TdF Stage 3 *spoiler*

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited July 2010 in Pro race
Cobbles!

Will it be exciting, or wil it be a non-event?

No bikes at the side of the road a-la Paris-Roubaix, so if you have a mechanical on the pave you could have a long wait.
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
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Comments

  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Bloody hell, are they out of bed yet Iain ?? :wink:
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    They're trying to peel the Schlecks, Bertie and Armstrong off their beds as we speak.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • tlw1
    tlw1 Posts: 21,832
    iainf72 wrote:
    They're trying to peel the Schlecks, Bertie and Armstrong off their beds as we speak.

    didn't think they did such a thing............... :)
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    matthew h wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    They're trying to peel the Schlecks, Bertie and Armstrong off their beds as we speak.

    didn't think they did such a thing............... :)

    Road rash, you filthy minded person !!! :roll:
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    The medical list is horrendous, and I think there will be more abandons today. Farrar, for example, has a fractured wrist. Depends on the crack in the bone but in most cases, riding on cobbles is not the usual remedy.

    Forecast looks like it'll be dry and given it's been raining before, the dust will be limited too. Not sure if there will be a bunch sprint, but I suspect HTC-Columbia will be betting the ranch on it.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Kléber wrote:
    The medical list is horrendous, and I think there will be more abandons today. Farrar, for example, has a fractured wrist. Depends on the crack in the bone but in most cases, riding on cobbles is not the usual remedy.

    I had a similar fracture to Gesink last year and I can confirm they hurt like hell. And it will make it hard to hold onto the bars.

    I'd expect to see Cervelo winding it up.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • yourpaceormine
    yourpaceormine Posts: 1,245
    A day for Flecha or Spartacus methinks. Both in the same boat really - both ride well on the cobbles, yet both have GC contenders to protect. Bit of a conundrum. Who is DNS today - any news yet? Have Garmin been decimated? If they have would Dave Millar have a pop?
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    pat1cp wrote:
    matthew h wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    They're trying to peel the Schlecks, Bertie and Armstrong off their beds as we speak.

    didn't think they did such a thing............... :)

    Road rash, you filthy minded person !!! :roll:

    Andy looks sore http://tweetphoto.com/31034360
    cartoon.jpg
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    A day for Flecha or Spartacus methinks. Both in the same boat really - both ride well on the cobbles, yet both have GC contenders to protect. Bit of a conundrum. Who is DNS today - any news yet? Have Garmin been decimated? If they have would Dave Millar have a pop?
    Saxobank also has the luxury of also having O'Gready and Breschel as expert cobble support for their GC riders, so might well allow Cancellara some room to play
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    It's worth reminding ourselves what the last 30km look like

    arenberg2010tdf.gif
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    I hope it's not a large group at the finish. I drove through Arenberg last month and the roads are pretty narrow. It looks like they are finishing on the road that leads to the Trouee Arenberg but I haven't seen that for certain anywhere.
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Those who don't like the pavés are those who like the mountains. But the sprinters, who don't like the mountains, don't come criticising the mountain stages.
    -Tour de France race director Jean-Francois Pescheux
    Contador is the Greatest
  • eh
    eh Posts: 4,854
    Shall we have a guess who loses a big chunk of time today because of mechanical?

    I'm going with Wiggins :wink:
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Those who don't like the pavés are those who like the mountains. But the sprinters, who don't like the mountains, don't come criticising the mountain stages.
    -Tour de France race director Jean-Francois Pescheux
    Only Pescheux gave in yesterday.

    When I do a local race it can get stopped if a dog or horse disrupts the race, or if a tractor gets stuck between the bunch and the break. The rules allow for the race to be paused, for riders to catch up and then for things to be restarted once everything has been made safe.

    But Pescheux didn't open the rule book, he got bounced by Saxo.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    eh wrote:
    Shall we have a guess who loses a big chunk of time today because of mechanical?

    I'm going with Wiggins :wink:

    I'll say Saxo - their bikes seem to break down/get flat batteries on the cobbles quite a lot.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Sheptastic
    Sheptastic Posts: 298
    eh wrote:
    Shall we have a guess who loses a big chunk of time today because of mechanical?

    I'm going with Wiggins :wink:

    and me but not because of a mechanical, the sky jersey's magnetic attraction to the tarmac :lol:
  • mroli
    mroli Posts: 3,622
    Vande Velde out. Millar given free reign to attack and fail gloriously now?
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    wiggins can ride the cobbles ok

    placed 14 in PR
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    It does look like every man for himself at Garmin now. VDV gone and Farrar not looking likely to contest much if he is actually in the race.
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    wiggins can ride the cobbles ok

    placed 14 in PR
    He was supposed to be handy in prologues too :wink:
  • mroli
    mroli Posts: 3,622
    G Thomas won Jnr Paris Roubaix, Flecha and EBH good classics riders too.

