A tip of the hat to provincial France, the France of the Tour. Our caravan will set off from Samatan, a large town with 2,200 inhabitants which is the main town of the Gers canton. It will probably be a calm start, as the stage is not particularly tough. A sprint finish would be the logical outcome, and I actually hope it happens, because pure sprinters will not get many chances to shine in this Tour. The finish in Pau will be beautiful, like always. This is the 64th time that the Tour visits this city, which is almost a record. Let us pay homage to this city, which we see as a stronghold and a strategic place.

Come on Cav.. Please?

Steephill continues to deliver.

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So, probably no change to the GC classification after the stage? It seems to be purely for the sprinters, or for a long breakaway.

Will there be a return to Tack-gate today?

a dull stage and then a rest day tomorrow! what am I going to do with my time?!?

hoping Cav will at least have a go on this one, he’s been very much in the background this TdF. Hopefully yesterday’s showing at the front before the final climb was him warming his legs up a bit.

I predict a Griepel/ Cav/ Goss shoot out with Gossy edging it over the Griepster and Cav third.

Will there be a return to Tack-gate today?

Wiggo has already punctured…

goss/gripe-water for the win but hope cav pulls it out. Saggy-he-aint will prob be there even after yesterday!

Interesting to see Schleck try it on so early…

How many top GC riders will attempt to disrupt Sky today, hoping to knacker them out before the mountain stages ahead?

How many top GC riders will attempt to disrupt Sky today, hoping to knacker them out before the mountain stages ahead?

Rest day tomorrow so unlikely and/or pointless?

With the rest day in mind I predict a long solo by a relative unknown today that no one bothers to chase down. Either that or Sky set a pace fast enough that no one gets away.

Costa and Millar both in the break.

I’m enjoying the Pez coverage too. Especially Tour de Pez with pics from the stage, but not just the racing.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=10596&status=True&catname=Latest%20News

Who can explain this, from letour.fr:

14:57
Boasson Hagen urges the escapes to stop
The Norwegian champion recently moved to the front of the bunch, held out his arms and seemed to mouth “Stop!” But the attacks just keep on coming.

and…

15:04
Eisel the latest to try and stop attacks…
Eisel is now at the front of the bunch that’s 15″ behind Millar’s quintet. The Austrian rider from team Sky has signalled “Time Out” but his gesture has been ignored by riders from Katusha and Cofidis, they just attacked the bunch..

Why would riders listen to a rider from another team telling them to slow down? It’s not like the Wiggins situation yesterday… no favourites dropped etc.

Was it a puncture for wiggo or more undisclosed bike issues? Is he contractually obliged to throw a bike into a ditch every tour?

Why would riders listen to a rider from another team telling them to slow down? It’s not like the Wiggins situation yesterday… no favourites dropped etc.

Because it’s in their intrests? They’re saying “we’re happy to let this group go, but if you try and join them we’ll chase it down”.

I notice they’re lunching in Marciac today. Grrrrrrrreat*.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMBHkntOMtk[/video]
Fois gras, salade de gesiers and confit for me, with a pichet of rouge, followed up with a café and armagnac, merci.

*Jazz festival there.

A bientot Sylvain.

Chavanel just abandoned the tour.

Rest day today, isn’t it? 😉

Why hasn’t Sky or any of the others sprinters’ teams chased the breakaway group down? It’s a rest day tomorrow so they don’t have to worry too much about expending too much energy before the Pyrenees proper.
Bit boring really.

Why why why why why did I pick Cavendish..

Why hasn’t Sky or any of the others sprinters’ teams chased the breakaway group down

two rest days are better than one.
Sagan has the green jersey wrapped up.

Understand the the green jersey is a done deal but a stage win is still a stage win. Orico Green Edge haven’t had a stage win yet either so I’d expect them to be pushing.

Understand the the green jersey is a done deal but a stage win is still a stage win

No point for Sky. Their target has always been yellow, not green or stage wins. A couple of wins en route are all good, but they’re not working for that at all.

Obviously other days have been more interesting than this one, but…

For non Brits is this going to go down, as Frank Schleck has said, as a “boring Tour”?

is this going to go down, as Frank Schleck has said, as a “boring Tour”?

🙂

Why hasn’t Sky or any of the others sprinters’ teams chased the breakaway group down?

Getting a break established is quite an art form. If there’s a rider in there who they don’t want to be there, it’ll be chased down and the pace in the first hour can often be very fast indeed as breaks go, get pulled back, new riders try and launch etc.

Once it’s established, the bunch will have had a chat amongst themselves and basically decided to give it to one of the chancers in the break. It’s almost an obligation to give the stage win to some unknown, it can make or break a team’s sponsorship arrangements for the following year. The riders are all in it together, it would be seen as extremely bad form to go out and dominate an entire Tour. Let the little guy have his day knowing that you’re on bigger and better things or that your day will come. The results (or more accurately, the way the stage plays out) are *almost* (but not quite) fixed on more occasions than you’d believe.

Sky have 3 stage wins and another very likely in the timetrial, and the yellow jersey so they dont need to do any work unless they are attacked .Watch out for Wednesday then which could be the pivotal stage and with a mountain finish Nibali is bound to try and work Sky over

was this stage so boring no one watched it to the end?

