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Oh, i've misunderstood the countback thing, it's not for the overall - that's still based on timing - it's how they separate people on the same time. A large number of the peoloton are still on the same time after a couple of big bunch finishes, so they're using finishing placings to work out where each rider is overall
Yes, it's quite clever to ensure that finishes are always contested and a consistent rider placing well will score higher in GC. If you look at the top 10 at the moment, they're all same time on GC.
That DSM crash looked horrific, his bike just disintegrated. Silly place to try and be though, on the outside of a bend at that speed, you're always going to get pushed wide and he just ran out of road.
Up near the old ‘Romper pub’ is a great spot to view the race, as the riders wind their way down the descent. I was standing next to crazy_legs (he’s very tall) in a green dress.
Down? From where I was standing they were going up. Were you at the entrance to "the Romper"? Was it you crazy_legs in the green dress?
Watching the stage coverage after getting home I was amazed by the crowds in Bramhall. Must be because Andrew opened the Mounting Stone half an hour early.
Bunnyhop was in the green dress, from our vantage point we could see them come down Wybersley
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Heres the pic of some old people watching the Tour of Britain (given up on using STW image upload)
Ah right, I was a bit further down the hill and couldn't see Wybersley DH from where I was. I remember seeing the banner though.
Think the DSM rider was Tobias Lund Andresen, and remarkably he managed to finish the stage.
Yes, that’s right. that’s a bit concerning, hope he had a full concussion test as he hit the deck quite hard
https://twitter.com/tdsm_firmenich/status/1698691256442933626?s=46&t=yRQNMEdCGRiV6tO7y1r0Mw
Looked like a proper whack to the head. Tough lad.
The next two days represent a blast from the past for me.
Stage 3. As a kid we used to go on holiday to Brid, Filey, Hornsea, etc. and the journey used to take in crossing Boothferry Bridge near Goole. Fast forward some years and the first job I had as a graduate civil engineer was knocking lumps of rust off said bridge and measuring what was left.
Stage 4. Went to grammar school in Worksop - the route passes the door. PE used to include cross country in Clumber Park. I grew up in Harworth where Tom Simpson was from and is buried. Route passes the Tom Simpson memorial (a miniature of the Ventoux one) and also gravel pits at Sutton cum Lound where I used to go fishing. Oh and the Mucky Duck in Styrrup where big sis and I often sat in the car with bottles of lemonade and bags of Nibits.
Halcyon days.
Stage 3 just getting underway now:
https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-three/
Lots of talk of crosswinds along the coast and possible echelons...
Stage 4 finishes at Newark where there has been quite an increase in ASB which, amongst other things, has caused the cancellation of two recent events.
I live in the area and hope the police will be on top of their game tomorrow.
I live in the area and hope the police will be on top of their game tomorrow.
The teams have all been warned about leaving bikes unattended, parking up bike-laden cars etc.
The ASB has been intimidating behaviour, threats of violence and actual violence.
Theft - actual or attepted - is a given; if you don't know the area, try a google search for Tolney Lane.
The good news is that the young DSM lad who crashed has been checked out and cleared to race
https://twitter.com/TDSM_Firmenich/status/1699011251811098876
Wow, the whole thing has just exploded.
Steady, almost "agreed" situation, break held at a reasonable gap. There was a 3-up Saint Piran attack and that prompted an instant response from Jumbo-Visma and now it's absolutely frantic!
💥
Yep, that was more active than I expected.
Big crowds out in Nottinghamshire, loads of schools lining the roads. Nice weather again. 🙂
Grew up in Coddington Frank, has it got that bad? I just thought it was a few isolated incidents??
I've not lived there for 20 years but have asked if my folks are going to the finish tomorrow - do you know the entry road and finishing point?
The teams have all been warned about leaving bikes unattended, parking up bike-laden cars etc.
Some of the teams have got form in this area
https://twitter.com/LidlTrek/status/1699385350928445515
It's not much of a race this year is it
It’s not much of a race this year is it
Given the severe financial limitations on it this year, councils being reluctant to pay hosting fees and be exposed to that level of risk and the overall requirements of the race in terms of stage locations, maximum allowed transfer times and so on, it's about as good as it's going to get.
As far as spectators and weather goes, this year has been pretty good so it should hopefully act as a bit of an inspiration for future years. Be good if the Women's Tour can come back too.
Edit: what does make it less of a race is when one rider is dominating all the jersey classifications (except KOM in this case). That's not specifically aimed at ToB though, it's happened in several other races too.
The ToB or the "sprinters Tour" as it is now called..
Well using some hilly bits like in Wales/Scotland/anywhere with hills, may help a bit to make it a bit more interesting...
