Tour de France:- Stage 14: Grenoble - Risoul *Spoiler*

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

OPQS wrote:

I completely missed today's stage. Worth watching in full or will the highlights be sufficient?

Highlights will suffice. Only the final climb worth watching.

This.
I'm guessing that most posters didn't see the Lauteret.
Started it 10 minutes ahead of the fastest schedule, finished it, 10 minutes down on the slowest.
The first half hours racing was great, some bits in between where noteworthy, but in all honesty
there wasn't the anywhere near the animation we saw on Pretty Girls or on yesterday's final ascent.
Of course, that is only my opinion. It's not cast in stone like................................(fill in the blank)

Coachb

I was waiting for Thomas to tell Itv4's Ned that he his talking Sh%5 . Itv4 are desperately holding on to the Sky Dream. It's embarrassing. Respect for Thomas for telling it like it is.
Nibs attack or tempo increase was mighty impressive. I think without a doubt he has proved himself a great rider and I am seriously doubting that Contador could have got the time back. When The 3rd group tried to attack and get back on, Nibs just upped the pace and the gap opened. He did it with ease. I always liked Nibs and his aggressive riding but he has truly upped his game. Awesome.
Péraud was Amazing as well to stay with Nibs.
Rafal a great stage win

DeadCalm

RichN95 wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

Interesting tactics from AG2R. Not sure who they were actually working for. That sustained high pace was always going to suit JC, who is a Wiggins type diesel, more than Bardet. Maybe they believe JC is still their best hope of a podium? I'm not sure that they'd be wrong either.

Pierre Rolland reckons that Peraud and Bardet are riding against each other.

Quite possibly although I'm beginning to think Rolland is greener than his jersey with envy at the success of the other French riders so I'd take anything he says with a pinch of salt. I still think that when push comes to shove though, Peraud will definitely ride for Bardet. Not 100% sure of the other way around.

As I keep saying, Peraud would be right up there if it wasn't for his mechanical on stage 5 and I'd say he was probably the strongest Frenchman overall in the race. The hype over Bardet may be a good thing for him though. It certainly has taken a lot of the pressure off of him.

iainf72

dsoutar wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Valverde had a mechanical caused by Pinot it seems, couldn't change gears successfully.

I'm starting a "buy a beer for Pinot" fund.

Care to enlighten us ?

Valv say Pinot's wheel hit his gears and they didn't work properly. And that's why he lost time.

r0bh

iainf72 wrote:

dsoutar wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Valverde had a mechanical caused by Pinot it seems, couldn't change gears successfully.

I'm starting a "buy a beer for Pinot" fund.

Care to enlighten us ?

Valv say Pinot's wheel hit his gears and they didn't work properly. And that's why he lost time.

That can't be right, because for it to have happened Valverde would have had to be in front of Pinot, not wheelsucking him

iainf72

r0bh wrote:

That can't be right, because for it to have happened Valverde would have had to be in front of Pinot, not wheelsucking him

He did go to the front at one point and looked very confused at there not being a wheel in front of him

DeVlaeminck

Hmm sounds a little implausible doesn't it ? I mean I suppose it's possible but I've never been on a ride where someone banged their wheel on someone's gears hard enough to stop them working.

joelsim

What goes around comes around I guess.

iainf72

Sure

But there's a lovely irony to someone taking advantage of a gear issue to put some time into Valverde. *cough* Vuelta win *cough*

nevman

RichN95 wrote:

OPQS wrote:

I completely missed today's stage. Worth watching in full or will the highlights be sufficient?

Highlights will suffice. Only the final climb worth watching.

There was a bit of action on the Lautere-the Tricolor now known as the Trickler.

blazing_saddles

Contador wheeled the old "I had a gear problem" line on the pave stage.
Seems to have replaced, "I didn't eat enough and bonked" as the excuse du jour
for not being able to keep up.

frenchfighter

Lots of sour grapes today for you Blazing? Try the red ones they are sweeter.

I guess you are missing Froome or suffering from Sky's implosion. Either way the stage was amazing. Not sure what else people want other than Contador in the race. Who the F cares how fast the first climb took. There was a smallish group at the top then an exciting descent then loads of things happening on the final climb.

Again, so pleased Yates is with Orica not Sky. What an incredible amount the fans would have missed out on and what a retarded start to his career he would have had.

Still a boat load of mountains to come. Lots of HCs. Its going to be cracking and Nibs will win by over 10mins if he wants. Id like to see his heart rate data today...reckon he barely went over 150.

Rich, stat man, what sort of record winning margin should we be looking for if we want something special?

iainf72

My old chum Ed Pickering puts it well

It’s not Nibali’s fault that Chris Froome and Alberto Contador crashed out, and he’ll probably carry on gaining handfuls of time through the Pyrenees, then consolidating in the final time trial and celebrating his first Tour win in Paris. He doesn’t care if you are bored.

Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/t ... W2xP1iL.99

Nibali's good, but it's not a very interesting race. It's possibly duller than Wiggins win, but I don't want to say things I can't take back

FJS

iainf72 wrote:

It's possibly duller than Wiggins win

Really?? Nibali' hardly been riding defensively. 3 non-TT stage wins, on widely different terrain, including some epic work on the cobbles. Suspense? No. But he's made it about as lively as could be expected considering the circumstances.

sherer

quick one and not sure if this has been mentioned. I was looked at the Astana bikes today and it looked like they didn't have Specialised or S-Works written on the side but with only SD pictures I couldn't make it out.