I’m waiting for the TV so I can watch the highlights.
Two episodes of Corrie and Superstar* means I’m having to wait…

*Jesus Christ!

So if Nibali attacks in the mountains and Wiggins cannot pace himself back and starts to lose major time and the yellow jersey is in jeopardy will they let Froome counter attack if he has better legs than Wiggo, better for Sky to get the yellow Jersey come what may!

So if Nibali attacks in the mountains and Wiggins cannot pace himself back and starts to lose major time and the yellow jersey is in jeopardy will they let Froome counter attack if he has better legs than Wiggo, better for Sky to get the yellow Jersey come what may!

Yes.

I feel pretty good in predicting a Sky one-two this year.

With Wiggins winning.

But…..if it goes wrong, as you say above, then Froome will be launched to win the race. Sky will win.

flippin, that appeared to be what Froome was suggesting in his l’Equipe interview.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/533908/froome-not-winning-this-year-s-tour-is-very-great-sacrifice.html

By the time Wiggins is f***ed it may be too late to launch Froome, if it was to happen.

Froome to break ranks in the mountains and Wiggins to pull it back in the TT a la Fignon/LeMond[/hollyoaks]

would that be the l’equipe interview that was translated from English to Italian to French and back to English again?

For non Brits is this going to go down, as Frank Schleck has said, as a “boring Tour”?

The only thing Frank has managed to do so far to alleviate the so called tedium is to get himself dropped repeatedly by riders who are supposed to be less good going up hills than he is, so he’s not really in any position to complain is he?

There’s been loads of ace stuff on this tour, not just Wiggins and Sky: watching Sagan has been a pleasure; Tommy V’s win over a great show of endurance from all the riders in that break; Pinot’s victory with Madiot going nuts at the end of a great stage; Pierre Rolland a hero one day and then (inadvertently?) making himself the villain a couple of days later; speaking of which – Sabotage! with tacks on the road, proper Wacky Races nonsense handled very sportingly by the peloton; and Millar’s stage win on the anniversary of Tom Simpson’s death, hopefully symbolic of a cleaner Tour (shush, a fan can hope, right?). And there’s still five days to go! Shut up Frank…

Today was **** boring though, yes.

FFS !! Froome will tow the party line. Is Nibali capable of dropping Wiggo, doubt it and no eveidence this year. People keep going on about VDB…..again, we’re still waiting.

Barring an unforseen mishap Wiggo will win. Froome will get his chance. Just not this week. Sky/Brailsford have a goal ….and to be fair they seem to hit it more often than not. They’re not gonna start changing the plan when they have one of the best TT’ers in the world in yellow.

Schleck is an embarrassment but I have been slagging them off on here for months. Sean Kelly said he was a joke, plans all year for a tour that doesnt suit him then doesnt try and sulks cos his bro and his favourite DS isnt there.

“now there’s a rider” says Kelly as camera pans to Sagan who has made the break.

Sagan up that climb yesterday anbd the last 30 k with the front 5 was ace. Took Gilb and LLS ages to get back on. must have been cursing Sagan all the way down.

Personally loved Pinot’s win…..qualla

I watched the interview with Jens Voigt saying how he was sure it was a ‘clean’ race this year. Assuming that to be true, is that showing up in slower average speeds or lack of outrageous attacks or something – logically it should, shouldn’t it?

(Genuine question!)

They’re not gonna start changing the plan when they have one of the best TT’ers in the world in yellow.

Especially when the other two are;
Gone home with a broken wrist
Gone home to a wife about to give birth

Why hasn’t Sky or any of the others sprinters’ teams chased the breakaway group down? It’s a rest day tomorrow so they don’t have to worry too much about expending too much energy before the Pyrenees proper.
Bit boring really.

Sky are going for GC so are not going to chase down for Cav.
Also Liguigas and BMC are also looking for GC so are going to shadow Sky and let them do all the work.
Orica have probably lost faith in Goss, so are not going to chase down for Sagan/Cav/Greipel to snatch it from them.
Lotto with Greipel already have three wins and are probably thinking no we’re not doing the work again someone else should do a turn. And no one else wanted to.

ds1 – Member

I watched the interview with Jens Voigt saying how he was sure it was a ‘clean’ race this year. Assuming that to be true, is that showing up in slower average speeds or lack of outrageous attacks or something – logically it should, shouldn’t it?

(Genuine question!)

to me it just looks different. People looked mashed. Look at Voekler in the last KM the other day, looking back to hang on. Look at LLL go POP on same climb. On the climbs people are getting shelled with no real change in pace. Its a samll select group. Think back to Mayo, Armstrong, Ullrich, Riis, Pantani – they used to absolutely smash it to bits.

Henc ewhy I DO reckon Wiggo was told to ease off in first TT …..its all about recovery and peopel cant just ride eachother off their wheels anymore.

Average speed has definitely come down in recent years, significantly slower than the armstrong years. I’ve seen figures for this, CBA to find them now, sorry. Clearest sign to me of cleaner racing.