The Tour - stage 13 *spoiler*

Macaloon

I'm mildly tickled that the only thing keeping this race interesting is the 'strength' of Sky, the very thing that most predicted would make it a bore-fest. It's been a spectacular collapse, and may it continue for the sake of the racing.

nic_77

Couple of thoughts on wheel changes...

1. Bet whoever gave Valverde his wheel was delighted - he dodged a bullet avoiding that vain chase!
As was raised during the stage - surely Valverde could have just switched bikes with someone?

2. When Rolland punctured he took a wheel from his teammate. Then when the mechanic arrived he (the mechanic) sorted out the teammate's wheel, leaving Rolland to struggle on alone with the change!
Surely they practice these things? Or at least have an action plan?

No_Ta_Doctor

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Incidentally, one of the Saxo staff was interviewed on Danish TV. He'd been out scouting the road ahead, 20km out, with a wind measuring device.

A few of the teams do that - I remember it being mentioned in one of the OGE backstage pass vids on youtube.

Yes, but when Saxo do it Riis is a genius. ;-)

alihisgreat

Not sure If I agree with this after today's performance!

Via https://twitter.com/TeamSky/status/355764077101989889

above_the_cows

So what did I miss?

nic_77

OnYourRight wrote:

nic_77 wrote:

2. When Rolland punctured he took a wheel from his teammate. Then when the mechanic arrived he (the mechanic) sorted out the teammate's wheel, leaving Rolland to struggle on alone with the change!
Surely they practice these things? Or at least have an action plan?

Wasn’t that the neutral Mavic mechanic, though?

Good explanation if so...

Squirrelpie

Saxo burnt a lot of energy to gain 1 minute there. Sky had only to try limit losses and wait for Ventoux so Froome can get that minute back. Eliminating Valverde has just removed one legitimate rival and Contador has yet to show any real strength of his own.

inseine

Le Commentateur wrote:

Froome made a fatal mistake – When Saxo accelerated he had the opportunity to jump across to Cav's wheel and get pulled to Contador's group, but he hesitated and spoke on his radio to the team car. In five seconds he gave away over a minute of his lead.

But it wouldn't have played out the same if Froome had got across. I think there's a good chance they'd sat up and tried again later.

No_Ta_Doctor

inseine wrote:

Le Commentateur wrote:

Froome made a fatal mistake – When Saxo accelerated he had the opportunity to jump across to Cav's wheel and get pulled to Contador's group, but he hesitated and spoke on his radio to the team car. In five seconds he gave away over a minute of his lead.

But it wouldn't have played out the same if Froome had got across. I think there's a good chance they'd sat up and tried again later.

Or, being completely isolated, they'd have tried to drop him and seriously hurt him.

above_the_cows

OK so catching up on what happened after I had to go to a meeting, can I just say two words:

Bernie Eisel

:roll:

alihisgreat

Someone's found a way to make these 'boring' sprint stages more exciting :shock:


via https://twitter.com/PelotonPundit/status/355738433752281089

ddraver

Above The Cows wrote:

So what did I miss?

Saxo got one more split around 20km to go and took only the sharpest of Belkin, OPQS and Cannondale with them. They TTT'd it to the end and put 69 secs into the Froome group

OPQS played the final sprint to perfection and Cav took it

Discussions rage about whether or not Froome is totally finished, badly doped or faking and Cav is back to best thing to happen to cycling ever ever....

Everyone is feeling uneasy that the evil eye of Bjarne Rijs still hangs over cycling like that eye in Lord of the Rings

Rick and I are secretly willing on Bauke Mollema, if only so Paul Sherwen has to learn to pronounce his name properly!

goonz

I dont think there is really anything for Sky to worry about. Froome limited his losses and their team didnt push as hard as Saxo did and this will definitely tell in tomorrows stage.

Bertie does not look capable of attacking on his own and Froome only needs to stick with him rather than go off making more time.

He holds the chips so is in the driving seat. If all else fails, he will make at least a minute in the next TT.

roypsb

I'm sure it's all been said over the 37 pages, but...

That was bloody brilliant! This is such a great Tour.

DeadCalm

OK, so the the finish of second stage of the Tour de Bretagne feminin (a time trial) was at the bottom of the road where my parents live so I figured I'd go watch the ladies live and check out the TDF on the highlights. It's going to be a dull sprinters stage after all. What have I got to lose. Fortunately the folks got bored of the ladies, went home and switched on the telly and insisted I should watch the entire stage 'as live' which I've just finished doing.

What a corker. One of the best GT stages in recent years in my opinion. I've not read any of this thread yet but I'm guessing that there has been a fair amount of controversy. In anticipation, some thoughts:

OPQS deserved that victory for forcing the split in the first place. Kudos to them.

I'm not a Valverde fan in the least but can't help feeling sorry that he lost time in the way that he did. Belkin were working the front before he had his mechanical but had seemed to have lost a little bit of heart only to re-gain it following his mechanical. Unsporting from Belkin? Payback for previous Movistar shenanigans? I'm not convinced either way. In any event, I suspect it will have a detrimental effect on the race for yellow now that Valverde and Costa (whose team is probably the strongest in the race when the road goes uphill) are effectively out of it.

Froome was incredibly lucky that JC Peraud and J-Rod didn't make the Contador split. If they both had, he wouldn't have been in yellow tonight. If one of them had, he'd have lost at least another minute to the front group. That is how weak Sky are at the moment.

Right, now to catch up on the thread...

iainf72

Good stage.

