Friday / Jura / Alps

knedlicky

BikingBernie wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Both Saturday and Sunday are not really hard days.. The Ramaz is a nasty climb in places but it's short, the descent afterwards is quite tricky and then there's the finish to Morzine which is relatively easy...That's my take, what do others think?

The Ramaz really begins just after St-Jeaire at 532m and tops out at 1619m, that's well over 1000m of climbing. Then the climb up to Avioriaz adds another 900m.
On the other hand they will all probably ride tempo until the last 5km of the climb to Avioriaz...

The Ramaz isn't that hard to be decisive. If any of the main contenders want to have a go, I think the best place is not long into the climb out of Morzine to Avoriaz - although they won't actually gain that much with so few kms left, give more a signal.
I think the stage is more suited to someone who can climb but isn't a main GC contender, who gets free halfway up the Ramaz and can descend well.

Monty Zoncolan

BikingBernie wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Ooof. Bit of a shocker there Bernie. At least you're ok.

Are you going to come clean on your EPO use now?

Yes, I could see that one coming.

SVT is basically a 'electrical' problem, rather than a 'blocked artery' one. That said the symptoms can be much the same. I shouldn't have told the SAMU guys about the pain in my chest and chronic toothache! If it happens again (it is about 2 years since last blacked out when cycling because of this issue) I will try to find a nice quiet hedge to lay behind until I recover. Worst thing was that I was panicking and almost began fighting with the SAMU guys when they were strapping me into the stretcher, but apparently such anxiety attacks are also common symptoms.

It all makes my payments to the CMU (The French health care system) seem like money well spent.

My wife gets that - not nice when it happens. She mocks my 188 max heart rate - she can get up to 225 on the sofa when one of these bad boys kicks in.

dougzz

Hey BB, I like most of your posts and definitely wish you well. I wish I lived on the doorstep of the Alps.

deejay

deejay wrote:

BikingBernie wrote:

. The Ramaz really begins just after St-Jeaire at 532m and tops out at 1619m, that's well over 1000m of climbing. Then the climb up to Avioriaz adds another 900m. Pity they are getting to les Gets via Fry and the D902 - they could have gone over the Col de l'Encrenaz on the D328 instead, adding another 300m of climbing on one of my favourite roads.

Here is the profile of the Col de la Ramaz:



On the other hand they will all probably ride tempo until the last 5km of the climb to Avioriaz...

No,Ramaz will do fine by me.
Ramaz and Avoriaz look and feel nothing like the bits of paper profiles.

How did the profile expectations compare with what you saw on the screen.
Well it's what I expected, except that Vinny would win the sprint. :roll:

ratsbeyfus

Just read this... Get well soon BB!

calvjones

ratsbeyfus wrote:

Just read this... Get well soon BB!

Yeah, keep well. My bro has a similar electrical problem, but his worst bout was brought on by over indulgence in a cafe in Amsterdam. You have been warned

iainf72

So, tomorrow. Could be a tough day or will they just ride it piano.

I would guess someone will try get rid of anyone who's slightly weak on the final climb but not launch an all out go for the victory.

dennisn

iainf72 wrote:

Given the chance, I think The Shack will try something tomorrow. Long stage, up and down terrain - If people weren't paying attention they'd look to capitalise.


Big questions for me are : Is Andy Schleck climbing well enough, has Armstrong improved since TdS, what can Wiggins do and is Basso going to climb better than those guys.

I expect Cadel and Contador to go well. Cadel in yellow.

Shack has nothing to lose by trying SOMETHING / ANYTHING. Getting Levi onto the podium(and saving me from paying montydog $20.00) is the only hope I have left for them.

Andy climbing well enough? He didn't even look to be breathing much at all yesterday.

Cadel was there on that last climb but he always appears to be really struggling going up.
Not at all as smooth as AS & AC. He seems to be at his limit climbing, yet the others still have a bit of snap left at the end.

frenchfighter

Ramaz: 14km, 6.9% av
Avoriaz: 14km, 6.1% av

Tomorrow:
Colombiere: 6.5km, 6.7%av
Aravis: 7.6km, 5.9% av
Saisies: 14.4km, 5.1%

Almost certain for a KOM breakaway (I would so love a 'GC' rider to turn his focus from a top 10, top 15 to aiming for a KOM jersey in Paris)

Those three come back to back and although not as hard as Sunday's they will sap the legs.

Then after another 50km:
Madeleine: 25.4km, 6.1% av

This is one for the pure climbers given its length and if Astana ride the tempo they were riding on Sunday they could shell a lot of riders. I would love for Basso, Menchov, Contador and Schleck and maybe a couple of others to reach the top and ride hard to stay out until the end, with Evans and Vino bridging on the descent with some daring descending (although am not entirely sure if it is that type of descent anyway). There was that stage in the Giro where things kicked off and held out so could happen. Gesink rode very well on that TdS stage (17km, av 6.9%) so could also be right there.

