[Closed] TdF Stage 4 - A Place For Each Car And Each Car In Its Place [Spoilers]

Dont think that slightly slopy finish is perfect for Kittel. But who else. I though Griepel had found some form this year but it appears not. Kittel it is then. Gc boys are going to need to be there so it looking like a hectic finish.

Hope everyone made it.

hoodless shifters

Really hard to see past Kittel, he's head and shoulders above everyone else, sagan for 2nd, Demand 3rd. Some crazy Frenchie to launch a break from the flag, LTB to be sent to the front for the day before Griepel bottles the finish again.

Just wanted to say thanks for these RealMan, brilliant daily summary. Cheers

Quick repeat o my question on yesterdays thread - where can I download a HD quality highlight reel especially of the section coming into the turn at the palace, and/or any good stills photos sites ? Trying to spot ourselves 😳

cyclingtorrents.nl

mornin', checking in.

wish I could get this thread squirted into Twitter would save a lot of Ctrl-R

yeah I know there is probably a way with RSS.

Dropper post.. more aero on descents innit. Good idea.

No one seems to be able to get anywhere near Kittel at the moment. Sagan looked to have his wheel yesterday but jus didn't have the power. Where are Greipel and Demare? Lotto Belisol seem to be doing a lot of work at the front for nothing, and I wonder if FDJ are regretting not brining Bouhani who at least looked to be on confident form.

Edit: oh and anyone know if Eurosport will be adding these stages to its on demand content? Not there yet. They didn't have the dauphine either, wonder if that's some ASO restriction?

Dropper post.. more aero on descents innit. Good idea.

yeah since they have weight in hand to 'spend', why not? faster & safer.

I'd guess that the dropper, being only 1cm, is more a flat/climbing pedalling position thing than for descents. 1cm drop isn't going to make much difference descending, and they mostly just get over the bars and onto the top tube anyway.

Change saddle height between flat and climbing? Can't see that - any references to support there's a good reason for doing this?

I guess some would far prefer to descend on the saddle, and shift their weight back a bit, so for descending I think.

would save a lot of Ctrl-R

Just hit F5 instead

I think with the dropper that at the moment they tend to sit on top tube when descending and trying to get aero as possible, wonder if being able to drop saddle slightly means they can stay over the saddle instead and not worry about having to snag shorts getting back on saddle and having more control over the bike over the saddle instead of over top tube??

1cm drop is going to make bugger all difference when descending.

Change saddle height between flat and climbing?

I believe Basso had a similar setup a few years ago. Some riders just prefer the saddle a little lower when powering along on the flats, lets them get more power down.

hoodless shifters

😯 WTF does that offer ?

According to the comments on BikeRadar it's just because Bauke Mollema (Team Belkin) is allergic to rubber. Apparently he also has to remove the leg grippers on his shorts.

I like the highish minimum weight limit. It lets other innovations take place.

I believe Basso had a similar setup a few years ago. Some riders just prefer the saddle a little lower when powering along on the flats, lets them get more power down.

Yeah. Also if you look at [url= http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/11/11/eb13-fsa-adjustable-height-road-bike-seatpost-possibly-twists-into-production/ ]how it works[/url], you twist the middle bit and apparently 1 click gives you 1mm of adjustment, within a 20mm range. Not going to be for descending. Be quite handy for position tuning.

Rain today...rain tomorrow over the cobbles.

Carnage

Yeah what the others have said - Basso was the first to do it I think, because he preferred a slightly lower saddle for lower cadence - i.e. climbing. Don't think he ever actually used it in the tour though.

I think a 2cm drop would make a hell of a difference at least in feel on a road bike for descending, and 1cm would be very noticeable too. Not sure if it would make you any faster though.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-out-of-the-tour-de-france-through-injury

Oh Andy.

good

Another DNF for Andy?! Do feel for the guy.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-out-of-the-tour-de-france-through-injury

Abandy Schleck? no........

Wasnt this last chance saloon for Mandy, I heard the team management had given him 2 races to prove himself, with the Tour being the second...

Love the video of the guy getting his phone slapped away 😀

Some riders just prefer the saddle a little lower when powering along on the flats, lets them get more power down.

I've noticed a lot of roadies have their saddles a bit lower than I would expect from the old 'leg nearly straight at bottom of revolution' rule of thumb, is this the reason why?

ouch froome is down !

[quoteLove the video of the guy getting his phone slapped away 

That lad is apparently a friend of a lad who works for me. Soft get.

I've noticed a lot of roadies have their saddles a bit lower than I would expect from the old 'leg nearly straight at bottom of revolution' rule of thumb, is this the reason why?

No idea, could be? I was told "as high as you can go before your hips start to rock". Feels very weird to me if my saddle isn't as high as it could be.

ouch froome is down !

This never would of happened if Wiggins was riding 😛

It seems ITV have bumped us off HD, so I guess that means over to Eurosport, at least that avoids the Waldorf and Statler shows. Shame as I quite like Imlach/Boardman/Boulting.

Why do Ligget & Sherwin get this gig every year?

Mollema crashed too... Basically everyone I've picked for my team can't seem to stay on their bikes, and we're only on stage 4.

I've noticed a lot of roadies have their saddles a bit lower than I would expect from the old 'leg nearly straight at bottom of revolution' rule of thumb, is this the reason why?

