TdSuisse *SPOILER*

cogidubnus

About time for him to show off the rainbow jersey. Bodes well for him fighting for green at the tour

Supergoose

I quite like Carlton, he is especially good at the very end of stages building to a babbling crescendo! I much prefer him to eh, Brian, eh, Smith, eh, cant string, eh a sentence together, eh without eh, eh's.

Honestly, I got bored counting at 40 odd eh's within 30 minutes, him and Sean 'certainly' Kelly are the worst. Also, ever noticed how non committal King Kelly is when his sidekick mentions folk being on the juice?

Best commentators, big Maggy and the Duffer, pure waffling quality.

Abdoujaparov

Supergoose wrote:

I quite like Carlton, he is especially good at the very end of stages building to a babbling crescendo! I much prefer him to eh, Brian, eh, Smith, eh, cant string, eh a sentence together, eh without eh, eh's.

Honestly, I got bored counting at 40 odd eh's within 30 minutes, him and Sean 'certainly' Kelly are the worst. Also, ever noticed how non committal King Kelly is when his sidekick mentions folk being on the juice?

Best commentators, big Maggy and the Duffer, pure waffling quality.

Brian S is pretty good I reckon.

Btw, looking at that Hushovd pic - how did he manage to turn on the smugness so quickly? Normally there's that moment of celebration/jubilation when crossing the line, but he goes straight to smug.

Pross

I think he is trying to say "yes, you really are seeing this - me winning a race in the rainbow jersey"

What happended to Sky? They looked to be one of the main teams trying to pull the break back along with Omega and had 3 possible contenders but by the finish they only had one or two riders in the front group and they were way down :? Ruined my PTP as I had Swift :evil:

knedlicky

Cogidubnus wrote:

Bodes well for him fighting for green at the tour

The change in the TdF points system, with the intermediate sprint being more valuable, might mean he doesn't so much need to fight the sprinters hard for green, rather the competitive all-rounders.

frenchfighter

Cavendish is riding! Didn't know until I see a photo with:

The pace on the lumpy circuit with a slight (2%) uphill finish was too much for Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)

Abdoujaparov

The stage info the Tour de Suisse has put out there is hopeless - anyone got details on the last few kms?

Looks like a slight rise to the finish again today, but maybe not quite as long as yesterday. Guess Cav might have been saving himself for today.

Looking forward to Malbum tomorrow - that climb is fierce.

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

Cavendish is riding! Didn't know until I see a photo with:

The pace on the lumpy circuit with a slight (2%) uphill finish was too much for Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)

It was a bit tougher than that with the bunch going quite hard up a 3rd cat climb not far from the end and the finish was quite a bit steeper than 2%. He slipped out the back on the second lap of the finish circuit as did most of the other pure sprinters.

LangerDan

105k from the finish in #tdsuisse st.5 Barta (APP), Bazzana (TT1), Boaro (SBS) and Sesma (EUS) have 5.45 on the bunch. #movistarteam #en

FJS

Abdoujaparov wrote:

The stage info the Tour de Suisse has put out there is hopeless - anyone got details on the last few kms? .

I think it's actually quite good - click on 'Detaillierte Marschtabelle' and you'll get detailed elevation/km figures. The last 1km today is straight, with the first 500m uphill ca. 5%, then flattening out to about 1% to the finish. Cav could win this if his train just powers up that first 5% bit and keeps the peloton grouped, but plenty of chances for it to start to hurt in the final meters. That's why I picked Sagan for PTP.

And it being Swiss, you can count on the numbers being correct . The ASO 'final km' graphs are sometimes a bit desceptive.

TheBigBean

Oooh, Eurosport is saying that WADA will introduce a clenbuterol threshold shortly. That could change things.

Tom BB

Was that Sagan off the back? I'm only half watching so could be mistaken......

Tom BB

Nope just seen him-safe at the front of the peloton

afx237vi

Bozic. Kirby ain't got a clue.

Sagan played the old "you have to be prepared to lose in order to win"... and lost.

Epic fail from HTC though.

blazing_saddles

Almost as much contact and blocking as a game of American football.
Bozic avoids the human bollards the best.

FJS

Great last km - Boonen going like the last km sign was the bottom of the Taaienberg, then Marcato going. Sagan closing a gap and still getting third.

inkyfingers

Exciting finish, nice when you get an unexpected winner.

Nice to see Boonen testing his legs, even if it was pretty suicidal. Reminded me of his attack in KBK earlier in the year.


PTP disaster though, my fault as I was boasting about my PTP form earlier!

Ilovebighills

What a tour Sagan is having! Cav missing Renshaw, but still he got boxed in badly there his own fault.

SCR Pedro

Great finish. One of the best "sprint" finishes I've seen for a long time. Great dig from Boonen, and the look of shock at winning on Bozic's face after the line was quality.

Tom BB

Yeah very unusual sprint in a way......Cav's own fault though-he let a gap go to Goss (only a bike length or so) and with the amount of pushing/blocking etc that was going on he just couldn't move back up.

FJS

Looking at the final result you wonder whether it wouldn;t have been smarter for HTC to go all out for Goss - yes there is some value in practicing Cav's lead-out in race situation, even if not for the win, but if it ends up like this...

cal_stewart

Maybe HTC are just getting the mistakes out the way before the tour. they were bad on the first couple last year.

prawny

Just watched it Bob Grosh! I love Carlton, he talks some pap sometimes (all the time)

Pross

What a mess of a sprint. Plenty of teams took it up early but didn't drive on. HTC seemed a few short and lacked that pace in the last 5km that stops the others disrupting them. Maybe they have decided Cav is off and CBA to go all out for him. Also unlike Cav to get bullied off a wheel that said I think it was that or crash as the last 3km look a bit dodgy!

Pross

What a mess of a sprint. Plenty of teams took it up early but didn't drive on. HTC seemed a few short and lacked that pace in the last 5km that stops the others disrupting them. Maybe they have decided Cav is off and CBA to go all out for him. Also unlike Cav to get bullied off a wheel that said I think it was that or crash as the last 3km look a bit dodgy!

rick_chasey

Ha, liked Boonen's attack.

They'll chase him down, but some randomer in a Vaconsolei kit they'll give a good 100m....

Sirius631

Has Boonen had his day? I'd be sad if that was the prevailing opinion, but the question has to be asked.

cornoyemade

Nice to see Thor win. Even nicer to see Cavendishy 7 minutes back.

Where was Goss? 14 seconds back?

camerone

cornoyemade wrote:

Nice to see Thor win. Even nicer to see Cavendishy 7 minutes back.

Where was Goss? 14 seconds back?

wrong stage. these are 'flat stages' with 2000m climbing, not really true sprinter territory....

LangerDan

SCR Pedro wrote:

Great finish. One of the best "sprint" finishes I've seen for a long time. Great dig from Boonen, and the look of shock at winning on Bozic's face after the line was quality.

It was like watching Alan Carr in a Vacansoleil jersey