TDF Stage 14 (2013) ***Spoilers***

CoutinhoRed

Excited after today's thriller? Stage 14 consists of 7 climbs (5 cat-4 and 2 cat-3 climbs) and will unlikely be contested by the likes of Cavendish, Kittel, or Greipel.

I love Chris Froome, but would love to see this tour go to the wire opposed to teams sky runaway last year! Here's hoping for another classic!


Stage profile


Mountain passes & hills Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule / Lyon 191KM

Km 66.5 - Côte de Marcigny 1.9 kilometre-long climb at 4.9% - category 4

Km 98.5 - Côte de la Croix Couverte 2.6 kilometre-long climb at 5.3% - category 4

Km 113.0 - Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs 1.7 kilometre-long climb at 8.2% - category 3

Km 126.5 - Col du Pilon (727 m) 6.3 kilometre-long climb at 4.4% - category 3

Km 161.0 - Côte de Lozanne 2.5 kilometre-long climb at 4% - category 4

Km 176.0 - Côte de la Duchère 1.6 kilometre-long climb at 4.1% - category 4

Km 181.5 - Côte de la Croix Rousse 1.8 kilometre-long climb at 4.5% - category 4

Last km

Don't be lulled into thinking that because the profile is flat, that the race will be a rudimentary one. That seemed to be the thinking of most after stage 12: no climbs in stage 13... oh, another bunch sprint at the finish. Oh no, far from it in fact! Yes, a sprint specialist – the best of his generation – won his 25th stage on the second Friday of the 100th Tour de France. Mark Cavendish marked Peter Sagan and then disposed of him in the finale as though the green jersey wearer was little more than a hack. The champion of Slovakia was second for a fourth time in this year's race and the British champion notched up another victory in an ever-growing tally.

The road to Lyon is littered with climbs. They are big but there are many and the terrain will surely help dictate how the race is done. Fatigue will also be a fact. The peloton might be tired from an epic race to St-Amand-Montrond – particularly the Omega Pharma-Quicsktep, Saxo-Tinkoff and Belkin teams that gained the most from stage 13 – but someone is bound to find the energy to ignite the action.

Chris Froome lost a considerable slab of his advantage over some key rivals but he no longer has the firepower to return the gesture and taken on the likes of Bauke Mollema or Alberto Contador. He needs to defend and will surely spend his day marking the moves but they are likely to come thick and fast now that teams have sensed that the Sky team is no longer as dominant as it was 12 months ago.

Generally the premise is that the flat days are for the sprinters, the undulating days for opportunist and the mountains for the GC men... but forget tradition – there are gains to be made all the way from Bastia to Paris and a range of riders are taking advantage on a variety of terrain. It'll happen again in stage 14 - from official tdf website

alan_a

No spoilers in title.

No stage profile, no map, no final km profile, no final 5km map

Highlights haven't even been on the TV yet.

FAIL


It's a bit like Europcar in a breakaway with people starting these threads more and more prematurely.

CoutinhoRed

Shame!

I don't know how to attach pictures on here possibly a mod should take care of this mess!

No_Ta_Doctor

Alan A wrote:

No spoilers in title.

No stage profile, no map, no final km profile, no final 5km map

Highlights haven't even been on the TV yet.

FAIL


It's a bit like Europcar in a breakaway with people starting these threads more and more prematurely.

With respect, this seems a little more like a Cofidis solo attack in the medium mountains from the depart.

Nothing that a quick bit of editing couldn't fix though CoutinhoRed

ddraver

Find the pic online

Right click and select "Copy Image URL" *

Post th elink in the Full editor and select it

Click the Img button above the text box

Enjoy...

(*Wordage differs according to browser, but it's fairly obvious. You want the thing that ends in .jpg or similar as you can occasionally copy a link rather than the image URL)

TheBigBean

I can't help thinking that this stage won't have a breakaway winner. Either Cannondale will boss it for Sagan or some sprinter's team will manage to get a sprint.

thomthom

That's right!
Salute The Great One.

No_Ta_Doctor

ThomThom wrote:

That's right!

Lars is all over this one. Big time.

RoadPainter

Some of the cat 4s are a joke though - one of them is 1.6km @ 4%

I'm not convinced the sprinters won't make it.

thomthom

No tA Doctor wrote:

Lars is all over this one. Big time.

CoutinhoRed

Okay it has now been edited.

How will movistar react to Valverdes huge deficit yesterday? Will they now work for Quintana trying to secure him a podium finish, or will it be saxo tinkoff taking control of the race?

Looking forward to this one!

fleshtuxedo

Weather forecast at start and finish shows only light winds all day c.10kph.

above_the_cows

RoadPainter wrote:

Some of the cat 4s are a joke though - one of them is 1.6km @ 4%

*Drools*

1.6km at 4%? How I wish for 1.6km at 4%... That's bigger than anything around here. That's a veritable mountain!

