2012 Tour de France: Stage 4: Abbeville → Rouen (214.5km)

[Mellow Velo]

Like I thought nothing happened to Kruijswijk and Mollema (and Gesink btw). They were behind the crash, Kruijswijk was the first not to crash he said. Renshaw indeed was the one who crashed.

Good to know.
So far, touch wood, Gesink seems to be keeping well clear of any trouble.
Bodes well, if they are all unscathed.
Looking forward to them stirring things up in them there hills.
(goes for the Belgian boys as well)

 

[glassmoon]

I think you're reading a bit much into it. Plus, I think Sagan was significantly slowed by taking evasive action to avoid the crash which would have cost him a lot of energy to get back to the front.

true that.

 

[hrotha]

Oscar Freire caused yesterdays crash. I don't believe a word he says until it's confirmed by someone else in the peloton. Your description of three riders above sounds exactly like what he and Greipel did yesterday. Two were there one thought he could squeeze through (Freire) and took the one who did nothing wrong out. Thus crash ensues.

Or maybe it was the Vacansoleil rider allowing himself to be swallowed up by the pack from the middle instead of going to one of the sides.

 

[djlovesyou]

I reckon Galic is Wiggins' and the SKY team shrink. He seems to have an in-depth insight into Wiggins and the rest of the teams thought patterns, and can read their thoughts simply by looking at their faces.

You do realise that posting something you desperately hope will happen a thousands times, doesn't actually make it more likely to happen? You want Wiggins to flop, we all get that, but page after page of babbling on about all these reasons why it's going to happen is not going to influence the result.

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

I'm loving all this commentary! I want to see a big production movie, a classic british farse, made about this year at Team Sky. With Bradley Wiggins played by John Cleese! Damn that would be good entertainment...

Hoping all these rumors will implode in a future stage when Cav is doing a tremendous amount of support work for Wiggo...

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

 

[The Sheep]

https://twitter.com/KarstenKroon/status/220606554020380672

]Seconds after the massive pileup with 2k to go: Eisel: "Who's fault was that!" Farrar:" **** it was you Bernie!" Oops

Karsten Kroon heard something

 

[Christian]

I'm loving all the people suggesting Sky might be weaker than it appears and I desperately hope it's true ... but so far all I see is Wiggins getting a free ride from GreenEDGE, RSNT, FDJ for some reason and Lotto! ... and Cavendish STILL wins!

It's kind of a unique situation because to my understanding no team has ever had the number 1 sprinter and the number 1 GC rider in the same team. TWISI no other team should have to work. Sky wants sprint stage wins? They should have to work for it. Sky doesn't want sprint stage wins? They should still have to work so an outsider doesn't get 7 minutes on the peloton all of a sudden.

They are one man down but Wiggins will cruise to Paris because

- RNT are desperate
- GreenEdge are presumptuous
- Greipel has a big ego (rightfully so)

So far they have taken 0 responsibility considering they have the top sprinter and GC candidate but you can't even blame them, it's the other teams that are doing all the work for them ...

 

[burning]

Galic Ho; we get it, you want Wiggo and Sky fail miserably, no need to say this stuff 250 times

 

[DenisMenchov]

I'm loving all the people suggesting Sky might be weaker than it appears and I desperately hope it's true ... but so far all I see is Wiggins getting a free ride from GreenEDGE, RSNT, FDJ for some reason and Lotto! ... and Cavendish STILL wins!

It's kind of a unique situation because to my understanding no team has ever had the number 1 sprinter and the number 1 GC rider in the same team. TWISI no other team should have to work. Sky wants sprint stage wins? They should have to work for it. Sky doesn't want sprint stage wins? They should still have to work so an outsider doesn't get 7 minutes on the peloton all of a sudden.

They are one man down but Wiggins will cruise to Paris because

- RNT are desperate
- GreenEdge are presumptuous
- Greipel has a big ego (rightfully so)

So far they have taken 0 responsibility considering they have the top sprinter and GC candidate but you can't even blame them, it's the other teams that are doing all the work for them ...

I don't think other teams share your opinion. And rightfully so. Sagan has been the best sprinter so far, with Greipel and Cavendish close behind. So Lotto and Liqui have all right to chase the break. And there are people who actually won GTs, including this race, so I can't see why would they see Wiggins as no1 GC rider.

 

[cineteq]

They are one man down but Wiggins will cruise to Paris because

- RNT are desperate
- GreenEdge are presumptuous
- Greipel has a big ego (rightfully so)

How is heaven does this have to do with Wiggins cruising to Paris?

Galic Ho; we get it, you want Wiggo and Sky fail miserably, no need to say this stuff 250 times

I don't think he wants him to fail, he's just calling it black and white, what everybody's except fanboys don't want to see. You might be able to see it as soon as this coming weekend...

 

[Lanark]

It's kind of a unique situation because to my understanding no team has ever had the number 1 sprinter and the number 1 GC rider in the same team.

Telekom certainly did in 1996 and 1997.

 

[thehog]

Pillow talk gets you every time.... Looks like Cav has been telling the ball and chain things about Wiggo...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...el-outsprints-Alessandro-Petacchi-to-win.html


Todd, the mother of Cavendish’s three-month-old daughter Delilah Grace, said on Twitter: “That’s what happens when you take a man that is so harshly marked to the Tour without proper protection.”