    Reckon Sky will try to push it at the front with that team...
  • Snorebens
    Snorebens Posts: 759
    My guesstimate:

    Gesink abandons
    One of the Schlecks out of GC
    Wiggins mechanical
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    mroli wrote:
    G Thomas won Jnr Paris Roubaix, Flecha and EBH good classics riders too.

    Reckon Sky will try to push it at the front with that team...

    Barry was 26th at P-R this year too.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    This is no longer even a joke:
    But recent suspicion concerning hidden motors in bicycles made the International Cycling Union (UCI) add another difficulty in the already torturous stage. In the race finale, teams would normally have posted their assistants with spare bikes at the roadside to provide for quick bike changes if their leaders suffer a mechanical. This is what is usually done in Paris-Roubaix, but to exclude any possibility of electrical treachery, complete bike changes are now possible only from team cars.

    "I don't like that decision," Vaughters said. "If someone breaks a bike, and the cars are two kilometres behind... Normally, we would have a person with a bike at every cobblestone sector, just waiting there. But now, the bike has to come off the roof of a team car."

    In order to maintain everybody's chances, the race organiser has decided to determine specific zones of technical assistance after the last four cobbled sections, where teams will be allowed to provide spare wheels and other mechanical help.

    Still, Vaughters thought that other alternatives existed. "You put a box on the side of the cobbles [for frame scanning - ed.], put a tag on them and then they're ready. I know that logistically, that's very difficult to do. But it would be better than just banning bike changes.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • mroli
    mroli Posts: 3,622
    RichN95 wrote:
    Barry was 26th at P-R this year too.

    Cummings a "hard man" in the early classics too.

    Apparently the sun is shining....
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    calvjones wrote:
    This is no longer even a joke:
    But recent suspicion concerning hidden motors in bicycles made the International Cycling Union (UCI) add another difficulty in the already torturous stage. In the race finale, teams would normally have posted their assistants with spare bikes at the roadside to provide for quick bike changes if their leaders suffer a mechanical. This is what is usually done in Paris-Roubaix, but to exclude any possibility of electrical treachery, complete bike changes are now possible only from team cars.

    "I don't like that decision," Vaughters said. "If someone breaks a bike, and the cars are two kilometres behind... Normally, we would have a person with a bike at every cobblestone sector, just waiting there. But now, the bike has to come off the roof of a team car."

    In order to maintain everybody's chances, the race organiser has decided to determine specific zones of technical assistance after the last four cobbled sections, where teams will be allowed to provide spare wheels and other mechanical help.

    Still, Vaughters thought that other alternatives existed. "You put a box on the side of the cobbles [for frame scanning - ed.], put a tag on them and then they're ready. I know that logistically, that's very difficult to do. But it would be better than just banning bike changes.

    Complete nonsense IMO. It's like blowing up the moon to deter werewolves.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • eh
    eh Posts: 4,854
    Its little different from a UCI sanctioned cyclocross or mtb race, its up to the teams to ensure they are riding bikes fit for purpose IMO. There is still technical support after the pave sections anyway, its not like you'll have to ride to the end of the race.

    Too much bl**dy moaning in this TDF so far, the rules are the same for everyone so get on with it.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    eh wrote:
    Its little different from a UCI sanctioned cyclocross or mtb race, its up to the teams to ensure they are riding bikes fit for purpose IMO. There is still technical support after the pave sections anyway, its not like you'll have to ride to the end of the race.

    Too much bl**dy moaning in this TDF so far, the rules are the same for everyone so get on with it.

    Plus several
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,141
    calm down calm down - GC riders get bikes off their doms

    it's all easy man 8)
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    RichN95 wrote:
    calvjones wrote:
    This is no longer even a joke:
    But recent suspicion concerning hidden motors in bicycles made the International Cycling Union (UCI) add another difficulty in the already torturous stage. In the race finale, teams would normally have posted their assistants with spare bikes at the roadside to provide for quick bike changes if their leaders suffer a mechanical. This is what is usually done in Paris-Roubaix, but to exclude any possibility of electrical treachery, complete bike changes are now possible only from team cars.

    "I don't like that decision," Vaughters said. "If someone breaks a bike, and the cars are two kilometres behind... Normally, we would have a person with a bike at every cobblestone sector, just waiting there. But now, the bike has to come off the roof of a team car."

    In order to maintain everybody's chances, the race organiser has decided to determine specific zones of technical assistance after the last four cobbled sections, where teams will be allowed to provide spare wheels and other mechanical help.

    Still, Vaughters thought that other alternatives existed. "You put a box on the side of the cobbles [for frame scanning - ed.], put a tag on them and then they're ready. I know that logistically, that's very difficult to do. But it would be better than just banning bike changes.

    Complete nonsense IMO. It's like blowing up the moon to deter werewolves.

    On form this morning Rich!
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.