stage 11 ** spoilers**(my privilege)

above_the_cows

Anyone who uses the term 'plastic Brit' or 'plastic any-other-nationality' automatically loses the argument in my view. Sorry I take these things personally as the daughter of plastic Brits and someone who is soon to be a 'plastic Netherlander'.

blazing_saddles

lostboysaint wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

More likely to be the most definitive GC stage so far, imo..........not that that is saying much.

How? Flat and with a monster tail wind. How difficult is that going to be to defend?

I apologise, I was wrong.
It was only the second most decisive stage.

Your turn.

dabber

DeadCalm wrote:

Turfle wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

Froome wasn't riding to keep the gap as big as possible. He was sitting in on the wheel, waiting to launch a sprint and was made to look silly when Sagan almost apologetically came past him without any effort at all. If he'd have sat on Bodnar's wheel he'd have been in exactly the same situation as he is tonight except he'd have made a new friend in the peloton. The best that can be said about what he did was that it was stupidly naive.

Are you forgetting that there are bonus seconds? So if he'd say on Bodnar's wheel he wouldn't have been in exactly the same situation.

If he'd stayed on Bodnar's wheel with Sagan soft-pedalling to allow his team mate the win he could easily have got second. And the difference between second and third is 2 seconds. Do you really think those 2 potential seconds lost is worth it? Bear in mind that it''s not just Sagan and Bodnar. The whole peloton will have seen that. How soon before he is in a situation where he's away with someone who he wants to work with him who says "hang on, I saw what you did with Bodnar. I'm not going to cooperate with you"?

Why exactly shouldn't he try to get 1st place?

Because he was never going to get 1st place? And because it would be counter-productive in the medium to long term.

I guess you don't like seeing racers actually race.

DeVlaeminck

DeadCalm wrote:

r0bh wrote:

The first rule of Chris Froome is that whatever Chris Froome does in a bike race it will be wrong in some way according to people on the internet :roll:

Froome made an amazing effort to get on Sagan's wheel and to continue with the attack showed real panache. The last 100 metres, unfortunately, lacked intelligence in my opinion.

I don't get it - it's not as if Froome hadn't contributed to that attack - it's not as if Bodnar was doing Froome a favour by working.

Normally you gift a stage in return for a favour - so a rider cooperates with a favourite to gain them time and in return they get the stage - that wasn't the situation here as I saw it - though I have only watched it once and am happy to be corrected.

iainf72

Jesus wept. Astonished anyone could think Froome did anything wrong there.

Good racing though all round.

above_the_cows

I'm SO bored reading MA theses!

fleshtuxedo

froome had a word with Bodnar on the run in, I imagine he said "I'll have second please"

Bodnar nodded.

Sagan tried to gift it to Bodnar.

Froome thought he had to beat Bodnar to get 2nd

Sagans gift to Bodnar doesn't work

That's how I saw it.

blazing_saddles

The altered finish for tomorrow:-


Of course the other problem the riders now face is with the loss of the top 7kms, is the collective nut jobs running along side the riders will be packed together like sardines.
Personally, I think they would be safer facing the 80kph wind gusts.

Lanterne_Rogue

Any chance the shorter climb will encourage people to attack harder earlier? Might end up a better stage for it.

above_the_cows

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The altered finish for tomorrow:-

Oooo that profile brings back painful memories.

above_the_cows

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Of course the other problem the riders now face is with the loss of the top 7kms, is the collective nut jobs running along side the riders will be packed together like sardines.

That is NO WAY to talk about Boar Man! How very dare you!



Do you think he might be back tomorrow?

If there is a cycling god he will be.

andyp

Fingers crossed. He was about a kilometre before Chalet Reynard three years ago.

Lanterne_Rogue

BTW, I'm yet to see the coverage of the finish to form an opinion on Froome, but for a team who are supposed to understand crosswinds and echelons Etixx were remarkably thick to start chasing the four breaking away by sticking right to the downwind side of the road and therefore string out anyone who might have felt disposed to help them in the gutter behind them where they were no use to anyone. Top racing, lads.

smithy21

Smart racing that from Froome, saw an opportunity and took it. One could almost suggest it was a proper racers move.

Quintana caught napping or is he simply doing what he does and grinding it out until week 3 and hoping for the best.

