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

slim_boy_fat

Sagan still feeling the crash.

For the second successive day Peter Sagan has been the runner-up in the race for stage honours. He hopes the effects of injuries sustained in a crash on day one of the 2013 wear off and that he gets back to top form...

“I want to wear the green jersey all the way to Paris and I'm happy to be in the lead of this category again. If you want to know about the sprint, you'll have to ask the winner... not me. I was just second.
“I did my sprint but I didn't feel very good after the crash in the first stage. But I'm happy to have the green jersey and I hope that, day-by-day, I feel better because I need to recover after the crash.
“I'm happy to earn points which I also did today but we will see how we can manage in the days to come, especially in the sprints but I hope that the first crash is the only one I have and that I don't crash anymore.”

Walter White

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

Nice finish. Sagan will be kicking himself there.

Completely agree, great chance for Sagan gone there, he won't be to pleased about that.

Walter White

The Mad Rapper wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

lol, what a dick. Improve your interpretation.

I was being light hearted. if you are going to be a penis, then go f*ck yourself. Silly little tw@t :P

Ohh get you! must be that time of the month?

Here you go, hope this helps :P

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/menstrualcyc ... blems.aspx

tailwindhome

Graeme_S wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I think Corsica has one of the highest murder rates in Europe?

According to Ned Boulting on ITV's travelogue bit, it has THE highest murder rate in Europe

I wonder how they compared with Northern Ireland....you know, back in the day.

dab_32

TailWindHome wrote:

Graeme_S wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I think Corsica has one of the highest murder rates in Europe?

According to Ned Boulting on ITV's travelogue bit, it has THE highest murder rate in Europe

I wonder how they compared with Northern Ireland....you know, back in the day.

It's murders per capita, not total overall. I remember seeing a documentary about it a while back. It's apparently its a bit of a mafia island!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21461517

http://persecarpediem.wordpress.com/201 ... of-europe/

DeadCalm

Watching the highlights I was reminded that Peter Kennaugh was off the back with Geraint on the final climb. Presumably that will be because he was deputed to look after GT rather than any inability to cope with the pace on the climb but I must admit to a certain amount of disappointment as I had a sneaky hope that he might have been there or thereabouts on GC for a while yet and even snuck into the white jersey after the TTT.

Yellow Peril

Just watched the highlights on ITV 4. Breathtaking scenery, great panache from Chavanel and a brilliant ride by Gerrans (credit where credit's due). Great effort by Clarke as well, Rolland looks like a clown in all of those Polka Dots. I keep expecting his Colnago to fall to pieces in best clown car style.

Starting to feel a bit sorry for Little Pete. They did a bit about his first Tour, Ned kept calling him Peter Kenner and Liggett called him Kennog (some form of cornflake?)

FoldingJoe

Not seen it anywhere yet, but why is Chava riding a red Specialized bike, and not the normal black?

thejimmymethod

FoldingJoe wrote:

Not seen it anywhere yet, but why is Chava riding a red Specialized bike, and not the normal black?

They did him a custom paint job for his birthday yesterday

above_the_cows

DeadCalm wrote:

Watching the highlights I was reminded that Peter Kennaugh was off the back with Geraint on the final climb. Presumably that will be because he was deputed to look after GT rather than any inability to cope with the pace on the climb but I must admit to a certain amount of disappointment as I had a sneaky hope that he might have been there or thereabouts on GC for a while yet and even snuck into the white jersey after the TTT.

He'd had a puncture apparently.

Pross

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

G: "I want to continue at all costs even if my mum asks me to stop."

Oh G...*worried face*

Silly sausage. I understand the urge to carry on, but it is should be understood as three weeks of a long career, not a three week career.

Agreed, can't see the point in carrying on. It's not going to heal, he could make it worse and he'll not be effective at anything other surviving.

Apparently the medics say he won't make it worse so he probably rates their opinion higher than that of some Internet forum people. That said, the injury might not get worse (although I hope he doesn't take another knock on it) but not being able to sleep properly and get some rest into your body can take a big toll. I reckon they'll see how it goes for a couple of days but won't push him too far. I think for all their perceived faults Sky are one of the teams that is least likely to risk a rider's health.

DeadCalm

With GC being the way it is, it would appear likely that in addition to the glory of a stage win, the team winning tomorrow's stage will also take the yellow jersey. The following are the highest placed riders for each team and therefore the riders who are most likely (but not guaranteed) to be in yellow tomorrow evening should their team win the stage.

