TDF 2018, Stage 10: Annecy > Le Grand-Bornand 17/07/2018 - 158,5 km *Spoilers*

tailwindhome

hypster wrote:

OnYourRight wrote:

hypster wrote:

On another note Ned Boulting's commentary was exceedingly annoying today especially all the hyperbole for Alaphilippe at the finish was especially sickening.

Is it possible to be hyperbolic about Alaphilippe?

Well as it was his first ever Tour stage victory I think it was a bit excessive. And it's not like he destroyed the field with a devastating, long-range breakaway either. He just did what plenty of riders have done before to take a stage. Boulting made it sound like he had blown the race apart.

Boulting sounded like a commentator who'd misjudged the distance to the line

Pross

hypster wrote:

OnYourRight wrote:

hypster wrote:

On another note Ned Boulting's commentary was exceedingly annoying today especially all the hyperbole for Alaphilippe at the finish was especially sickening.

Is it possible to be hyperbolic about Alaphilippe?

Well as it was his first ever Tour stage victory I think it was a bit excessive. And it's not like he destroyed the field with a devastating, long-range breakaway either. He just did what plenty of riders have done before to take a stage. Boulting made it sound like he had blown the race apart.

He went solo for about 30k and won by nearly 2 minutes, you don't see that very often in the current era.

rick_chasey

Tough gig commentating for more or less the entirety of that.

larkim

TailWindHome wrote:

I'm guessing this is supposed to be telling us something along the lines that Sky were anything but slow going up part of Columbiere yesterday? 20 minutes or so can't be the whole climb though?

pat1cp

larkim wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I'm guessing this is supposed to be telling us something along the lines that Sky were anything but slow going up part of Columbiere yesterday? 20 minutes or so can't be the whole climb though?

Previously they've gone up the Colombiere direct from Cluses, I'm guessing those times are from where they joined the Colombiere in Le Reposoir (the village) about half way up.

I'm pretty sure the time for the whole climb is circa 40 minutes.

tailwindhome

pat1cp wrote:

larkim wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

I'm guessing this is supposed to be telling us something along the lines that Sky were anything but slow going up part of Columbiere yesterday? 20 minutes or so can't be the whole climb though?

Previously they've gone up the Colombiere direct from Cluses, I'm guessing those times are from where they joined the Colombiere in Le Reposoir (the village) about half way up.

Your knowledge greatly exceeds mine.
Seems to be times for 7.5Km at 8.5%

Posted for no other conclusion than Sky went up that climb at a right lick
As Dan Martin illustrated you can attack but at that speed you're not going to get too far ahead.



http://www.climbing-records.com/

(Obviously these figures are from 2 different sources and there's a couple of seconds difference)

pat1cp

Tom Dumolin said as much in the post race interview, just no chance to attack.

I've just checked, 2007 they went up from Cluses, 2009 they went ove the Romme first the same as yesterday.

squired

To quote Adam Yates from a Cyclingnews article:

"It wasn't really fast on the climb; Sky were just controlling it. They were never trying to bring the break back or go for any stage win – they were just riding to stay out of trouble. When Dan attacked, they had to chase him because he's a danger man, so in the last few kilometres, they went pretty hard."

Unless I'm mistaken Martin attacked pretty much at the top of the climb, so his last bit about it being pretty hard in the last few kilometres is slightly off - more like the last few hundred metres.

Other teams didn't have to attack - just get a team mate to drill it on the front for maybe 1km and see who is on a bad day. If there was a head wind it would have then been hard for people to get back on.

Given the gradient of the final climb on the stage today (Wednesday) I'm not convinced it will be a good stage. Certainly a climb more suited to the power riders rather than the climbers.

pat1cp

squired wrote:

To quote Adam Yates from a Cyclingnews article:

"It wasn't really fast on the climb; Sky were just controlling it. They were never trying to bring the break back or go for any stage win – they were just riding to stay out of trouble. When Dan attacked, they had to chase him because he's a danger man, so in the last few kilometres, they went pretty hard."

Unless I'm mistaken Martin attacked pretty much at the top of the climb, so his last bit about it being pretty hard in the last few kilometres is slightly off - more like the last few hundred metres.

He attacked a few hundred metres from the top of the last climb, but they still had 16K to the finish, maybe he's saying the descent was very fast ? They certainly seemed to make up some time between the top of the climb and the finish on those ahead of them.

tailwindhome

knedlicky wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

pat1cp wrote:

Has Cav been swept up yet ?

The back markers made it in on time.

But apparently by only by 3 seconds!

Correction, by 38 secs, but evenso.

