TDF Stage 18: Pau - Hautacam *spoiler*

RideOnTime

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Hautacam in Winter



Shot

knedlicky

1927 TdF, Fernand Moulet, dehydrated, shortly before abandoning on the Tourmalet. And who can blame him with such attractive company – the caption where I saw the photo said “Il est prêt à vivre d’amour”.



On my descent from Hautacam - probably the most uninspiring, uninteresting climb I've ever done.
Thank god for sheep!

blazing_saddles

I'll add the important bits again, then, shall I?





Weather

peat

Another kind of racing that occurs in Pau.

salsiccia1

davidof

above_the_cows

Salsiccia1 wrote:

*Big Titter*

Macaloon

Salsiccia1 wrote:

with another subtle shout-out to his tinky winky

I struggle with the 'tubbies too. Of course the media has covered-up DARPA's psy-ops covert funding of children's TV, exposed by the winkyleaks files.

Pinot post stage 17: "...not good that I lost time to Péraud for my podium hopes. Today is same type of stage. Pretty short and very hard. So I'll have to be better than today."

Crozza

I see there's a categorised climb on the last stage - what chance of the KOM competition coming down to that little ripple outside Paris? would be fun to see a bunfight as Majka et al scramble for the last remaining points

RideOnTime

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Great scooter handling skill there.

nic_77

From the Tourmalet 2010 (I believe)

deejay

Crozza wrote:

I see there's a categorised climb on the last stage - what chance of the KOM competition coming down to that little ripple outside Paris? would be fun to see a bunfight as Majka et al scramble for the last remaining points

Rafal Majka would be allowed to go on another Break as he is 2 hours down on GC and must do so if Rodriguez gets away as he is 3 mins & 37 points behind Majka on GC/Mountains 8)

Is this the Highest "No Throgh Road/Pass" in the French Mountains. ?

frenchfighter

Cat 3 = 2, 1 points
HC = 25, 20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 points
Summit finishes = double points

We have two cat 3s, an HC and a summit finish HC. 79 points available.

Looks like this:
1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 149 pts
2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 118
3 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 112
4 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale 66
5 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 61
6 Jean-Christophe Péraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 57
7 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 54
8 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr 49
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 44
10 José Serpa (Col) Lampre - Merida 36

If Majka gets top points on the first three it is wrapped up regardless if Nibali takes 50 points on the finish.
All of the top three can theoretically win the jersey.

RichN95.

deejay wrote:

Rafal Majka would be allowed to go on another Break as he is 2 hours down on GC and must do so if Rodriguez gets away as he is 3 mins & 37 points behind Majka on GC/Mountains 8)

But Nibali may fancy getting the jersey for himself now that he has the Yellow sewn up.

Macaloon

12:56 Welcome...
Welcome to the live coverage of stage 18 from Pau to Hatacam (145.5km) on http://www.letour.fr. This is the last mountain stage with the Tourmalet on the menu and Hautacam to finish.

What do we think of the parcours? I like the delayed TT. There's every chance that 4 guys could have been challenging for the Tour up Hautacam. Obviously the dynamic racing is down the situation, more than the terrain but both Movi and Saxo had riders all over the place yesterday. An experiment worth repeating.

frenchfighter

RichN95 wrote:

deejay wrote:

Rafal Majka would be allowed to go on another Break as he is 2 hours down on GC and must do so if Rodriguez gets away as he is 3 mins & 37 points behind Majka on GC/Mountains 8)

But Nibali may fancy getting the jersey for himself now that he has the Yellow sewn up.

It would be amazing if he did. Got to go back to 1970 and Merckx for a polka dot winner also being the GC winner.

SCR Pedro

RideOnTime wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Great scooter handling skill there.

Definitely not a climber. He, she or it (?) will probably be looking forward to the TT

Today I would like to see F.Schleck trying something. He's knocking on the door of the top 10, and has been riding into form really well. I reckon today will be another day for the break to go all the way. Without giving it any thought whatsoever, I think today is a day for.... ....uhmmm, Belkin!?

jimmythecuckoo

Cant wait. Been away a few days so will need to record this one and catch up first.

SCR Pedro

That reminds me, does anyone know how to record the Eurosport player feed? A couple of days ago, I pressed pause, went to work, and resumed watching later in the day. It hasn't worked since, and I've had to wait for the highlights.

frenchfighter

It's live now. Peloton strung out single file.

Anonymous

Haussler abandons. Mini break of 2 caught within 2 km

dsoutar

deejay wrote:

Is this the Highest "No Throgh Road/Pass" in the French Mountains. ?

That's the Col de la Bonette which is not a col per se but in fact just a loop of road at the end

kleinstroker

Here we go..

Macaloon

^That, and the Virtual GC, have taken a pounding this tour.

Macaloon

20 riders in the lead: 2'36", 21 km.

Mikel Nieve (Sky), Jesus Herrada and Jon Izaguirre (Movistar), Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha), Alessandro De Marchi and Marco Marcato (Cannondale), Lars Boom (Belkin), Jan Bakelants (OPQS), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Daniel Oss (BMC), Bryan Coquard, Kévin Reza and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel and Marcel Wyss (IAM), Bartosz Huzarski and Tiago Machado (NetApp) and Florian Guillou (Bretagne) have taken the command at km 13

frenchfighter

De Marchi AGAIN

bluemoon17

frenchfighter wrote:

De Marchi AGAIN

How many breaks has he been in now?

The_Boy

Bluemoon17 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

De Marchi AGAIN

How many breaks has he been in now?

Two thirds of a Roy, by my count

iainf72

frenchfighter wrote:

De Marchi AGAIN

Up the road to help Nibali if required :P

frenchfighter

The_Boy wrote:

Bluemoon17 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

De Marchi AGAIN

How many breaks has he been in now?

Two thirds of a Roy, by my count

Giro have a classification for it which is quite interesting.

frenchfighter

Reza taken lots of turns. I hope the racist Albasini is getting this info relayed.