Thing that struck me most : How when Saxo split it Froome got onto the radio. I don't mind radio's but he really shouldn't need instructions on what to do there.

Also, Mick Rogers involved in the 2 most noteable stages with echelons on the TdF in the last few years.

slim_boy_fat

iainf72 wrote:

Good stage.

Thing that struck me most : How when Saxo split it Froome got onto the radio. I don't mind radio's but he really shouldn't need instructions on what to do there.

Also, Mick Rogers involved in the 2 most noteable stages with echelons on the TdF in the last few years.

Could he have just been on the radio to inform the team exactly what was happening.

Valverde promising to make a race of it in the Alps.

“@alejanvalverde: Merci à tous pour vos encouragements. Nous allons encore vous montrer du très beau cyclisme dans les Alpes. C'est promis.”

TMR

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Not sure If I agree with this after today's performance!

Via https://twitter.com/TeamSky/status/355764077101989889

I know. I have to say that the Team this year are doing an incredibly poor job of protecting Froome. I didn't see a single black jersey next to him for a lot of the time he was in the 2nd Echelon. What are they playing at? Brailsford must be furious...

alihisgreat

iainf72 wrote:

Good stage.

Thing that struck me most : How when Saxo split it Froome got onto the radio. I don't mind radio's but he really shouldn't need instructions on what to do there.

Also, Mick Rogers involved in the 2 most noteable stages with echelons on the TdF in the last few years.

Why do you assume he was taking instructions and not giving them?

Its most likely that he was frantically trying to get some team mates at the front... I don't see why he would be taking instructions in that situation?

deejay

Stage 13 = 177Km's or 107 miles and a hard grafting day.
The winner crossed the line in 3 hours 40 secs at an average over 29 MPH.

A short stage but some real racing.

alihisgreat

deejay wrote:

Stage 13 = 177Km's or 107 miles and a hard grafting day.
The winner crossed the line in 3 hours 40 secs at an average over 29 MPH.

A short stage but some real racing.

holy sh*t that's quick.. especially after 1 1/2 weeks of racing done already :shock:

IanLD

Just watched highlights. What a great stage regardless of the overall effect it may have. Great to see some HTC awareness at last with OPQS.

Agree with the Belkin/Movistar payback time but rather than time gained, this may increase some teams and riders confidence in attacking Sky/Froome. Hope so as it will keep the race alive.

I'm not sure that Sunday will be a stage that makes too much difference. The leaders may just mark each other and take a week out to recover for the final showdown.

Whatever happens, its already much better than last years tedious event. Got Thursday and Friday afternoons off next week so I can line up four days of live stages. Can't wait!

thomthom

Just watched a great interview with Cav. Why can't he be like that all time? Bloody brilliant and cool guy when he wins.

above_the_cows

Can I just say Bauke Mollema, 2nd on GC. Bauke Mollema? And Ten Dam at 5th! Yay. Way to go Dutchies. Need to catch some highlights of this. Amazing stuff. It was exciting enough when the first splits formed. What a day. Phew.

I do remember saying something about having a wee chuckle if the race got blown to bits in crosswinds and Froome missed the split for the want of an experienced road captain capable of reading things. So I've had my wee chuckle. But seriously they are looking pretty week, they really are missing a few strong rouleurs we're really left with Stannard while Thomas is injured and EBH is in Norway.

Where the goddam were Lopez and Siutsou in all this shenanigans? I am really questioning there inclusion in the team. Everyone else has played some part even if they have lost time either today or other days, but those two they have really been conspicuous by their absence.

TMR

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Someone's found a way to make these 'boring' sprint stages more exciting :shock:


via https://twitter.com/PelotonPundit/status/355738433752281089

How did you get 2/1 on Cav? I checked this morning and it was crap odds

cogidubnus

Just finished watching the stage, cracking entertainment was glued to the screen from the 80k to go mark.

Hats off to OPQ and Belkin for breaking the peloton and then Saxo for making the final selection.

Considoring a large part of the forum thought the Sky team were doped to their eyeballs, they now look pretty poor compared to others and particularly the 2012 vintage Sky. Eisel and Knees would have made a huge difference today

goonz

deejay wrote:

Stage 13 = 177Km's or 107 miles and a hard grafting day.
The winner crossed the line in 3 hours 40 secs at an average over 29 MPH.

A short stage but some real racing.

3hrs and 40 mins??? Thats lightning quick!

Wonder whats the fastest ever stage, surely this has to be up there?

deejay

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Why do you assume he was taking instructions and not giving them?

Its most likely that he was frantically trying to get some team mates at the front... I don't see why he would be taking instructions in that situation?

Maybe he wanted to know what budget he had as he negotiated help from elsewhere. :roll:

ThomThom wrote:

Just watched a great interview with Cav. Why can't he be like that all time? Bloody brilliant and cool guy when he wins.

Perhaps he left all his aggression out on the road as he has won the most aggressive rider award. ?

above_the_cows

Cav must be proper chuffed with that win. That was a 'real racers'TM win. He raced all day for that. Right need to find me some highlights.

nic_77

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Good stage.

Thing that struck me most : How when Saxo split it Froome got onto the radio. I don't mind radio's but he really shouldn't need instructions on what to do there.

Also, Mick Rogers involved in the 2 most noteable stages with echelons on the TdF in the last few years.

Why do you assume he was taking instructions and not giving them?

Its most likely that he was frantically trying to get some team mates at the front... I don't see why he would be taking instructions in that situation?

Quite. If he's pressing buttons (which he was) he's talking i.e. most likely giving instructions
No need to press buttons just to listen.