Tour de France Stage 13 *SPOILER*
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Early breakaway: Sylvain 'Mr Combativity' Chavanel, Perrick Fedrigo and JA Flecha (1.20 lead)
James Richardson hinted at the irony of Tyler Farrar abandoning on a Transition stage.
Trivia for today: If Mark Cavendish were to win the stage (which is possible), he would equal Eddy Merckx's post-war record of stage wins by a young rider (i.e one eligible for the White Jersey). The overall record is 15 by pre-war Francois Faber and Rene Le Greves.
Stage wins by a rider 25 or under:
Francois Faber - 15
Rene Le Greves - 15
Eddy Merckx - 14
Mark Cavendish - 13
Barnard Hinault - 13
Andre Leducq - 10Twitter: @RichN950 -
Im hearing reports that Lance may have been on the ground again.... not confirmed
[Edit: Just saw that Spacejunk has similar news]**************************************************
www.dotcycling.com
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Yes. race ticker says he's been on the deck.
Rein Taaramäe has abandoned.
I've picked Fedrigo, twice, to win, so today I went for Voeckler. :oops:"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
So we have HTC and Lampre at the front of the bunch. I can undertand why HTC are there, but I'm not sure Lampre are doing the right thing. If I was their DS I'd leave the chasing to HTC. Petacchi is obviously trying to regain the points jersey from Hushovd, but he doesn't need to be sprinting for first to do that. And if it does come down to a bunch sprint there is a better chance of isolating Cavendish if his team has worked all day. Maybe more of them might get dropped on the final climb which isn't too far from the finish. Really don't see the point of taking Cavendish all the way to the line.0
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greasedscotsman wrote:Petacchi is obviously trying to regain the points jersey from Hushovd, but he doesn't need to be sprinting for first to do that.
He does need to be sprinting for first. Let's say whatever the position they are sprinting for, the order goes to form - Cavendish, Petacchi, McEwen, Hushovd.
If they are sprinting for first, the points are: 35,30, 26, 24 - a gain of six points to Petacchi
If they are sprinting for 4th, the points are - 24,22,20,19 - a gain of three points to Petacchi
Plus, if they are racing for the win, the likes of EBH, Rojas, Ciolek and Freire become interested, meaning it's likely that there will be more places between Petacchi and Hushovd.Twitter: @RichN950 -
I'm surprised that HTC have put most of their remaining squad on the front, so early.
Cav could have "bluffed" a Renshaw protest.
Lampre are in the line, but usually 3rd man back.
Cervelo will hammer the final climb, most probably.
If Cav does make it, he'll only have Eisel.
Petacchi will still have Hondo and a few others."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
RichN95 wrote:Early breakaway: Sylvain 'Mr Combativity' Chavanel, Perrick Fedrigo and JA Flecha (1.20 lead)
Trivia for today: If Mark Cavendish were to win the stage (which is possible), he would equal Eddy Merckx's post-war record of stage wins by a young rider (i.e one eligible for the White Jersey). The overall record is 15 by pre-war Francois Faber and Rene Le Greves.
DAMNIT!! I took Chavanel out of my team the other day and put Kreuziger in. Grrr!
How old is Cav anyway? And how long does he have left before he "can't win the White jersey", if you see what I mean...The most painful climb in Northern Ireland http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6776_124247198694_548863694_2335754_8016178_n.jpg0 -
Chavanel setting himself up for the Grand Prix de Combativité in Paris?
€20,000 for the winner, so nothing to be sniffed at.0 -
paulcuthbert wrote:
How old is Cav anyway? And how long does he have left before he "can't win the White jersey", if you see what I mean...
25. It's his last year as a 'Whitey'Twitter: @RichN950 -
RichN95 wrote:greasedscotsman wrote:Petacchi is obviously trying to regain the points jersey from Hushovd, but he doesn't need to be sprinting for first to do that.
He does need to be sprinting for first. Let's say whatever the position they are sprinting for, the order goes to form - Cavendish, Petacchi, McEwen, Hushovd.
If they are sprinting for first, the points are: 35,30, 26, 24 - a gain of six points to Petacchi
If they are sprinting for 4th, the points are - 24,22,20,19 - a gain of three points to Petacchi
Plus, if they are racing for the win, the likes of EBH, Rojas, Ciolek and Freire become interested, meaning it's likely that there will be more places between Petacchi and Hushovd.
OK, that's a fair point, but I still wouldn't put Lampre on the front if I was their DS. As I said before, I'd leave HTC to do more of the work and try and hammer it on the final climb and try and isolate Cavendish as much as possible. I don't think any of the big sprinters will struggle to get over the final climb.
Mind you, there's every chance that if Lampre didn't co-operate with HTC, then HTC wouldn't bother and the break would stay away.0 -
Good to see Sky finally doing something. I'm definitely in the pro Sky camp but think they've had a poor race and should have gone for stages as it was obvious after the first mountains that Wiggins was unlikely to get on the podium. Once the break gets caught I'd like to see them get Ebh near the front and really push it up the final climb to ditch the pure sprinters and set EBH up for the win (and PTP points for me
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Think I deserve a bonus for not picking Cav 0
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wondered what they were at first, but looks like lots of Livestrong messages of hope (or whatever they're called) today on the road...0
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greasedscotsman wrote:wondered what they were at first, but looks like lots of Livestrong messages of hope (or whatever they're called) today on the road...
Messages of dope?0 -
The break is being pulled back a bit early, here. Still 30 km to go and it's 35 seconds... could be some attacks in the finalé.0
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There were some interesting comments from Robbie McEwan earlier, didn't seem to think it was going to be a bunch sprint based on it being a similar course in 2005.0
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Yeah I saw the McEwen interview. He mentioned that Savoldelli won that year, but that was from a big breakaway that finished 25 minutes in front of the bunch. Different scenario today.0
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yeah, think he hinted at that, but he was still stressing that the climb was actually quite difficult. I tend to think it will be a bunch sprint as there are just too many teams who seem to want to hold it together. Be nice to see someone win alone, but don't think it will happen. But then of course be interesting to see how HTC get along without Renshaw.0
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Chute! Hernandez. Rough Tour for him.
But it gives him a bit more impetus to fight for the lanterne rouge now. He's only 17 minutes up.0 -
break caught, OK, who's gonna be first to attack? A french rider maybe?0
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McEwen out the back.0
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seems like the pace is too high from the sprinters teams...0
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as Ballan, Roche and Cunego attack!0
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greasedscotsman wrote:break caught, OK, who's gonna be first to attack? A french rider maybe?
Nope. Ballan. And Cunego, Barredo, Roche following.0 -
man dressed as a water bottle by the side of the road0
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Vino. Again. And LL Sanchez.0
