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

[phanatic]

Pau-Lourdes would have been an excellent ITT right between two massive mountain stages.
edit: that was meant to be a response to Mellow Velo

 

[Amsterhammer]

The only way anyone could have been disappointed or even bored by today's racing is if they're over-concentrating their attention on that handful of riders that is in with a serious chance of yellow in Paris.

If you actually watched today's stage without any preconceptions of what you expected to happen, you saw all sorts of marvelous, bizar, heroic, and even epic efforts from a number of 'lesser' gods........and then there was THOR!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself today, apart from hearing boos for Thor on the line, and I really didn't give a toss what the big boys 8 minutes behind in the peleton were doing - or not. All those thirsting for GC fireworks are likely to get what they want tomorrow.

 

[mr. tibbs]

The only way anyone could have been disappointed or even bored by today's racing is if they're over-concentrating their attention on that handful of riders that is in with a serious chance of yellow in Paris.

If you actually watched today's stage without any preconceptions of what you expected to happen, you saw all sorts of marvelous, bizar, heroic, and even epic efforts from a number of 'lesser' gods........and then there was THOR!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself today, apart from hearing boos for Thor on the line, and I really didn't give a toss what the big boys 8 minutes behind in the peleton were doing - or not. All those thirsting for GC fireworks are likely to get what they want tomorrow.

Yeah, this booing is out of hand. First Contador and now Thor.

It was a killer ride today by him. He did almost mess it up during the chase with Moncoutie, but I'm assuming he eventually took out his earpiece and stopped listening to JV.

And then hammer = dropped.

Also, le Roi est mort, vive le Roy!!

 

[goggalor]

Great ride by the fourth "most wheelsucker in the peloton", eh? And in the World Champs jersey, wow, beautiful win! Gutsy ride by Roy. Again. Moncoutie did what he had to do.

Now the French have three of 4 jerseys... but no stage wins.

 

[sublimit]

Thor rode well, getting into the break must of been tough because of the fast start, a steady climb and a flawless descent but it would of been nice to see some action from behind.

When Boom was shot out the back early on - that was probably the highlight for me. (only kidding)

 

[Deagol]

LOL Hushovd you idiot

This illustrates the pitfall of being to opinionated in a public forum. I am guessing Thor knows bike racing better than any of us here.

 

[jens_attacks]

i want to see the last 10 km on norwegian tv.

what a magnificent ride by thor.

 

[Anonymous]

Pau/Tarbes/Briancon and now Lourdes. Historical homes to the Tour's annual: "Let's put a finish miles from a massive climb, and have a really pointless stage."
(so maybe a random French guy can save our blushes)

This.............

 

[goggalor]

Was Thor really booed at the finish? That's a new low, if so.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Was Thor really booed at the finish? That's a new low, if so.

As far as I could tell, not massively, but boos were definitely audible.

 

[Archibald]

As far as I could tell, not massively, but boos were definitely audible.

probably upset that he finished of Roy and Moncoutie?

either that or Cav fans...

 

[maltiv]

Was Thor really booed at the finish? That's a new low, if so.

I thought Hushovd was quite popular in France, given that he speaks French and was on a french team for 8 years. Booing when your countrymen doesn't win is just unacceptable behaviour, luckily most people cheer for everyone but there are some idiots out there.

 

[fezzer]

i want to see the last 10 km on norwegian tv.

what a magnificent ride by thor.

http://www.tv2.no/sport/sykkel/tdf/se-paasche-og-kaggestad-kommentere-innspurten-3540210.html

Don't know if it's viewable from other countries, though

And this is filmed from the inside of the commentator box in the last k.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

wow!

(pointless characters)

 

[Gingerale]

didn't see the entire stage, only the ending.

what a heartbreaker for roy!

nice win thor. but poor roy, out all day (again) and doesn't get the win

but the breakaway and late attack saves the stage from being completely dull. good day for contador to rest though.

top GC riders did exactly what i thought - nothing.

 

[sublimit]

probably upset that he finished of Roy and Moncoutie?

either that or Cav fans...

Cav fans are not like that. Probably some hacked off French fans.

They should be booing the idiot that devised such a useless stage. That was like a rest day for the main riders- that's great for them but hopeless for the spectators.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Moncoutie rode like a complete idiot today.

No kidding! I love how he worked with him for a little while and then thought, "oh, wait a minute . . ."

 

[patrick767]

Contador appears to be weak at the moment. It's insane to give him a chance to recover.

Just because no one does crap in stages like this anymore that doesn't mean you can't do anything in stages like this. The parcours was perfect for the purposes of getting rid of a weakened contender.

Exactly. Give it a go and see what happens. If they can't gap Contador or Evans, they can always lay off, but if they can get a significant gap before the summit. they can fly down the mountain and across the last 15km flat forcing whoever's gapped to work hard to catch up.

Of course they didn't bother. I guess that's regarded as too risky these days.

 

[Anonymous]

On twitter :-
jeremyroy Jeremy Roy :
Incroyable journée, poussé encore par un incroyable public. Cruelle désillusion mais il y a pire dans la vie. #TDF je suis ko debout

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Cav fans are not like that. Probably some hacked off French fans.

They should be booing the idiot that devised such a useless stage. That was like a rest day for the main riders- that's great for them but hopeless for the spectators.

Are you kidding? I've seen Cavendish fans begging for Thor to crash on a descent when he was doing his epic solo breakaway in 2009, even despite Jens' faceplant the previous day. Talking about how great it would be to see him go off on a corner and have to retire through injury.

Many of Cav's fans are thoroughly reasonable people. Some of them are classless ******s.

I guess the man maketh the fans - Cav is often thoroughly reasonable and a decent guy. Sometimes, he's a classless ******.

 

[Dedelou]

Pau/Tarbes/Briancon and now Lourdes. Historical homes to the Tour's annual: "Let's put a finish miles from a massive climb, and have a really pointless stage."
(so maybe a random French guy can save our blushes)

wasn't pointless for Thor , Roy, Gilbert, and Rojas. And totally relevant for Voekler and for his jersey

 

[Cimber]

Am so gutted for Roy. Would really have wanted him to win that.

 

[Trofinios]

The French sure do suck with their boo'ing. I dont care for them at all.

Understandable. God of Thunder Thor winning in Lourdes must have been seen as blasphemy.

 

[spalco]

Of course they shouldn't have chased.

They should have put Cancellara or Voigt in the break, then have their teammates blow up the peloton in the first half of the Aubisque, hopefully isolating Contador, then they should have gone all out in an attempt to eliminate him for good. Bonus points if they catch Evans or anyone else.

Contador appears to be weak at the moment. It's insane to give him a chance to recover.

Just because no one does crap in stages like this anymore that doesn't mean you can't do anything in stages like this. The parcours was perfect for the purposes of getting rid of a weakened contender.

I like your thinking. Why didn't you become a DS?

 

[Cimber]

Of course they shouldn't have chased.

They should have put Cancellara or Voigt in the break, then have their teammates blow up the peloton in the first half of the Aubisque, hopefully isolating Contador, then they should have gone all out in an attempt to eliminate him for good. Bonus points if they catch Evans or anyone else.

Contador appears to be weak at the moment. It's insane to give him a chance to recover.

Just because no one does crap in stages like this anymore that doesn't mean you can't do anything in stages like this. The parcours was perfect for the purposes of getting rid of a weakened contender.

They tried that yesterday and they just isolated the brothers, who only had Voigt left while Contador had 4 in the bottom of Luz (CAS, DAniel, Jesus and Richie). So unless Monfort and Fuglsang pick up their game I dont think they will be able to isolate Contador early.