbia). 12h42 : Michael Rogers (Columbia). 13h42 : Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank). 13h56 : David Millar (Garmin). 15h41 : Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step). 18h20 : Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel). 16h23 : Christophe Le Mével (FDJ). 16h26 : Christian Vande Velde (Garmin). 16h29 : Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas). 16h32 : Bradley Wiggins (Garmin). 16h35 : Andreas Klöden (Astana). 16h38 : Lance Armstrong (Astana). 16h41 : Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank). 16h44 : Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) 16h47 : Alberto Contador (Astana).

    You should probably add that these are French times.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Kléber wrote:
    For once I agree with Lance Armstrong who said "maybe one of the prettiest spots in France or anywhere for that matter" when talking about the area. A shame the forecast is for heavy showers and wind, as on a summer's day the lake is crystal clear with a blue hue worthy of a pacific atoll.
    But no chance for tourism today.
    ‘Venice of the Alps’ - French pro Jerome Pineau (starting his TT at 13.12 local time) said the non-TT-specialists and those out of GC contention should just sit back and enjoy the scenery today!
    Kléber wrote:
    The route is pan flat except for the short Col de Bluffy, which is steep enough to stretch out some gaps, especially for the rider that goes off too hard.
    Pity they didn’t skip the Col de Bluffy (630 m) and instead include the tough Col de Forclaz (1150 m) at the SW end of the lake.
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    the cutoff for today is 25% - Gotta be scary for some of those right down the order
    cartoon.jpg
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Well, Hutarovich has done 55 minutes. That means he is in trouble if the winner does 44 minutes. Best so far is 50 minutes but there are much faster men to come.

    Cavendish is going round quite a bit faster than the slowest so he should definitely be ok.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    You mean if they average 55 km/h? On this route?
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,812
    Yeah but 44 minutes is close to 60kph, and can you see anyone doing a seriously fast speed with a 3rd cat climb?
  • Gary Marshall
    Gary Marshall Posts: 196
    If anyone is inspired to take their bike to annecy after watching the tt it is one of the best places i've ridden abroad. From a base in annecy there's the killer cret de chatillon, the much more pleasant col de leschaux and the forclaz at the end (1st cat climb), and in between you ride round the lake, which has decent bike paths on the west side and round the east at tailloires, is quiet and at times the lake lazily laps against the road, it is stunning. lots of routes are signposted too, very bike friendly.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    FJS wrote:
    You mean if they average 55 km/h? On this route?

    Yes, so it's unlikely :) Not sure what speed people can do round here but a quick calculation shows that an average of 50kmh brings someone home in 48 minutes and 36 seconds.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Ignatiev going very quickly. Nearly 2 minutes up at the final checkpoint
  • NervexProf
    NervexProf Posts: 4,202
    Ignatiev heads leader board.

    Cav in @ 54 mins
    Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Danny Pate caning it.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    Timoid. wrote:
    Danny Pate caning it.

    That's strange they had him in first @ 37km and now they don't any more.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    will3 wrote:
    Timoid. wrote:
    Danny Pate caning it.

    That's strange they had him in first @ 37km and now they don't any more.

    Timing error. He's only 13th.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Grabsch lost a full minute on Ignatiev just in the 3.5 km of the climb;
    he finishes 1:23 down in total!
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    FJS wrote:
    Grabsch lost a full minute on Ignatiev just in the 3.5 km of the climb;
    he finishes 1:23 down in total!
    Well, it isn't the best course for him - he's certainly not built liike a climber.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Thunderstorms just started to break out to the west - maybe 30km.

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