TDF 2018, Stage 3: Cholet > Cholet 09/07/2018 - 35,5 km - Team Time-Trial *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Cholet > Cholet 09/07/2018 - Stage 3 - 35,5 km - Team Time-Trial

At 35.5 kilometres, the 3rd stage of the Tour de France brings the first team time trial in La Grande Boucle since 2015. The race is played out on undulating roads near Cholet.



The team time trial is played out in and near Cholet. The town hosted the Tour de France three times before. Félicien Vervaecke won in 1936, Jeroen Blijlevens sprinted to victory in 1998, while Stefan Schumacher powered to the win in 2008’s chronorace, although the German was disqualified after testing positive on doping.

The TTT sets off on wide boulevards in the centre of Cholet. On Avenue Francis Bouet the teams hit a 700 metres climb at 5% before the route continues on long straight roads. At kilometre 7 the streets get somewhat smaller for 2 kilometres before the wide open roads are back, which obviously is perfect for the teams. Another 700 metres climb at 5% with 16 kilometres done and then it’s off to La Séguinière on a fairly easy course.
In La Séguinière – at kilometre 25 – the teams leave the main road and continue on Rue de la Bastille, which is a small street that runs uphill. The 1,500 metres climb is averaging 5% in the first half and 3% in the second half. On gently rolling roads with a few sharp curves the stage travels back to the centre of Cholet.



Video of the last 5kms.
https://youtu.be/kSbvSg2TSPw





The first squad leaves the ramp at 15:10 and the arrival of the last one is expected around 17:34 – both local times. Teams leave every five minutes.

Favourites 3rd stage 2018 Tour de France

*** BMC, Team Sky, Team Sunweb
** Mitchelton-Scott, QuickStep-Floors
* Astana, Movistar, LottoNL-Jumbo

The teams spend an unprecedented third night at the same hotels, so the rota system has some re-dressing to do, when they finally move on.

Cholet

Three previous stages

Sub-prefecture of Maine-et-Loire (49)

56,000 inhabitants (Choletais)

106,000 inhabitants in the agglomeration of Choletais (26 communes)

Named “most sporting city of France” on three occasions (1972, 2007 and 2014) by daily sports newspaper L’Equipe, Cholet had already shown its vocation a long time ago, welcoming the Tour de France for the first time in 1936 with a stage won by Félicien Vervaecke, also a two-time best climber of the event (1935, 1937) and wearer of the Yellow jersey during six days before loosing it to Gino Bartali in 1938. For its last visit in 2008, the peloton had started stage 5 from Cholet not knowing that it would be a historic day: several hours later, Mark Cavendish triumphed in Chateauroux and started his impressive series of 30 stage victories. The Brit remains the biggest collector of wins still riding and the second of all time behind Eddy Merckx.



Red handkerchiefs are the symbol of Cholet. Since 2003, they have been weaved in the Museum of Textile and Fashion, which tells the 100 years of its history. The handkerchief is a chequered red and white cloth created in reference to Theodore Botrel’s song entitled Le mouchoir rouge de Cholet (Cholet’s Red Handkerchief). Botrel sang it for the first time in April 1900 during a concert at Cholet’s Orpheon Theatre. The song evokes the historical Battle of Cholet, during which rebel leader Henri de la Rochejacquelein sported three white handkerchiefs at his hat, chest and side to be better spotted by his troops. The clothes were easy targets for the Revolutionary soldiers and were rapidly covered in blood. As a tribute to the Couan leader’s courage, the red handkerchief became the symbol of the town of Cholet.



Mouchoirs de Cholet
Mouchoirs de Cholet are sweets designed to honour the red handkerchiefs which are the symbols of Cholet. They are a subtle mixture of almond paste with orange, pralines and hazelnuts, covered by red and white chocolate recalling the design of the handkerchiefs.



Local wines come from the department, rather than Cholet itself.

DeadCalm

Excellent thread starter as always.

Fancy GT to be in yellow following this.

Presume it is still the 5th rider's time despite the reduction in team sizes?

Tom Dean

above_the_cows

Not in Cholet itself, but in Saumur in the Maines-et-Loire department, the Cadre Noir is a team of 'ecuyers' at the French military riding academy, the École Nationale d'Équitation.



Personally I'd be checking this horse for hidden motors.

Local cows include the Maine-Anjou breed, with its distinctive red and white markings. The yellow earrings are optional I believe.



Meanwhile some local cow products...

DeadCalm

Above The Cows wrote:

Not in Cholet itself, but in Saumur in the Maines-et-Loire department, the Cadre Noir is a team of 'ecuyers' at the French military riding academy, the École Nationale d'Équitation.

Wow, that geezer must be super strong holding that horse above his head like that!

above_the_cows

DeadCalm wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Not in Cholet itself, but in Saumur in the Maines-et-Loire department, the Cadre Noir is a team of 'ecuyers' at the French military riding academy, the École Nationale d'Équitation.

Wow, that geezer must be super strong holding that horse above his head like that!

Took some puffs of Salbutamol and... voila.

gsk82

DeadCalm wrote:

Excellent thread starter as always.

Fancy GT to be in yellow following this.

Presume it is still the 5th rider's time despite the reduction in team sizes?

4th according to the itv4 commentary team.

RichN95.

Start times (French time)

above_the_cows

I'm going to miss all this. I'm in meetings all day!

shirley_basso

What are the start times based on?

RichN95.

Shirley Basso wrote:

What are the start times based on?

The reverse of the current standings in the team competition, with the exception that the team of the Yellow Jersey goes last

No_Ta_Doctor

Shirley Basso wrote:

What are the start times based on?

Team competition, though yellow jersey goes last.

m.r.m.

