Tour of Britain 2014

RideOnTime

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I was 90 metres from the finish on the left of the photo above.
Stewards were sending all to the other side, so we sneaked around the back of the tv trucks.
There are about a half dozen days each millennium you can wear a T shirt up there and today was one of those.
Got let into the VIP section for the podium presentations, which was good.

FTFY

Art Vandelay

iainf72 wrote:

Art Vandelay wrote:

Thought there'd be more fans on the Tumble?

Whooooa there. I used the standard logic applied for the TdF crowds and estimated at least 50-60k people in the last 3 km.

That's true, although it seemed more reminiscent of a mid-week stage in some dusty part of La Mancha. To be honest though - the crowds in the UK for the TdF were scary. Didn't enjoy watching that.

frenchfighter

Haha what a win for Zardini. Not the first time he has showed himself on a climb though - pictured below on his way to winning a stage in TA 2014. Watch out for him.



Note Teuns in 4th.

frenchfighter wrote:

Teuns won a stage of the Tour de Bretagne on the way to a runner-up finish overall. He was second in the Under 23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and second in the elite version of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in July. Last year, the 22-year-old Belgian was a stage winner at Triptyque Ardennaise and finished third in the Under 23 edition of Ronde de l'Isard d'Ariège.

tailwindhome

frenchfighter wrote:

Haha what a win for Zardini. Not the first time he has showed himself on a climb though - pictured below on his way to winning a stage in TA 2014. Watch out for him.

He had his own dedicated fan club at the Giro - they seemed to be everywhere on the Belfast stages

blazing_saddles

RideOnTime wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I was 90 metres from the finish on the left of the photo above.
Stewards were sending all to the other side, so we sneaked around the back of the tv trucks.
There are about a half dozen days each millennium you can wear a T shirt up there and today was one of those.
Got let into the VIP section for the podium presentations, which was good.

FTFY

LOL, indeed.
Bardiani got it right. Zardini made best use of the climb by going very early and using the serious gradients.
Wiggins was definitely in trouble half way up, but nobody took advantage and he knows the climb well.
As soon as the slopes eased, he was able to cruise back up.

Nick Roche not able to dance on those gears a la Contador.

roger_merriman

Art Vandelay wrote:

ContrelaMontre wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

ContrelaMontre wrote:

I didn't see it myself :oops: , but 5th 5 seconds behind Kwiatek is a good performance, no?

Got dropped halfway up the climb. Then got dragged back by David Lopez.

Standard Wiggins

Well, at least it's the motivated Wiggins rather than the can't-be-arsed version...so far;)
PTP-wise disappointed by Cummings - over-raced apparently. I hear Konig has not been 100% since racing in the US.

Bardiani show again they're the best value team amongst World Tour and Pro-Conti. Forza Bardiani!

Thought there'd be more fans on the Tumble?

You wouldn't want that much more, at Keepers (where it finished) was plenty of folk but equally enough space you wheren't looking over others shoulders etc.

Lots of noise and bell ringing as they approached Keepers.

DeVlaeminck

Not too bad by Wiggins given he expected to be in Spain getting some race miles in ready for the Worlds. Yeah I know he got dropped but there were some decent names finished behind him. Been a decent couple of stages - if it carries on like this for another couple of years the awfulness of that first stage may be forgiven.

Pross

Nice to see Cav doing some big teamwork for Kwiatowski today especially after giving Renshaw the nod yesterday.

mididoctors

RichN95 wrote:

A handy ride for Tao Geo Hart. 17th, just 50 seconds back.

and Alex Peters 10 secs behind Tao... those two have a bit of a friendly rivalry going back to club days. both CCH

RichN95.

Mark Cavendish on twitter

If your life's so sad that you stand on a climb & shout "Go Fatty" to me while I'm pulling the peloton, at least have the balls to shout it as I'm coming towards you & not after I've just passed you. Or just give me a doughnut. Then we both get something.

mididoctors

RichN95 wrote:

Mark Cavendish on twitter

If your life's so sad that you stand on a climb & shout "Go Fatty" to me while I'm pulling the peloton, at least have the balls to shout it as I'm coming towards you & not after I've just passed you. Or just give me a doughnut. Then we both get something.

not bad

Pross

mididoctors wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

A handy ride for Tao Geo Hart. 17th, just 50 seconds back.