They tried. The original plan for the Wrexham stage was a longer one with some hills but the council wouldn't give them permission to race on those particular roads.
So it became a 100km sprint stage - it was the only route they could get out of the authorities.
Got the tour coming through our town around 1 today, the suns out and they pass a pub so it would be rude not to show my support.
It's a shame that one sprinter / team are so dominant, but I'm enjoying the format of this - everyone is having to try their damndest to stay high in the rankings so they're still in with a GC chance when things get hilly at the end and the pure sprinters fall away. It's just a shame the sprints aren't so competitive, if it's run like this in future years it could be a very exciting race if more sprint teams turn up and make a fist of it
Can someone explain how categorised climbs work? There's two CAT 3's today that are both about 25m climbing. Anywhere else these wouldn't even be acknowledged as a slope. And then later in the stage they're up to about 80m without any reference to a hill.
It seems a bit ironic to call it King of the Mountains when they give out points for things like that.
it's very much dependent on the stage and the organisers - something may be cat 4 when used at the start of the stage on day 1, yet cat 2 when it comes at the end of a 200km stage after 2 weeks of racing
Historically, it was the highest gear a car could use when ascending - if it was easy and you could cruise up in 4th, then it was cat 4 - anything where you had to drop to 3rd was cat 3, right down to hills so steep that you were in 1st gear being cat 1. Steeper than that became "hors categorie". Nowadays, it's relative and I suppose in this case depends how attractive the organisers want to make it to encourage compeatiton for the KoM jersey
Can someone explain how categorised climbs work? There’s two CAT 3’s today that are both about 25m climbing. Anywhere else these wouldn’t even be acknowledged as a slope. And then later in the stage they’re up to about 80m without any reference to a hill.
The boring logistical answer - it's where they can realistically put the infrastructure, barriers, timing etc and control the crowds. Some of that is not down to the organisers, it's down to council permissions, disruption to residents and so on.
There's an element of race planning to it as well where they need to work out how and where they want a bit of race action, attacks and so on but that doesn't always work out...
it’s down to council permissions, disruption to residents and so on
Yep, it's fairly easy for us to forget that there can be an awful lot of resistance - bordering on hostility - to the concept of closing roads to allow for something as puerile & frivolous as a bicycle race.
Very active race today, the World Tour teams getting more involved.
Going to be a very long hot day as well - nearly 200km in this heat. This is much more attacking than the first few days.
Looks like after a frantic start, it's calmed right down - three in the break from the smaller teams and JV on the front of the peloton, with WvA bagging a few more points at the intermediate sprint
It really is a shame it settled down. The smaller teams could have continued applying the pressure to keep Jumbo working hard. Probably wouldn't change the outcome in the end but it would give them air time and provide entertainment.
Clearly Bora have decided they're not going to win a sprint.
Yeah, it's almost like most of the teams have decided just to follow everything that Jumbo does. Bora and Uno-X threw a lot at it this morning and none of it worked - we're back in exactly the same situation that the previous 4 days have had.
Can't help thinking that time bonuses on intermediate sprints might have changed things around a bit.
The [i]parcours[/i] doesn't help either, it definitely needs a few proper hills in it but maybe the final weekend will shake things up. And as has been noted, the route is very much a product of what councils and local authorities will offer up.
Saturday & Sunday are far more undulating. Could well be some fireworks.
That wrong turn for Jumbo-Visma might put the cat amongst the pigeons.
Edit: nope. They're ruthlessly efficient.
"The parcours doesn’t help either, it definitely needs a few proper hills in it"
Isn't that the official motto of the Tour of Britain?
That was absolute genius from Jumbo-Visma.
Everyone thinking they're lining it up exactly the same as previous days and then BOOM, big old leftfield move!
LOL he's a boy isn't he... To do that takes insane power i bet.
The two-man rolling road block was inspired, but Wout is a machine.
Even Ned and David are struggling with this one now.
Long long neutralised rollout through the tacky delights of Southend on Sea, race got underway and the same tactics - TDT Unibet have fired a couple of riders up the road, been joined by a Q36.5 rider and been given the standard 1 - 2 minute gap and that'll be it now until the final 10km.
I'm struggling to turn it on sadly... i'm normally WELL into it... but this year i'm just a bit/lot meh.
The number of the break is three. The break shall be three riders, and there shall be three riders in the break. THe break will not be less than three, not shall it be more than three. Five is not the number of the break
Having said that, there were five in the break, so they got caught around the 100km mark, and things went mental, and now it's calming down again with five off the front. - 2 * Saint Piran, 2 * TDT Unibet and one from Kern Pharma