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Well then, what does Le Tour have in store for us today you ask? A flat sprint stage I reply, probably a doomed breakaway and not much else. OK, says you, lets get on with it anyway.
Stage 4 will honor Luxemburger champions of the Tour de France from François Faber to Andy Schleck, the latter having the privilege to attend the start only 200 metres away from his home in Mondorf-les-Bains. It's a flattish race in the east of France with a finish in Vittel. The thermal station is famous for producing the official water of the Tour de France. It also made history for hosting the Grand Départ of the 55th edition in 1968 under the tagline “Le Tour de la santé” (the Tour of the health) one year after the tragic death of Tom Simpson on the Mont Ventoux. This time around, it looks like a stage dedicated to sprinters but the last visit to Vittel saw the solo victory of Nicki Sorensen in 2009. But it was stage 12 and the sprinters were already tired. Now on stage 4 they are still fresh. Marcel Kittel who wears the green jersey is hungry for more, so is French champion Arnaud Démare who was the runner up in Liège and finished sixth atop the climb of the Religieuses in Longwy yesterday. The enfant du pays is a sprinter as well! Nacer Bouhanni hails from Epinal in the Vosges province that Vittel is also part of. He's yet to win his first ever stage at the Tour de France
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Who's in the mix, well, let me (OK, Inrng) tell you:
The Contenders: it’s hard to see past Marcel Kittel, he was the strongest in Liège on Sunday and the fast flat finish suits him once again. But this is not a time trial and no two sprints are ever the same so there’s plenty that can happen but his solid Quick Step team is here to redceEvery rider wants to win a stage but Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) has been looking forward to today for a long time as he’s the local rider and this would be a win in front of home crowds. He’s in the mix and could pop up… but often when he hopes to win Arnaud Démare surges past and it could happen today as Bouhanni is still building his form. The FDJ rider’s train came off the rails on the way to Liège but he still finished second, if they can keep it tight then he’s in with a chance. André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) should be close too if he can get a clear run to the line, the same for Peter Sagan (Borha-Hansgrohe), a certainty for uphill finishes but more likely to place rather than win in a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) will be interesting to watch, his fourth place in Liège was a surprise and he did it the hard way with a long sprint in the headwind. Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-Jumbo) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) complete the first list of contenders.
Lets mix it up, what's the weather doing?
Weather: sunshine and a pleasant 24°C with a light breeze from the east, 15km/h which as a crosswind for most of the day won’t trouble the riders much but offers a tailwind for the sprint.
Well, well, well, get your best crosswind dances on folks, this would be more interesting than I thought!
And as ever, a couple of pics from yesterday:
The ever ridiculous tour caravan.
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Froome looking after his team leader:
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Richie seemingly enjoying a dig:
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You know who:
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I would go with gc chill and calm today and leave all the mess for the sprinters
Breakaway to be let off the leash a bit more - 5 or 6 minutes probably reducing to 3 or so by the time that 4th Cat lump comes around. All back together with 5km to go, battle of the lead-out trains and to be honest there's too many good sprinters in there for me to come close to calling it.
Quiet day for GC, Greipel to win and hopefully Cav in the mix, that'll do me, though I suspect it'll be Kittel who actually does win. Not sure the cat 4 climb is big enough or close enough to the finish to cause any problems for the sprinters or to bring the Sagan/Matthews/Van Avermaet type riders into the mix.
After what Sagan and Froome did in Montpellier last year I don't think the GC contenders will be fully relaxed. Will be inteesting to see which teams push it on the climb, I have the impression that Kittel finds climbs harder than Greipel and Démare.
I can't see beyond Kittel for this one.
Another boring sprint stage, one for the bloke on a mamil bike I reckon.
Other than that a break with Wanty, Fourtuneo and maybe a lotto guy in. 5mins max, brought together within 8k.
And some nice pics of sunflowers and lush green fields.
Bouhanni to get over excited at a home town sprint and takes everyone out in a do or die move. He gets DQ'd while Sagan bunny hops over a pile of broken riders and bikes to win the stage. Here he is later getting ready for the podium presentation...
