TDF 2011 - Stage 11 Spoiler

StageWinner

Cav in green methinks.

StageWinner

No Rojas or Gilbert in the top 10.

Oops Rojas 7th but Cav still takes Green

emadden

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

blazing_saddles

Very convincing win. Greipel left for dead. Speed is king.
Cav into green!

afx237vi

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

+1

Cav and Greipel are the only two with any acceleration when they kick. The rest look they're standing still.

RichN95.

The Thomas-Renshaw-Cav sprint unit looked quite an impressive team there.

moray_gub

Brilliant riding by Eisel and Renshaw.

OffTheBackAdam

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

I think you've been watching another race!

thamacdaddy

RichN95 wrote:

The Thomas-Renshaw-Cav sprint unit looked quite an impressive team there.

Nice bit of testing the waters for the new season

samiam

Get in! Cav in green!

verylonglegs

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

I think you've been watching another race!

I don't know, granted a couple of hilly finishes have livened it up but we're over halfway into a 3 week race and only about to find out who's got it and who hasn't. It's taken too long imo.

avoidingmyphd

thamacdaddy wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

The Thomas-Renshaw-Cav sprint unit looked quite an impressive team there.

Nice bit of testing the waters for the new season

Simon Gerrans did some practice in the 8k to go berth as well.

brettjmcc

I am particularly amused at the feed on Cycling News

16:02:46 BST
Cavendish stopped to watch the sprint replay on television and could see how he beat Andre Greipel and Tyler Farrar.

Almost like he was trying to prove a point... Can't wait to watch the highlights later and the post race interview

emadden

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

I think you've been watching another race!

Coming towards the end of the second week, and GC spread across the top ten contenders (leaving aside Voeckler) is 30 seconds... yes some of the stages had good action, but only at the backend... The mountains couldve come sooner

Since the 2 rest day regime was introduced it has been rare to have rest days followed by sprint stages... IIRC in the rare cases where that has happened in the past, the first rest day came after the first mountains.... There may be one or two exceptions, but as was pointed out elsewhere today loading all the climbs at the back end of the race could mean that a real exciting GC battle may not materialise

Ben6899

verylonglegs wrote:

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

I think you've been watching another race!

I don't know, granted a couple of hilly finishes have livened it up but we're over halfway into a 3 week race and only about to find out who's got it and who hasn't. It's taken too long imo.

To have any hopes of finishing in Yellow, you have to "survive" these opening stages. We have found out that Wiggins and van den Broeck won't be in Yellow on the Champs Elysées.

Plus, Contador has taken a few heavy knocks which could affect his ambitions.

QED it hasn't taken too long.

markwb79

brettjmcc wrote:

I am particularly amused at the feed on Cycling News

16:02:46 BST
Cavendish stopped to watch the sprint replay on television and could see how he beat Andre Greipel and Tyler Farrar.

Almost like he was trying to prove a point... Can't wait to watch the highlights later and the post race interview

I thought he was looking to see where the others finished.

dougzz

Isn't the problem the geography of France? The big mountains are clustered in two places, so it's not easy to dip in and out, you have to visit them for a number of days, so at some point you're going to have a run of flat or lumpy stages with no big stuff. I agree it feels like a long wait this year. But now we have it all to come, I'm really enjoying it.

cornoyemade

If Farrar or Greipel had no class this is what they would probably say in the post race interview:

"I'm disappointed. I feel I made a mistake, but Cavendish beat me so there's nothing I can say about that." "I went early but failed to commit fully, kicked with 170m to go and Cavendish just came past and beat me."

glad to see the mountains here now. Expect to see Cavendish having alot of seat adjustments and other mechanical issues on the way up so he can hang off the team car.

jonginge

Did you see the interview just now where Cav said he told Griepel that he'd done the perfect sprint?

smithy21

cornoyemade wrote:

If Farrar or Greipel had no class this is what they would probably say in the post race interview:

"I'm disappointed. I feel I made a mistake, but Cavendish beat me so there's nothing I can say about that." "I went early but failed to commit fully, kicked with 170m to go and Cavendish just came past and beat me."

glad to see the mountains here now. Expect to see Cavendish having alot of seat adjustments and other mechanical issues on the way up so he can hang off the team car.

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

More medication for this patient please nurse.

Ben6899

cornoyemade wrote:

If Farrar or Greipel had no class this is what they would probably say in the post race interview:

"I'm disappointed. I feel I made a mistake, but Cavendish beat me so there's nothing I can say about that." "I went early but failed to commit fully, kicked with 170m to go and Cavendish just came past and beat me."

glad to see the mountains here now. Expect to see Cavendish having alot of seat adjustments and other mechanical issues on the way up so he can hang off the team car.

Mentally. Ill.

PBo

JonGinge wrote:

Did you see the interview just now where he said he told Griepel that he'd done the perfect sprint?

yeah...no class! :roll:

cornoyemade - seriously, you have mental health issues.

TMR

cornoyemade wrote:

If Farrar or Greipel had no class this is what they would probably say in the post race interview:

"I'm disappointed. I feel I made a mistake, but Cavendish beat me so there's nothing I can say about that." "I went early but failed to commit fully, kicked with 170m to go and Cavendish just came past and beat me."

glad to see the mountains here now. Expect to see Cavendish having alot of seat adjustments and other mechanical issues on the way up so he can hang off the team car.

*sigh*

TMR

Well done Mark!

I had no doubt that he'd destroy everyone today. Now he just has to hold on to the jersey.

bazbadger

Just ignore those random, pointless posts...

Le Commentateur

Moray Gub wrote:

Brilliant riding by Eisel and Renshaw.

A bit lucky Garmin showed up in the final 2 kms or else they'd have run out of gas.

verylonglegs

Ben6899 wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

emadden wrote:

thank God the mountains are here from tomorrow... Was getting really bored with all these stages... 11 days is enough

I think you've been watching another race!

I don't know, granted a couple of hilly finishes have livened it up but we're over halfway into a 3 week race and only about to find out who's got it and who hasn't. It's taken too long imo.

To have any hopes of finishing in Yellow, you have to "survive" these opening stages. We have found out that Wiggins and van den Broeck won't be in Yellow on the Champs Elysées.

Plus, Contador has taken a few heavy knocks which could affect his ambitions.

QED it hasn't taken too long.

Opening stages makes it sound like a gentle prelude but its more than half, 11 stages of 21, watching the top contenders pretty much just trying to avoid accidents. Yes, keeping upright is part of bike racing but it's not really what we watch if for is it?

avoidingmyphd

Markwb79 wrote:

brettjmcc wrote:

I am particularly amused at the feed on Cycling News

16:02:46 BST
Cavendish stopped to watch the sprint replay on television and could see how he beat Andre Greipel and Tyler Farrar.

Almost like he was trying to prove a point... Can't wait to watch the highlights later and the post race interview

I thought he was looking to see where the others finished.

He was - he was doing the green jersey maths before the commentators (on french TV at least, a rare slip) realised there was maths to be done.

derbygrimpeur

so the TdF is only worth watching for the GC?

Personally, I've enjoyed some of the hillier bits that have given a different dimension to the racing. Having said that, It's taken too long to get to the high mountains.

frenchfighter

Getty