Lanterne_Rogue

Think that finish was a bit of a prisoners dilemma situation - Froome had to sprint for second, which forced Sagan to sprint for the win. Don't think there was anything unfair about it, personally - it's just racing and Bodnar didn't seem too unhappy in his initial reaction.

germcevoy

Bonkers to criticise Froome at the finish. He just worked his balls off so why not take the bonus on offer? If they had a minute over the bunch then maybe gifting a stage would have worked but not with 5 seconds to spare.

Sagan sent Bodnar to the front too early for it to be an easy gift. It could have been that Sagan put Bodnar on the front as a lead out for his own sprint so Froome opened it up. No idea how you can critique that.

specialgueststar

philwint wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Confirmed that tomorrow will finish at Chateau Reynard - 7km from the scheduled finish.

Bummer. I love the moonscape that is Ventoux.

Yup - I took this last week

excellent - almost definitive! That sky might have warranted a bit more 'billing'

rick_chasey

Ooof that was fun.

Not sure he'd expect a mere 12 seconds for that kinda effort but I'm not complaining.

rick_chasey

And what a shame about the Ventoux.

the article don

Sagan absolute beast mode. What a fun stage. And chapeau Froomedog

mamil314

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Of course the other problem the riders now face is with the loss of the top 7kms, is the collective nut jobs running along side the riders will be packed together like sardines.
Personally, I think they would be safer facing the 80kph wind gusts.

Praying Rhino will protect the peloton.

rick_chasey

smithy21 wrote:

Smart racing that from Froome, saw an opportunity and took it. One could almost suggest it was a proper racers move.

Quintana caught napping or is he simply doing what he does and grinding it out until week 3 and hoping for the best.

In fairness to Quintana as a fellow xs person - he's not really built for flat days.

jscl

Rick Chasey wrote:

smithy21 wrote:

Smart racing that from Froome, saw an opportunity and took it. One could almost suggest it was a proper racers move.

Quintana caught napping or is he simply doing what he does and grinding it out until week 3 and hoping for the best.

In fairness to Quintana as a fellow xs person - he's not really built for flat days.

No excuse. His team failed.

Valverde & Co should have him positioned further forward, AT ALL TIMES and his team informing them when the exposed parts are approaching. That's the Ellingworth difference that Froomey has to his advantage. By the time Sagan & Froomey had gone up the road, it was too late for Movistar to do anything at all. Bad teamwork.

rick_chasey

I guess so.

It's also that Sky have some of the best rouleurs who compete at the sharp end of the flat one dayers (3 of em - count 'em!!) and Movistar had a couple riders crash today including Winner who's better at this stuff.

reallyarunner

Well as someone who backed Sagan at the crazy price of 12/1 for the stage I say Go Froome!

rick_chasey

Also arguably Froome also spends more energy being attentive at the front, and that can show come week 3.

jscl

Rick Chasey wrote:

I guess so.

It's also that Sky have some of the best rouleurs who compete at the sharp end of the flat one dayers (3 of em - count 'em!!) and Movistar had a couple riders crash today including Winner who's better at this stuff.

Might have helped if they had Dowsett to hand!

reallyarunner wrote:

Well as someone who backed Sagan at the crazy price of 12/1 for the stage I say Go Froome!

Aye, the moment I saw Tinkoff pushing on earlier in the stage I reckoned he was going to get up to mischief in the final 10km so managed to get a decent bet on him at 15/1. Thank you Sagan!

rick_chasey

Ultimately it wasn't a big gap for what looked like a big effort.

I know it's never an easy ride in the wind but it there's hard and flat out.

rick_chasey

JSCL wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I guess so.

It's also that Sky have some of the best rouleurs who compete at the sharp end of the flat one dayers (3 of em - count 'em!!) and Movistar had a couple riders crash today including Winner who's better at this stuff.

Might have helped if they had Dowsett to hand!

Meh. He's a very strong tester but I don't see him riding the Northern classics that much. It's different.

jscl

Rick Chasey wrote:

JSCL wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I guess so.

It's also that Sky have some of the best rouleurs who compete at the sharp end of the flat one dayers (3 of em - count 'em!!) and Movistar had a couple riders crash today including Winner who's better at this stuff.

Might have helped if they had Dowsett to hand!

Meh. He's a very strong tester but I don't see him riding the Northern classics that much. It's different.

Didn't you see him at the Tour of Poland today? Putting in some good turns, that's for sure.