TDF 2016 Stage 20 *SPOILERS*

blazing_saddles

Mountain passes & hills Megève / Morzine-Avoriaz 146.5KM

Km 21.0 - Col des Aravis (1 487 m)6.7 kilometre-long climb at 7% - category 2
Km 45.5 - Col de la Colombière (1 618 m)11.7 kilometre-long climb at 5.8% - category 1
Km 93.5 - Col de la Ramaz (1 619 m)13.9 kilometre-long climb at 7.1% - category 1
Km 134.5 - Col de Joux Plane (1 691 m)11.6 kilometre-long climb at 8.5% - category H

blazing_saddles

Now the all important weather forecast. There may be trouble ahead.



Could the Tour be lost on the final descent of the final climb?

kleinstroker

Lets hope this has been fixed, but if not my money will be on Froome outrunning the rest anyway.

effillo

Can't wait for this. Whole day is on hold, quick run this morning then me and the bambino will be glued to the sofa all day. Weekend jobs can wait!

Ideal result at the end of the day for me is podium of Froome, Bardet and Yates. I'd hate to see Froome lose it on the final day through an accident, as let's be honest that's the only way it'd ever happen.

cycling_mike

effillo wrote:

Idealt at the end of the day for me is podium of Froome, Bardet and Yates. I'd hate to see Froome lose it on the final day through an accident, as let's be honest that's the only way it'd ever happen.

+1

The_Boy

effillo wrote:

Can't wait for this. Whole day is on hold, quick run this morning then me and the bambino will be glued to the sofa all day. Weekend jobs can wait!

Ideal result at the end of the day for me is podium of Froome, Bardet and Yates. I'd hate to see Froome lose it on the final day through an accident, as let's be honest that's the only way it'd ever happen.

Unless he's carrying some injuries from yesterday, and has an Ullrich moment. Neither is particularly likely obviously, but given how tight it is behind him in GC there will be a lot of teams motivated to push if he were to find himself in trouble for some reason.

milton50

Just hoping Yates gets on the podium.

The ideal would be to see Yates and Quintana reach the top of the Joux Plane with 1 minute over Bardet and watch him try and fly down the descent.

kleinstroker

Nairo Quintana: “It’s almost an act of God, a miracle to be here at the finish today. I was feeling really bad - what is happening into my body is difficult to explain right now. We’ve fought a whole lot from the very start. I struggled a lot, and my team-mates helped me out immensely, they were phenomenal. Thanks to them, I’m still here, on my bike. I feel tired, my body doesn’t work right, my legs don’t work properly. When I finish the stage, it’s like normal for me, but my body just doesn’t do things right. More than condition, I profited from my class today. Class never leaves you. At some point of the race, I even thought about withdrawing.”

Quintana saying he thinks it's a miracle he is on podium and I agree.

jscl

kleinstroker wrote:

Lets hope this has been fixed, but if not my money will be on Froome outrunning the rest anyway.

The caravan isn't being allowed up because there's still some issues with the road, but the race is 'OK' to go through.

I think it's going to be an 'edge of your seat' moment today, this would be a repeat of the Giro if they don't take it careful. Sure it won't be though.

iainf72

I reckon it could go either way (in terms of excitement)

It could be completely locked down by Sky. And it may be in Movistar's interest to do the same.

Expect Nibz to try get up the road and salvage something.

above_the_cows

kleinstroker wrote:

Lets hope this has been fixed, but if not my money will be on Froome outrunning the rest anyway.

Things are looking good for Chris' shift to cyclo-cross.

The_Boy

Do we have an up tp date weather forecast btw?

above_the_cows

kleinstroker wrote:

Nairo Quintana: “It’s almost an act of God, a miracle to be here at the finish today. I was feeling really bad - what is happening into my body is difficult to explain right now. We’ve fought a whole lot from the very start. I struggled a lot, and my team-mates helped me out immensely, they were phenomenal. Thanks to them, I’m still here, on my bike. I feel tired, my body doesn’t work right, my legs don’t work properly. When I finish the stage, it’s like normal for me, but my body just doesn’t do things right. More than condition, I profited from my class today. Class never leaves you. At some point of the race, I even thought about withdrawing.”