and Alex Peters 10 secs behind Tao... those two have a bit of a friendly rivalry going back to club days. both CCH

As I've said elsewhere, Peters has impressed me massively when I've seen him this season. Climbs really well but was fairly well placed in the sprints on stages 1 and 2 and has also been one of the most aggressive riders in the crit series (especially Chepstow where he deserved the win). Germaine Burton was also fairly near the front with 2km to go, I hadn't realised he was a senior even!

greasedscotsman

RichN95 wrote:

Mark Cavendish on twitter

If your life's so sad that you stand on a climb & shout "Go Fatty" to me while I'm pulling the peloton, at least have the balls to shout it as I'm coming towards you & not after I've just passed you. Or just give me a doughnut. Then we both get something.

Maybe it was aimed at someone else, if it was shouted after he had ridden past... :?

RideOnTime

Fair shout my Wiggo and sitting 5th at the end of the stage.

It was a difficult day to organise the Peleton some very tight roads.

andy_wrx

I'm surprised at this forum, surely by now someone would have been saying Zardini's ride was extraterrestrial ? :twisted:

More seriously, he and Colbrelli are showing the gap between a Pro-Conti team like Bardiani and the UK domestic pro teams, despite the wittering of Hugh Porter trying to talk them up

greasedscotsman

Just been to the stage start in Worcester and all I have to say is that Thomas Dekker has the finest mullet I've ever seen!

Art Vandelay

Strong break today:
The break of 9 - House (RCJ), Northey (MGT), Harrison (NPC), Christian (RAL), Lander (BMC), Hansen (GRS), Velits (BMC), Timmer (GIA) Dowsett (MOV)
Almost 6 mins ahead. Might be an interesting stage.

tom3

andy_wrx wrote:

I'm surprised at this forum, surely by now someone would have been saying Zardini's ride was extraterrestrial ? :twisted:

More seriously, he and Colbrelli are showing the gap between a Pro-Conti team like Bardiani and the UK domestic pro teams, despite the wittering of Hugh Porter trying to talk them up

In all seriousness the comment from Wiggo yesterday of "ive never even heard of him to be honest", I wonder if that is media speak amongst the pro's to signal the chap is fully loaded up.

joelsim

Christian is only 1:02 down on GC so the peloton should chase.

SteveDoe

I did make it up Kop Hill on Monday (just). It isn't much steeper than Chinnor overall, but there are some almost flat bits in places, so there are some real ramps in others! Going to try and watch it there, will get out for a ride in the morning and get there plenty early enough just in case it is busy. Not sure what to expect crowd wise really.

apreading

If I want to go see stage 6 on Friday (passes just south of Didcot near me) is there anything I should be thinking about/planning how best to see it and where to park?

I am assuming that it is easier than it was for people going to see TDF earlier this year?

frenchfighter

andy_wrx wrote:

I'm surprised at this forum, surely by now someone would have been saying Zardini's ride was extraterrestrial ? :twisted:

More seriously, he and Colbrelli are showing the gap between a Pro-Conti team like Bardiani and the UK domestic pro teams, despite the wittering of Hugh Porter trying to talk them up

Why, because he is Italian? Goes to show my comment again about strength in depth in UK is low. Bardiani wom three stages of the Giro this year.

Zardini played it well. He paced himself, holding a little back, bluffing Roche when he came past, then had enough left for the final burst.

frenchfighter

Other than this and the TT are there any stages where you can realistically put time into someone? Seems that way from what Wiggins was saying, which is odd.

frenchfighter

Pross wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

A handy ride for Tao Geo Hart. 17th, just 50 seconds back.

and Alex Peters 10 secs behind Tao... those two have a bit of a friendly rivalry going back to club days. both CCH

As I've said elsewhere, Peters has impressed me massively when I've seen him this season. Climbs really well but was fairly well placed in the sprints on stages 1 and 2 and has also been one of the most aggressive riders in the crit series (especially Chepstow where he deserved the win). Germaine Burton was also fairly near the front with 2km to go, I hadn't realised he was a senior even!

