So what's he gonna do?
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I seine - I was wondering about those drainage channels they're really deep. The whole descent is very narrow and twisty. I'd rather go up it than down it !0
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Tom Butcher wrote:Rode up it a couple of weeks ago. It's like a typical UK lane - not great but not terrible and certainly not a farm track. The top section after the summit to the Alpe is very very bumpy - not broken tarmac but either tarmac laid on a non-flat surface or tarmac that has shifted.
I can't see it being that decisive - it's so narrow and technical that it's not a high speed descent - a lot of pedalling out of corners - anyone on their own is going to be shagged and then you've still got to get to the foot of the Alpe after that. Of course riding up a climb can give you a false impression and others I was with reckon it will be a fast descent so you take your pick - one thing it is is long - so if anyone can go down it faster than Froome there is the distance to build a decent gap there.
The other thing is that the section above the Alpe has some very big drops off the edge of the road which might make some riders slow more than others. If you went over the edge you'd be dead.
The first part was pretty gravelly as I recall when I rode it years ago - and then near the end of the descent it was perfect tarmac.
I can't see much happening until the second time up the Alp. When was the last time a contender launched a suicide attack from further out than that ? The Alpe is what - 10 miles long ? That's a long climb to have the confidence to think you can keep ahead of everyone.0 -
Paul 8v wrote:josame wrote:Paul 8v wrote:
hey, what's rong with road surfacing conventions? We've had geology, cheese, local farm animals, road surfacing is the next logical stepjosame wrote:What is this? A road surfacing convention? .. go and start your own thread
That does look pretty bad to be fair, that's Domane/Roubaix/(insert other rugged bike here) territory. there's a local Strav segment like that to me but it has a hedge either side rather than instant death!
By law you are not allowed to draw any comparison between Maldon and the Alps (pain of death - sorry)
Haha, I take it you've never been up Market Hill
I meant more the road surface, that is a classic Essex back road surface, hence why I bought a Domane 
*edit But yes, you're right I shouldn't compare them, that's sacrilege!
Ha, no but I've been buffetted by the infamous ( ) crosswinds / badlands of canewdon but I'm in Bucks now and can echo the Domane purchase! 'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'0 -
from what i've read it is not being resurfaced for the tour just swept of some of the debris0
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Tom Butcher wrote:Yes it's bumpy and narrow - technical rather than fast - if it was a decent surface with some width you'd think nothing of it imo. If it rains might be interesting - forecast is looking fairly good but some chance of thunderstorms.
It's just plain unsafe. If that one on the Giro last year was no-go this should be too."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
Hmmm...
Contador has previously been talking about attacking on the flat, so if it's the Alpe stage it will be the descent or the round trip to climb it a second time.
Might be something tomorrow, if they can get him isolated on the way to the final climb and attack before they get to it.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
You ain't beating Froome uphill. So no point in that.
Froome's team is weaker though, so if you can do something on a day like tomorrow you could take some time. But as it's the Tour and people will ride to defend their 7'th position or something....Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
iainf72 wrote:You ain't beating Froome uphill. So no point in that.
Froome's team is weaker though, so if you can do something on a day like tomorrow you could take some time. But as it's the Tour and people will ride to defend their 7'th position or something....
I wouldn't worry about the 7th position. Can't see poor Jakob Fuglsang riding a break down by himself while most of his team try and work out how they're going to drop enough time to seal the Lanterne Rouge
The other mediocre positions I make you right on though.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
So true, I'm more used to the crosswinds on the other side of the estuary but they aren't much nicer!josame wrote:Paul 8v wrote:josame wrote:Paul 8v wrote:
hey, what's rong with road surfacing conventions? We've had geology, cheese, local farm animals, road surfacing is the next logical stepjosame wrote:What is this? A road surfacing convention? .. go and start your own thread
That does look pretty bad to be fair, that's Domane/Roubaix/(insert other rugged bike here) territory. there's a local Strav segment like that to me but it has a hedge either side rather than instant death!
By law you are not allowed to draw any comparison between Maldon and the Alps (pain of death - sorry)
Haha, I take it you've never been up Market Hill I meant more the road surface, that is a classic Essex back road surface, hence why I bought a Domane
*edit But yes, you're right I shouldn't compare them, that's sacrilege!
Ha, no but I've been buffetted by the infamous ( ) crosswinds / badlands of canewdon but I'm in Bucks now and can echo the Domane purchase!0 -
Whilst I'm not a fan of Bertie I think he's the sort of rider who will go for the s**t or bust option. His palmares are such that second or third on the podium won't hold much attractionI should think. I don't think he'll gain time but I think he'll have a good go.0
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I hope so, I want to see a good battle but he just hasn't had it in him so far.Pross wrote:Whilst I'm not a fan of Bertie I think he's the sort of rider who will go for the s**t or bust option. His palmares are such that second or third on the podium won't hold much attractionI should think. I don't think he'll gain time but I think he'll have a good go.0 -
Pross wrote:Whilst I'm not a fan of Bertie I think he's the sort of rider who will go for the s**t or bust option. His palmares are such that second or third on the podium won't hold much attractionI should think. I don't think he'll gain time but I think he'll have a good go.
Exciting racing is all that we ask for.0 -
Paul 8v wrote:
I hope so, I want to see a good battle but he just hasn't had it in him so far.Pross wrote:Whilst I'm not a fan of Bertie I think he's the sort of rider who will go for the s**t or bust option. His palmares are such that second or third on the podium won't hold much attractionI should think. I don't think he'll gain time but I think he'll have a good go.
