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They just need to get the Sky Train rolling to get into the sections first, hold a line and make others try and overtake. I say that with vast* experience of racing and cobbles.
*zero, except for watching...
Suspect we'll see the GC teams at the front controlling the pace and trying to keep their boys out of trouble. Will be tricky to pull for the whole race given how many teams will wan to do that and how narrow a lot of the roads are.
Breakaway(s) with the classics boys to win? Spartacus, Vanmarcke, Chavanel, one of the OMQS riders? With the peloton a few minutes down keeping themselves safe?
Chaos and mayhem here we come - question today is not if you crash- the question is only how often and how hard you crash. Gladiators.
Jens twitter 🙂
Surely the charge for Arenberg will be on, GC or not, its just safer at the front
Crosswinds on the first 50km or so before they get to the cobbles could play a massive part too.
Contador surprised everyone last time by being OK on the cobbles (OK it was dry)
Froome probably rode surfaces worse and for longer in his youth.
Nibbles has a dropper post (!)
I don't reckon in an uneventful trip over the cobbles any of those are going to loose much on any of the others.
However, the randomness factor is key. If someone is unlucky with a tyre/mechanical/painful wrist/crash and the others see a chance, it's going to be pain time.
Anyway Sparticus ftw
Froome has ridden P-R too, but 7/8 years ago (IIRC) and pulled out after crashing into the back of a commissaire's car.
and Frank Schleck to fall off and abandon
I somehow have the feeling I'm about to be part of something epic and historical. A day I might never forget. Better make it a good memory!
Koen de Kort twitter
is their any eventuality that hasn't been covered above?
is their any eventuality that hasn't been covered above?
We haven't actually talked about the possibility of Kittel winning (again).
It is flat enough..
Will the teams use a different tyre for wet or cobbled stages?Yeah usually, probably see a fair amount of 25mm tyres around, and ones with a bit more tread.
Most of the peleton are actually on 25mm tyres for every stage now. More aero and less rolling resistance. For cobbles they will be on 28/30mm and 75PSI ish.
If Froome's wrist is bad I bet Brailsford wishes he could sub in Wiggins. He could have put mins into Contador on a day like today.What? How?
Well obviously the how is impossible hence the "wishes" part of the statement.
But Brailsfords unflinching attitude that maxmising the probability of plan A suceeding is the best route to sucess is all very sound logic. He explained it very well on the latest Cycling Podcast. But it is only sound logic up until the point plan A goes up shit creek and the probablity of sucess drops to zero.
So before the tour Chris Froome's (and therefore Team Sky's) probability of winning the tour is increased if Wiggins isn't in the team so he isn't in the team. But right now, if Froome has broken his wrist and can't ride the cobbles properly then Team Sky's probablity of winning the tour would be higher if BW was in the race. Someone who was Top 10 in Roubaix could put mins into a skinny climber on wet cobbles.
And BW not being in form is a red herring. If he was selected for the tour he would have been on form.
So leaving him out may have been the right choice 5 days ago when the decision had to be made but if Brailsfor knew then that CF would fall off on stage 4 he might have made a different decision.
We haven't actually talked about the possibility of Kittel winning (again).
Hope not, swapped him out for Spartacus in my Road CC team.
"There are four possibilities on this stage," says two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. "Either nothing happens, or you lose time, or your rivals lose time, or you go home in a crash."The Spaniard adds: "I'm not scared, but I have a lot of respect for the pave."
Not really. If Froome is crocked then this may be the opertunity for Nibbles or Contador to put some time into him.
one can only assume contador is baby jake and froome is a hamsternaut
RealMan, loving your posts....this is my essential TdF reading..cheers fella!
🙂 😆 🙂
Martin has got himself in the break... Perhaps to set up Terpstra?
sagan for yellow
Cancellara is the obvious choice for this so i'll go for him. By the end of the day I'm putting Sagan in Yellow and Nibali to gain time over the other gc contenders. But anything could happen. Looking forward to it. Hope I get to see it.
contador is baby jake and froome is a hamster nautical
Goggi gi yaa!
Froome crashed...
froome down again !!!! they seem to have the hammer down very early
Some guys there testing the tarmac again.
From the BBC website:
"Earlier chatted to Eddy Merckx, who basically said cobbles are part of riding and that the peloton should just get on with it."
That's them told then.
taking the piss a bit running right behind the team car
Tony Martin for the win. Solo break.
Looks a grim old day out here. Froome is keeping those Rapha tailors busy.
Holy s**t this is with 50m to go!
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And Martin has crashed too...
sky boys look well nervy out there bringing Froome back
Well I will be very surprised if Froome doesn't come off again on the Pave, this turning into a right calamity!
Froome back in the peloton, the break down to 6 riders.. Not sure if the break is going to get caught, or if they're just going to crash/have a mechanical one by one until there's no one left?
the entire peleton or just the breakaway ...signing out this is turning into one stage to watch when I get in
[quote=eddie11 ]i really think brailsford would love a guy who needs a flatish parcours and has no form on the team right now!
I presume you're referring to somebody other than the chap who put a big chunk of time into G in a hilly TT champs only a week or so ago and has climbed with the best in big races (unlike any other plan B on the team)?
*Waits for ITV
*What? No F5 button on TV remote?
Dave Brailsford said before the start that Richie Porte would also be a protected rider today as they envisage the necessity of changing leadership, shall Froome be too injured to defend his title in the coming days.
Questioned by France Television, Team Sky's DS Nicolas Portal said before Chris Froome's new crash at km 29: “Things could be better. The medical staff took care of him yesterday. He's ok. We're prepared for that stage. His wrist hurts a bit but it'll be a question of mental as well today.”
Pretty strong breakaway group that if they can get organised and go for it. 30k to the cobbles though, would expect the pace of the peloton to pick up quite a bit.
it is looking a little damp, tour cars have their lights on, cant wait to see them hit the pave, should be interesting, we'll see who has a cx/mtb history maybe. GC will change today.
Jepers, I see (well i am reading the live feed) that they are only now about to reach the first section cobbles. Could get even more interesting from now.
10k to the pave
it's nuts out there! 😀
Looks like some lethal non-eyelevel road furniture, too.
They should have never left the UK 😛