Cycling Podcast with Rolf Aldag monitoring the gruppetto

blazing_saddles

The 2007 stage didn't climb the Romme, just the Colombiere.



The 2009 stage was similar, maybe a bit harder than yetserday.

pat1cp

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The 2007 stage didn't climb the Romme, just the Colombiere.

Thats what I meant Blaze, direct from Cluses straight up the Colombiere.

larkim

Yep, they definitely had some recovery time after Romme so it makes sense that that section of Columbiere was climbed quicker yesterday.

Vino'sGhost

also training and preparation is different now, we know more.

those climb times drug fuelled or not are not conclusive in their own right.

knedlicky

Pross wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Lots of riders are saying there was a strong headwind on the later climbs which meant no-one could really do anything.

Didn't seem to bother Alaphilippe much despite having been in the break all day.

OnYourRight wrote:

Dan Martin didn’t let a headwind bother him the other day.
But headwinds take a lot of blame for inaction these days …

There was a strong wind coming from the south as they ascended the Croix-Fry (so sidewind) but on the Romme there was only a light wind from the west at its top.
When they were heading roughly SW on the Colombier, the higher land they were heading towards would have sheltered them from normal atmospheric pressure wind until high up – cos they were on the lee side.

But what they may have encountered could have been local downvalley breezes - the air of an upvalley breeze from the sunny, south side of the pass cooling as it crosses the crest and then descending down the north side of the Colombier. This phenomena typically occurs on those passes with N-S or NE-SW orientations and the breezes can be relatively strong, up to 20 km/h.
But if that were the case, they should have also spoken of a headwind (upvalley breeze) on the descent to La G-B.

OnYourRight wrote:

The mathematical effect of a headwind at climbing speeds is much, much less than it feels to the rider.

As a lightweight, I can vouch this isn't always true.

knedlicky

Pross wrote:

hypster wrote:

OnYourRight wrote:

hypster wrote:

On another note Ned Boulting's commentary was exceedingly annoying today especially all the hyperbole for Alaphilippe at the finish was especially sickening.

Is it possible to be hyperbolic about Alaphilippe?

Well as it was his first ever Tour stage victory I think it was a bit excessive. And it's not like he destroyed the field with a devastating, long-range breakaway either. He just did what plenty of riders have done before to take a stage. Boulting made it sound like he had blown the race apart.

He went solo for about 30k and won by nearly 2 minutes, you don't see that very often in the current era.

I don't know what Boulting said ...
but I think Alaphilippe was also given the combativity prize, and I wonder if it has ever happened before that a rider won a stage, took the polka-dot jersey and won the combativity prize all on the same day.

(Well maybe Merckx, I suppose)

RichN95.

knedlicky wrote:

but I think Alaphilippe was also given the combativity prize, and I wonder if it has ever happened before that a rider won a stage, took the polka-dot jersey and won the combativity prize all on the same day.

Van Avermaet got the Combativity yesterday.

ddraver

Have to confess I thought he'd won a couple of stages already....

(bit like assuming that Quintana had worn yellow at some point. I was really surprised when Gaviria was the second ever Colombian to wear it)

RonB

ddraver wrote:

Have to confess I thought he'd won a couple of stages already....

(bit like assuming that Quintana had worn yellow at some point. I was really surprised when Gaviria was the second ever Colombian to wear it)

I had assumed it was Herrera with the Café team back in the mid '80s :?

tailwindhome

Daniel Lloyd
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2h2 hours ago
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For reference, the stage to Le Grand Bornand was also use as this year's Etape du Tour.

Cave dish and Kittel, who got inside the time limit by 30s, would have won the Etape by over 15 minutes.

They are NOT hanging around.

bobmcstuff

TailWindHome wrote:

Daniel Lloyd
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@daniellloyd1
2h2 hours ago
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For reference, the stage to Le Grand Bornand was also use as this year's Etape du Tour.

Cave dish and Kittel, who got inside the time limit by 30s, would have won the Etape by over 15 minutes.

They are NOT hanging around.

That's bonkers.

I mean not bonkers they rode it fast compared to us mere mortals, I knew that would be the case - but there's a lot of very good riders, ex pros etc who ride the etape and I would have assumed they they would be about the same time.

rick_chasey

TailWindHome wrote:

Daniel Lloyd
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Verified account

@daniellloyd1
2h2 hours ago
More
For reference, the stage to Le Grand Bornand was also use as this year's Etape du Tour.

Cave dish and Kittel, who got inside the time limit by 30s, would have won the Etape by over 15 minutes.

They are NOT hanging around.

Quite right too.