Think riders are more inclined to experiment now with things like power meters and wind tunnels at their disposal to find a more optimum position in terms of power generation and aero. A lower saddle position can be more powerful and more aero, especially amongst the riders who put in a lot of time on their TT bikes.

grrrr, pay real money to watch Eurosport on iPad and still have to watch their crappy ads!

Just noticed they've put the intermediate at the top of a hill.. Should be straightforward for Sagan.

A penny for Dave Brailsford's thoughts after Froome went down ? I am sure Froome can see today out but I wonder how tis will affect him mentally for the cobbles tomorrow, supposed to be wet too.

http://gfycat.com/InnocentBewitchedKiwi

Looks like the guy in front of Froome swerved and took him out.

wet cobbles with a dodgy wrist? recipe for disaster.

And that's why Wiggins should be in the race.

mattjg - Member
grrrr, pay real money to watch Eurosport on iPad and still have to watch their crappy ads!

I done the same last year, I think the last hour is ad free though.

Commentary just saying that Kittel had his hair gel confiscated at customs when heading back to France. Quite a contrast to the border crossing incident of '98 🙂

http://fat.gfycat.com/InnocentBewitchedKiwi.webm

Look like a Orica Greenedge rider that started the movement?

@molgrips - thanks for that post. I wonder what the peleton etiquette is for that sort of thing, seemed to be an odd swerve for no reason.

Why do Ligget & Sherwin get this gig every year?

Don't they work for an Australian channel and ITV just buy their commentary?

Can't listen to Phil "the voice of cycling" Ligget's commentary, ridiculous Armstrong apologist that he was. Whatever you have to pay for Eurosport, it's worth it!

Edit: An [url= http://firephilliggett.tumblr.com ]amusing "fire Phil Ligget" link[/url].

ouchy

[img] [/img]

You can get eurosport for £3.99/month if that's your thing.

that's going to sting a lot, if he can ride through it like it's not there, he's a very tough cookie

Ouch, and on top of this...

[img] [/img]

And that Rapha kit is expensive, don't want to rip too many pairs of shorts at that price!

thought this would happen, so if Froome is now off form who will pick up Sky's GC challenge?

who will pick up Sky's GC challenge?

Is he off form now? Still got a few days till the properly hard stages. Should be ok.

While Froome continues to ride it's only him that matters. If he drops out then Porte is the only one that can do anything - if he's feeling well enough.

Edit: An amusing "fire Phil Ligget" link.

Heh...

[img] [/img]

If only Team Sky had another GC contender they could have taken along, who has been in good form this season... oh, hang on...

And that Rapha kit is expensive, don't want to rip too many pairs of shorts at that price!

Handy they do repairs then!! 😉

http://pages.rapha.cc/service/repair-service

so if Froome is now off form

????

He's got a slight scratch - he's not a footballer.

those scabs will give him something to do on the coach between stages

He's got a slight scratch - he's not a footballer.

he's also wearing a splint on his left wrist. Going into a day of cobbles, that isn't ideal, and the other GC contenders will be testing him.

Should be an interesting day.

????

He's got a slight scratch - he's not a footballer.

It's only so the armchair DS's can say "we told you so" about not including Wiggo.

he's also wearing a splint on his left wrist. Going into a day of cobbles, that isn't ideal, and the other GC contenders will be testing him.

Will be an interesting stage, though I'd be surprised to see any serious GC action, with most GC contenders just trying to get through it without losing time to rivals.

Oh and Wiggo would not have been a GC contender this year (though that has been done to death in other threads!)

Terpstra been down...?

He's got a slight scratch - he's not a footballer.

/sigh

that move was very clinical... only took out Froome - what are the chances of that? paid assassin?

Will be interesting to see how Sky/Froome respond tomorrow. The fall must give some confidence to Nibali and Contador too.

A few Lotto-Belisol riders down on the wet roads. Rather like their Ridley aero bikes in that retro paint job.

Quality finish, well done Kittel - I thought he'd been caught out. How there weren't crashes on that run in though!

Quite an exciting finish, Giant train faded off it seems to me

Blimey.

Amazing sprint that one!
Kittel's timing for the last 40m was pretty incredible as was Sagan's recovery

Just watching Lemond Of Cycling post race analysis and his co presenter is a bloody tit, he can hardly get his words out and talks complete bollocks really bad on Eurosport to have this guy on.

Agreed. Nice to see LeMond back commentating though after years in the Armstrong imposed wilderness.

That was awkward finish. The lead outs seemed to momentarily stall before it kicked off again. Kittels timing was perfect though.

t scratch - he's not a footballer.

Post.

Of.

The.

Year.

Agreed. Nice to see LeMond back commentating though after years in the Armstrong imposed wilderness

This. Though his interview technique and presenting skills aren't quite up to the standard at which he rode a bike [i]just[/i] yet 😉

Anyone know where the PoV footage gets put?
I haven't seen any since Saturday's stage.

Facebook pages of the teams/shimano/ is where I've seen a daily vid

Here?

If so, it's just stage 1 so far.

On the team sky page it says that

Geraint Thomas and Bernhard Eisel both had on-board Shimano Road cameras on their bikes - stay tuned for that footage!

Some of stage 2 PoV here:

^^ best Tour film yet, more please!