[Closed] TdF Stage 5 - Every Sprint Is Different [Spoilers]

Goss and his team are running out of stages to get a win... they need to go for it!!

Realman, your maps etc are for stage 6, today (stage 5) is Rouen - Saint-Quentin

Cheers, Rich

Oh balls you're right.

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Sorry 😳

Cav to come over the top of Sagan for the win is my prediction for the day.

For those at work, the [url= http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/live/aso/ ]live tracking on the Tour website[/url] is pretty good 🙂

Cheers, Rich

For those at work, the live tracking on the Tour website is pretty good

Yeah good shout, I should probably start linking to that in the OP.

cuddles punctures and takes a 1 min 13 second penalty
Cav does lead out for wiggo who wins and gets a time bonmus of 10 seconds - will I am dreaming so why not go all the way

Has anyone else noticed that Evans seems stronger and more protected then Wiggins so far? I think this might not be as clear cut as everyone wants it to be.

he does seem more protected but it is early days.

BMC have more experience than Sky and they may have just left Wiggo to it to some degree.

Cuddles fancies a cheeky break as well so he has been at the front

Still cant see him dropping Wiggo in the mountains and he will loose time to him on the Time trials. Loss of the climber [ whiose name i will not attempt to spell may be crtical for Wiggo but clearly Froome can doa job in the mountains

Nothing matters [ beyond crahses] till the mountains and the time trials hence my optimistic prediction every day

It's difficult to spot any differences in strength in the stages we've had but Evans has certianly been better protected. Perhaps Sky are taking a calculated risk that not keeping Wiggins at the very front in the closing few kms will conserve energy for when they get to the mountains? With accidents always happening in the first week thats a big risk.

Like to see Cav do it - may get me abit further the league.

Cav doesn't look a happy bunny

tough one to call this, Greipel's got his win so will have his pecker up, Goss/ Renshaw will be wanting a win, not sure of the extent of Cav's injuries, but after his spill and injury (gravel rash) in the Giro he managed to win and he will be mad as eggs at the moment.

I'm going to go with Cav for the win, or maybe Greipel.
Cav though, hope wins over logic.

Not cav today, not after that spill. I reckon Goss from Griepel today.

honestly, they're not even pedalling. I could be a domestique.

for the next 16 days ?
I doubt many of us on here could stay in the peleton for one day - I have seen MTB ers form a road peleton it would be carnage

oh yeah, they've got awesome drugs. I bet you don't even feel your legs.

I doubt many of us on here could stay in the peleton for one day - I have seen MTB ers form a road peleton it would be carnage

Most riders, even experienced club-level 1st or 2nd cat roadies, wouldn't even make it out of the neutralised zone never mind last a day in the bunch!

I doubt many of us on here could stay in the peleton for one day - I have seen MTB ers form a road peleton it would be carnage

I've heard the average power output for a TdF rider who just sits in on a flat day is tiny, and any decent rider could do it. There's still a lot of skill to riding in a pack for that long though, and obviously you'd get spat out in the final 20k.

Cav takes the baby-sprint...

Yeah but Renshaw had a proper nice sprint, he just left it too late.

interesting... lets hope for a clean one.

as im riding tonight, i will miss the highlights.

what time do you expect the live finish? just in case i can bunk work early.

4:30 ish.

I've heard the average power output for a TdF rider who just sits in on a flat day is tiny, and any decent rider could do it. There's still a lot of skill to riding in a pack for that long though, and obviously you'd get spat out in the final 20k.

+1 didn't garmin publish some/all the data for some/all their riders last year? The average for just sitting in the bunch was about 160W, Cav's sprint was something silly like 1600W.

Yeah, when they did 1km in 53 seconds or something the other day.. That was nuts.

any links to a texty mobile page with updates. le tour site won't work properly on opera on android

http://live.cyclingnews.com/

he average for just sitting in the bunch was about 160W

That's 160 of their watts. Trust me, you'd be out the back within seconds. Not minutes or kilometres, it would be seconds. (I include myself in that too by the way).

Can anybody explain how, back in the days before race radios, riders knew how far ahead a breakaway was (and probably have a DS giving them exact km/h to go)? I find the 'catch' just a few K before the finish is all too predictable in recent years (though you very occasionally get a maverick Millar ride if you're lucky). But back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, how did riders know who was where? Spotters at the roadside?

Stoner - [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18720873 ]BBC Link[/url]

They also broadcast the last hour of commentary from the site.

Can anybody explain how, back in the days before race radios, riders knew how far ahead a breakaway was (and probably have a DS giving them exact km/h to go)? I find the 'catch' just a few K before the finish is all too predictable in recent years (though you very occasionally get a maverick Millar ride if you're lucky). But back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, how did riders know who was where? Spotters at the roadside?

Chap on a motorbike with a chalkboard and race radio.

That's 160 of their watts. Trust me, you'd be out the back within seconds. Not minutes or kilometres, it would be seconds. (I include myself in that too by the way).

Ummmm...

"Their watts"?

😕

you know, Pro watts. They're different.

😆

- I have seen MTB ers form a road peleton it would be carnage

Just picturing the TdF peloton now; bunny hops, manuals, skipping on & off the verges, rolling endos... 😯 8)

Their Watts are different, the difference is efficiency. Hushovd won a stage last year in a break, the Garmin data from that was something like 200W average over the 5 hours. Not beyond the ability of a lot of mortals. The difference is that if I could pull 200W for 5 hours it wouldn't get me over 4 huge cols at 26mph average speed!

