Tour de France Stage 4 Le Touquet-Lille *Spoilers*

pottssteve

Here we go again.

Could well be another one for the Marcel Kittel show today. Not too lumpy and a flat last 5km. However, wind forecast from the north west so should be a cross wind for the first half so the chance of a split early on that could stick. Full tailwind from Poperinge to Lille so it could be a fast stage. Quite short at 163km, too. Nice roads around there.

Steve

RideOnTime

Lille is no wowser as I recall. Come on France 3 days in chuffin Yorkshire and a finish by Kittel in our capital you've got a lot to do.

Lille is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in France after those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

The city of Lille, to which the previously independent town of Lomme was annexed on 27 February 2000, has a population of 250,000, Lille Métropole, which also includes Roubaix, Tourcoing and numerous suburban communities, has a population of just over 1m.

Roubaix as in Roubaix - definition cycling in a relaxed position on a bike with a bend in it.

Standings for GC Yellow Jersey after leaving England



Sorry, just a quick pic of my bike by the Lotto bus (again), sorry, spoiling myself...



Ok ok she's not even in Le Tour (cute though);

TMR

RideOnTime wrote:

Very pretty.

Macaloon

RideOnTime wrote:

Lille is no wowser as I recall. Come on France 3 days in chuffin Yorkshire and a finish by Kittel in our capital you've got a lot to do.

Quite. A country that really gets cycling won't take this lying down.

That was a fantastic weekend. Gongs to the lot of them. We're really good at organising these huge events. Fortunately our finest minds aren't hard at work skimming 0.1% from dead dog futures arbitrage, and we'll invest in a world class industry.

I've seen some surprise expressed at the roadside support for Sky. I think much of the response is gratitude towards Cav, Wiggo, Brailsford et al, for getting people back on bikes. The congregation would have been much smaller without Brailsford's ballsy "British winner within 5 years. For all the stick Sky/NI corporate gets, that's a huge contribution to the UK. Well done them.

takethehighroad

Lived in Lille for a while, it's a lovely city that gets stick from people who haven't seen Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis.

This is Dany Boon country, and I'd compare it to Manchester, or even Sheffield (without the hills).

Industrial, gritty, but has had a renaissance in the last 10 years or so.

RideOnTime

TMR wrote:

RideOnTime wrote:

Very pretty.

Just to note this is not a selfie OK so don't be sending me any purvy messages :shock:


Just waiting for some cheese, customs and geology then.

Anyone know what Griepel was up to yesterday by the way? Was he just having a little German strop?

type:epyt

Now that we're actually in France, it's time to really get into tne spirit of things. With, err, a german tribute:

above_the_cows

Cheese...



Maroilles is a cow's milk cheese made in Picardy (OK Lille is not in Picardy, but it's close enough and today's stage goes through historical Picardy).

Lille is twinned with amongst other towns... Leeds in the UK, Buffalo in the US , Saint-Louis in Senegal and Nablus in Palestine.

Cows...



OK they're from stage 3 but...

RideOnTime

What time is kick-off today?

ddraver

TMR wrote:

RideOnTime wrote:

Very pretty.

If you imagine a hotter version of that in Rapha kit and POC headwear, she's the one I met yesterday

ad_snow

RideOnTime wrote:

What time is kick-off today?

12:55 BST I believe.

Turfle

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

above_the_cows

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

alihisgreat

Greg Lemond is the worst. He literally has no idea what's going on?!

Its like they don't tell him what they're going to talk about and just sit him there to see how well he can improvise.

above_the_cows

Stage 4's picks...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1odN53w1rszHVRM8frIcBNfoAEpVtfitIE3nBVO6IIbI/pub

ddraver

The centre of Lille is actually really pretty. We had a good night out there a while back. The second you get out of the old centre though it's like being in Le Hull

Geologically speaking, the Nord pas de Calais region is very similar to the geology of South East England that I did yesterday. So instead I ll talk about the formation of the Channel, the geological feature that separates us from France and resulted in the establishment of two such different countries and peoples and hopefully convince a few geohaterz that geology rocks



The strait is believed to have been created by the erosion of a land bridge that linked the Weald in Great Britain to the Boulonnais in the Pas de Calais. The predominant geology on both the British and French sides and on the sea floor is chalk. Although somewhat resistant to erosion (more resistant than the Clays surrounding it), erosion of both coasts has created the famous white cliffs of Dover in UK and the Cap Blanc Nez in France. The Channel Tunnel was bored through solid chalk.

The Rhine (as the Urstrom) flowed northwards into the North Sea as the sea level fell during the start of the first of the Pleistocene Ice Ages. The ice created a dam from Scandinavia to Scotland, and the Rhine, combined with the Thames and drainage from much of north Europe, created a vast lake behind the dam (think the size of one of the US Great Lakes, which eventually spilled over the Weald into the English Channel. This overflow channel was gradually widened and deepened into the Strait of Dover. A narrow deeper channel along the middle of the strait was the bed of the Rhine in the last Ice Age. In East Anglia there is a geological deposit that marks the old preglacial northward course of the Rhine.



A 2007 study concluded the English Channel was formed by erosion caused by two major floods - The channels of which can be seen on the echo image above. The first was about 425,000 years ago, when an ice-dammed lake in the southern North Sea overflowed and broke the Weald-Artois chalk range in a catastrophic erosion and flood event. Afterwards, the Thames and Scheldt flowed through the gap into the English Channel, but the Meuse and Rhine still flowed northwards. In a second flood about 225,000 years ago the Meuse and Rhine were ice-dammed into a lake that broke catastrophically through a high weak barrier (perhaps chalk, or an end-moraine left by the ice sheet). Both floods cut massive flood channels in the dry bed of the English Channel.

