TDF 2013 - *SPOILERS*: Le Tour: Etape 3 Ajaccio-Calvi

DeadCalm

wombly knees wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

Squaggles wrote:

I'm not a Gerrans fan but you have to admire the way he won that , he's a very clever/sneaky rider

this


With 4 GT stage wins and a Milan San Remo he has a palmaraes that most riders would kill for . This p*sh that FF comes out with about him sticking his nose in the wind at the finish well that is just a lack of basic nous of how pro cycling works.

Yeah, I realise he's not everyone's cup of tea, especially with that MSR win (among other), but it was a race, no?

Of course all wins are equal. But some wins are more equal than others. How would youngsters fantasizing about winning a stage in the Tour imagine themselves doing it? Like Bakelants or Gerrans?

wombly knees wrote:

Impey's leadout was fantastic taking that final corner and GE animated the race. Good for them.

Absolutely agree on both these points. The sheer ferocity with which Impey came through that gap wrested control of the situation away from Canondale and was almost certainly the difference between first and second place for Gerrans. And although I am something of an Orica critic, there wasn't another team as prominent in the race yesterday. Fair play to them.

frenchfighter

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Oh look who popped his Aussie nose into the wind at the very last moment.

Not a Gerrans fan myself and was disappointed when I heard he won but to be fair he opened up the sprint and held on from a long way out plus OGE earned him the right to win with Clarke in the break for much of the race and then being at the front once he got mopped up. Arguably they deserved a win more than any other team and had Sagan won would it have been any different than Gerrans?

It`s a fair point and I don`t really disagree. I just do not like the guy at all and he has never won with any class or pure talent and power. If he had a handful of wins or even attempts like that then I would be willing to cut him some slack when he won like above.

Pross wrote:

I think the Sky domestiques were under instruction not to push themselves too hard to stay in the front group and save a bit for tomorrow. It would make sense as EBH was almost out the back on the final climb and you would expect him to stay in contact on that terrain if working hard. Maybe they are worried that with G struggling they might lose some time tomorrow.

Yeah agree.

frenchfighter wrote:

Sky`s team is certainly not bossing like they usually do. Definitely weaker team this year however there is no need to crowd the front at this stage of the race and the more rested their riders are for the TTT the better. We shall see come the first bog mountain.

frenchfighter

Check out the beautiful scenery in these photos:
http://www.steephill.tv/2013/tour-de-fr ... /stage-03/

wombly_knees

DeadCalm wrote:

Of course all wins are equal. But some wins are more equal than others. How would youngsters fantasizing about winning a stage in the Tour imagine themselves doing it? Like Bakelants or Gerrans?

Oh yeah, the Bakelandts win was far more attractive and so too every Cancellara or even Gilbert win. He doesn't try that way often at all.

greasedscotsman

DeadCalm wrote:

Of course all wins are equal. But some wins are more equal than others. How would youngsters fantasizing about winning a stage in the Tour imagine themselves doing it? Like Bakelants or Gerrans?

Or maybe like Cavendish. He seems quite popular...

frenchfighter

Bikes of the jersey holders:

above_the_cows

Think this is some of the bikes of those going up onto the podium yesterday minus Kwiatkowski's Spesh. Gerrans' bike is there and he hasn't got a special jumper.

RideOnTime

that's better.
Still nice to have the start - finish in the title.