Tour de France Stage 5 Ypres-Arenberg *Spoiler*

Pross

The_Boy wrote:

Pross wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Personally I would have liked to see G get a chance to ride for the stage but ultimately they still have a rider in with a chance of a podium finish and needed him in support.

He may get a chance to see how he goes as a GC rider (currently 14th). After all Sky are going to be following, not leading.

Could have been higher had they not pulled him back. I wonder if he'll be given a free role going forward? The way he rode on Sunday the Vosges could suit him but still can't see him coping with the bigger mountains. TT might suit him being quite short.

Isn't the TT 54km?

Yeah, my mistake. I had it in my head that there was only one short TT which was why many people had said it wouldn't have suited Wiggins.

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Personally I would have liked to see G get a chance to ride for the stage but ultimately they still have a rider in with a chance of a podium finish and needed him in support.

He may get a chance to see how he goes as a GC rider (currently 14th). After all Sky are going to be following, not leading.

Could have been higher had they not pulled him back. I wonder if he'll be given a free role going forward? The way he rode on Sunday the Vosges could suit him but still can't see him coping with the bigger mountains. TT might suit him being quite short.

I'm not saying he's going to challenge the podium or anything, but he has aspirations in that direction so this a chance to prove he has what it takes.

Yep, he won't be allowed though unless Porte has a big problem. Shame as Saturday and Sunday would suit him I think.

squired

I just hope the race doesn't turn into a boring Contador domination in the mountains now. The thought of him and Froome battling it out was quite compelling, but now he could just cruise to victory, even if Nibali has quite a bit of time on him coming out of this stage.

Among friends coming into this Tour our discussions were around which of Nibali, Froome or Contador would fail to make it through the first week. In recent years at least one podium certainty seems to crash out before the mountains.

Pross

Are people forgetting how well Talansky was going in the mountains at the Dauphine? Nibs wasn't quite there but wasn't too far off Contador so 2.30 is going to take some making back. It will definitely need some positive racing.

salsiccia1

Pross wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

Ultimately, if Sky had taken Wiggins, it would have given them another card to play. Given the route, it seemed likely that a plan B might have been more advisable than usual...

Wiggins fan that I am, they have their plan B in Porte and you can't really plan around all the possible things that could go wrong. There's no other team that would have been in a better position had their number 1 rider had to withdraw. I still think Wiggins could have done a very good support job but with the lack of TT miles and amount of climbing Porte (if back in form) is the better backup.

Personally I would have liked to see G get a chance to ride for the stage but ultimately they still have a rider in with a chance of a podium finish and needed him in support.

Common sense breaks out on Forum shocka

frenchfighter

@albertocontador · 8m
Today was a surviving day,I lost time with very big riders at GC, but I'm still alive and without crashes.The @letour start now!

thomthom

Mark Renshaw ‏@Mark_Renshaw 19m

That was epic! No luck in the final with @michalkwiatek crashing and a flat. Pretty happy with my day, missing the final % to stay in front.

frenchfighter

frenchfighter

ThomThom wrote:

Mark Renshaw ‏@Mark_Renshaw 19m

That was epic! No luck in the final with @michalkwiatek crashing and a flat. Pretty happy with my day, missing the final % to stay in front.

Ah, I was wondering why Kwiatek was a little far off when he was right there and looking comfortable. Losing less than a minute as a result is a great result.

frenchfighter

thomthom

Very positive and 'happy' riders on Twitter post race. Though, I'm sure Voigt will be having a moan any time. He's a bit good at that.

frenchfighter

ThomThom wrote:

Very positive and 'happy' riders on Twitter post race. Though, I'm sure Voigt will be having a moan any time. He's a bit good at that.

He just tweeted

frenchfighter

Seems like OPQS were racing on 30mm tubs.

thomthom

frenchfighter wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

Very positive and 'happy' riders on Twitter post race. Though, I'm sure Voigt will be having a moan any time. He's a bit good at that.

He just tweeted

Yep, there you go..

He said the same in an interview pre race and it was by no way meant as a gladiator in a positive way.

Spending too much time with the sisters it seems.

mididoctors

basically froome out means everyone gets a instant promotion. lot of players gunning for the podium.

