TdF Stage 13 – A Strange Situation [Spoilers]

Yup, great win for Wee man, I whish I had put that bet on.

Clever riding from Saxo.

Clever riding from Saxo.

Very clever because Contador has Roman Kreuziger at 4th place as well which is a good double barrelled attack weapon against Sky.

Another clever move from Contador, reminiscent of his sneaky ‘flat’ stage attack in the Vuelta that caught Purito napping.

must say I don’t think sky ever really recovered from Saturday – I was laughed at when I called it a silly move.

I would not want to be in the same bus as sky tonight

I would not want to be in the same TOWN as movistar tonight!

That Saxo bloke they just interviewed looked wiped out though.

Wow. What a stage.

A quite brilliant ride by Saxo Tinkoff. I have to admit I had written off Contador after the first mountains stages, but that has blown things wide open.

Great to see Cav winning again too. Did really well to get in that break and there was only ever going to be one winner at the end.

That was a bonkers stage. Well done to Saxo Tinkoff. And excellent effort from Cav. Unfortunate for Valverde though – wrong place and wrong time.

must say I don’t think sky ever really recovered from Saturday – I was laughed at when I called it a silly move.

exactly – Porte went out with what – 30K to go or something. There is something not right there

(Contador) He’s even classier now he has had to tone back the doping

I think that says it all really 🙄

😉

Wow. Wasn’t expecting that. I was following it surreptitiously on my iPhone in a long hot meeting. What? Cav and Contador in a break? Did I read that right? People wondered what I was so shocked about 🙂
Real old-fashioned road racing.

froome looked worried on the podium.

stannards talking it down quite well on the telly box though.

I think that says it all really

Well, at least contador has toned it down, he’s not been the same since his ban. There does seem to still be one guy who can both climb as quick as Armstrong and near enough win a pan flat TT though… 😕

ianpv – Member

Well, at least contador has toned it down, he’s not been the same since his ban. There does seem to still be one guy who can both climb as quick as Armstrong and near enough win a pan flat TT though…

Oh FFS

Froome looked worried on the podium? He looked like someone had just run over his dog.

Loving this years tour.

Froome neeeds Wiggo as his wingman

Loving the Christoper Cross at the end of itv4 highlights. Also the change in Contador odds on betfair 👿

A hard day for everyone I’d say today. Based on the evidence of last weekend I still can’t see anyone having anything to trouble Froome in the mountains unless he actually blows up himself.

The real damage may come in the flatter sections between the climbs of course but everyone must be hurting after today. Even though the rest of the Sky team seem to be under par he should be able to mark most challengers on his own providing he is a bit more alert than today.

Sagan and Cav managed it today with only one team mate so not impossible IMHO.

Even though the rest of the Sky team seem to be under par he should be able to mark most challengers on his own providing he is a bit more alert than today.

Maybe if it was a bunch of randoms in the mix but in the top 5 now there’s Froome, then 2 riders from Belkin and 2 from Saxo-Tinkoff. With a bit of concerted attacking they might really be able to put the Sky on the rack.

I enjoyed the highlights show on ITV4, I like the interviews and tactical insights and today made for a good show. Good interview with Cav, he’s much more articulate and funny when he’s happy!

Froome’s problem is both Belkin and Saxo Tinkoff have 2 contenders, so on a stage like tomorrow (like last Sundays) either (or both) can alternate attacks on him and he’ll have to chase everything. Makes for a great race!

If Froome wins the tour this year, it will be hugely significant, due to how much weaker his team has been compared to last year. I’d love to see him attacking again on ventoux, how awesome would that be?!.

Brilliant stage today, was expecting it to be a yawnfest ’till the last 10km or so!

Where was Porte, in the Valverde group? Knackered or just wrong place wrong time?

Good point from crazy-legs and crashtestmonkey but I still think both those teams did a hell of a lot of work today to gain the 69 seconds. It will be interesting though to see which way it goes.

Don’t forget there is another time trial as well but with two Cat 2 climbs it may well suit Contador more this time as he did take 20-odd seconds out of Froome in the hilly TT in the Vuelta last year.

I’m hoping for something explosive from Froome on the Ventoux though. The long, hard grind could be just the thing if Sky ever get their act together as a team.

Today was quite possibly the best ‘boring flat, not worth watching until last 3km’ stage I have ever seen.

What the hell has happened to Porte or is he playing poker, saving himself for some heroics on Ventoux?

(My rcuk fantasy team was dynamite today, I had Cav, Sagan, Chavanel, Fuglsang, Ten Dam, all of whom made the selection, and even Bonnet got a look in, my lot were 4th overall on stage!!. Shame my Velogames STW squad may as well withdraw already.)

Cav’s interview was brilliant

I wonder if that will go down as one of Cavendish’s most memorable wins? OPQ had a plan and it was working. Then Cav and his team mates reacted to the race as it unfolded – no sticking to a plan, no time to consult over the radio.

I liked the replays on the ITV4 highlights. You could see Cav getting across to the Contador group and Froome not quite making it.

Wow, just caught up. Last bit I caught live was Movistar falling apart. That was great on the highlights and really glad I avoided news and websites all day since. Well done Cav. Best day’s racing I can remember for a long while.

You could see Cav getting across to the Contador group and Froome not quite making it.

What I don’t get is that there was one tst rider on the front of the bunch from a while before the split until a while after. A rider who is presumably significantly slower in a time trial than Froome. Froome saw the gap opening in front of him (from the looks of things the rider one or two in front of him let the gap go). He’d been sitting in the bunch – OK so it wasn’t as easy as usual due to the wind, but still easier than being on the front. So Cav did a sprint to cross the gap, but did Froome really not have the gas to cross it a little bit slower? Or did he deliberately sit up into the group behind because he’d have been isolated in the front group?

Of course the fallout may well be that the chaps in the front group used a lot more energy today than Froome did, which may well make a difference in a couple of days (dependent of course on what they’re using for recovery 😉 ).

That puzzled me too. If he’d made it across he could have sat at the back with Cav and Sag-Ann.

In the interviews (http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/video/36995139587/chris-froome) he said he saw Cav get a bit of a slingshot which helped him and Andy sprinted – he realised it wasn’t going to happen so waited for reinforcements and limited the losses.

If you’ve ever tried to make the last man on an echelon forming in cross winds riding at full gas I think you might appreciate why Froome didn’t get across.

Cavendish said he had to do a full sprint to make it across the small gap and had to use the slingshot of his team mate to do so, which indicates to me that that group was shifting! Froome hasn’t got the acceleration of Cavendish so couldn’t make the effort required to get across albeit a few meters.

Echelons are great to watch in races but horrid to ride in!

He said he put out more watts getting across to the echelon than in the final sprint.

So the big question is, are Sky’s team legs shot, or were they saving themselves for the big hills?

In the same way that Froomes attack last week killed Porte the next day, will the Saxo riders be off the pace today?

After that I am rather excited about today’s stage. Very lumpy. Where’s the official stage 14 thread? RealMan still in bed?

I do wonder if Froome has shown his hand too early and it’s made it easier for the other teams to attack, he might have been better saving his legs, and maybe more importantly his teams legs for the Alps? I think he just wanted to get racing though.

All makes for good viewing. More of the same please 😀

interestingly back before the ITT, Saxo’s DS said Contador expected to lose 60-90 seconds to Froome, so yesterday’s move clawed back the extra time Froome took from him.

Both Cav and Froome explained how marginal getting across to the front group was, Cav only just made it with a sprint and Froome realised after about 1 pedal turn he wasnt going to make it. Brilliant stage.