2011 Tour de France Stage 11: Blaye-les-Mines Lavaur 167.5 km

[Anonymous]

a boring stage with roughly 1200 posts?

hint: 40 posts per page here, you guys should do the same imo its much better then moving from page to page every 2 posts . . .

I am on the 40 posts per page and just like "High Cadence" works like magic for somebody, 40 posts per page has worked wonders for me .

 

[Mambo95]

Cav vs Greipel, round 2. I think the HTC train rolls, Cav wins and takes the green jersey.

Round 4, surely? Round 5 if you count the stage Farrar won.

 

[Ramira]

i was just joking

Figured as much but might as well be clear (and in part to go along with your comment )

I am on the 40 posts per page and just like "High Cadence" works like magic for somebody, 40 posts per page has worked wonders for me .

you don't need to be stuck with 10ppp all you have to do is go to your user CP

Hmm I might consider changing it as well then, I usually run with max posts on a page anyway just never been bothered for some reason (same reason I just got an avatar for the first time (not counting the Wouter one) a few days ago)

 

[Tuarts]

I am on the 40 posts per page and just like "High Cadence" works like magic for somebody, 40 posts per page has worked wonders for me .

+1 (and 39 more )

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Cav vs Greipel, round 2. I think the HTC train rolls, Cav wins and takes the green jersey.

Agreed. Cav will be more motivated than the others. I wonder if the same will happen with Griepel, as what's seemingly happened with Farrar. He's got his win, so the edge and motivation has gone.

I think Gilbert will attack on the hill before the intermediate, but you'd have to think there's a limit to his attacking somewhere, even for him. Today probably took a lot out of him, even if it did buy his team a better chance of the stage.

 

[Cycling the Alps]

Climbs of today

Check out the last two easy climbs before the real work starts.
http://sites.cyclingthealps.com/worldtour/tour-de-france-2011

 

[El Pistolero]

With a peloton of pussies it will become a mass sprint.

With a peloton of Gilberts, it will be hell on earth. For Cav.

 

[Bromers]

Will Martin and Velits give 100% for the HTC train tomorrow or will they save something for stage 12?

 

[Ramira]

Will Martin and Velits give 100% for the HTC train tomorrow or will they save something for stage 12?

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Martin at least will take it easy to rest up for Stage 12 and I suppose the same would go for Velits. They might help a bit but I doubt they'll go to deep.

 

[just some guy]

Will Martin and Velits give 100% for the HTC train tomorrow or will they save something for stage 12?

They will do their jobs for the train

 

[Jamsque]

Round 4, surely? Round 5 if you count the stage Farrar won.

I was working by the old rule that it isn't a rivalry until both sides have won something. Until today, there was only Cav. Now, there is Cav and Greipel.

 

[La Vie Claire]

Rooting for Greipel, but the HTC train will be intact and hard to beat.

 

[70kmph]

Cav to cause a crash...

 

[Tuarts]

There is the whole Cav v Everyone Else rivalry which has simply born into fruition because he is so dominant but there are many other subset rivalries of that such as the Cavendish v Pettachi rivalry, Cavendish v Farrar, Cavendish v Greipel, Cavendish v Kenny van Hummel.

*that last one may not be necessarily true ;-)

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Read bits of today's stage thread at work this afternoon with a mixture of frustration and amusement.

There really are some serious haters around here.

Griepel wins fair and square in rather tortured circumstances, but without sprinting a great deal faster than Thor Hushovd, and instantly half this board wants to believe he's suddenly on a par with Cav, who once again is purely the product of a sprint train and not that great on his own (cross reference Bourdeaux & Paris last year for confirmation...).

Frankly, I'll be surprised if he doesn't win by 3 bike lengths or more.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Round 4, surely? Round 5 if you count the stage Farrar won.

Nah, you're forgetting that a Cav win is a tedious non event, whilst any time he gets beaten it's extremely exciting, and usually a definitive statement on who is fastest. Pay more attention!

 

[Ramira]

Frankly, I'll be surprised if he doesn't win by 3 bike lengths or more.

I reckon you're in for quite a surprise then. He's the absolute favourite but he's not going to win by 3 bike lengths over the likes of Greipel and Farrar.

 

[El Pistolero]

Nah, you're forgetting that a Cav win is a tedious non event, whilst any time he gets beaten it's extremely exciting, and usually a definitive statement on who is fastest. Pay more attention!

Yes Cav can win without a train, but most of his wins were tedious non events with a few exceptions here and there. He benefits from a very strong team and to be honest, I'm pretty sure he'd win a lot less if he didn't have a team like HTC.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I reckon you're in for quite a surprise then. He's the absolute favourite but he's not going to win by 3 bike lengths over the likes of Greipel and Farrar.

What, like he did last year after a slow start? On form he can destroy all these guys, if his fitness is anywhere near then today is likely to spur him on.


Try watching this from 6 minutes onwards -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K_1Dnl0mdA

3 bike lengths was a significant underestimate if gets anywhere near that.

 

[Boardslide]

Read bits of today's stage thread at work this afternoon with a mixture of frustration and amusement.

There really are some serious haters around here.

Griepel wins fair and square in rather tortured circumstances, but without sprinting a great deal faster than Thor Hushovd, and instantly half this board wants to believe he's suddenly on a par with Cav, who once again is purely the product of a sprint train and not that great on his own (cross reference Bourdeaux & Paris last year for confirmation...).

Frankly, I'll be surprised if he doesn't win by 3 bike lengths or more.

+1 Especially if it's pan flat unlike anything we've had so far. I thought today he did far more than was expected by many posters on here who thought he'd be dropped on the climbs. Also he's contesting both sprints where Griepel & Farrar aren't. this must be having some effect as per his twitter:-

"At least we're making up ground for the Green Jersey. Maybe the intermediate sprints are dampening my kick, but I'd love to wear it in Paris"

 

[BYOP88]

Another stage where 5-6(with at least 2 french) riders get in a break get about 6 minutes on the peloton, but get picked up with 20-30km left, a few riders counter the catch and make the sprinters teams chase that little bit longer but then it all comes together for a field sprint, which Cav wins, YAWN YAWN YAWN. Couldn't they have made this a 50km ITT(I'm guessing they didn't cos the Schlecks would be screwed) so the GC contenders had to do some work before stage 12's jaunt to the mountains.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yes it takes too long to the mountains. But ok, one more day of suffering boredom

 

[will10]

Would be great at some point to see a Grand Depart in Bordeaux or something, so we can get straight into the Pyrenees with less flat stages in the first week Then a diversion up through the Massif Central, then back to the Alps

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Nah, you're forgetting that a Cav win is a tedious non event, whilst any time he gets beaten it's extremely exciting, and usually a definitive statement on who is fastest. Pay more attention!

A Cav win where he has to forage for himself or fights over obstacles that we didn't expect him to can be an exciting event.

A barrelled fish shoot as most sprints where everybody lets HTC dictate terms for the last 50km then just get inevitably blown away are, is a tedious non event.

 

[mr. tibbs]

The only shot this stage has for excitement is if Jens is given free rein or Chavanel suddenly comes to life.

Thursday will be interesting though. I can't wait to watch such notable climbers as Jens and Cancellara inexplicably dropping guys like Gesink and Moncoutie in the mountains.