2013 Tour de France, stage 16: Vaison-la-Romaine - Gap 168Km

[sultanofhyd]

is there anyone on this field capable of attacking at the base of climb and holding on till the finish?

 

[VeloHuman]

Whatever happens I expect to see someone from OGE near the top. If it's a break, Clarke has said he is here at the Tour to get into breakaways and he has yet to really achieve much. Gerrans could get into the break, or he could finish highly if it's a pack finish.

 

[murali]

I was having a serious query. (which excludes your suggestion)

any real rider who desperately needs to somehow get stage win?

 

[Alpechraxler]

Whatever BMC does they should just let Morabito ride his own Tour. He could be in the Top 15 and seems to be the only one on form.

 

[Afrank]

I was having a serious query. (which excludes your suggestion)

any real rider who desperately needs to somehow get stage win?

Voeckler/Rolland, maybe Quintana (but he'll be chased). Taaramae, Cunego, Hesjedal (if he had the form that is), Clarke, De Gendt as wildcard bets. Depends how much leash the other teams would give the rider as well.

 

[Hugo87]

Paulinho could repeat his victory here in Gap ( he smashed Kiryenka) would be sweet.

But Voeckler and Pinot must do something, hopefully they are both in the breakaway.

 

[Richeypen]

Surely its time for Gilbert to try something, unless BMC want him to help Cadel protect 16th place

 

[Alpechraxler]

Think about Morabito.. Helped TJ on stage 8 +12 sure could just be +3 Then up ventoux +8 could also be +3 so that makes 14 min too much. Which would put him in front of Evans. BMC

 

[manafana]

Orica will play a good card, hoping french can bloody get involved.

 

[postmanhat]

Orica will play a good card, hoping french can bloody get involved.

None of them look up to do anything in the bigger stages this year Would love to see them go ballistic tomorrow

 

[Jelantik]

Contador should ally with quintana. Outlast mollema and Froome. Just like contador, Quintana is the only one who's crazy enough to still think that he can leapfrog Froome. Mollema and belkin most likely will sucked wheel his 2nd position. He won't do anything other than follow froome. I hope some one topple them out of the top 5.

 

[manafana]

thinking orica will want say in this stage too . Cannondale surely interested in helping out as well.

 

[the sceptic]

any chance for bad weather?
maybe Froomes SRM will malfunction and he will get lost

 

[Publicus]

belkin may not allow Contador to do a long range attack.

BMC desperately need a stage win, orica and opqs are hungry for more; and my main man Voeckler hasn't won a stage yet.

but the way the spineless sky ride, break will gain 6+ min.


There is one thing for sure in last years tour. sky at least appeared in control of things.

This is the crap that I am not looking forward to seeing. Race for the win or don't race. Racing to maintain a podium position instead of looking to chip in and put time into Froome will kill whatever excitement folks thinks will come in the final week of the Tour.

 

[King Boonen]

Contador should ally with quintana. Outlast mollema and Froome. Just like contador, Quintana is the only one who's crazy enough to still think that he can leapfrog Froome. Mollema and belkin most likely will sucked wheel his 2nd position. He won't do anything other than follow froome. I hope some one topple them out of the top 5.

Quintana and Contador are racing each other, there's not going to be any alliance there.

 

[Afrank]

None of them look up to do anything in the bigger stages this year Would love to see them go ballistic tomorrow

How about Chavanel? In the break yesterday, most aggressive award. Plus has got a couple top 10's this Tour. I'd say he's got a good shot at taking a win from the break here. Kadri and Vichot haven't been looking too bad either.

Hopefully the big name French riders like Voeckler, Rolland, and Chavanel go in the break tomorrow. Would personally like to see Gallopin and Simon go for it as well.

 

[Afrank]

any chance for bad weather?
maybe Froomes SRM will malfunction and he will get lost

I'm sure making their electronics waterproof are a big part of Sky's marginal gains, and for Froome especially more then any other rider.

 

[karlboss]

Another chance to leave Froome behind, perhaps more so as it doesn't look like it.

 

[Rajna31]

Contador should ally with quintana. Outlast mollema and Froome. Just like contador, Quintana is the only one who's crazy enough to still think that he can leapfrog Froome. Mollema and belkin most likely will sucked wheel his 2nd position. He won't do anything other than follow froome. I hope some one topple them out of the top 5.

Quintana might be crazy about leapfrogging Froome, but at least he is the one (along with Nieve) who could attack him in any way or form on an MTF stage. Contador has not come close to that, I don't see what how they could ally and what advantage would Quintana gain from it other than the descents. Even if they succeeded, Quintana would stay behind Contador in the GC when he clearly is in better shap, that's definetely not his goal. And as others have already noted, they are not allies since they're both serious contenders for 2nd.

 

[uconnryan]

Seriously if Gilbert doesn't win tomorrow.........(insert funny "I will" joke)

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

This is the crap that I am not looking forward to seeing. Race for the win or don't race. Racing to maintain a podium position instead of looking to chip in and put time into Froome will kill whatever excitement folks thinks will come in the final week of the Tour.

This. Completely agree. Racing to maintain your 2nd or 3rd place is boring, but understandable from a sponsorship point of view.

 

[auscyclefan94]

This is the crap that I am not looking forward to seeing. Race for the win or don't race. Racing to maintain a podium position instead of looking to chip in and put time into Froome will kill whatever excitement folks thinks will come in the final week of the Tour.

I disagree. Getting on the podium for a team like Belkin is a big deal and is also important for Mollema personally. Of course they would want to maintain there position knowing they can't beat Froome. For a former winner like Contador, it is different.

 

[Publicus]

I disagree. Getting on the podium for a team like Belkin is a big deal and is also important for Mollema personally. Of course they would want to maintain there position knowing they can't beat Froome. For a former winner like Contador, it is different.

I understand all of that. As far as Belkin is concerned, they've gotten GREAT exposure so I'm not concerned in the least about that. As for Mollema, if he wants to follow Contador that's fine (it will force Sky to chase). What I don't want is for them (Belkin) to take over Sky's job, effectively neutralizing any opportunity (be it Contador, Quitana or whoever) for an exciting GC battle (as exciting as it can be under current circumstances). Obviously teams will have to race their own race for their own objectives. As a viewing fan, I hope for exciting racing (and racing to maintain podium positions isn't very exciting IMO).

 

[Lance Armstrong]

This. Completely agree. Racing to maintain your 2nd or 3rd place is boring, but understandable from a sponsorship point of view.

Depends on point of view. If they will ever find something in Froome's blood, then basically this is fight for TDF victory

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I think Gasparotto and Lutsenko will both do very well today from Astana, but Chavanel is probably hungry for a victory, so a breakaway win form him