Their Watts are different, the difference is efficiency. Hushovd won a stage last year in a break, the Garmin data from that was something like 200W average over the 5 hours. Not beyond the ability of a lot of mortals. The difference is that if I could pull 200W for 5 hours it wouldn't get me over 4 huge cols at 26mph average speed!

Ok who wants this one?

Go for it, what am I missing?

Ok who wants this one?

me!me!me!

200W is 200W, the difference is a mix of Hushovd's ability to dish that out for 5 hour straight, and he doesn't eat cake at the top of every climb so his power/weight is better than mine.

I can sit on a stationary bike and kick out 200W for an hour on a good day, but only for an hour, and i have to shift 100kg of me, where he's probbaly 30kg lighter.

Bike and aero-drag make a difference too, but not as much was weight and power (although Trek are claiming 25W aero saving at 40km/h for the new madone which is a lot, so presumably they're comparing against somethign fairly chunky like an older cannondale or something base level).

Ok. Your power output is what you're putting into the bike. Neglecting various things like rider and bike weight, aerodynamics, and rolling resistance (eg: assuming you're roughly the same weight as Thor, have a similar bike, and are similar aerodynamically), then there is nothing in it. If you spit out the same amount of watts as him, you'll be riding right next to him all the way (unless you keep jamming on the brakes).

EDIT: Like what /\ he said.

Ok, yeah sorry, having a blonde moment.

I think this is it:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99111257

Though I thought it was Stage 13 I'd looked at, the one Thor won.

So yeah, if you can get your weight down, learn to descend, and be able to spit out 250W for 3-4 hours, then you can be a pro tour rider too. Obviously you need a lot of top end too.

Doesn't actually sound like much does it..

watts is a measure of power and you either produce that power or you do not - he may be more efficient at doing this than you or me [ he must be] - use less oxygen for example but his 200 watts is the same as yours as it is an SI unit.

EDIT: When you put it like that RM I think my day may come

Now how much EPO and amphetamine would i need to do that for 5 hours..its probably dangerous for a man my age as well eh before the young uns say this

EDIT: When you put it like that RM I think my day may come

I'm already planning my fantasy team for next year around you 🙂

its probably dangerous for a man my age

you probably need a breather after typing

If it's any help, I can average about 240-250W over an hour, and that will leave me absolutely ****ed. I'm crap though, and I'll average 180bpm doing it.

OK i will get the turbo trainer out tomorrow and test my 1 hour wattage and HR

sky are lining up in front of cav

Break are proper determined, I'm wondering if they could actually do it.

BOOOOMMMMMMMMM

who's down?

Greiple won, Cav 4th

Cav was in 2nd wheel, then looked like he had to sprint from about 15th place? What happened..

Well that was exciting. 😀

don't know why EBH got Cav to second wheel 1.5 km out. he's better off freestyling with leadouts like that!

Cracking finish though, got to love the gorilla!

Looked like Cav had to work too hard in the last 2km and lost energy.
For a moment it was EBH up front with Cav behind, but it was way too early.

Edit: I think they did it because they were worried about the break staying out. It was pretty close!

Cav been adjusted to 5th

ITV are saying 4th..

EDIT: Twitter saying 5th.

I cant help but think that with a full lead-out team Cav would have won that..

it looked to me as if Cav decided they weren't going to catch the break and let up a bit and the realised they were and the hesitation did for him. Or the crash took it's toll.

I can ride with a big bunch at 25mph easily enough.

On the flat....

For a couple of hours...

On one day....

It's at the sprints or the mountains that these guys show off. No point burying yourself all tour - no-one would benefit, cos they'd all be too knackered to attack anything.

It looks to me that Sky are leading Cav out to the 3km point to protect Wiggins. After 3km to go it doesn't matter so much if there's a crash that delays Wiggins as he won't lose time, then they're leaving Cav to it.

What other explanation is there for Wiggins being second in a long Sky train on the way in, then all disappearing when they get to the business end?

I was wondering earlier if Cav would be of any use to the team as a whole, if he gave up looking for points..?

Odd finish from T Sky but fun to watch.

You can follow Laurens ten Dam on Strava and see his (estimated) watts during the Tour. QI.

BTW, Wiggo was saying earlier that it's so easy for them if they just sit in the peleton in the 1st week that they'll lose fitness.

Cav says he tried to drop back a bit with 1km to go and take a run up but it didn't work and he left himself too much to do.
Tomorrow's the last chance of a bunch sprint for a week.
They'll be sharpening those elbows tonight!

I heard he'd dropped weight and power for this year's tour. As a result he's lost a bit of top end speed, making him appear almost human. Is this going to compromise his Olympic dream, or if he drops out in a few days time can he rest up, feed up and get back to full power (or close to) by the 29th?

He's slimmed down because of the Olympics. He needs to get over Box Hill 9 times before he even thinks about contesting a sprint finish.

A clip of Farrar getting a touch angry after the race:

Never managed to watch the stage, only got to listen to the end when leaving work. Consensus seems to be he caused the crash?

He's in my team and not getting me many points! 👿

Farrar doesn't have much to whine about, it was just the usual last 5km handbags, it's only because he touched Pettachi's wheel he went over rather than being the Argos rider's fault.
Sagan almost saved it again to, he dodged the initial crash but came off due to the bike going across his path, I reckoned he'd have bunny-hopped it normally but I guess his brain was still trying to avoid the first incident, nice folding wheel though.