Stage 3 is a long one to bridge Normandy and the Anjou, another region of great traditions in the Loire valley. The course is more about the people and their history than the difficulty of the terrain. The race will exit La Manche at Les Loges Marchis where Greg LeMond put an end to his career when he abandoned stage 6 of the 1994 Tour de France, a few kilometers away from Saint-Martin-de-Landelles, the home of former race speaker Daniel Mangeas, and Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, the native town of Mikaël Chérel who is Romain Bardet's lieutenant at AG2R-La Mondiale. The peloton will pass Fougères, the town of former race director Albert Bouvet, then Cuillé, the village of André Foucher, a popular rider of the sixties who finished sixth overall in the 1964 Tour de France. Continuing its journey through the ages, there'll be Ballots, where Jacky Durand, the winner of the 1992 Tour of Flanders, grew up, and soon after, it'll be Renazé, the territory of Marc and Yvon Madiot, the brothers who run the FDJ team after their brilliant career [two wins in Paris-Roubaix and two French titles on the road]. Angers is the finishing town. Since the first Tour de France passed by in 1903, the city of the dukes of Anjou has seen a lot of the race. Twice it has hosted the Grand Départ, for the first ever prologue in 1967 and once again in 1972. The last visit of the race marked Tom Boonen's first ever stage victory at the Tour de France in 2004. The finishing line is at the same place, in front of the town. The slightly uphill straight should please sprinters like André Greipel and the new yellow jersey Peter Sagan
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The contenders from Inrng
Marcel Kittel, André Greipel or Mark Cavendish? We can extrapolate arguments for all three based on Saturday’s sprint. Kittel didn’t get a good lead out and had to go in the wind for a long time but still ran close. Greipel had a similar story and started his sprint without a leadout and from further back while Cavendish had the craft and speed to win. All three are obvious picks and how they react to and against each other will be interesting. If pressed, and that’s what these previews are all about, Kittel is the prime pick.The others? Peter Sagan of course but surely the names cited above are faster and if the finish is slightly uphill it’s no way selective enough. Alexander Kristoff will miss Michael Mørkøv who crashed hard on Stage 1 but the long finish suits him, again if he’s missing speed expect him to wait for the others to fade in the coming days. Bryan Coquard wanted yesterday’s stage but that all went wrong, tomorrow suits him more but he’s bound to try. Dylan Groenewegen is bound to win a stage one year and the thing with sprinters is that they often triumph from a young age; he’s been ill with stomach problems which is a worry for a long stage but if these have passed then watch for him. Otherwise Edward Theuns, Dan McLay and Christophe Laporte could place. Sam Bennett is too bashed up to feature, he was last yesterday all by himself.
And of course Sagan.
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i know Cav said yesterday that he had expended a lot of energy riding in yellow
honesty or little bit of mind games? soon see.
I've now had coffee and so can comment.
Yesterday was always going to be a Sagan day but I can't help but feeling Orica made a pigs ear of things and could have got Matthews in a better place. Katusha should have got Kristoff in a better place too, it felt like he too could have had a shot. GC also took a hit, Porte had a bad day with a disastrous puncture and wheel change whilst Bertie lost time again. So GC down to 2 prime picks already in Froome and Quintana? Martin, Aru and Rolland are on the same time so I guess, for the moment at least, should be mentioned. A final thought, did I imagine it, or was Chris Froome contesting a group sprint? And he managed a top 10, he even beat Simon Gerrans, it was lovely to see.
Today seems a normal, straight sprint day, so it's Cav, Kittel and Greipel. Heart says Cav, head says Kittel so I'll ignore both and go with Greipel. No changes in GC either.
Well after getting it all wrong last night, thinking the break was going to make it and BMC looked to have a good move lined up...
Quiet GC day, break - caught, sprinters out the traps Cav...
Bertie to get a special badge for staying upright all day.
Want to watch it live on PC, whose best to go with?
also
http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2016/07/04/key-beating-froome-attack-attack-attack
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Want to watch it live on PC, whose best to go with?
I tend to use the ITV player. You don't always get the full stage but you do get the best bits.
My parents live about 10 mins from Louvigne. I wonder if they can be bothered going to have a look.
A final thought, did I imagine it, or was Chris Froome contesting a group sprint? And he managed a top 10, he even beat Simon Gerrans, it was lovely to see
Correct, he was in that final group.
If Porte and Contador have nothing to lose it could get interesting in the mountains.
Cav was playing down his chances, he claimed the first sprint took a lot out of him and riding yesterday, while he wasn't contesting anything, he was certainly up there for a while to at least display the yellow so it'll be interesting to see how well he's recovered and if he fancies a go at an uphill sprint.