Todd recently saw Cavendish involved in a bad crash during the Giro d’Italia when Robert Ferrari took him out with a dangerous move.

“This is people’s lives. If you have not got the intention of making sure you have the team to look after the world champion, don’t just wing it. He is just a man.”

 

[DenisMenchov]

Is there a little bad blood in Sky??? I just hope it doesn't rain, someone might get hurt.

 

[cineteq]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...el-outsprints-Alessandro-Petacchi-to-win.html

“This is people’s lives. If you have not got the intention of making sure you have the team to look after the world champion, don’t just wing it. He is just a man.”

I agree, he needs protection - Sky needs to protect him, Porte and Rogers need to be there for him...

 

[ferryman]

I'm loving all the people suggesting Sky might be weaker than it appears and I desperately hope it's true ... but so far all I see is Wiggins getting a free ride from GreenEDGE, RSNT, FDJ for some reason and Lotto! ... and Cavendish STILL wins!

It's kind of a unique situation because to my understanding no team has ever had the number 1 sprinter and the number 1 GC rider in the same team. TWISI no other team should have to work. Sky wants sprint stage wins? They should have to work for it. Sky doesn't want sprint stage wins? They should still have to work so an outsider doesn't get 7 minutes on the peloton all of a sudden.

They are one man down but Wiggins will cruise to Paris because

- RNT are desperate
- GreenEdge are presumptuous
- Greipel has a big ego (rightfully so)

So far they have taken 0 responsibility considering they have the top sprinter and GC candidate but you can't even blame them, it's the other teams that are doing all the work for them ...

and the number 1 GC rider in the same team
They are one man down but Wiggins will cruise to Paris

They don't, because Evans is and he won't because of the same. Don't be afraid of Sky and their English fan boys on here.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Was Gusev's time adjusted from previous days? Yesterday he was almost two minutes down in the GC and today he is in the top 20 all of a sudden. Unless i (and many with me) missed him coming in a minute before Greipel

And apparently, Jurgen Van Den Broeck injured his hand in the 2.8km crash... how sporza failed to report ANYTHING is beyond me.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Galic Ho; we get it, you want Wiggo and Sky fail miserably, no need to say this stuff 250 times

He is only countering the 250 wiggo fanboy rants on this forum

didn't see the stage, other then the crash doesn't seem like missed too much.

 

[goggalor]

Pillow talk gets you every time.... Looks like Cav has been telling the ball and chain things about Wiggo...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...el-outsprints-Alessandro-Petacchi-to-win.html


Todd, the mother of Cavendish’s three-month-old daughter Delilah Grace, said on Twitter: “That’s what happens when you take a man that is so harshly marked to the Tour without proper protection.”

Todd recently saw Cavendish involved in a bad crash during the Giro d’Italia when Robert Ferrari took him out with a dangerous move.

“This is people’s lives. If you have not got the intention of making sure you have the team to look after the world champion, don’t just wing it. He is just a man.”

Oooooh, I wonder if Cav has expressed these concerns to her or if they're entirely her own. Might be fun with some in-team drama, but not if it's as one sided as Astana 09. Cav seems to be pretty keen on seeing Wiggo in yellow though, and he got p*ssed the other day when a French journo was asking questions about a split in the team obviously trying to drum up some conflict.

 

[UlleGigo]

Mrs. Chav not impressed. To be fair to Sky having the likes of Rogers and co around him would only make things more dangerous.

 

[thehog]

Oooooh, I wonder if Cav has expressed these concerns to her or if they're entirely her own. Might be fun with some in-team drama, but not if it's as one sided as Astana 09. Cav seems to be pretty keen on seeing Wiggo in yellow though, and he got p*ssed the other day when a French journo was asking questions about a split in the team obviously trying to drum up some conflict.

Do you think a Page 3 girl worked this out herself?

Post coital bliss always sinks ships, loose lips.

 

[goggalor]

Do you think a Page 3 girl worked this out herself?

Post coital bliss always sinks ships, loose lips.

I can't see why not. I mean, this is cycling, not particle physics.

 

[webbie146]

Do you think a Page 3 girl worked this out herself?

Post coital bliss always sinks ships, loose lips.

Uhm she follows cycling and her husband. Don't act like she is stupid ore something She just gave her opinion which is fine.

 

[greenedge]

Congrats to Greipel. I thought Petacchi could have tried to get out of the slipstream earlier but he probably just wanted to conserve 2nd. Veelers is going well- he should have a role at more races.

I feel sorry for Cav crashing but i still think Greipel would have won.

 

[karlboss]

I see Matt Goss hasn't given up on Green. I would, he just doesn't have it.
Greipel and Cav are clearly faster and Sagan is taking all the stages tha Greipel and Cav can't make it to the finish of and has a good lead already. Greipel and Cav have a chance to catch Sagan, as there are loads of high scoring finishes to come and they can win the intermediates on some of the tough days, but Goss isn't quite there at the level of Greipel and Cav and if a pure sprinter is to win they need stage wins.

It's time to forget about intermediates, and concentrate on the finishes. Get Impey to try the early leadout, it's low percentage, but after these two finishes I don't think Goss can come over Greipel in the last 200.
Sprinters this year
Greipel=Cav>Goss>Host of others including Sagan.