Tour de France 2018 stage 7: Fougéres - Chartres 231 km

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

What?

I think Peter will be top 5, just think he won't be in the top 3 due to his helping Mijka today. Saturday is another story.

What I meant is that today I didn't get the impression at all he was sacrificing himself for Majka.

As well as on TTT, unfortunately.

[fantomas]

Brian Holm expecting crosswind. Let's hope he is right.

[Robert5091]

Brian Holm expecting crosswind. Let's hope he is right.

Nope - might be but weak - chance of a shower otherwise. Day to get the weekly shopping done, wash the car/dog/self whatever, tune in for last 10 km to see sprint.

[movingtarget]

Greipel went out the back early yesterday and is getting closer to a win. Good stage for him I think.

[yetiyeti]

The finish does not look flat at all.....looks like the sprint will be 4% or more to the line.

[Koronin]

The finish does not look flat at all.....looks like the sprint will be 4% or more to the line.

Is it a straight finish or are there technical corners with near the finish?

[yetiyeti]

The finish does not look flat at all.....looks like the sprint will be 4% or more to the line.

Is it a straight finish or are there technical corners with near the finish?

From what I can tell, piecing together the route on letour.fr and with strava, it looks like there's nothing stupid for turns near the end and the last 500 m or so is straight and wide..... but a significant gradient. Sometimes strava lies on the gradient though.

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Is it Sunday yet?

[Koronin]

The finish does not look flat at all.....looks like the sprint will be 4% or more to the line.

Is it a straight finish or are there technical corners with near the finish?

From what I can tell, piecing together the route on letour.fr and with strava, it looks like there's nothing stupid for turns near the end and the last 500 m or so is straight and wide..... but a significant gradient. Sometimes strava lies on the gradient though.

TY. Sounds like Gaviria, Sagan and Colbrelli should be the favorites for the sprint then. Wondering about if it was straight or technical to figure out if Valverde might get involved or not, but without any technical turns he should stay out of it.

[Robert5091]

The finish does not look flat at all.....looks like the sprint will be 4% or more to the line.

Is it a straight finish or are there technical corners with near the finish?

From what I can tell, piecing together the route on letour.fr and with strava, it looks like there's nothing stupid for turns near the end and the last 500 m or so is straight and wide..... but a significant gradient. Sometimes strava lies on the gradient though.

A tight right-hand turn 1.9 kilometres before the line leads to a 700 metres drop, while the finale is rounded out by a 600 metres kick-up at 4% before the last 200 metres are on the flat

last 2 km

[Oliver]

Gaviria vs Sagan again.
Groenewegen disappointed so far.

[Valv.Piti]

On a completely random note, Im very happy to see Rory Sutherland in the Tour. The job he did on Movistar was great, I especially remember his 2016-campaign where he was superb in the Giro and Vuelta and could pull for hours and hours, also in difficult terrain.

[Martinstranger]

Brian Holm expecting crosswind. Let's hope he is right.

Lets hope for some action. It is fantastic when teams can shake up another boring (only need to see the last 5 k) stage

But everybody should be warned after yesterday and I think it will be dificult to catch a GC contender in the back - but never say never . Hopefully Astana learned their lesson and finally will do what they can to protect Fuglsang - they looked like amateurs yesterday. If I was Fuglsang there would have been a lot of yelling after the stage and todays tacticmeeting should be used to build up the teams confidence.

[rainman]

231 km into a slight headwind the whole way. The breakaway has my sympathies...

Mine too. But also all the riders, viewers, commentators, team cars and race followers are going to be bored out of their wits.
Surely a short flat stage would be more interesting, maybe even offering some meaningful racing.

[wirral]

I imagine the big teams will shut down the road as soon as the 3 - 5 man all-Francophone breakaway goes. Probably around 400 metres after the real start is given.

[Lequack]

Instead of having full coverage of these pre-determined stages we could instead be seeing live coverage of the women's Giro before switching to the Tour coverage. But I guess that would make too much sense and I'm sure they'll keep scratching their heads as to why women's cycling is not as popular.

[muppetkokken]

That sharp corner 1,9 km before the finish. My bet is that both Groenewegen and Kristoff will be in a crash in that particular corner.

[Vasilis]

Instead of having full coverage of these pre-determined stages we could instead be seeing live coverage of the women's Giro before switching to the Tour coverage. But I guess that would make too much sense and I'm sure they'll keep scratching their heads as to why women's cycling is not as popular.

Makes way too much sense

[silvergrenade]

Hoping for a Griepel victory. Lets go Gorilla!

[Frankschleck]

On a completely random note, Im very happy to see Rory Sutherland in the Tour. The job he did on Movistar was great, I especially remember his 2016-campaign where he was superb in the Giro and Vuelta and could pull for hours and hours, also in difficult terrain.

Yeah very good rider. I also think him and kristoff saved D.Martin in the Team Time Trial and limited his losses.