I'll call it as Kittel, Sagan (cos hey, he needs ot start getting back to his usual 2nd place!), Greipel, Cav, Coquard.
Although I'd be prepared to swap Cav and Coquard round too.
Very odd that Porte didn't have a handy teammate to give him a wheel, huge mistake by BMC and I guess a possible consequence of having two leaders to protect and having your resources spread more thinly.
f Porte and Contador have nothing to lose it could get interesting
Could do, but it's still a shame when results get heavily influenced by crashes and mechanicals rather than through racing.
http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2016/07/04/porte-dubs-puncture-disaster?cid=trending
Porte interview
basically team mate wouldn't have made a difference, wrong time and place really
He'd not have lost 1.45 had he had a team mate to immediately give him a wheel!
A definite cock up by BMC I reckon. Team split between protecting Porte and Tejay and also trying to drive the chase to give GVA a chance of he stage win. Spread very thinly. Wouldn't have happened to a team with total focus on one GC guy.
Yeah but having a team mate right there who spotted he was dropping from an accelerating field, even stopping and immediately swapping a wheel would have cost him most of that time. He is a very honest guy when being interviewed normally.
Y'all know that the stage has already started, yes?
Looks like it's going to be a very long day for Fonseca: One-man break that the peloton have let go with over 8 minutes! Apparently the stage goes through his hometown today.
Photo of cav in green on cyclingnews tracker suggests he's up for it today: skinsuit...
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Edit: I think the 3km rule didn't apply yesterday (uphill finish) which would be why Froome was up there
Y'all know that the stage has already started, yes?
Yeah but the only thing we would miss in the first 50km is Bertie taking his daily tumble
I'm still shocked at that wheel change. "Neutral" service from Mavic who one would think know something about wheels! They aren't called on that often, clearly.
Kristoff today (I hope as he's my sprinter).
Kristoff today (I hope as he's my sprinter).
Not sure what's happened to Kristoff after a superb 2015. Decent showing in Qatar and was ok at De Panne, has he done anything else?
according to Rob Hayles on the bbc's page Cav hit 68km/h during saturdays sprint 😯
I'm still shocked at that wheel change. "Neutral" service from Mavic who one would think know something about wheels! They aren't called on that often, clearly.
Geraint Thomas had a shockingly slow wheel change from Neutral Service during the Commonwealth Games Road Race in Glasgow - fortunately he had enough of a buffer to still go on to win the race but they properly fluffed the change.
Neutral are very rarely called on, normally it's a team car but that was also just very bad luck - with the peloton strung out as it was with the speed on the run in and the hills, the narrow roads meant the team cars were miles back as well.
Remember back in about 2012(?) CHris Froome got a puncture about 3km to go on an uphill finish and lost loads of time. That was the year that Bradley was Team Leader and GC hope anyway so less critical for him but shows just how crucial that last few km actually is.
Anyway - what's happening so far today?
Anyway - what's happening so far today?
Nothing.
In defense of the neutral service.
Team car - jump out, grab wheel, wheel out/in, half turn of the QR and close the lever.
Mavic -
What freehub is needed
Is the brake centered
Is the brake the right width
Do the gears work
Tighten the QR (the teams will have them already set up to the thickness of the dropouts so the mechanic knows exactly what movement is needed to tighten it)
Yeah but the only thing we would miss in the first 50km is Bertie taking his daily tumble
😆
He's here all week, folks, do try the beef. Oh, on second thoughts.....
A team's spare wheels can be set so that the QR is adjusted perfectly for their bikes. neutral service will need to leave their's loose so the change will always be slower.
A team's spare wheels can be set so that the QR is adjusted perfectly for their bikes. neutral service will need to leave their's loose so the change will always be slower.
Seen quite a few changes recently where the changer has seemed flummoxed by the presence of a chain. Seems to be on the increase in XCO too if recent lengthy wheel changes in World Cup races are anything to go by.
Today's average speed is giving me hope of a new career as a pro road racer.
Is there any reason for the low average speed? This comment on the BBC feed "[i]My Tour de France bible's timings are all askew because of the go slow.[/i]" would indicate some form of protest unless he's being sarcastic.
Break only 3 mins out, lots of effort in 2 days, chill before the finish. No need to hammer it today.
I'm going to have a nap wake me up when it gets interesting!
In defense of the neutral service.Team car - jump out, grab wheel, wheel out/in, half turn of the QR and close the lever.
