TDF Stage 5 Spoilers

cornoyemade

CLASS: Farrar dedicated the win to his training partner and friend Wouter Weylandt, who died in a crash at the Giro d’Italia in May.

“It’s like a dream come true to win. This is for Wouter, I want to dedicate this to him. It’s been a horrible two months with everything at the Giro. I’ve had lots of ups and downs. I wanted to come back and do something special in tribute to Wouter at the world’s biggest race. I trained hard and I saw I was getting stronger. It’s a little bit unbelievable that it’s actually happened.”

NO CLASS: Until today, the start of this year's Tour had not been a happy one from Cavendish, and his woes were compounded yesterday by the death of his pet golden retriever Amber. The HTC-Highroad sprinter ended his press conference by requesting that his victory be dedicated to the dog. “I’m really happy, I want to dedicate this to Amber. She was my little baby.”

patchy

Classy finish from the littlest hobo there. Looked like it took some guts.

Good to see him playing with the strongmen, too - possible hints at Cav diversifying into more Classics later in his career (and I mean MUCH later - in, like, five years)?

I know he's commented that he dreams of winning Paris-Roubaix one day.

On a wider note - on the strength of this week anyway, this year's Tour is excellent entertainment. I really like the ''Classics lite' first week format; it makes for much more interesting racing and early time gaps which, while not massive, means that the GC race is already interesting (as opposed to the time gaps being more or less set in stone until Mountain Day 1). Here's hoping that Andy and Conty aren't too dominant in the mountains, and that the racing remains hard throughout.

rjh299

cornoyemade wrote:

CLASS: Farrar dedicated the win to his training partner and friend Wouter Weylandt, who died in a crash at the Giro d’Italia in May.

“It’s like a dream come true to win. This is for Wouter, I want to dedicate this to him. It’s been a horrible two months with everything at the Giro. I’ve had lots of ups and downs. I wanted to come back and do something special in tribute to Wouter at the world’s biggest race. I trained hard and I saw I was getting stronger. It’s a little bit unbelievable that it’s actually happened.”

NO CLASS: Until today, the start of this year's Tour had not been a happy one from Cavendish, and his woes were compounded yesterday by the death of his pet golden retriever Amber. The HTC-Highroad sprinter ended his press conference by requesting that his victory be dedicated to the dog. “I’m really happy, I want to dedicate this to Amber. She was my little baby.”

Are you serious? At no point do I think Cav is trying to compare his dog's death to that of Wouter's. Your just bashing Cav for the sake of it now, really petty.
Golden Retrievers live to around 12 years old sometimes much longer, he could have had that dog for many years and be very attached to it. So to mentioned it isn't a sign of no class. Your post is pointless, you'll probably think the same about mine!
Great win from Cav btw, how he came from that far back shows ultimate class.

greasedscotsman

dougzz wrote:

jerry3571 wrote:

A lot of meat on the road today. I find it amazing that all the Teams with top GC riders are not taking control of the race and keeping the peloton stretched out a little. If no one takes control then the previous Winner's Team steps up to take the pace. This would keep AC from crashing so much. If the Saxo Bank guys were on the front then AC would be in the drivers' seat without him crashing all the time; I think it's a big risk for him and his Team. His Team seems a bit weak though but he should give the peloton at least 2 guys to keep the pace up; he's been on the deck too many times.

-Jerry

I'm not sure Saxo have the horse power to drive the peloton on a day like today.

Also Cadel Evans says he saw Contador crash on a roundabout when he was in something like 20th place. That's pretty close to the front. Sometimes it is just bad luck.

rick_chasey

Lefevre, (having seen Chavanel, Steegmans and Boonen crash) has been laying into the route organisers for sending them to "tourist sites, rather than seeking out roads that can handle a 200 man peloton"...

LangerDan

The roads for the first few stages last year were fairly sh!te too, esp stage 2 but it didn't seem to exercise Lefevre so much. Was that because one of his guys won?

