Le Tour (may contain spoilers)

Gripel is one ugly mother…

Question for those who’ve tried *proper* disc race bikes….

Do you think the type of crash like that today will me more or less likely (or maybe no change) if the peleton does adopt discs?

The crash looked to be caused by the front wheel slipping out under braking (also happened for several following riders) rather than a touch of wheels. It got me wondering if discs might make this type of crash more likely (more power so easier to lock on greasy roads)… but then I started to think discs might actually decrease the chance of a crash like today if there is more modulation on hand vs grabbing a handful of brake on the current setups???

Genuine question as I’ve not ridden let alone raced on some of these greasy Euro roads and haven’t tried a proper roadie disc setup either. Just curious that’s all, I don’t intend to derail the thread with a massive philosophical debate on the rule changes 😀

Some crappy amateur Go Pro…

DanW dont think it would change anything, people will still panic and grab a handful.

those roads looked horrific. Riders falling off all over the place as soon as they touched the brakes as if they were on sheet ice. 😯

Stage 5, headwinds and slippery tarmac.

Stage honours to:
1: Team Alan`s Deep Bath, DS Andy, with 440 points
2: Team Michael Flatley Quick Step, DS Scandal42, with 417 points
3: Team Puncture Repair Kit, DS Chomp, with 394 points

In the GC race:
1. Team Durham Dynamo, DS Rich Harper, with 1682 points
2: Team Michael Flatley Quick Step, DS Scandal42, with 1663 points
3: Team Alan`s Deep Bath, DS Andy, with 1549 points

Ref discs, it’ll probably be about the same but maybe (big maybe) less. Carbon rims can bea handful, they’re much worse in the wet for not working until cleared of water than alu and then get grabby as ****, the initial pull on the brakes is grabby in the dry too, you’ve got to be careful with them, hard when it’s crashy!

Carbon rims can bea handful, they’re much worse in the wet for not working until cleared of water than alu and then get grabby as ****, the initial pull on the brakes is grabby in the dry too, you’ve got to be careful with them, hard when it’s crashy!

I think this it ^^^^, nothing to do with French roads being ultra-slippery or panic braking.

Interesting that Cavendish also chose the old Venge over the new one as he didn’t trust the brakes on yesterday’s stage.

Those new aero brakes are obviously working well…

I read this on CyclingTips in the comments section, I’m taking this as gospel 😛

I heard he does not like the brakes on the new Venge. Will not use it when it is wet or in the mountains.

woo hoo – my first TDF Fantasy podium 🙂

Cav tweeted that he didn’t like the brakes on the new bike but this seems to have been removed now. Straight from the horses mouth 😀 Sagan was also on the old Venge and Cancellara didn’t ride the new Madone once. Sometimes racers like what they know and a cynic would say that the hype around these bikes is more for the Freds like us that believe the small details matter 😉

Stage 6, cyclocross’s rock, bottles are thrown, and who’d want a yellow jumper?

Honours today go to:
1: Team Almost real biking, DS Greg Bowie, on 338 points
2: Team i`m off to boat jail for a good sleep, DS spawnofyorkshire on 325 points
3: Team BikeSoup World Racing, DS Paddy Atkinson on 297 points

In the GC:
1: Team Durham Dynamo, DS Rich Harper, on 1942 points
2: Team Almost real biking, DS Greg Bowie, on 1823 points
3: Team Alan`s Deep Bath, DS Andy, on 1779 points