TDF 2017:18th July - Stage 16 - Le Puy-en-Velay - Romans-sur-Isère165kms *Spoilers*

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Mathews?! If so, keeps the Kidl challenge alive to nick green jersey.

kingstongraham

I thought Matthews, but could be any of them

Pross

KingstonGraham wrote:

Is this a 1 second gap day?

Who knows? It's a semi mountain stage for green.

EBH pipped again, Dan loses 50 seconds.

larkim

Matthews according to website

tailwindhome

KingstonGraham wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I reckon the Dan Martin group will get back

33 seconds in 5km against that group? Don't think so.

May have been hope rather than logic

thegibdog

EBH would've had that easily if he hadn't lost so much ground on the final corners.

salsiccia1

Not a big fan of Matthews, but he and Sunweb are giving this Green Jersey comp a proper go. Fantastic racing.

above_the_cows

Bling Bling, Win Win.

blazing_saddles

Now watch the race jury screw over the green jersey competition.

tailwindhome

Matthews by a wheel

Pross

Poor positioning from EBH. Degenkolb not happy but didn't seem anything wrong with Matthews sprint.

Good battle for green now, shame that the weird rules deemed it a semi mountain stage and only 30 points for the win.

kingstongraham

Amazing all day by Sunweb.

above_the_cows

I part wanted EBH to get that and part wanted Matthews to get that because of the Green Jersey comp.

wombly_knees

Got to love Matthews in this race. Livened it up no end.

Sunweb with Barguil too. Geschke seems to be up front quite consistently.

larkim

Yates moves up one spot in the GC. Ahead of Martin by 1s.

slim_boy_fat

I'd given up on EBH from 200m out as he was so far back. Amazed he got so close and gutted for him. Well played Sunweb, perfect day for them. Gutted for Martin too.

mulletmaster

Pross wrote:

mulletmaster wrote:

This is a good example of how Martin is not a true GC contender. Brilliant single stage winner but a bit of a one trick pony in terms of winning on finishing ramps that aren't proper MTF. Not even close to a top division GC Tter either. Feel for him as he has had bad luck but I really think if he has serious GT GC ambitions he needs to target the Vuelta and move to a team to suit.

He had no team to help him all day.

Yup hence the last 6 words. In balance though other than sky and ag2r how many effective GC teams have there been this race? A lot of guys up there having to freestyle it Martin's not the only one.

kingstongraham

Only 29 points behind Kittel now. That is quite something.

Tomorrow's sprint is after a cat 2 climb. Thursday's after a cat 3. He could conceivably be in green on Friday (which has a profile a bit like today).

Pross

Deserved team win there. Sunweb have been good value. I really can't see how this stage is classed as semi mountain with just one third and one fourth cat climb. It's as though the organisers were hoping to neutralise Sagan slightly on the days where he was more likely to win. Really hope EBH can pick up a win somewhere.

Is Swift out of the race? Seemed a perfect stage for him but suddenly realised I haven't seen much of him since he crashed with Cav.

emadden

mulletmaster wrote:

Pross wrote:

mulletmaster wrote:

This is a good example of how Martin is not a true GC contender. Brilliant single stage winner but a bit of a one trick pony in terms of winning on finishing ramps that aren't proper MTF. Not even close to a top division GC Tter either. Feel for him as he has had bad luck but I really think if he has serious GT GC ambitions he needs to target the Vuelta and move to a team to suit.

He had no team to help him all day.

Yup hence the last 6 words. In balance though other than sky and ag2r how many effective GC teams have there been this race? A lot of guys up there having to freestyle it Martin's not the only one.

Somebody wrote the other day that the total parcours is flattering to Dan Martin - this is absolutely correct as he doesnt have the natural climbing ability of the other GC contenders. Tomorrow will tell a lot in this regard. He was unlucky today but at the pointy end of the race you make your own luck.

EnacheV

so Sky attacks

and 15 seconds later attack fails because they have to send 3 people at the back because Landa didn't make the initial split ?

When Sky attacked there were 3 Sky + Froome , was Landa in those 3 ?

FocusZing

Dan looked around 50' down:-(

Pross

mulletmaster wrote:

Pross wrote:

mulletmaster wrote:

This is a good example of how Martin is not a true GC contender. Brilliant single stage winner but a bit of a one trick pony in terms of winning on finishing ramps that aren't proper MTF. Not even close to a top division GC Tter either. Feel for him as he has had bad luck but I really think if he has serious GT GC ambitions he needs to target the Vuelta and move to a team to suit.

He had no team to help him all day.

Yup hence the last 6 words. In balance though other than sky and ag2r how many effective GC teams have there been this race? A lot of guys up there having to freestyle it Martin's not the only one.

A full strength QS team today would have been an asset. When I saw the wind forecast I thought Dan might be well placed to gain some time. I think this race has shown how he could be a GC contender but I think you're right that he'll struggle at QS especially if Kittel is their priority. I can't think who they have to offer mountain support.

The_Boy

So was it Laporte who dragged Bouhanni back to the front group? Cos 5th is a pretty fine placing if it was.

dinyull

Pross wrote:

Poor positioning from EBH. Degenkolb not happy but didn't seem anything wrong with Matthews sprint.

Good battle for green now, shame that the weird rules deemed it a semi mountain stage and only 30 points for the win.

Bloody hell, didn't even realise he was in the race...

Good that Matthews is making this a fight, but I really really don't want him to win green.

Pross

Well I'm going to blow my own horn as I managed to predict the exact section of road where the echelons went. If Quickstep need a DS they can PM me.

onyourright

Good job, Pross.

I want to hear Matthews lavish his team with praise today.

blazing_saddles

Pross wrote:

Well I'm going to blow my own horn as I managed to predict the exact section of road where the echelons went. If Quickstep need a DS they can PM me.

Except, I'd already done it twice before in this thread and I managed to do it, yesterday.

kingstongraham

The_Boy wrote:

So was it Laporte who dragged Bouhanni back to the front group? Cos 5th is a pretty fine placing if it was.

Julien Simon attacked with him out of the Kittel group, then Nicolas Edet dropped back to help, then Cyril Lemoine later dropped back from the main group and took him the rest of the way. Impressive.

salsiccia1

Pross wrote:

Well I'm going to blow my own horn as I managed to predict the exact section of road where the echelons went. If Quickstep need a DS they can PM me.

Sounds like they need a doctor more than a DS