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Regardless of today's result, barring disaster can anyone see Froome not winning GC now? From the opening day's TT alone he's already 40+ seconds ahead of all the main rivals, surely he just has to sit on their wheel for the next 17 days?
Well, to be fair, all G has t do is it on Froome's wheel 😉
Was thinking last night that Sky might be working for G this year. He's on better form, and a little stealthier than Froome who's obviously everyone's target.
Which is G's job after all. Good innit?
I'm sure there will be gaps on tomorrow's stage but I'm hoping G can hang on the yellow at least until the weekend.
@mrblobby. LOL
For todays win I'll go with Cav for no other reason than it would make me smile. I suspect it would make him very happy, may even see one of his tearful thank everyone speeches.
Perfect stage for speedy Dave from accounts
IHN - Member
Regardless of today's result, barring disaster can anyone see Froome not winning GC now?
Yes, couple of summit finishes, it seen his climbing prowess yet this season so he could well be venerable on the 2 summit finishes, another hilly tt at the end too. Time bonus on the line means being 2nd costs seconds.
Yeah, good point, hadn't thought about that.
Rob Hayles over on BBC Radio 5 has predicted Alexander Kristoff for today's win.
Going to be a long lonely day out front for Guillaume van Keirsbulck!
Guillaume van Keirsbulck
that boy is in my team, go on son!!!
Must be virtual yellow by now, do I get points for that? I need all I can get!!
we done droppers yet http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dropper-posts-in-the-tour-de-france-mavic-specs-them-on-neutral-bikes/
I had a look at the neutral bikes today, they don't all have droppers and, although they now have Look and Speedplay pedals (and I assume Shimano too), they still have toeclip pedals 🙂
Canyon frameset too. On that I saw a bloke from Canyon delivering two new Katusha painted framesets today so I guess there must have been some damage the other day.
And the break is over. Hats off to the guy, he must have spent the best part of 180km out there on his own.
some people just don't like cycling clubs.......
Doesn't look good for cav 🙁
Oof! Doesn#t sound good, naughty naughty Sagan
Oufff! That looks bad
Poor Cav 🙁
Thomas looks ok despite hitting the deck.
Looked a bit of a naughty from Sagan on Cav there.
Sagan gave Greipel some verbals?
Difficult to say if Sagan was just off balance and correcting or that was a flick 🙁
Having seen the overhead, that's a deliberate elbow from Sagan. 100%
yossarian - Member
Having seen the overhead, that's a deliberate elbow from Sagan. 100%
anyone got a link?
Can't see Sagan getting away with that one, looks like he elbowed him.
Which is a pain as I've got Cav and Sagan in my fantasy team 🙄
That looked like an elbow from Sagan. Cav taken out in no uncertain terms.
Bust shoulder
That looked painful.
I thought Sagan was more sporting than that. 🙁
Cav picked the wrong side, he was properly boxed in anyway but I'll accept that he knows more about sprinting than I do so from his point of view it may have looked a bit different... 😉
But yes, proper sending into the barriers that.
Definite elbow to close an impossible gap along the railings that Cav was trying to squeeze into.
Cav was on the right wheel. Initially I thought Sagan was forced across in front of him by someone else but I don't think so from the replay.
There are pictures of Sagan trying to apologise to Cav on the way back to the bus. Cav didn't seem particularly receptive.
Looks like Sagan hit Griepel first, then ricocheted in the opposite direction and tried to balance himself as Cav came alongside and they bumped...I don't think he even knew Cav was there until he'd already hit him as Cav more than half a bike length behind when Sagan tried to correct. Cav wasn't line abrest until he'd already started to fall.
Cav was on the right wheel. Initially I thought Sagan was forced across in front of him by someone else but I don't think so from the replay.
no, he had room on the left and space to play with, that elbow stuck out wasn’t for his balance. i hope he gets penalised for that.
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ITV saying that it didn't look intentional....
It did to me from the overhead.
ITV saying that it didn't look intentional....
He looked to intentionally position his elbow to stop someone trying to push through the gap, but not to intentionally to shove someone into the barriers.
Sagan looking more than a little pensive there!
Cav saying he's not hopeful.