Tao came off a really strong performance in Tour de l'Avenir. Agreed they are both great - said it so many times before but my first memory of them was getting passed in the early hours of the morning by them when they were 13 and doing th3 Ditchling. Burton is interesting and his skill set could really win races if he continues to improve.

andy_wrx

frenchfighter wrote:

andy_wrx wrote:

I'm surprised at this forum, surely by now someone would have been saying Zardini's ride was extraterrestrial ? :twisted:

More seriously, he and Colbrelli are showing the gap between a Pro-Conti team like Bardiani and the UK domestic pro teams, despite the wittering of Hugh Porter trying to talk them up

Why, because he is Italian? Goes to show my comment again about strength in depth in UK is low. Bardiani wom three stages of the Giro this year.

Zardini played it well. He paced himself, holding a little back, bluffing Roche when he came past, then had enough left for the final burst.

Because he's Italian ?
- er, no : more because the last person I remember who romped away like this was JT-L !

I think my comment about Bardiani vs UK must agree with yours, no ?
(I mean that the TV commentary are trying to talk-up the UK domestic pros, not Bardiani)

dsoutar

frenchfighter wrote:

Haha what a win for Zardini. Not the first time he has showed himself on a climb though - pictured below on his way to winning a stage in TA 2014. Watch out for him.



Note Teuns in 4th.

frenchfighter wrote:

Teuns won a stage of the Tour de Bretagne on the way to a runner-up finish overall. He was second in the Under 23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and second in the elite version of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in July. Last year, the 22-year-old Belgian was a stage winner at Triptyque Ardennaise and finished third in the Under 23 edition of Ronde de l'Isard d'Ariège.

From Sporza:

Some students acclimatize quickly to the workplace and it is unquestionably the case of very young Belgian Dylan Teuns. Now only a few weeks in the BMC Racing Team, he continues to impress. Yesterday, during the third stage of the Tour of Britain, he finished alongside riders like Nicolas Roche, Bradley Wiggins or Giovanni Visconti. Moreover, it now points to 4th place in the overall standings. "I was good all day it's really great I'm really happy with what I do.

"This climb it was perfect for me. It resembles those of our Ardennes. This is really my specialty. Zardini was very strong. When he attacked, I had more juice and I simply followed" he concludes.

Could have used a better phrase I guess !!

mididoctors

Pross wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

A handy ride for Tao Geo Hart. 17th, just 50 seconds back.

and Alex Peters 10 secs behind Tao... those two have a bit of a friendly rivalry going back to club days. both CCH

As I've said elsewhere, Peters has impressed me massively when I've seen him this season. Climbs really well but was fairly well placed in the sprints on stages 1 and 2 and has also been one of the most aggressive riders in the crit series (especially Chepstow where he deserved the win). Germaine Burton was also fairly near the front with 2km to go, I hadn't realised he was a senior even!

I think Burton is feeling the distance..big step up for him, barely out the womb 19yrs old. Alex can do it all..though he has bulked up as he has grown so his climbing may not come so easily as we first thought. real engine though. He was offered a place in the academy but turned it down because he didn't want to do the track.

a few years ago both Tao and Alex would be at the forefront of uk youth talent but such is the depth out there these days they sort of go unnoticed having been eclipsed by the likes of the Yates bros.

Tao and Alex came out of a gaggle of new talent that raced at Hog hill shortly after it was opened. a cabal of young guys who could hack it formed.

Clem Burreil (CCH), Owen lake (cambridge), Rhys howells(CCH),Alex(CCH) and Tao(CCH).

AFAIK Clem dropped out of cycling to concentrate on his studies...Owen and Rhys ended up in the Premier calendar for 20c.. trek richarsdsons now I think (Jo Lyons mob)... the whole thing came about at the same time as a explosion in activity on the essex lanes. It was a real pleasure to watch these guys come through

mididoctors

peters leads the local lads home

frenchfighter

Lol at the juice comment.

--

Today's satge:
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 4:19:09
2 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
3 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing
4 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin Sharp
5 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
7 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:06
8 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
9 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling

My man takes the win and the GC. BOOOOOOOM. Wiggins where you at? Teuns 3rd. Attack in the last 400m - how strong do you need to be to do that sort of thing!

GC
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 15:49:33
2 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:03
3 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing 0:00:14
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
5 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:23
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:27
7 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky
8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team NetApp - Endura 0:00:29
9 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:00:45
10 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin Sharp 0:00:48

salsiccia1

frenchfighter wrote:

My man takes the win and the GC.

Your man? How many men have you got? You're such a slag.