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2012 Tour de France: Stage 6: Épernay → Metz (207.5km)

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Escarabajo said:
The crash happened at the back of the peloton, and as you know, if you are a GC contender you have to be at the front of the peloton. So there is more than just luck to the crashes. Just saying. Having said that, I also hate to see GC contenders go down.

Yeh right. That's why the first group consisted out of like 30-40 riders?
 
Jun 25, 2012
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As I perdicted, the only thing we could be sure of was. Mass Crashes on todays stage..

Its abit sad however, to see some of the darkhorses losing their tour already.
 
profff said:
bright idea from rabobank not to send any GC contender at Giro and put all the eggs in the same basket at tour de france.
now gesink , mollema and kruswijik all almost out of competition
I am very happy for the team management, that it is always a benchmark in cycling.

Allthough I think they should've send atleast 1 contender to the Giro I don't agree with you.
Last year everyone was telling Rabo how much they failed by betting on Gesink and now they bring 2 more leaders and it's wrong again.
It's just bad luck. Mollema never crashes and today he was also on ground and looking like sh*t.
 
Lanark said:
More like 80.

Ok, but I'm sure a lot of them were also affected by the crash, but not held back too badly and managed to return.
Besides that I wonder what people expect? Should Lampre, Rabobank and all the other GC contender teams set up a train like BMC does every stage. I'm sure that will result in crashes every 10 minutes.

Actually it might be a better idea for teams like BMC and Sky to get lost at the front and leave the first 50 positions for sprinters and their helpers. It's obviously not going to happen as being at the front obviously helps, but it's not possible for everyone to be at the front. For example Mollema can been seen in the top30 almost all the time, but he crashed as well today. It's just not possible.
 
Jun 8, 2011
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http://blog.paf.com/ratta-rambo/201...n-pundis-lolle-ja-kui-palju-onne-uhel-lollil/

Pictures about Julien Fouchard on Taaramäe's blog.

He says that the crash happened while riding 65-70km/h and he had to tuck his head apparently from the bikes.. He punctured 15km from the finish and was basically pushed by Dumoulin and di Gregorio till the 3km mark so he would get the same time.

After the crash, he was distance with Horner and Gallopin by like 200m and they time-trialled their way back.

Does anybody want me to translate the full blog?
 
Jul 23, 2009
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Roude Leiw said:
Who of the real contenders is out this evening? i think actually none, schleck said himself that he doesn't want to be team captain, gesink? TGBM ? top 10 perhaps, but that is still possible for them, i don't think that more (ie podium was a legit goal)
frenchies are whining the most with perraud and rolland, but even them, i think top ten maybe, but still possible. if they finish 1 min or 15 min down on wiggo as 9th, what real difference does it make....

Definitely agree on Schleck - his teammates got his head into the race temporarily but no way was he going to be a factor, especially with another 5minutes (or more) he is going to lose in the TTs. Only Hesjedal, Scarponi and perhaps Valverde, but they were still only really podium contenders.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Oh laws, this sucks for the gc fight.

Even easier for wiggo now. Not because the elimination of certain riders, but because of the threat they pose which cold send him into the red in the mountains. Now he has even more leverage, this just sucks.

Man I like the tour less and less each year.

Terrible course design, early mountain stage FFS!!

Such a bad day for Dutch cycling. Gawd I hope gesink does giro vuelta next year.
 
iZnoGouD said:
basso wins tour

2005

on topic, Sagan seems unbeatable when the big dogs falter. If he continues to improve, some day he's going to win half the stages of a GT. And I'm glad that so many of the favorites have made it to the first mountain stage unscathed, though it's a pity about Ryder, Frank and Rabobank. It seems the sprinters have fared worse this year, where last year was the GC contenders.
 
Jun 8, 2011
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"Stage VI (totally f***ed how there are so many morons in the bunch and how much luck one could have)

Day: 207km, flat but nervy because there was a decent amount of wind. From km 0 there was a lot of pushing and everyone went full gas. The highlights of the day were the falls and there we alot of them. In the second to last crash, 60km before the finish, the road got really narrow on the uphill and riders everybody were blocking their wheels. I managed to break too, but I felt how a lot of others smashed each other and fell.

This was followed by some more pushing and shoving and I was around the 80th place, where about 25km from the finish everybody crashed big on the downhill. The only thing I remember was, that I tucked my head, because otherwise an other bike would've crashed into me. I luckily survived the crash (at speed 65-70km/h) and got into a little bunch with me, Gallopin and Horner - all very good time trial riders. The gap between the bunch was about 200m and even by giving it our all it took us 6km to take back that 200m.

When we catched the bunch I was like in a coma (that's an exact translation, don't know how to put it..), but after a few breathers I felt ok again, because it is very easy to ride in the back!

15km from the finish by backwheel punctured and damnit, I thought, f**k, it's over now. But I digged all in and my teammates di Gregorio and Dumoulin' pushed me. Through a miracle we got to the 3km mark and I raised my hand. I showed the referees that my tire was punctured and I got a nod for "yes" and got my ending time the same as the others. So much for today.

Some words about the idiots: I don't know how the crashes happen, I've never organized something that dangerous in the bunch. But some riders block their brakes in 70km/h for every little fly they see. Morons. Now the first and the psycho week is over and the tour is just starting for me. And in the overall I'm in position....
Tomorrow I need every Estonian to wish me luck, because the stage ends on a 7km and a steep mountain. There it will be clear, how others stand. I think, I'm ready! In the start I also posted some pictures about my teammate Fouchard, who came into the bus with a wide smile and threw some jokes!"



It's pretty hard work to translate him because he uses alot of slangs that are really untranslatable..
 

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