1 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 12:21:27
2 Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun 0:00:01
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
7 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp
8 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
17 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
19 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
29 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling
36 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
41 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ
43 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
70 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
109 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:13:01


I think we can probably discount Tom Dumoulin who, despite being the best placed Argos rider, is over 13 minutes down. All the rest are within one second. I'd love Bardet to get it but frankly AG2R will be hoping to minimise losses rather than riding for the win. If it weren't for Tony Martin's fall, I'd say that Kwiatkowski would be odds on favourite. I know Garmin fancy their chances but have a feeling we might be in for a surprise. Cadel in yellow tomorrow evening maybe?

TMR

The way the Tour is going at the moment is completely random. Just goes to show you can't take anything for granted. I suspect we all had ideas about how these 3 stages would go and I couldn't have been more wrong. The obvious choices aren't always right! And Gerrans outsprint Sagan? Wish I'd had money on that TBH

Pross

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?

DeadCalm

Above The Cows wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

Watching the highlights I was reminded that Peter Kennaugh was off the back with Geraint on the final climb. Presumably that will be because he was deputed to look after GT rather than any inability to cope with the pace on the climb but I must admit to a certain amount of disappointment as I had a sneaky hope that he might have been there or thereabouts on GC for a while yet and even snuck into the white jersey after the TTT.

He'd had a puncture apparently.

Ah, okay. Although when I saw him off the back I got the impression he wasn't too far behind and many riders suffer punctures and get back on. I'm not criticising him or Sky but for my own selfish interest would have liked to have seen him at the sharp end for a while longer yet.

Pross

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.

DeadCalm

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.

A good point. It's just that I'm not particularly happy that they seem to be riding to win the Tour rather than appease my personal whims. :twisted:

ddraver

thejimmymethod wrote:

FoldingJoe wrote:

Not seen it anywhere yet, but why is Chava riding a red Specialized bike, and not the normal black?

They did him a custom paint job for his birthday yesterday

It's a specialized thing - At the olympics when riders had to seriously limit how much logo they showed on the bike to fit in with the Olympic regulations. Specialized just gave all their riders bright orange bikes then shouted about it!

Quite clever really...

tailwindhome

DeadCalm wrote:

With GC being the way it is, it would appear likely that in addition to the glory of a stage win, the team winning tomorrow's stage will also take the yellow jersey. The following are the highest placed riders for each team and therefore the riders who are most likely (but not guaranteed) to be in yellow tomorrow evening should their team win the stage.

1 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 12:21:27
2 Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun 0:00:01
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
7 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp
8 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
17 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
19 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
29 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling
36 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
41 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ
43 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
70 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
109 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:13:01


I think we can probably discount Tom Dumoulin who, despite being the best placed Argos rider, is over 13 minutes down. All the rest are within one second. I'd love Bardet to get it but frankly AG2R will be hoping to minimise losses rather than riding for the win. If it weren't for Tony Martin's fall, I'd say that Kwiatkowski would be odds on favourite. I know Garmin fancy their chances but have a feeling we might be in for a surprise. Cadel in yellow tomorrow evening maybe?

So whichever team wins the TTT, assuming they beat RSL by 1s will put their man listed above in Yellow.

Millar must fancy this, but it would be great to see Roche in yellow.

FF I'm putting you on avatar stand by.....

DeadCalm

TailWindHome wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

With GC being the way it is, it would appear likely that in addition to the glory of a stage win, the team winning tomorrow's stage will also take the yellow jersey. The following are the highest placed riders for each team and therefore the riders who are most likely (but not guaranteed) to be in yellow tomorrow evening should their team win the stage.

1 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 12:21:27
2 Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun 0:00:01
3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
7 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp
8 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
17 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
19 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
29 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling
36 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
41 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ
43 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
70 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
109 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:13:01


I think we can probably discount Tom Dumoulin who, despite being the best placed Argos rider, is over 13 minutes down. All the rest are within one second. I'd love Bardet to get it but frankly AG2R will be hoping to minimise losses rather than riding for the win. If it weren't for Tony Martin's fall, I'd say that Kwiatkowski would be odds on favourite. I know Garmin fancy their chances but have a feeling we might be in for a surprise. Cadel in yellow tomorrow evening maybe?

So whichever team wins the TTT, assuming they beat RSL by 1s will put their man listed above in Yellow.

Millar must fancy this, but it would be great to see Roche in yellow.

FF I'm putting you on avatar stand by.....

Pretty much. The only exception I can think of would be if one of the above were to be dropped in the TTT and their team went on to win the stage.

above_the_cows

Pross wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

G: "I want to continue at all costs even if my mum asks me to stop."

