Yet another sprinters’ stage. After all, Christian Prudhomme and I want to make sure there is something for everyone. But will the winner in Saint-Quentin be able to triumph in Metz too? One thing is for sure. This is another beautiful stage, with a start which celebrates the Coteaux Champenois, and a 207.5 km course devoid of tough climbs but full of nostalgia, since it comes near the Lac de Madine, where the Grand Prix des Nations used to be held. But once in Metz, all eyes will be set upon the famous “blue line” of the Vosges, where La Planche des Belles Filles awaits the peloton tomorrow…

Cav has to do it today. Please?

Great pictures, shame they’re ruined by Greipel’s face.

http://www.steephill.tv/2012/tour-de-france/photos/stage-05/

I’m getting tired of Rorschach.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-tour-de-france

A few useful links

http://live.cyclingnews.com/
http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/live/aso/ (If you repost this link you suck)
http://www.velogames.com/tdf/leaguescores.php?league=25113755

Cav FTW today.

Have to say Cav is favorite. Don’t think he was on the money yesterday, still a bit stiff no doubt. But, form plays a big part in sprinting, and Griepel will no doubt be feeling superstrong(Copyright David Harmon)

cavendish goss greipel is my guess

sweep entry on how close to the finish the last breakaway rider is caught: 1.3K

Great pictures, shame they’re ruined by Greipel’s face

shame they’re ruined by Sky’s silly yellow helmets.

I bet Sky’s style-gurus are livid with that idea.

safe bet = massive pile-up 1-3km out.

Never mind Greipel’s face in those pics, have you seen the man’s legs!?

One thing that made me chuckle a moment ago while looking at the live tracking, is the fact that the riders on the map appear to be riding backwards 🙂

Cheers, Rich

How did Sky offer Cav for a place? Given the amount of support they’re giving him, it’d better be a lot!

Bit of a shambles imo. Cav in another team built around him and Wiggo in Sky would have been better. Rather sad to see Cav getting effed around in the peleton in the last few kilometres. He is world champ and a national treasure and deserve more protection and a decent lead out.

Bit of a shambles imo. Cav in another team built around him and Wiggo in Sky would have been better. Rather sad to see Cav getting effed around in the peleton in the last few kilometres. He is world champ and a national treasure and deserve more protection and a decent lead out.

He’s not focussing on the tour, he’s focussing on the Olympics. He would’ve known the tactics, and he would’ve agreed to them. You can’t throw away Wiggin’s best shot at yellow so Cav can have a better chance at picking up a couple more wins during a race he’s not even particularly interested in. Wait till you see the Olympic lead out train.

yesterday i got the impression that the sky train was formed primarily to protect wiggins with a lead out for cavendish as a side salad.

The HTC-High Road sprint team changed the way flat races were played and won, maybe Sky supporting sprint and GC winners is another step change in Grand Tour racing.

The HTC-High Road sprint team changed the way flat races were played and won

Lead out trains have been in use since the 70’s, but it was Cippollinis Saeco team that turned it into an exact science. HTC didn’t do anything that hadn’t been done before.

maybe Sky supporting sprint and GC winners is an uneasy compromise as they look at the bigger picture and other goals, ie. GC and olympic gold, and will have no effect on how other teams, or even Sky, ride in other grand tours once the olympics is out of the way

FTFY

I get it that Wiggo is the 1st priority and know Cav knew this from the start. I’m just concerned about Cav making it to the Olympics without a broken collarbone or wrist or hip.
Even more reason to be in your own team where you are No.1 and get supported and protected so you can have a great tour ( could have broken the record for most stage wins by now ) and arrive in Paris without injuries ready for the Olympics.

I got the same impression as Yoss re yesterdays lead out.

Zabriskie in the break? Yeah, he’s alright, he’s pretty cool.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYG1YzUglAw[/video]

big crash AGAIN

Ryder losing big time..

carnage and again loads of big names getting entangled. Seems to be more crashes every year?

WTF is it with so many crashes this !??

tricky bit of road that…

carnage and again loads of big names getting entangled. Seems to be more crashes every year?

Not sure that’s strictly true – I think that in the past it will have been missed a bit due to there only being a 30-60 min highlights programme. Now with every stage live, more people watching, Twitter feeds etc, everything gets picked up on instantly.

Looks like Goss’s to lose.

could have broken the record for most stage wins by now

Could have done, but even with a dedicated lead out it’s not a certainty. I wouldn’t even bet on Cav going to the mountains, which other team would pay rockstar money for a guy who’s prioritising winning in another jersey to theirs and won’t be finishing the tour?

BBC Sport website saying Cav was held up by the last crash? Can anyone watching confirm? Is that him out of contention for the sprint?

Cav’s in the second peloton and out of the running for the finish.

That is correct Ash

…and won’t be finishing the tour?

Cav has always indicated that he wants to finish the TdF, the Team Sky plan is certainly for that to happen.

I can see both sides, I feel sorry for Cav that he’s basically out of contention for green now barring miracles and he’s come into the Tour knowing that he’s not going to get a lead out train and is basically riding for himself (and is support of Brad) but equally, he knew that from when he signed with Team Sky that this year at least, he’d be there in support of Brad. Wiggins in yellow is a far bigger goal than Cav in green and it’s nigh on impossible to do go for both jerseys. Last time that happened was 1997 with Ullrich and Zabel and it’s more or less accepted that the whole T-Mobile team was doping at that time.

they are digging into the suitcase of courage

Bugger.

All over for Cavendish?

no chance today just under 2 mins down

Yeah, I meant in terms of defending his green from last year…I haven’t checked out the remaining stages yet…

why are they crashing so much this year?

come on Gorilla!

sagan beats the chin

erm, ok

by over a bike length

Sagan!!!! Young missile dude!