2011 Tour de France, Stage 10: Aurillac - Carmaux, 158 km

[Anonymous]

Climbing ability.

A sprint after relatively hard climbing is by its very nature different from a sprint after a pan flat stage. Greipel handled the climb better, rode the finale with brains and power, sofair play to him. I'm just a bit surprised that Cavendish was there at all, given that Goss and Renshaw were dropped.

Sorry, I fail to see how a heavier, taller rider expended less energy to finish. I don't buy that Griepel used so much less energy to be there. He was faster man on man, and I suspect that he is not the only one riding who is thus. Cav without Renshaw is a different man.

 

[Arnout]

Andy (or Frank) missed the split as well because there was a panic of Leopards that came back just after the top (about 500m after the climb)

Typical. Always 9 men in front and the moment it counts they were lost.

For comparison look at Sammy Sanchez or even better, Basso. No nervous I wanna be in the front with the whole team to show I'm in control thing but just be there when it matters. I still consider that first stage time loss a case of very bad luck as nothing was gonna happen on that road like ever.

Also good for the accident rate.

 

[bicing]

Did you miss the part where I said 'Great, great sprint'? Go back and read my posts. Just because all Greipel fans hate Cavendish it does not follow that all Cavendish fans hate Greipel. André the Giant is a great sprinter and he more than deserves this win today.

However, if you don't think the parcours for the first 160km of the stage affected how fast Cav and Greipel went in the last 1km you are just plain wrong.

Wasn't clear that when you said "great sprint" you were referrng to Greipel's win or the spring in general. So good to hear that clarification.

I think the parcours had little to do with it and more the tactics of OPL because based on the parcours HTC definitely could have had a train to help Cav out.

 

[cineteq]

PG lost many more points to Cav today than he should . . .

In return, he made his teammate win

 

[Arnout]

Can someone also explain me why some teams (looking at you Leopard and BMC) have the "set the pace when we are clueless" as motto?

 

[auscyclefan94]

BMC were stuck on the front and they didn't want to give any time to Voeckler or Martin. I think it was more to do with positioning.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Great win for Greipel -

wish all these anti-whoever-sprinter posts would disappear. Can't people just be happy when their rider wins rather than taking more pleasure from others losing?

i would have liked to see an Ale-jet win today - if he did I wouldnt have screamed **** you OBH !!

 

[Arnout]

BMC were stuck on the front and they didn't want to give any time to Voeckler or Martin. I think it was more to do with positioning.

Someone went on the front when only Gilbert was out there.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

HTC might want to catch the break early to avoid a high pace on the small hills towards the finish. Could open up for new attacks.

And that took just enough juice out of Cavs legs, great riding by OPL!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Someone went on the front when only Gilbert was out there.

Beats me then!

 

[sultanofhyd]

People should stop reading too much into Contador's form. He may not be his Giro self riding himself away from others whenever he wished, but I am sure that he will ride away like that atleast on one MTF, hopefully Plateau de Beille.

 

[patrick767]

Is Hushovd still not being allowed by Vaughters to go for points? He finished well in 4th but once again he got nothing on the intermediate sprint. Was he just out of position to contest it? Cav, Rojas, and Gilbert were all in there picking up some points.

 

[cineteq]

Is Hushovd still not being allowed by Vaughters to go for points? He finished well in 4th but once again he got nothing on the intermediate sprint. Was he just out of position to contest it? Cav, Rojas, and Gilbert were all in there picking up some points.

I haven't seen JV tweet anything about Thor (even when he was wearing the yellow jersey)...

 

[hfer07]

gotta apreciate the fact that Greipel out sprinted Cav coming from behind-that's tough to do it, considering how fast is he in the last 100 meters... damn that was a great duel!!!

 

[sultanofhyd]

Is Hushovd still not being allowed by Vaughters to go for points? He finished well in 4th but once again he got nothing on the intermediate sprint. Was he just out of position to contest it? Cav, Rojas, and Gilbert were all in there picking up some points.