Tom Dean wrote:

Why is Aru wearing an orange mask?

rick_chasey

That's a pure TT road that.

Theys loves the rolling roads; can make bigger gaps.

specialgueststar

The sparkling Saumurs are whats required. Go to the Langlois chateau and try a bit of veal with quince and a couple of bottles dear boy

specialgueststar

Wanty nicely placed third in the overall standings. Mr Wanty (who has just come out of hospital) liking the first jersey ever for the team in the Tour ( Dion - polka 1 point ) two in top 10 yesterday (Dupont and Pasqualon) and Yoyo Offredo's camera time and combativeness prize on the first stage

Guilliame Martin lost a minute though

bobmcstuff

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

above_the_cows

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Mouchoirs de Cholet
Mouchoirs de Cholet are sweets designed to honour the red handkerchiefs which are the symbols of Cholet. They are a subtle mixture of almond paste with orange, pralines and hazelnuts, covered by red and white chocolate recalling the design of the handkerchiefs.

Those 'sweets' sound and look absolutely disgusting.

darkhairedlord

DeadCalm wrote:

Excellent thread starter as always.

Fancy GT to be in yellow following this.

Presume it is still the 5th rider's time despite the reduction in team sizes?

Froome will be in a brown Jersey.

rick_chasey

bobmcstuff wrote:

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

I have a strong suspicion because these are all brit odds, and cycling is a very thin market, odds on Brit teams vs the rest can be quite skewed.

bobmcstuff

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

I have a strong suspicion because these are all brit odds, and cycling is a very thin market, odds on Brit teams vs the rest can be quite skewed.

There was an Australian odds website I have looked at a few times, will try to dig it out for comparison.

Definitely agree the UK websites skew towards Sky, although 1/2 vs 2/1 is quite a big swing. I would probably have thought Sky were marginally favourite.

RichN95.

bobmcstuff wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

I have a strong suspicion because these are all brit odds, and cycling is a very thin market, odds on Brit teams vs the rest can be quite skewed.

There was an Australian odds website I have looked at a few times, will try to dig it out for comparison.

Definitely agree the UK websites skew towards Sky, although 1/2 vs 2/1 is quite a big swing. I would probably have thought Sky were marginally favourite.

Here's one: https://www.palmerbet.com/sports/cycling

kingstongraham

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

I have a strong suspicion because these are all brit odds, and cycling is a very thin market, odds on Brit teams vs the rest can be quite skewed.

Sky have got the current form though. Looked really smooth in the Dauphine, even without Froome. Castroviejo, Thomas, Moscon, Kwiatkowski all good TTers. Justified strong favourites.

rick_chasey

That I don't disagree with, but Sky don't have a phenomenal track record in TTTs IIRC.

bobmcstuff

RichN95 wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Sky heavy favourites according to Oddschecker. Just shy of 1/2 on average.

BMC second at about 2.1/1

I have a strong suspicion because these are all brit odds, and cycling is a very thin market, odds on Brit teams vs the rest can be quite skewed.

There was an Australian odds website I have looked at a few times, will try to dig it out for comparison.

Definitely agree the UK websites skew towards Sky, although 1/2 vs 2/1 is quite a big swing. I would probably have thought Sky were marginally favourite.

Here's one: https://www.palmerbet.com/sports/cycling

That shows Sky at 1.57 vs 3.1 for BMC, so similar difference (although Sky less strong favourite)

No_Ta_Doctor

Rick Chasey wrote:

That I don't disagree with, but Sky don't have a phenomenal track record in TTTs IIRC.

My gut feeling is that they've identified that and worked on it. The team is certainly loaded with really good TTers. With Froome coming into the race off the back of three GTs in a row it would be madness not to look at this stage and think that's where to do as much damage as possible.

Obviously, every other team should have been working on it as well.

RichN95.

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

That I don't disagree with, but Sky don't have a phenomenal track record in TTTs IIRC.

My gut feeling is that they've identified that and worked on it. The team is certainly loaded with really good TTers. With Froome coming into the race off the back of three GTs in a row it would be madness not to look at this stage and think that's where to do as much damage as possible.

Obviously, every other team should have been working on it as well.

My feeling is that TTTs are just what BMC do. It's their thing.

RideOnTime

In this goodness gracious... Given Geraint Thomas got that second yesterday he's up for taking the yellow I reckon.

kingstongraham

RichN95 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

That I don't disagree with, but Sky don't have a phenomenal track record in TTTs IIRC.

My gut feeling is that they've identified that and worked on it. The team is certainly loaded with really good TTers. With Froome coming into the race off the back of three GTs in a row it would be madness not to look at this stage and think that's where to do as much damage as possible.

Obviously, every other team should have been working on it as well.

My feeling is that TTTs are just what BMC do. It's their thing.

True enough. They've got Porte, Kung, TJVG who weren't at the Dauphine.

No_Ta_Doctor

RichN95 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

That I don't disagree with, but Sky don't have a phenomenal track record in TTTs IIRC.

My gut feeling is that they've identified that and worked on it. The team is certainly loaded with really good TTers. With Froome coming into the race off the back of three GTs in a row it would be madness not to look at this stage and think that's where to do as much damage as possible.

Obviously, every other team should have been working on it as well.

My feeling is that TTTs are just what BMC do. It's their thing.

I think we're all pretty much agreed that it's largely between BMC and Sky here - at least of the big GC teams. As much as anything, if your GC rider isn't all that strong in a TT then all the national TT champions in the world won't help you do more than limit losses. You can protect him, but you've still got to get him over the line. That's a clear advantage to BMC and Sky.

rick_chasey

We're confident QS aren't going to be challenging?

I mean, that team ain't slow.

Jungels, Lampaert, Terpstra, DeClerq, Gilbert to drive it...