I did nt watch it but if we get a boring stage you can while away some time watching - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmvfr

alihisgreat

Above The Cows wrote:

Cheese...



Maroilles is a cow's milk cheese made in Picardy (OK Lille is not in Picardy, but it's close enough and today's stage goes through historical Picardy).

Lille is twinned with amongst other towns... Leeds in the UK, Buffalo in the US , Saint-Louis in Senegal and Nablus in Palestine.

Cows...



OK they're from stage 3 but...

Not sure if it was mentioned yesterday... But they do have actual cows in central Cambridge... 'King's cows'




I'm unsure as to whether they produce cheese though?!

Turfle

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

Yeah, it is sad. It was the incident with the spectator, but I still can't tell whether Andy went down due to that or something else.

thomthom

No stage profile picture again...

Up the game, thread starters!! ARGH!

ManOfKent

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

Eurosport just showed a replay of a rider clipping a spectator and then Andy picking himself up from the road. But it was a Sky rider, probably Lopez if I remember correctly from the live feed yesterday, so I'm not sure what happened.

above_the_cows

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

OK they're from stage 3 but...

Not sure if it was mentioned yesterday... But they do have actual cows in central Cambridge... 'King's cows'




I'm unsure as to whether they produce cheese though?!

Those are lovely cows, but they have not been touched by the hand of the Blessed Bernie Eisel.

ManOfKent wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

Eurosport just showed a replay of a rider clipping a spectator and then Andy picking himself up from the road. But it was a Sky rider, probably Lopez if I remember correctly from the live feed yesterday, so I'm not sure what happened.

Ah yes, it was that crash, then, Lopez got clipped by a spectator (appraently he has a sore shoulder from the impact), Porte had to move very quickly and it caused a ripple which took out Andy. Well done spectator.

tom3

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

It was caused by the sky rider hitting the spectator. This could have been avoided two fold and Andy would still be in the tour. 1. the spectator should never have been there and 2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right). Now, I believe the spectators are 100% to blame for being there but a few riders are actually dropping the shoulder to make sure they hit the fans. This I dont agree with. Hitting phones out of fans is obviously fair game!

alihisgreat

tom3 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

It was caused by the sky rider hitting the spectator. This could have been avoided two fold and Andy would still be in the tour. 1. the spectator should never have been there and 2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right). Now, I believe the spectators are 100% to blame for being there but a few riders are actually dropping the shoulder to make sure they hit the fans. This I dont agree with. Hitting phones out of fans is obviously fair game!

Sky rider probably assumed the spectator would get out of the way? then it was too late to dodge so braced for impact?

Its also hard to be aware of what's going on behind you... overlapping wheels etc. so i doubt the sky rider wanted to swerve out of the way..

adr82

ManOfKent wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

Eurosport just showed a replay of a rider clipping a spectator and then Andy picking himself up from the road. But it was a Sky rider, probably Lopez if I remember correctly from the live feed yesterday, so I'm not sure what happened.

It seemed like Lopez (near the front) clipped the guy, and then a few seconds later there was that shot of Andy on the ground. If you look in the background you can see what looks like the same spectator also on the ground but a good 10m further up the road from where he is, so it doesn't seem like he actually hit someone but maybe there was a bit of a ripple back through the bunch from where Lopez was and it ended with Andy touching a wheel or something.

above_the_cows

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

tom3 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Turfle wrote:

Andy Schleck ‏@andy_schleck 3m
Very disappointed to let you know that i will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.

Was that the crash caused by the spectator? I know it's Andy and we can all have a chuckle about Andy but that is quite sad all the same.

It was caused by the sky rider hitting the spectator. This could have been avoided two fold and Andy would still be in the tour. 1. the spectator should never have been there and 2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right). Now, I believe the spectators are 100% to blame for being there but a few riders are actually dropping the shoulder to make sure they hit the fans. This I dont agree with. Hitting phones out of fans is obviously fair game!

Sky rider probably assumed the spectator would get out of the way? then it was too late to dodge so braced for impact?

Its also hard to be aware of what's going on behind you... overlapping wheels etc. so i doubt the sky rider wanted to swerve out of the way..

Yeah I don't think Lopez would have been very popular if he'd taken out Toblerone Boy.

adr82

tom3 wrote:

2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right).

Rubbish, plain and simple. Watch the video again please.

tom3

adr82 wrote:

tom3 wrote:

2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right).

Rubbish, plain and simple. Watch the video again please.

Just calling it how I saw it. That's all.

josame

ddraver wrote:

TMR wrote:

RideOnTime wrote:

Very pretty.

If you imagine a hotter version of that in Rapha kit and POC headwear, she's the one I met yesterday

'That' ? what is she a bike?

Coriander

tom3 wrote:

adr82 wrote:

tom3 wrote:

2. the sky rider actually meant to hit the spectator to teach him a lesson. If you watch the replays the sky rider does not alter his course to dodge the idiot spectator he actually drops his shoulder and makes sure he hits him (may even drift right).

Rubbish, plain and simple. Watch the video again please.

Just calling it how I saw it. That's all.

I must admit, I thought the same Tom3 - to me it looks like Lopez deliberately moves his weight and body over to the right. Though it does seem a huge risk to take, I can't say I blame the riders, my fuse would have blown long before.

Macaloon

Today's entertainment will be enhanced if the break contains nobody NIbali cares about, so Astana get the day off and Giant have to chase. If Kittel arrrives with a fully rested train it's game over.

We may also enjoy some GC jostling in the final for the optimum cobble convoy slots.

frenchfighter

Andy pulled out? What a disaster. That really blows.

He hurt his knee badly earlier this year so am not too surprised he has to pull out.

Think this could be the last straw for him.