Tour de France Stage 5 Ypres-Arenberg *Spoiler*

tailwindhome

http://omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/new ... war-i/1832

Coriander

TailWindHome wrote:

http://omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/new ... war-i/1832

I like that.

greasedscotsman

"It's ok for me, everybody knows and everybody has seen the parcours, its part of cycling to ride on the cobbles so I have no problem with that," Bauke Mollema said. "It will probably be really dangerous with some crashes, but that's part of cycling."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de ... used-crash

RideOnTime

Macaloon wrote:

Froome wrist-watch watch. Any updates?

wrist-watch snigger

ugo.santalucia

Don't see the problem...
Riders knew about the cobbles since last autumn... if they don't want to do them, they can go to the Giro and Vuelta instead... simple as that
Ideally, I wouldn't be against a winner of the Tour who is not a climber

In the 80s the Giro organisers virtually flattened the race to please Moser and Saronni and nobody objected

RideOnTime

cobblers

blazing_saddles

The is currently a severe weather warning issued for NE France and Belgium.
A lot of forum chat about wind causing echelons, but it's also about having 60kph gusts when riders are in file, struggling over wet cobbles. That's as much a crash concern, imo, as road conditions. The combination could prove disastrous.

So odd that we get this in July yet these days, never get anything like it in April.

ugo.santalucia

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The is currently a severe weather warning issued for NE France and Belgium.
A lot of forum chat about wind causing echelons, but it's also about having 60kph gusts when riders are in file, struggling over wet cobbles. That's as much a crash concern, imo, as road conditions. The combination could prove disastrous.

So odd that we get this in July yet these days, never get anything like it in April.

Look forward to a bit of drama... if the GC was severely shaken up after today, it would be beneficial for the race. Imagine Froome had to make up 3 minutes lost... that would be something to look forward to in the Alps, no?

Sagan in yellow is too safe a forecast?

above_the_cows

FJS wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

hammerite wrote:

Shouldn't Froome be pretty handy for stages like this, having grown up riding on dirt roads and all that.

No, no, the consensus based on no evidence at all is that Froome is a bad bike handler oh yeah and his wrist.

Just as any Belkin rider is obviously a poor bike handler, because Gesink and Menchov used to fall off all the time, you see.

Oh so that's how it works. Good to know.

Huh, Menchov, chuckle.

FJS

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Sagan in yellow is too safe a forecast?

Van Avermaet is on the same time.

above_the_cows

FJS wrote:

Hmmm lekker.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The is currently a severe weather warning issued for NE France and Belgium.

Where is this wind coming from? It's raining here, but we don't have anything like this level of wind forecast for anywhere in NL and my weather forecast for Brussels and London just says wind and rain the same as Amsterdam. So where is this amazingly strong wind coming from if it is squeezing through the triangle between Amsterdam, London and Brussels? It seems very isolated.

Is this the Tour trying to create an extra level of DRAMA as if the cobbles were not enough?

iainf72

Should be fast approaching the cobbles. It's about position getting onto the stones according to Knaven, as we see before Arenburg each year.

TMR

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The is currently a severe weather warning issued for NE France and Belgium.
A lot of forum chat about wind causing echelons, but it's also about having 60kph gusts when riders are in file, struggling over wet cobbles. That's as much a crash concern, imo, as road conditions. The combination could prove disastrous.

So odd that we get this in July yet these days, never get anything like it in April.

Look forward to a bit of drama... if the GC was severely shaken up after today, it would be beneficial for the race. Imagine Froome had to make up 3 minutes lost... that would be something to look forward to in the Alps, no?

Sagan in yellow is too safe a forecast?

What he said ^.

I want to see exciting racing - throw it wide open.

above_the_cows

Macaloon wrote:

Froome wrist-watch watch. Any updates?

I hear he's going for an understated yet slightly intellectual Swiss hipster vibe with a sly poke at the idea of a train with one of these:

greasedscotsman

Above The Cows wrote:

Where is this wind coming from? It's raining here, but we don't have anything like this level of wind forecast for anywhere in NL and my weather forecast for Brussels and London just says wind and rain the same as Amsterdam. So where is this amazingly strong wind coming from if it is squeezing through the triangle between Amsterdam, London and Brussels? It seems very isolated.

