La Vuelta 2017 - Stage one, TTT, Nîmes **spoilers**

rick_chasey

Might as well kick this off, since it's August and the entire office is out.

Map



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Geodiversity

Nimes and the Rhône Delta

Nimes is located on the edges of the Rhône Delta, resting on the reliefs that surround it. To the West and North-West of the city are the reliefs of the Region of Cévennes, part of the French Massif Central where the rocks that were used to build most of the city's monuments come from.



On the other side, the city is close to the delta, where agriculture can prove highly efficient due to the conditions of that particular ecosystem. But Nimes is far enough from the water so as to not be affected by overflowing rivers. Even nowadays, with a multitude of reservoirs in the Rhône and in its tributaries, floods mark the history of human populations. It may seem like a trivial detail, but even given its location at the edges of the delta, Nimes did suffer very serious floods in 1988 and the neighbouring city of Arles, right in the delta's centre, has had many more floods, such as the one it suffered in 2003 that led to the evacuation of over 15.000 people.



A delta formation requires a river that carries a large amount of sediments and an adequate coast so that the waves, currents and tides allow the accumulation of those sediments to take place. The Rhône River originates in the Alps. Over the space of 800km, it goes from an altitude of almost 2000 metres above sea level where it originates, down to the Rhône Glacier and to the Mediterranean. Such an incline gives the river a huge capacity for erosion and its sediments have shaped the landscapes that surround the city of Nimes.

Stage Term: River DeltaA delta is an accumulation of sediments where a river flows out into a sea or lake. This accumulation is possible when the area's marine waves and currents are unable to transport all the river sediments to other coastal areas or to the seabeds. Due to their mild reliefs, the abundance of water and rich soil, early civilisations chose to settle near deltas. That is why cities such as Alexandria (in the Nile) and New Orleans (in the Mississippi) are located in the deltas or right on the edges.

Local sites




Drink



Food
brandade de morue
(whipped salt cod spread, either with bread or potatoes)



Horses

andyp

No fabrics?

specialgueststar

Ive done that circuit round the old town with a brandy hangover and 2 hours sleep at 8 am with a cardboard bike box rolled up bungeed to my paniers trying to get to the airport to pack the bike in the box - so the idea of a team time trial is nothing to me

hypster

Levi Strauss made from "de Nimes"

RichN95.

andyp wrote:

No fabrics?

Here you go:

wombly_knees

Finally a categorised climb in a grand tour that I can complete.

TheBigBean

Does anyone else find starting a GT with a TTT utterly underwhelming?

Richmond Racer 2

Kind of used to it with the Vuelta, who likes to put on a Sat evening parade through the host town, complete with sparkly lights as dusk falls. Looks good for the tv pictures innit

rick_chasey

TBH, with this race, I vaguely keep an eye on the results, and tune in for the odd loony mountain stage.

forehead

I love Brandade

Richmond Racer 2

Forehead wrote:

I love Brandade

nomnomnom

TheBigBean

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Kind of used to it with the Vuelta, who likes to put on a Sat evening parade through the host town, complete with sparkly lights as dusk falls. Looks good for the tv pictures innit

Yes, it is an annual disappointment.

rick_chasey

So anyone have a view on which teams are favourites?

I haven't had the chance to peruse the startlist, so no idea who brought a decent TTT team.

RonB

TheBigBean wrote:

Does anyone else find starting a GT with a TTT utterly underwhelming?

SGS rules. That would make it a bit more fun

RonB

Forehead wrote:

I love Brandade

Looks a bit like Plokkfiskur, but done under the grill.

Bo Duke

Rick Chasey wrote:

Might as well kick this off, since it's August and the entire office is out.

Horses

Bunch sprint. Looks like Sagan in the centre is coming across to take Blue Shirt out.

bobmcstuff

Rick Chasey wrote:

So anyone have a view on which teams are favourites?

I haven't had the chance to peruse the startlist, so no idea who brought a decent TTT team.

I can't claim it's my own view but BMC seem to be marginal favourites and Sky also expected to do well. Doesn't seem too controversial.

Lanterne_Rogue

Bugger. Our tent started ripping apart in a gale so we ran away, and having arrived back home at three in the morning the entire family is happy to use today to recover - so I can (unexpectedly) watch the Vuelta without anyone whinging. However I now discover it's a TTT.

Worst holiday ever.

(had forgotten about the hilarity of that categorised climb - is this the GT equivalent of grade inflation?)

Richmond Racer 2

I really fancy some brandade

gsk82

Great spoiler thread this. Bmc won from quick step, sunweb, sky then orica at 17 seconds.

inseine

No huge surprises, though Trek were poor and AquaBlue very good.

ocdupalais

What's going on with Juan Antonio on Eurosport!? He's using consonants in his English, and everything. Berryunespeted, I must say.

davieb78

- Froome
- Chaves/Yates/Yates 8s
- Majka 12s
- Nibali 22s
- Zakarin 24s
- Contador 26s
- Aru 32s
- Bardet 36s

Dorset_Boy

Love the ride through the ampitheatre.

KnightOfTheLongTights

Christ Kirby really is the Noel Edmonds of cycling commentary. What a f * cking clown.

bobmcstuff

Either the Vuelta has taken a very different approach this year or a darts tournament has overrun on ITV.

bobmcstuff

Nobody went for Anderson or Gurney in the PTP. I think Gurney has this.

slim_boy_fat

Geez, how I've missed the watchfinder advert...

FocusZing

Millar, Boulting and Imlach doing the highlights, glad about that. Coast and echelon possibilities tomorrow, nice.

Richmond Racer 2

FocusZing wrote:

Millar, Boulting and Imlach doing the highlights, glad about that. Coast and echelon possibilities tomorrow, nice.

Ooh yes please

dabber

Anyone find any decent live feeds? We're in France at the moment and tried the ones on Steephill but without much success.