2011 Tour de France Stage 13: Pau - Lourdes 156km

[Spider1964]

Obv stage tailor made for a breakaway... Simon Gerrans has been looking in decent shape... could be one for him this stage?

 

[Bala Verde]

Gilbert to collect the points at the end for the green, if he is still interested.

 

[theswordsman]

Cunego to attack on the climb and put on another descending show like last month.

 

[craig1985]

Is it possible to start in Pau, take in the Col de Marie-Blanque and finish on the Col d'Aubisque instead? How many KM would that be, 150-160km? It's no Großglockner, Zoncolan, and Gardeccia-Val di Fassa, but it would of been cool if they had done it this way instead of going into Lourdes.

How about Kreuziger? He is pretty far down on GC, but I will go for Casar, this has him name on it. I would have tipped Voeckler, but he's in yellow, whilst it is good for his team that he is wearing it, this could have been a perfect syage for him to win from a breakaway.

 

[Ragerod]

Hopefully Barredo is given the opportunity to go for it now Gesink is out of the mix.

 

[thehog]

Cunego to attack on the climb and put on another descending show like last month.

Sanchez to go with hm?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Is it possible to start in Pau, take in the Col de Marie-Blanque and finish on the Col d'Aubisque instead? How many KM would that be, 150-160km? It's no Großglockner, Zoncolan, and Gardeccia-Val di Fassa, but it would of been cool if they had done it this way instead of going into Lourdes.

How about Kreuziger? He is pretty far down on GC, but I will go for Casar, this has him name on it. I would have tipped Voeckler, but he's in yellow, whilst it is good for his team that he is wearing it, this could have been a perfect syage for him to win from a breakaway.

After the aubisque they could of gone to Argeles Argost and then to hautacam for an MTF but we are stuck with one of these stages.

 

[karlboss]

Levi is almost 8 minutes down, but that's about 6 minutes down on the contenders. He did okay today. Maybe he left something in the tank for tomorrow? He's a good descender.

If I was the hog my plan would be to get Zubeldia in an early break, then have Levi launch on the Col and try to catch him.

But, it will probably be a boring stage.

Is this the same leipheimer who lost 40 seconds to Frank Shleck down a hill at the tour de suisse?

 

[Bennyl]

The dynamic of the race will be interesting after yesterday. Although I don't think this stage will be like yesterday's mountain top finish, generally, the Schlecks will still be very wary of Alberto.

However, if Contador seems to be having a bad day, Cadel and Basso will have to cover the brothers 1-2 punches - an alliance will be needed, as they can not do it alone if Andy & Frank continue to ride like yesterday.

Cunego is an interesting case... will be very interesting to see how he fares after a few more days of climbs.

Andy is obviously obsessed and extremely wary of Alberto, however I do not think he is the walk-up-start no. 1 rider for the team, Frank seems really strong. Both of them however will need good time on Cadel, who rode very well and looked really comfortable.

Everyone has a bad day in the tour, its just a matter of how bad that is. Frank, Evans and Basso's bad day will see them lose minutes. If he was in top form Andy's bad day would not be as bad IMHO, however, i think there are still question marks on his form, it's good, but how good? If Alberto's injury is not that serious, he'll only get better and i'd say his bad day's have come and gone.

Of the teams, Leopard were very good yesterday. they stretched the field and the favourites early, which was all that was asked of them - Frank and Andy can look after themselves on the final climb, but there's no point everyone arriving there as fresh as daisies.

Saxo bank were quite good - i'd love to see Navarro in the same form he had last year though - he's a machine.

BMC are also great, and although will not climb as long and high as other favourites teams, they are giving there all - honest efforts and its more than Cadels ever had.

Szmyd was a machine yesterday for Ivan who looked as cool as a cucumber - very comfortable. Liquigas will be more of a player than I thought - cudos to them!

Looking forward to the remaining race - it is definitely more intriguing and exciting that last year and is set up really well for a nice tussle I hope. thats my 2 cents...

 

[Swede1]

Doesn't peter velits have a pretty fast finish? If the pace is high on aubisque and guys like hagen are dropped, maybe velits will win. He was strong today, but just very unlucky with the crash and flat tires. Who is faster in a sprint, gilbert or velits?

 

[thehog]

Yeah, not a great looking stage. At least its short though. Break to win.

I disagree. You're still in USPS thinking mode. They'd smash these stages from the 40km mark at such a tempo no one could attack.

It's steep this climb. I think we'll see some action. No one knows who to follow at this point and the Shleck's are almost as bad decenders as they are time trialers. Riders will be saving energy for Saturday so they won't lead.

There will be a shake up.

 

[Bennyl]

I disagree. You're still in USPS thinking mode. They'd smash these stages from the 40km mark at such a tempo no one could attack.