True. I think he'll try but not sure he'll manage to get a gap, he's looked to be struggling in the mountains (relatively).0 -
Contador is a racer and he's always had a "win or bust" mentality, so I expect him to keep trying as long as he has the legs and motivation for it. 4+ minutes gap is too much so I can't see past Froome at this point (can anyone?), but a stage win would be nice.
Maybe if some other racer with the same mentality (like Nibali for example) was riding they could team up and try to do something, but I don't really see anyone willing to (or able to) right now.0 -
Yep. Exactly this. If they are actually interested in the top spot Belkin and Saxo need to isolate Froome as far as possible from his teammates on the Cat 2 and use their hopefully superior numbers to attack him (and whatever teammates he has left) on the flat. If they do this it could be another classic stage. Sadly, from the interview after Ventoux, Mollema at least seems to believe that Froome is unassailable and will be looking to defend second so, Froome is likely to have allies in Belkin green even if Saxo were so minded to go for it.iainf72 wrote:You ain't beating Froome uphill. So no point in that.
Froome's team is weaker though, so if you can do something on a day like tomorrow you could take some time. But as it's the Tour and people will ride to defend their 7'th position or something....0 -
I just can't see a way past Froome for poor old Bertie, he is just too strong. Bertie's usual strength climbing has just been taken to a whole other level by Froome, which completely neutralises him. Can't really see anything he can do, he may go for broke, but surely that's suicide, Froome would only chase him down and blast past in another show of defiance.0
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Pross wrote:On_What wrote:As much as I have never likened to Contador I can't help but want him to win this tour. Froome has had it allh is way, he's been able to ride off up the mountains and leave everyone in his wake.
It would make for a truly fantastic battle if Contador went for broke. Watch out for Saxo riders in the early breakaway?
Well, if you ignore more or less a whole mountain stage isolated against the combined strength of Movistar and Saxo or the day he missed the front echelon and lost time to Bertie yes he has had everything his own way!
I think the point I am making is that no one has tried to attack him. They have tried to ride hard and break him, but that's Sky's tactic and he's drilled in it.
It would be interesting to see if they could create some panic and cause him to chase hard.0 -
On_What wrote:Pross wrote:On_What wrote:As much as I have never likened to Contador I can't help but want him to win this tour. Froome has had it allh is way, he's been able to ride off up the mountains and leave everyone in his wake.
It would make for a truly fantastic battle if Contador went for broke. Watch out for Saxo riders in the early breakaway?
Well, if you ignore more or less a whole mountain stage isolated against the combined strength of Movistar and Saxo or the day he missed the front echelon and lost time to Bertie yes he has had everything his own way!
I think the point I am making is that no one has tried to attack him. They have tried to ride hard and break him, but that's Sky's tactic and he's drilled in it.
It would be interesting to see if they could create some panic and cause him to chase hard.
I don't think they physically could, when Movistar were pushing on the front I think they were pretty much riding on their limit, which left little room for any of them to have the legs to attack. The problem is Froome can quite comfortably power up the mountains like in exactly the same manner Sky did last year. So far he has also demonstrated that even when attacked and he has to chase hard he has being more than capable of chasing them down.
Basically, if they're gonna get anytime back on Froome, they're gonna need to some pretty hefty crosswinds again and try and break the peloton up again with the weakened Team Sky. Going uphill, Froome is just untouchable right now, and I can see this uphill timetrial doing nothing but suiting him. I wouldn't be surprised if his lead surpasses the 5 minute mark by the end of that stage.0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:Tom Butcher wrote:Yes it's bumpy and narrow - technical rather than fast - if it was a decent surface with some width you'd think nothing of it imo. If it rains might be interesting - forecast is looking fairly good but some chance of thunderstorms.
It's just plain unsafe. If that one on the Giro last year was no-go this should be too.
and the forecast is for thunder storms which could make it even more interesting.
Hope it doesn't effect the TV pictures.0 -
Perhaps Bert will send half his team to the front to pull on the first ascent, and half his team to the back, to wait at the foot of AdH to pull on the 2nd ascent...Rich0
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Haha! That's actually a brilliant idea. Presumably it's expressly forbidden? I'm sure I've heard of incidents in the past where a chasing group have had to be moved aside to allow a break through on road race routes that finish on a velodrome, I guess similar rules would apply? I suppose this sort of thing must also be covered in the rules for the World Road Race Championships which generally use a finishing circuit.RichA wrote:Perhaps Bert will send half his team to the front to pull on the first ascent, and half his team to the back, to wait at the foot of AdH to pull on the 2nd ascent...0 -
Graeme_S wrote:
Haha! That's actually a brilliant idea. Presumably it's expressly forbidden? I'm sure I've heard of incidents in the past where a chasing group have had to be moved aside to allow a break through on road race routes that finish on a velodrome, I guess similar rules would apply? I suppose this sort of thing must also be covered in the rules for the World Road Race Championships which generally use a finishing circuit.RichA wrote:Perhaps Bert will send half his team to the front to pull on the first ascent, and half his team to the back, to wait at the foot of AdH to pull on the 2nd ascent...
At the World's the gradually start pulling riders out. Not sure about the TdF, how big is the time limit likely to be? There's 50km between the ascents so doubt the time limit will be within an hour.
BTW I realise it's not a serious suggestion!0