Mavic -
What freehub is needed
Is the brake centered
Is the brake the right width
Do the gears work
Tighten the QR (the teams will have them already set up to the thickness of the dropouts so the mechanic knows exactly what movement is needed to tighten it)
Nonsense - I've seen faster changes in the Surrey League and those are anybody's random spare wheels thrown into the back of a following car!
Campag and Shimano 11 speed are interchangeable, you can't do anything about the brakes centering, and everyone shifts onto the smallest cog before a change to make wheel insertion easy (riders should have practice this - hence the need for a push to get started). Spinning up the QR is the same as for a front wheel, because lawyer lips are mandated in the peloton.
Setting the width of the brakes on an aero bike would be the biggest challenge, my Propel is definitely a pain and has two settings. I think the Mavic mechanic just panicked when the pressure was really on to be honest - he struggled to get the wheel into the dropouts.
VOECKLER ATTACKS !!!!§§§§...
...Not really that exciting...
All gone a bit retro. This is how I remember the first week of the Tour from my youth.
I averaged more than that in yesterday's road race! And I was off the back of the bunch for half of it riding solo 😆 .
is the slow speed today proof that the majority of the peleton are human (i.e. not doping)?
I wonder if they'll get round to finishing before the itv4 highlights package starts? 😆
Looks like Cav again! Great last 10k.
close ..............
get in!
Well that was close then wasn't it.
Wow, that was a close finish, they both claimed it!
Also, my top 5 prediction was completely wrong. Well, mostly the right riders, completely the wrong order...
blimey on the lunge 🙂 the two "old" boys really showed the kids today
Marcel who??
where are the lead out trains ?
where are the lead out trains ?
No one team has the strength in depth to put out a complete train like the old Cipollini days.
The teams have more interests now as well - protect their GC rider, lead out their sprinter, reel in the break so they've not got 8 riders to absolutely commit to getting Rider 9 to the line.
The old days it was simply Cannondale/Saeco get to the front and everyone would let them as they knew Mario Cipollini would be on the first plane back to Italy after 8 days or so - that and they were all so doped up that even USPS couldn't keep up with them. 😉
Cav is a total legend. I fear though that the green jersey is so unknown in the uk that even if he somehow gets to 35 wins people in this country will so only really know Froome and Wiggins.
Total legend though-the boy's still got it. Fantastic sprint...
He could change all that in Rio 🙂
(Though I am doubtful of his chances.)
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Coquard doing a Voeckler maybe it's a french thing 🙂
Cav is a total legend. I fear though that the green jersey is so unknown in the uk that even if he somehow gets to 35 wins people in this country will so only really know Froome and Wiggins.Total legend though-the boy's still got it. Fantastic sprint...
Was he not SPOTY a few years back, hardly unknown if he was voted for by the same people who vote for strictly come dancing on ice out of the jungle.
Cav is a total legend.
Absolutely. After seeing how he had been eclipsed by Gripel recently I thought he was all done. Delighted to be proven totally wrong.
Missed it live just watched the run in and wow that's close. Froome in the group too, getting the job done.
I don't know how he does it. He'll never have the power of Kittel and Greipel. He use to have a massive aero advantage with his size and position, but with everyone making aero advances in kit and position that's no longer the case. His relatively poor test results at BC are well told stories. And there's no longer a HTC train and there's some serious opposition. And he's been written off year after year. And the little man is still bloody winning sprints on the biggest stage! Amazing 🙂
He's a steely eyed road racer for sure !
He's posted pictures of himself on the turbo, and I'm sure I've read this is the first year he's actually followed a structured training plan properly.
A few years ago he described his training as "ride 120km hard every day". Bernie was "long 6 hour+ rides" and another team mate was "structured plan".
EDIT - Found the tweet:
[url= https://twitter.com/MarkCavendish/status/720955784587153408 ]https://twitter.com/MarkCavendish/status/720955784587153408[/url]
Which only leads to Instagram - direct link:
[url=
Just watched the itv highlights - that was an epic finish, screaming at the screen 😆
Would Cav be wise to pack it in before the mountains to save himself for Rio?
Love him to carry on and maybe even win on the Champs Elysees again, but I'd hate him to come away from Rio with nothing as he'd burnt out on the Tour.
I doubt he'll finish. Would be very surprised if he doesn't already have a very clear plan but it'd be poor etiquette to come out and say you don't intend to ride to Paris.
He does like the Champs though.
What @mrblobby says. He's worn yellow, thats huge for him. Not sure what other sprint stages we have before the Pyrenees but he may do a bit for the "training" but start of Rio is 30 odd days away. He looks to be in great form so maybe 2016 will be his year. Hope so.