Quintana saying he thinks it's a miracle he is on podium and I agree.

I'm not sure he profited from 'class', he profited from other people's misfortune, but hey that's bike racing.

above_the_cows

The_Boy wrote:

Do we have an up tp date weather forecast btw?

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

cc78

live video as the Caravan of Tat passes our front door...

https://www.facebook.com/chaletlagietta ... 157655570/

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

I reckon it could go either way (in terms of excitement)

It could be completely locked down by Sky. And it may be in Movistar's interest to do the same.

Expect Nibz to try get up the road and salvage something.

An early test of Froome's knee would seem appropriate but after that the most sensible thing tactically for everyone is to save everything for the last couple of Ks of the Joux Plane.

The_Boy

Above The Cows wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

Do we have an up tp date weather forecast btw?

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

Is this for definites? ANy time I ge excited by the prospect of bad weather am let down by the gods of the skies.

ocdupalais

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

I reckon it could go either way (in terms of excitement)

It could be completely locked down by Sky. And it may be in Movistar's interest to do the same.

Expect Nibz to try get up the road and salvage something.

An early test of Froome's knee would seem appropriate but after that the most sensible thing tactically for everyone is to save everything for the last couple of Ks of the Joux Plane.

After choosing Nibali on 2 mountain stages for PTP where he did nowt, I'll be well miffed if he finally pulls his fin out today.

blazing_saddles

The_Boy wrote:

Do we have an up tp date weather forecast btw?

Why?
Do you think it is going to have changed much, since the one posted above?

Here's an hourly one. There is a yellow weather warning for storms, anywhere in Eastern Fraance.
Could get extremely rough, right at the end, but we aren't likely to find out until right at the end.
Go figure.

http://france.lachainemeteo.com/meteo-f ... 3610-0.php

kleinstroker

Purito's last mountain stage in his last ever Tour de France! Let's hope he can still make an impression.

No_Ta_Doctor

The_Boy wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

Do we have an up tp date weather forecast btw?

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

Is this for definites? ANy time I ge excited by the prospect of bad weather am let down by the gods of the skies.

I think hoping for bad weather on the last competitive stage of the tour when there's a huge battle for podium places and the stage finishes with what is already an extremely sketchy descent is poor form, tbh.

cc78

Should have some action here in around 10-15 minutes...

https://www.facebook.com/chaletlagietta ... 479330570/

manic_esso

Raining heavily now on Joux Plane

cc78

Wind getting up and some very threatening clouds gathering... there may be trouble ahead

blazing_saddles

Shows how quickly the rain can turn up.
Everybody taking it easy.

ridgerider

I am at the summit of joux plane...repeat, at the summit of joux plane!

I can confirm the weather

Repeat

I can confirm the weather...

Sunny with occasional clouds. It's quite nice really.

AndrewCowley

Why do Sky have a rider in the breakaway?

bobmcstuff

AndrewCowley wrote:

Why do Sky have a rider in the breakaway?

Same reason lots of GC teams put someone in the breakaway - to provide support to Froome up the road later on if he's burnt out his other domestiques, and also to force the other teams to chase the break instead of leaving it all to Sky. Although with the size of this break I'd have thought everyone will be in the same position.

kleinstroker

Ridgerider wrote:

I am at the summit of joux plane...repeat, at the summit of joux plane!

I can confirm the weather

Repeat

I can confirm the weather...

Sunny with occasional clouds. It's quite nice really.

poppit

Kiri is a rock isn't he, the Ivan Lendl of the peloton

rick_chasey

Pantano is the revelation of the Tour.

Top top rider.