TdF 2016 stage 5 **spoilers**

kleinstroker

Limoges - Lothlorien (216km)

The race takes a surprising turn into deepest middle earth today ending in the elf realm of Lothlorien

Ok It doesn't but it could be!!





Final Climbs



Le Fromage

Gour Noir - made in Correze



Le Cheval
Anglo-Arabian

graeme_s-2

Inrng seems to think it's too much climbing for Sagan, the bookies have him as a 3rd tier favourite with Dan Martin behind Alaphilippe and Valverde - what do the experts on BR think?

yourpaceormine

Dan Martin stage. Traditionally, as this is the first stage with quite a bit of up, I would expect Sky to flex their collective muscle, but a) possibly not enough 'up'and b) Sky have bought a new race plan. So GC contenders there or therabouts, but Dan Martin for the win.

bobmcstuff

Interesting geology day



Puy Mary (top of Pas de Peyrol) is an extinct volcano which formed part of the Cantal stratovolcano 6.5 million years ago.

Anonymous

Froome tips Valverde for yellow.

above_the_cows

Le vache!

A Salers cow native to the Cantal.

josame

Guardian..

The breakaway

The runaway group are making this move stick and the peloton seems happy to let them go – for now. It includes several notable names: Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) has picked up Tour stage wins in these circumstances before, and Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) are all very handy to have taking stints on the front. The highest ranked breakawayer in the general classification is BMC’s Greg van Avermaet who is 20th, 18sec down on the overall leader Peter Sagan, but he won’t be a huge concern to the major GC contenders right now. The others in the lead group are Andriy Grivko (Astana), Cyril Gautier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18) and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept). They’ve built up an advantage of around 6min and Team Sky have reacted with Luke Rowe hitting the front of the peloton.

TheBigBean

Bit odd letting Majka go.

RichN95.

TheBigBean wrote:

Bit odd letting Majka go.

He's not a GC threat - already over 17 minutes down.

graeme_s-2

RichN95 wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Bit odd letting Majka go.

He's not a GC threat - already over 17 minutes down.

I hadn't realised he was that far down. Has he deliberately lost time so he can get into stage hunting breaks like today's early on, or was he caught up in some incident that's passed me by?

No_Ta_Doctor

Graeme_S wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Bit odd letting Majka go.

He's not a GC threat - already over 17 minutes down.

I hadn't realised he was that far down. Has he deliberately lost time so he can get into stage hunting breaks like today's early on, or was he caught up in some incident that's passed me by?

You need to pay attention in the Lanterne Rouge thread. ;-)

blazing_saddles

Majka once again riding for Majka.
Should Contador require his services at a later date, I predict another sudden radio failure.

blazing_saddles

The cooperation in front group isn't good any more. Some riders have stopped swapping turn and others complaint. The group is splitting up.

graeme_s-2

No tA Doctor wrote:

You need to pay attention in the Lanterne Rouge thread. ;-)

All caught up now, very enlightening!

TheBigBean

Graeme_S wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Bit odd letting Majka go.

He's not a GC threat - already over 17 minutes down.

I hadn't realised he was that far down. Has he deliberately lost time so he can get into stage hunting breaks like today's early on, or was he caught up in some incident that's passed me by?

I didn't know that either. I stand corrected.

blazing_saddles

France 3 now live 109kms left.
Grivko, GVA and de Gendt have got a lead on the rest of the breakaway.

blazing_saddles

Sky look to have put the breaks on the bunch.
Heading towards the 10 minute mark and GVA is now the virtual leader.

blazing_saddles

Stannard leading Tinkoff as the gap heads rapidly towards 11 minute.

mrfpb

What's the plan here? Will there be a breakaway of fresher riders from the peleton on the climbs? They seem to be taking it quite slowly.

mechanism

It's one of those days where you need to make several predictions and delete as appropriate.

mr_poll

Graeme_S wrote:

Inrng seems to think it's too much climbing for Sagan, the bookies have him as a 3rd tier favourite with Dan Martin behind Alaphilippe and Valverde - what do the experts on BR think?

PTP Picks

43% - went for Alaphilippe

29% - went for Valverde

7% - went for Gallopin and Martin

graeme_s-2

mr_poll wrote:

PTP Picks

43% - went for Alaphilippe

29% - went for Valverde

7% - went for Gallopin and Martin

Thanks for that - I can be safe in the knowledge that my each way bets on Alaphilippe and Valverde were relatively sensible when I lose all my money

TheBigBean

mr_poll wrote:

Graeme_S wrote:

Inrng seems to think it's too much climbing for Sagan, the bookies have him as a 3rd tier favourite with Dan Martin behind Alaphilippe and Valverde - what do the experts on BR think?

PTP Picks

43% - went for Alaphilippe

29% - went for Valverde

7% - went for Gallopin and Martin

Presumably ridgerider found some Dutch bloke in the peloton?

yourpaceormine

Gap heading towards 15 minutes.

mrfpb

yourpaceormine wrote:

Gap heading towards 15 minutes.

So no plan in the peleton then! I noticed that the gap was still growing when the breakaway were going uphill and the peleton going down. Van Avermaet likely to have a good lead at the end of the day.

yourpaceormine

De Gendt, Grivko and GvA leading, six riders in the middle, peloton 15'06".

Movistar now leading the chase.

Edit: gap now coming down. 64km to go. Movistar/Sky leading the chase.

No_Ta_Doctor

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Majka once again riding for Majka.
Should Contador require his services at a later date, I predict another sudden radio failure.

Hmmm.... And how much work are Tinkoff doing today?

No_Ta_Doctor

POLKADOT COW ALERT!

TheBigBean

GvA lost 1h58m in the 2014 tour and finished 38th. 15 mins would be a helpful head start.

Crozza

why do sky feel the need to do all the work on the front of the peloton?

above_the_cows

No tA Doctor wrote:

POLKADOT COW ALERT!

B*gger I missed it.