FJS

What an amazing stage. What an amazing first week of the Tour.

Well deserved win for Boom, who together with Vanmarcke was active throughout the finale. Sagan tried a bit, but Cancellara was disappointing.

Big hat off for Nibali. His one day riding experience showed on Sunday, and it did again today. Good to see it pays off.
Astana as a team well done; they clearly came with an attack plan rather than just wanting to 'survive' the stage, and executed ruthlessly. The three of them riding away from the cobbles specialists was amazing to watch. Cancellara and Sagan may have briefly had the excuse of strategically looking at each other, but the fact that they didn't react when someone like Boom jumped across showed they were dropped on merit

For the GC, it's a big shame Froome's out. The Dauphine Froome vs Contador battles looked very promising. It could now just become a matter of whether Contador can get enough time back on Nibs. On the other hand, 2 and a half minutes is just enough to make that exciting.

Kwiatkowski also gained a good amount of time, but all the other GC top 10 favourites that were left finished all within a minute

frenchfighter

@chrisfroome 13s
Devastated to have to withdraw from this years TDF. Injured wrist and tough conditions made controlling my bike near to impossible.

frenchfighter

Nibs schooling Cancellara:

frenchfighter

Dupe

milton50

What a race.

I could only watch for 30 seconds here and there at work and I missed the actual moment when the Nibali and Boom group rode away from Sagan and Cancellara.

I'm interested to here Sagan say he made a "mistake." Was there an actual mistake or is he just covering himself?

As for the state of the race in general I think it's great. It is a shame that we won't see the Contador/Froome battle but we are guaranteed attacking, and not just between Nibali and Contador but between half a dozen riders for the podium place. Given Kwiatkowski's TT record he has to be in contention for a top 5 and maybe more.

You could tell it wasn't going to be Froome's year from quite early on in the season. He's had illnesses, injuries, and very inconsistent form so in my opinion it was always a long shot that he would get through the entire race without incident.

thomthom

Jakob Fuglsang ‏@jakob_fuglsang 1m

I said crazy in every possible way this morning! It was but mostly in a good way...super happy! Amazing @AstanaTeam work #TDF #WEW1N

frenchfighter

@richie_porte · 52m
Going to miss having @chrisfroome around for this TdF but sure he'll be back next year stronger than ever #lionheart

Richie did not post anything about G's mammoth efforts for him.

FJS

Froome and Wiggins to ride a grand tour together this year after all?

thomthom

Sep Vanmarcke ‏@sepvanmarcke 2m

What a day! Personal it went wrong. Again. But what a beautiful stage!! Great win of @lars_boom !! I will enjoy this!! & I LOVE WET COBBLES!

milton50

Some epic photos from today

FJS

1 NIBALI
FUGLSANG 0:02
KWIATKOWSKI 0:50
VAN DEN BROECK 1:45
PORTE 1:54
TALANSKY 2:05
VALVERDE 2:11
BARDET 2:11
VAN GARDEREN 2:11
COSTA 2:11
PINOT 2:25
DUMOULIN 2:25
MOLLEMA 2:27
CONTADOR 2:37

pb21

Seems the majority of rider tweets have been positive?

type:epyt

I had a meeting I couldn't cancel so have just finished watching it 'as live'.

Amazing racing, none of it ruined by the conditions. Hardly any GC went down and Froome lost it in the rain rather than the supposed 'circus'.

Nibali is the man. I watched him bridge gaps to cobbled specialists and take more than his turn on the front to make his teammates work count.

Good day for Richie Porte as he found a way to make himself look like a leader halfway through the days racing by using an excellent Thomas to full advantage. To catch the Talansky group and drop them was fantastic riding.

I could feel the adrenaline building just watching it.

The GC dynamics forged today will make for a better racing over the remaining stages rather than just Froome v Contador.

frenchfighter

pb21 wrote:

Seems the majority of rider tweets have been positive?

Pretty balanced. You would expect the Astana riders and the classics riders to have something positive or non-negative to say.

above_the_cows

Classy Contador...

Alberto Contador ‏@albertocontador 5m

From here I want to give support to @chrisfroome ,months of work and everything gone.A big loss for the Tour. See you here next year.