It seems like the "medium width" roads are the worst. The peleton seems to pay a bit more attention on the narrow ones.


BTW, anyone notice the head-on shot of Voeckelr and Roy at ~ 4.5 km to go when a big white (police?) moto shot over a crest in the background (in front of the peleton) and something fell off it?

rick_chasey

LangerDan wrote:

The roads for the first few stages last year were fairly sh!te too, esp stage 2 but it didn't seem to exercise Lefevre so much. Was that because one of his guys won?

It seems like the "medium width" roads are the worst. The peloton seems to pay a bit more attention on the narrow ones.

It does seem a bit rich from a guy who makes a living winning Roubaix and Flanders, though I think it's a little different - there's a process of selection in classics which reduces the risk on narrow roads, one that doesn't occur on stages like today.

Monty Zoncolan

Rick Chasey wrote:

Lefevre, (having seen Chavanel, Steegmans and Boonen crash) has been laying into the route organisers for sending them to "tourist sites, rather than seeking out roads that can handle a 200 man peloton"...

I can't recall any of yesterday's crashes being caused by the route?

rick_chasey

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Lefevre, (having seen Chavanel, Steegmans and Boonen crash) has been laying into the route organisers for sending them to "tourist sites, rather than seeking out roads that can handle a 200 man peloton"...

I can't recall any of yesterday's crashes being caused by the route?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-sh ... nd-weening

Quite a few riders complaining about the route...

Notable Tweets on stage 5:

David Millar: Tour very Giro-like, mad parcours, transfers galore. Still child's play compared to the savagery that is The Italian Race.

Jakob Fuglsang: Thank God Im alive & in one piece! Stupidest stage I've ever done!! @ASO this was not okay. Hope that nobody are hurt to bad!

Mark Renshaw: Today was very sketchy. Im sure it looked great on tv but it was bloody dangerous.
Today was the first time I've ever seen a riders bike stuck on a motorbike and for 400meters. Hope the rider is ok! Not good to see that.

Maarten Tjallingii: Crash, wait, get back, again crash, wait, get back. STRESS, that was my main expirience today. Fortunatly @RGUpdate [Robert Gesink] got back.

Brent Bookwalter: ahhh yes...that was the absurd and excessive Tour that I've been dreaming of. This part of France would maybe be fun if you drive a go-kart

Fränk Schleck: Crazy dangerous finish.I know that everybody wanna see a great show and specacle [sic] but I believe we have to find the right balance of show and safty [sic]

Jose Joaquin Rojas: Y esta es la mejor carrera del mundo? Que venga dios y lo vea! Descalificado por que les da la gana, bueno es que Gilbert les gusta mas.. (And this is the best race in the world? God come and see! Disqualified because they feel like, OK, they like Gilbert more)

Alberto Contador: Thanks for your interest. I'm fine after the fall. Now with ice throughout the body, I'll pass not a good night, but tomorrow all out...:)

Levi Leipheimer: Nothing nice to say about today. Don't know what hit me but I got run over big time! Had to throw everything away 'cept shoes & glasses

greasedscotsman

Post race comments from Geraint Thomas. Maybe it would be safer without radios?

http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2429

oldwelshman

Great win by Cav and great leadout by Thoimas :-) glimpse of things to come next year?
I though HTC went too ear;y again with only two riders and looks as if Cav picked Thomas to get him up to tyhe front. Pretty sure Thomas knew what he was doing as EBH had already blown by then.

jerry3571

Must admit that when I'm out on my bike I go on the Pavement when I see a road island as cars usually try to squeeze through, if I ride in the middle of the lane then the drivers go nuts.
Traffic calming is for cars and not bikes. My favourite traffic calming furniture to see is on the Tour of Flanders where they have nicely spaced iron poles about 2 foot high in the middle of the road; 200 blokes coming through that is always a moment to hide behind the sofa.
The Tour of California seems to have nice roads; maybe the Tour of California could be re-named "the Tour de France" and have the race on the American's better roads. I'm sure the french wouldn't mind!!??


-Jerry