Hopefully the riders make tomorrow a good race, especially given they can 'rest' the next four days apart from a dynamite effort at Mende.

Lastly, it is meant to be somewhat cooler and maybe rain, which will mean there wont be riders suffering from the heat.

iainf72

dennisn wrote:

Cadel was there on that last climb but he always appears to be really struggling going up.
Not at all as smooth as AS & AC. He seems to be at his limit climbing, yet the others still have a bit of snap left at the end.

Cadel always looks like that

If I was you, I'd put that $20 aside for MD now.

frenchfighter

Quite interesting to note that it was in last year's Tour and look who were the only people in contention at the top (although it was a different approach):



Progressively harder is another aspect in favour of the better climbers


Stage 17 Tour9:

dennisn

iainf72 wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Cadel was there on that last climb but he always appears to be really struggling going up.
Not at all as smooth as AS & AC. He seems to be at his limit climbing, yet the others still have a bit of snap left at the end.

Cadel always looks like that

If I was you, I'd put that $20 aside for MD now.

You're probably right but like they say "it ain't over till it's almost over".

frenchfighter

It is possible that there would have been more attacks on Sunday had it been cooler. Contador has said before he prefers about 25C and struggles with his breathing in the hottest temps. Basso:

I don't remember in my whole career having experienced such high temperatures. Yesterday again it showed 40 and 41°C on my SRM, that was with other riders surrounding me

pat1cp

I doubt Colombiere will have a bearing on things tomorrow, too early in the stage. They go up the same side as last year, just a slightly different route.

Madeleine will be where the damage is done I would say, and even then, the summit is 30km from the finish.

Looking forward to it though, the rest day has been frustrating !!

frenchfighter

I messed up - got Col and Mad mixed up...

frenchfighter

And we have Contador fired up from Spain's win

http://tweetphoto.com/32308988

(He had already given Iniesta a new bike earlier)

dennisn

BikingBernie wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Ooof. Bit of a shocker there Bernie. At least you're ok.

Are you going to come clean on your EPO use now?

Yes, I could see that one coming.

SVT is basically a 'electrical' problem, rather than a 'blocked artery' one. That said the symptoms can be much the same. I shouldn't have told the SAMU guys about the pain in my chest and chronic toothache! If it happens again (it is about 2 years since last blacked out when cycling because of this issue) I will try to find a nice quiet hedge to lay behind until I recover. Worst thing was that I was panicking and almost began fighting with the SAMU guys when they were strapping me into the stretcher, but apparently such anxiety attacks are also common symptoms.

It all makes my payments to the CMU (The French health care system) seem like money well spent.

Good luck with all that BB. I'm guessing that "over there" is much like "over here". Mention chest pains to anyone in the medical field you're in for a really good looking over. Which is a great idea, if only to prove it's not a blocked artery.

pollys_bott

frenchfighter wrote:

It is possible that there would have been more attacks on Sunday had it been cooler. Contador has said before he prefers about 25C and struggles with his breathing in the hottest temps. Basso:

I don't remember in my whole career having experienced such high temperatures. Yesterday again it showed 40 and 41°C on my SRM, that was with other riders surrounding me

Damn - there I was thinking that maybe Landis opening the can of worms had scared the crap out of all the top contenders so they're all off the top-ups, so what we saw Sunday was a shuffling of the pack based on natural ability... naive or what? :?

takethehighroad

frenchfighter wrote:

And we have Contador fired up from Spain's win

http://tweetphoto.com/32308988

(He had already given Iniesta a new bike earlier)

He's not got one of them cool ones they were wearing last night with a star already put on them.

The Madeleine is one of my favourite climbs in terms of scenery, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow for that reason.

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

And we have Contador fired up from Spain's win

http://tweetphoto.com/32308988

(He had already given Iniesta a new bike earlier)

Being a Madrid boy, I would have expected him to give one to Casillas, rather than a Barca man. Maybe Spain has truly been united by football.

El Periodico said the team had earned a place alongside Alonso, Contador, Nadal and some basketball player in the 'golden age of Spanish sport'

Kléber

Big day today. Given the early climbs it's possible an early break goes with a few riders who are handy in the mountains, think Egoi Martinez or Sandy Casar.

But clearly a lot of riders on the GC are jostling for honours and so the race up the Madeleine will be hard.

Don't rule out Armstrong. His team were setting the pace before the Ramaz, he was clearly hoping for something before the crash. If he gets with the lead group to the top of the Madeleine then he's a competent descender and will be up for the sprint.

Just checked the weather forecast and another scorcher's on the cards.