Oh G...*worried face*

Silly sausage. I understand the urge to carry on, but it is should be understood as three weeks of a long career, not a three week career.

Agreed, can't see the point in carrying on. It's not going to heal, he could make it worse and he'll not be effective at anything other surviving.

Apparently the medics say he won't make it worse so he probably rates their opinion higher than that of some Internet forum people. That said, the injury might not get worse (although I hope he doesn't take another knock on it) but not being able to sleep properly and get some rest into your body can take a big toll. I reckon they'll see how it goes for a couple of days but won't push him too far. I think for all their perceived faults Sky are one of the teams that is least likely to risk a rider's health.

I'd agree with that, I don't think the Team would let him continue, or I hope they wouldn't, it was more Thomas' own attitude of 'at all costs' that is worrying. I get why he feels that but that is a dangerous attitude to have and one that could seriously damage a career that is more than a few weeks in July. Still he was probably just trying to say something to a journalist who shoved a mic under his nose.

Mad_Malx

Above The Cows wrote:

Pross wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

G: "I want to continue at all costs even if my mum asks me to stop."

Oh G...*worried face*

Silly sausage. I understand the urge to carry on, but it is should be understood as three weeks of a long career, not a three week career.

Agreed, can't see the point in carrying on. It's not going to heal, he could make it worse and he'll not be effective at anything other surviving.

Apparently the medics say he won't make it worse so he probably rates their opinion higher than that of some Internet forum people. That said, the injury might not get worse (although I hope he doesn't take another knock on it) but not being able to sleep properly and get some rest into your body can take a big toll. I reckon they'll see how it goes for a couple of days but won't push him too far. I think for all their perceived faults Sky are one of the teams that is least likely to risk a rider's health.

I'd agree with that, I don't think the Team would let him continue, or I hope they wouldn't, it was more Thomas' own attitude of 'at all costs' that is worrying. I get why he feels that but that is a dangerous attitude to have and one that could seriously damage a career that is more than a few weeks in July. Still he was probably just trying to say something to a journalist who shoved a mic under his nose.

He looked like shite in the interview with Ned after the stage - and said that he was feeling better than he had yesterday.

TMR

The Garmin data for Rohan Dennis from today's stage: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/336160492

moray_gub

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.

joelsim

What a great stage. Watched the first couple of hours and then as it was my smallest's 6th birthday today I had to leave the TV and soak loads of kids with water in a big paddling pool, cut the cake, play pass the parcel etc...only just been able to watch the highlights.

Roll on tmw, or Rolland tmw perhaps. Chapeau to Gerrans, can't help feeling that the Green has already been decided barring injury.

hammerite

Above The Cows wrote:

I'd agree with that, I don't think the Team would let him continue, or I hope they wouldn't, it was more Thomas' own attitude of 'at all costs' that is worrying. I get why he feels that but that is a dangerous attitude to have and one that could seriously damage a career that is more than a few weeks in July. Still he was probably just trying to say something to a journalist who shoved a mic under his nose.

I wonder if he feels that he missed out on supporting last years Tour winner so wants to make his mark this year - at all costs?

joelsim

Above The Cows wrote:

Pross wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

G: "I want to continue at all costs even if my mum asks me to stop."

Oh G...*worried face*

Silly sausage. I understand the urge to carry on, but it is should be understood as three weeks of a long career, not a three week career.

Agreed, can't see the point in carrying on. It's not going to heal, he could make it worse and he'll not be effective at anything other surviving.

Apparently the medics say he won't make it worse so he probably rates their opinion higher than that of some Internet forum people. That said, the injury might not get worse (although I hope he doesn't take another knock on it) but not being able to sleep properly and get some rest into your body can take a big toll. I reckon they'll see how it goes for a couple of days but won't push him too far. I think for all their perceived faults Sky are one of the teams that is least likely to risk a rider's health.

I'd agree with that, I don't think the Team would let him continue, or I hope they wouldn't, it was more Thomas' own attitude of 'at all costs' that is worrying. I get why he feels that but that is a dangerous attitude to have and one that could seriously damage a career that is more than a few weeks in July. Still he was probably just trying to say something to a journalist who shoved a mic under his nose.

His interview today certainly suggested it was his decision. I hope he comes to his senses.

wombly_knees

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?

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

inseine

So, we could have Valverde in yellow

moray_gub

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?

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

Exactly and his tactics to win the race were spot on don't get where all this dislike for him comes from. I mean its not as if he has a shady past like cheats Valverde or Contador.