He doesn't have it in him anymore to contest and win the pancake flat finishes, and you can't win the jersey this year without being good on those. Cavendish was nowhere in any of the uphill finishes when Rojas and Gilbert were consistently picking up points but a couple of flat finishes and he is breathing down their necks and as someone said he could even take the jersey tomorrow.

Hushovd doesn't have it in him anymore to take the jersey under this year's rules.

 

[auscyclefan94]

gotta apreciate the fact that Greipel out sprinted Cav coming from behind-that's tough to do it, considering how fast is he in the last 100 meters... damn that was a great duel!!!

Also the fact that it is a downhill sprint which means you can open out from further out makes Greipels win all the more impressive. If he wasn't so badly positioned in Chateauroux he could of won.

 

[dlwssonic]

Im really happy for greipel that he finally won. and proved to cav that he is a great sprinter. cav must be ****ed that he got beaten today. what an exciting last 20km no one would have expected it. really inspiring when gilbert attacked with 16km left knowing that he didnt have much chance to make it.

 

[BM1979]

People should stop reading too much into Contador's form. He may not be his Giro self riding himself away from others whenever he wished, but I am sure that he will ride away like that atleast on one MTF, hopefully Plateau de Beille.

Cadel he probably will , Schlecks im not so sure about .

 

[dlwssonic]

People should stop reading too much into Contador's form. He may not be his Giro self riding himself away from others whenever he wished, but I am sure that he will ride away like that atleast on one MTF, hopefully Plateau de Beille.

nah i dont see him dropping andy, not with the injury and the fatigue. However andy might drop him.

 

[Carl0880]

Cadel he probably will , Schlecks im not so sure about .

A bunch of hte expert seem to think Contador will ahve towait till the Alps to attack but my thinking is that he will attack in the Pyrennes. My feeling is by the Alps the 6 weeks of Hard GT racing with created tiredness making him probably just to follow wheels. Before too much fatigue build up he will need to attack for his time, so I expect Luz Ardiden to see him attack, my personal feeling.

 

[ExRower]

did someone say sh*t small races?

 

[sultanofhyd]

Cadel he probably will , Schlecks im not so sure about .

Schlecklet's form hasn't looked any better than Contador's, even he missed the split today, not a big deal though. Frank looks good but he is never going to threaten Contador on GC.

 

[dlwssonic]

Schlecklet's form hasn't looked any better than Contador's, even he missed the split today, not a big deal though. Frank looks good but he is never going to threaten Contador on GC.

Andy looked quite strong on stage 8 and 9. However dont read into andys form too much.

 

[dlwssonic]

A bunch of hte expert seem to think Contador will ahve towait till the Alps to attack but my thinking is that he will attack in the Pyrennes. My feeling is by the Alps the 6 weeks of Hard GT racing with created tiredness making him probably just to follow wheels. Before too much fatigue build up he will need to attack for his time, so I expect Luz Ardiden to see him attack, my personal feeling.

I agree that he will be tired in the alps. But he is still recovering from the injury so im not sure if he can attack in the pyrennes.

 

[sultanofhyd]

A bunch of hte expert seem to think Contador will ahve towait till the Alps to attack but my thinking is that he will attack in the Pyrennes. My feeling is by the Alps the 6 weeks of Hard GT racing with created tiredness making him probably just to follow wheels. Before too much fatigue build up he will need to attack for his time, so I expect Luz Ardiden to see him attack, my personal feeling.

I think he will attack on every mountain stage, and as he said the question is how desperate is he for time? I'd say he won't spend too much of his energy attacking in the Pyrenees, but if he goes into the Alps without gaining any/negligible time on the Schlecks, he has to keep attacking till he (or Schleck) cracks. I don't think he'd risk that on the Pyrenees.

Ofcourse, he may smoke everyone on Luz Ardiden and get a minute back and all this talk will be moot.