Tour of California 2014 **Spoilers**

ddraver

Cav or Degenkolb...?

germcevoy

Fair play Cav. Always amazes me how flat he is on the bike when at full pelt.

ddraver

Cav! According to Peta at home on the phone :P

Right, night night all

gattocattivo

That was pretty damn close

alan_a

That was a fun way to round off a brill weekend.

Cab & Wiggo in a break. Weird, but fun.

Turfle

Sagan green jersey odds lengthening every sprint.

thejimmymethod

This close:

frenchfighter

Bunch sprint. Bit of a let down when the racers from OPQS came out to split the bunch in the wind. Shame that Stetina bloke missed the split - Phinney and GVA made it and would have gone full gas had he been there.

Anyone know what this comment means from Phinney:
The Omega Pharma guys were pulling hard, and obviously Sky was with Wiggins. If Wiggins hadn't been there we could have gone faster

frenchfighter

For some reason Cnews have Simon Yates as riding...it was actually L Howard in that position so they need to update their database.

frenchfighter

above_the_cows

Crap, I was so tired last might I went to bed rather than watch this. Looks like I missed a cracker!

frenchfighter

Dorset_Boy

thejimmymethod wrote:

This close:

The photo makes it look like Cav is on a kids bike in comparison to the others!

r0bh

frenchfighter wrote:

Anyone know what this comment means from Phinney:
The Omega Pharma guys were pulling hard, and obviously Sky was with Wiggins. If Wiggins hadn't been there we could have gone faster

Because Wiggins is a GC contender and teams with their GC contender not in that split weren't pulling I guess?

frenchfighter

milton50

Just seen the last 10k on the Eurosport re-run. Good sprint from Cav. He came from a fair way behind Degenkolb and then he had to go around Sagan before ducking back on the inside of Degenkolb.

mroli

r0bh wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Anyone know what this comment means from Phinney:
The Omega Pharma guys were pulling hard, and obviously Sky was with Wiggins. If Wiggins hadn't been there we could have gone faster

Because Wiggins is a GC contender and teams with their GC contender not in that split weren't pulling I guess?

Yep - that's it. BMC's leader is Stetina and Phinney and Van Avermart didn't want to pull to put their leader behind even further. Sky (ie Rowe and Wiggins) were working, as were OPQS, but you could see most of the other teams just policed it. Shame.

Daz555

Not that I'm complaining but good to see Wiggo getting in the break and doing some serious work - a big shout to Sir Dave for him not to forget him come Le Tour selection?

philbar72

Really enjoyed that sprint. last 10k was pretty good as well, Thought Degenkolb had that then literally on the last pedal stroke Cav's wheel nudges past! nice....

blazing_saddles

Cav just managing just to pip Giant's number 2 sprinter does not bode well for those who have tipped him to beat the combined stage score of Team Germany at the TDF.

mroli

Kittel just managing to pip Team Sky's "sprinter" does not bode well for him taking on the might of Cavendish at the TdF

Macaloon

Is Kittel's skittled, the new Cav's finished?

mroli

Has he put on weight?!

blazing_saddles

mroli wrote:

Kittel just managing to pip Team Sky's "sprinter" does not bode well for him taking on the might of Cavendish at the TdF

Impressive optimism.
Last week Viviani looked very quick.
This weekend he looked to be peddling through Irish mud.

frenchfighter

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Cav just managing just to pip Giant's number 2 sprinter does not bode well for those who have tipped him to beat the combined stage score of Team Germany at the TDF.

It is a fair point but then as Milton pointed out Cavendish was not well placed and had a lot of ground and angle to make up. An overhead would have been good.

Macaloon

Projekt Regenbogen

blazing_saddles

frenchfighter wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Cav just managing just to pip Giant's number 2 sprinter does not bode well for those who have tipped him to beat the combined stage score of Team Germany at the TDF.

It is a fair point but then as Milton pointed out Cavendish was not well placed and had a lot of ground and angle to make up. An overhead would have been good.

I hope I'm wrong.

Turfle

It's also worth remembering Cav was one of the hardest workers in the crosswinds and once the break got away. It's hugely impressive to me that he could still beat a fresh Degenkolb after that.

mroli

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Impressive optimism.
Last week Viviani looked very quick.
This weekend he looked to be peddling through Irish mud.

Not being optimistic, just saying it is very hard to judge sprinters relative to what they beat, especially when they win. Cav lost to Viviani twice in Turkey - but won 3 stages. Kittel just beat Swift and then "collapsed" with the exertion afterwards. Swift was 7th the day before, but nearly won MSR. Cav beat Degenkolb (just), but didn't collapse afterwards. Degenkolb won the sprinter's classic GW, but was 39th in MSR. Kittel was badly placed in the sprint, Cav did loads of work in the break. Kittel's train disintegrated under EBH pressure, Cav lost Renshaw.

Those sort of comparisons just don't work. Basically, both Kittel and Cav found a way to win when they had to in their respective races, which bodes well for an exciting match up when they (and Griepel) finally meet.... Which is really what I'm interested in.

RonB

Stage 2 ITT. Starts with Sean Mazich at 21:05 and ends with Cav setting off at 23:22.

Start times for some of the others all BST!

Bobridge 21:32
Dennis 21:41
Wiggo 22:42
Ten Dam 22:45
Terpestra 22:49
Phinney 23:04

I would expect times of around 25 to 26 mins depending on winds etc.