It's steep this climb. I think we'll see some action. No one knows who to follow at this point and the Shleck's are almost as bad decenders as they are time trialers. Riders will be saving energy for Saturday so they won't lead.

There will be a shake up.

I love the sentiment... great opportunity for Evans to gain some possible time on the decent maybe?

 

[greenedge]

Casar should be up there. Voeckler if he was not in yellow. Unless if he gets Rolland to shatter the peloton so he can attack. I think Chavanel will win. De Gendt would be good if not injured, so therefore Marcarto will try. Gerrans will try as well.

Cadel is a good descender but he won't try attack. Also SBS were not that strong, they did not contribute to pacesetting so much. CAS and Porte look better than the Spanish climbers.

 

[metya77]

What is the matter with Galimzyanov?

 

[Dedelou]

I disagree. You're still in USPS thinking mode. They'd smash these stages from the 40km mark at such a tempo no one could attack.

It's steep this climb. I think we'll see some action. No one knows who to follow at this point and the Shleck's are almost as bad decenders as they are time trialers. Riders will be saving energy for Saturday so they won't lead.

There will be a shake up.

It is steep and long enough for troubles to be created by somebody who can go like crazy in the downhill, go over the little steep hump that lays before arriving in Lourdes and stay away for the win. Perhaps the one Shleck you rested since the start?

 

[auscyclefan94]

I disagree. You're still in USPS thinking mode. They'd smash these stages from the 40km mark at such a tempo no one could attack.

It's steep this climb. I think we'll see some action. No one knows who to follow at this point and the Shleck's are almost as bad decenders as they are time trialers. Riders will be saving energy for Saturday so they won't lead.

There will be a shake up.

There was a similar stage to this of which USPS set a hard tempo until T-Mobile isolated Armstrong again and there was various groups going off the front. There was a select group that went over the top together but many people caught back on the descent.

If Phil Gilbert wants to win the green jersey he will want to score some points here.

 

[craig1985]

What is the matter with Galimzyanov?

I think the mountains were a bit too much for him. He's young though, I'm sure in time his climbing will get better in time.

 

[Gingerale]

I disagree. You're still in USPS thinking mode. They'd smash these stages from the 40km mark at such a tempo no one could attack.

It's steep this climb. I think we'll see some action. No one knows who to follow at this point and the Shleck's are almost as bad decenders as they are time trialers. Riders will be saving energy for Saturday so they won't lead.

There will be a shake up.

riders saving themselves for saturday and gc teams not wanting yellow doesn't that mean voeckler has a very good chance to keep the leader's jersey? it's steep but i can just see all of them marking each other again and an unexpected speedy descender getting away on the way up, maybe. that would be cool. wishful thinking for phillipe gilbert.

 

[Mr. O'Clock]

Leopard,,shack and garmin, as expecte. Looks like a TdF one two for the shlecks, as well as johann predicted for the shack, maybe a tt win for Levi, and a great tour for garmin.
Td in he top five in Paris, well done jonathomn. As expected!,!

 

[rainman]

Cav/ Greipel fight it out for mountain stage victory!
Only kidding, morning folks. Or afternoon if your down under.

 

[dlwssonic]

I suspect a breakaway to take it so it would be pretty boring. there hasnt even been a french win yet.

 

[AussieGoddess]

would it be possible for Samu to work together with Phil and distance the others in the descend? I mean, clearly these guys are the best descenders of those who can get over that climb. What kind of descend is it? The Tourmalet descend is pretty easy yet they took like 50 seconds on that descend alone.

Clearly neither of them are afraid to take risks.

yep agreed.

I think there is a chance that someone might take some risks to get away either just before the top or on the way down.

Look for Samu and Gilbert to work together - and maybe AC if he can get away.

this is a pretty dangerous stage for the Schleck brothers given their average descending skills. (Remember with chaingate AS lost not too much, but AC followed SS down the mountain and by the bottom AS was a lot further back)

 

[Sylvester]

60 to 70 riders to come in together to sprint for 6th or 7th. A stage for guys like Barredo, Casar, Riblon, Ten Dam... I hope Gorka Izagirre will be in the break, he might surprise some people as he's a decent climber, a great descender and a pretty good sprinter.

 

[phanatic]

If Gilbert goes for the Sprint points, that might leave the favorites at the front for the Aubisque, which could make for an interesting stage. Or has that been said already?
Edit: otherwise, I hope versus shows a lot of the area between Aubisque and Soulor, as I hear it's quite beautiful.

 

[sublimit]

Leopard,,shack and garmin, as expecte. Looks like a TdF one two for the shlecks, as well as johann predicted for the shack, maybe a tt win for Levi, and a great tour for garmin.
Td in he top five in Paris, well done jonathomn. As expected!,!

Levi has no chance against Cancellara or Tony Martin in the ITT, David Millar might also do a time.
TD looks to be doing well yes.