Anyone know what was on the side of the bikes ?

frenchfighter

What an odd thing to say. Seeing amazingly talented riders, hors norms is something special. A race doesn't need to be close to be interesting and a race is not all about the top spot. Also Nibali could defend, defend, defend which he has most certainly has not.

Again; a journo.

smithy21

sherer wrote:

quick one and not sure if this has been mentioned. I was looked at the Astana bikes today and it looked like they didn't have Specialised or S-Works written on the side but with only SD pictures I couldn't make it out.

Anyone know what was on the side of the bikes ?

S-All Over?

frenchfighter

sherer wrote:

quick one and not sure if this has been mentioned. I was looked at the Astana bikes today and it looked like they didn't have Specialised or S-Works written on the side but with only SD pictures I couldn't make it out.

Anyone know what was on the side of the bikes ?

#wew1n
Its awful isnt it.
OPQS have it as well.
Pictures posted and discussed is an earlier spoiler thread.

tailwindhome

I don't think Contador had enough to beat Nibali - not with a 2'30" disadvantage after the cobbles.

Froome? Maybe. He always had the TT up his sleeve. But the x factor there is we just don't know how he would have faired on stage 5, powering along in G's slipstream or sticking with Contador.

Would have liked to have seen a healthy motivated Evans in this race.

sherer

frenchfighter wrote:

sherer wrote:

quick one and not sure if this has been mentioned. I was looked at the Astana bikes today and it looked like they didn't have Specialised or S-Works written on the side but with only SD pictures I couldn't make it out.

Anyone know what was on the side of the bikes ?

#wew1n
Its awful isnt it.
OPQS have it as well.
Pictures posted and discussed is an earlier spoiler thread.

i thought it was something like win but wasn't sure. I assume this is some twitter hastag thing. Would have been better off with S-Works I think

frenchfighter

Nibali comments:
http://m.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-fi ... ovocations

frenchfighter

TailWindHome wrote:

I don't think Contador had enough to beat Nibali - not with a 2'30" disadvantage after the cobbles.

Froome? Maybe. He always had the TT up his sleeve. But the x factor there is we just don't know how he would have faired on stage 5, powering along in G's slipstream or sticking with Contador.

Would have liked to have seen a healthy motivated Evans in this race.

The stats speak for themselves. Contador would crush Nibali. And this year Contador was in his best form ever.

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

Rich, stat man, what sort of record winning margin should we be looking for if we want something special?

Nine minutes by Ullrich is the largest margin in my years of watching. However, let's not forget the level of competition is pretty weak. Of the top ten, only Valverde has ever been on a Grand Tour podium.

inseine

frenchfighter wrote:

What an odd thing to say. Seeing amazingly talented riders, hors norms is something special. A race doesn't need to be close to be interesting and a race is not all about the top spot. Also Nibali could defend, defend, defend which he has most certainly has not.

Again; a journo.

I don't think he said it was boring, just the viewers problem if they found it boring.
I think it's been good, to be honest.

bobmcstuff

Enjoyed the highlights. Happy Majka held it.

Would have liked to watch it live but sadly was out cycling...

thomthom

frenchfighter wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I don't think Contador had enough to beat Nibali - not with a 2'30" disadvantage after the cobbles.

Froome? Maybe. He always had the TT up his sleeve. But the x factor there is we just don't know how he would have faired on stage 5, powering along in G's slipstream or sticking with Contador.

Would have liked to have seen a healthy motivated Evans in this race.

The stats speak for themselves. Contador would crush Nibali. And this year Contador was in his best form ever.

No, he wasn't. And I think you know why.

Coachb

There has been no Sky train. Froome would have been isolated with lots of K'S to go. The tempo yesterday was fierce , 20 mins ahead of schedule. that's why Sky fell off as did most others. Like I said before Froome always has a bad day or 2. Against a top form Contador or the Nibs we have seen so far he would struggle to get on the podium. TT would not save him.
Evans at his best or Schleck at their best would have been something to see but I fear Evans days are over and the great Andy Schleck needs to get a healthy streak together to reclaim his best form. Andy got a massive Cheer when he came past us at the corner of Lea bridge road. Top Man.

inseine

It's a bit pointless to speculate, but it would've been interesting to see the Nibali, Contador, Froome battle. Not necessarily a more interesting race though.

Coachb

frenchfighter wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I don't think Contador had enough to beat Nibali - not with a 2'30" disadvantage after the cobbles.

Froome? Maybe. He always had the TT up his sleeve. But the x factor there is we just don't know how he would have faired on stage 5, powering along in G's slipstream or sticking with Contador.

Would have liked to have seen a healthy motivated Evans in this race.

The stats speak for themselves. Contador would crush Nibali. And this year Contador was in his best form ever.

I am a big Fan Of Contador and like Gary Ogden can claim him as a close personal friend [ I have met him]
Before yesterdays stage I would have favoured Bertie to get back the time but I am not so sure now. Nibs looks Awesome. He has stepped up. Look at the time gaps back to some of those Climbers. Very impressive.

tailwindhome

I here by move that one incarnation of Rayjay is allowed to stay - he may then calm down a bit.