Is this the Tour trying to create an extra level of DRAMA as if the cobbles were not enough?

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by this. I'm in Valenciennes and it's raining, but there aren't any strong winds. Maybe it will pick up later? :?

Macaloon

Realistic? Good for the race?

Kwiato/Martin
Molema +2"
Valverde, Talansky +3"
Nibali +4"
Froometador +5"

Macaloon

Above The Cows wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Froome wrist-watch watch. Any updates?

I hear he's going for an understated yet slightly intellectual Swiss hipster vibe with a sly poke at the idea of a train with one of these:

Such a missed opportunity

thomthom

Degenkolb will win this.

alihisgreat

I'm starting to warm to Lemond on tour... It's so bad that its good?!?

flasher

Above The Cows wrote:

FJS wrote:

Hmmm lekker.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The is currently a severe weather warning issued for NE France and Belgium.

Where is this wind coming from? It's raining here, but we don't have anything like this level of wind forecast for anywhere in NL and my weather forecast for Brussels and London just says wind and rain the same as Amsterdam. So where is this amazingly strong wind coming from if it is squeezing through the triangle between Amsterdam, London and Brussels? It seems very isolated.

Is this the Tour trying to create an extra level of DRAMA as if the cobbles were not enough?

Indeed, we are staying near the second last pave section, whilst it's lashing it down, there's very little wind.

It will be a mud fest, looking forward to it

DeVlaeminck

Above The Cows wrote:

FJS wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

hammerite wrote:

Shouldn't Froome be pretty handy for stages like this, having grown up riding on dirt roads and all that.

No, no, the consensus based on no evidence at all is that Froome is a bad bike handler oh yeah and his wrist.

Just as any Belkin rider is obviously a poor bike handler, because Gesink and Menchov used to fall off all the time, you see.

Oh so that's how it works. Good to know.

Huh, Menchov, chuckle.

Very few riders are good bike handlers in all situations - the Chicken was a MTBer so must be pretty good off road with fat tyres but stick him on a TT bike and he famously couldn't get it round a tarmac corner. Froome has proven himself to be a relatively cautious descender at times so I think it's fair to speculate that he may be vulnerable to the likes of Contador or Nibali if there is a wet technical descent but I don't think that necessarily translates into being poor on the cobbles.

His wrist could be a huge problem if it's sore though. A mate recently rode the Paris Roubaix sportive and he reckoned his biceps were killing him just because of the vibration through the bars. I'm really looking forwards to this stage - hoping some of the outside GC men can get a few minutes on the two favourites to open things up a bit. We need more variety like this in grand tours - next up a cyclo cross stage.

mm1

Froome's suposedly suspect bike handling is an interesting question. Alex Dowsett said something on the Cycle Show last night about how when Froome rode the Tour d'l Avenir, he kept crashing and catching up with the bunch and that his athletic ability was obvious even if his bike handling and inexperience compromised his results. Nothing wrong with his descending coming into the finish in Sheffield.

jimmythecuckoo

ThomThom wrote:

What is it with this site not being able to start a bloody decent race thread with at least a stage profile.

Baffling.

You off to VR to read one

iainf72

Cobbled sections 5 and 7 out of race

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

Cobbled sections 5 and 7 out of race

Two major sectors

frenchfighter

What is this, circus training?



These dirty cobbles belong under the wheels of specialists not GT specialists. Ie/. any mountain and time trial.

Why not divert Roubaix through a dirt forest for a little bit of spectator pump.

frenchfighter

‏@simongerrans 42m
Unfortunately I think there will be a queue of riders lining up to use ASO's new mobile X-ray machine at the end of todays stage.

RideOnTime

Are these cobbles really all that cobbly?

They don't look that cobbly - you're not going to lose wheels in there...

The_Boy

iainf72 wrote:

Cobbled sections 5 and 7 out of race

Source?

frenchfighter

The_Boy wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Cobbled sections 5 and 7 out of race

Source?

@inrng 19m
Cobbled sectors 5 and 7 will not be used today reports @LaurentBruwier