So breakaway? Sagan or sprint today, it's a tough one to call, but I would think a lot of the sprint teams are a bit tired today.

alihisgreat

Today will be pants because of all the effort put in yesterday.

Cannondale will give Sagan another monster leadout. Probably from ~100km to go? If not then on the 3rd cat where the other sprinters will definitely be dropped.

mike6

Interested to see who has the energy for battle today. There were a lot of very tired riders at the end of yesterdays stage, Contador and his guys looked smashed. Probably wont happen but it would be fun If one of the teams who did the least yesterday got on the front and pushed it, who would have the heart or the legs to chase?

No_Ta_Doctor

I reckon Garmin may play silly-buggers again, they seem to be worshippers of Loki, Thor's mischievous brother :-)

The break may well be allowed to go, OPQS put a lot of work in yesterday so that leaves Lotto, Cannondale and Argos to pull it back, assuming the GC teams are keeping something in the tank for tomorrow. But as we already know, Lotto will have lars Bak in the break :-)

iainf72

I tend to think it's in the others teams interest to keep it hard today too. They should want to keep the pressure on Froome

Cannondale are bound to do it anyway as it's ideal for Sagan. But I'm hopeful for a bit more.

blazing_saddles

Reported sighting of Tommy Voeckler applying Ambre Solaire factor 50 to his tongue,
this morning.........................

mr_poll

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Today will be pants because of all the effort put in yesterday.

Cannondale will give Sagan another monster leadout. Probably from ~100km to go? If not then on the 3rd cat where the other sprinters will definitely be dropped.

The secret pro tweeted similar yesterday

IamtheSecretPro: My tip for tomorrow - Sagan. Word is that Cannondale will hit it at about 100kms.

Lets see how well connected he is - Sagan has one win and given he has been outsprinted by Kittel, Cav and Griepel then this is his last chance to grab a win (cant see it happening on the Champs).

Brave breakaway with the likes of Westra, De Gendt, Flecha and Kadri - only to be overhauled by the Cannondale train within the last 20km.

mr_poll

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Reported sighting of Tommy Voeckler applying Ambre Solaire factor 50 to his tongue,
this morning.........................

I fancy him and Rolland will save themselves for a crack tomorrow - it's Ventoux and Bastille Day, an iconic day for a Frenchman to write himself into history.

tailwindhome

No tA Doctor wrote:

I reckon Garmin may play silly-buggers again, they seem to be worshippers of Loki, Thor's mischievous brother :-)

I reckon this too.

iainf72

Lots of riders warming up on the turbo....

No_Ta_Doctor

iainf72 wrote:

Lots of riders warming up on the turbo....

Very good chance for the break today after yesterday's efforts. Lot of them will fancy their chances. But they WILL have to bow to the majesty of Lars Bak.

I think I've caught something off ThomThom.

TMR

No tA Doctor wrote:

Very good chance for the break today after yesterday's efforts. Lot of them will fancy their chances. But they WILL have to bow to the majesty of Lars Bak.

Tissue?

tailwindhome

iainf72 wrote:

Lots of riders warming up on the turbo....

Big budget Team Sky have invested in a turbo for every rider on the squad so they don't have to take turns like other teams #marginalgains

TMR

I am going to miss all of today's stage. We've got to go to Bishops Stortford for a 40th Birthday of one of my wife's friends. I hate it when real life interferes with my TdF viewing

tailwindhome

Avatar changed.....let's do this.

No_Ta_Doctor

The Mad Rapper wrote:

I am going to miss all of today's stage. We've got to go to Bishops Stortford for a 40th Birthday of one of my wife's friends. I hate it when real life interferes with my TdF viewing

"Will you STOP fiddling with your bloody phone and try and be a bit more bloody social"

joelsim

mike6 wrote:

Interested to see who has the energy for battle today. There were a lot of very tired riders at the end of yesterdays stage, Contador and his guys looked smashed. Probably wont happen but it would be fun If one of the teams who did the least yesterday got on the front and pushed it, who would have the heart or the legs to chase?

Did you see how miserable Froome looked on the podium yesterday though?

He knows he has much to do.

Today should be simply sitting in the pack with Froome and taking a (slight) breather.

alan_a

From letour ticker

Counter-attack over...
Marino (SOJ) and Veilleux (EUC) have been caught by the peloton at 24km. There are now just five men ahead of the peloton. Voigt, Kadri, Vichot, Le Mevel and Bak have an advantage of 45".

alan_a

"Yesterday was the first time in the Tour de France that a whole team was voted winners of the 'Fighting Spirit' award. Omega Pharma-Quickstep earned that honour with their move at the 56km mark of stage 13.

Despite that collective prize, only Mark Cavendish - the winner of the stage - has a red race number for stage 14."