2013 Tour de France, stage 18: Gap - Alpe-d'Huez, 172.5km

[coinneach]

I have ridden down the Sarenne descent in the rain and it was F*****g aweful. Mind you, that was 12 years ago (not racing, either)
You would have hoped they'd have resurfaced it by now.
I'd be understanding of that being cancelled in heavy rain

 

[Handbrake]

I rode down the Col du Sarenne yesterday and they were digging up and re asphalting large sections including one entire corner. Instill have bits of ashphalt stuck on my tyres. The road is very bumpy and narrow in many sections that will be interesting how the riders approach it even if it was dry. It's been raining steadily for the past hour in Venosc around 20kms away.

 

[spalco]

Hehehe, nice.

 

[H2OUUP2]

This is a joke right. They announced Alpe twice 8 months ago. Been shouting about it every week since then. Prudehomme has probably been creaming over it for a decade. They probably in 2011 were already working out exactly what the profile would look like. Its supposed to be the queen stage of the queen tour.

And only now, less than a day before the stage, they realize- oh ****, that descent looks dangerous and it might rain.

If they dont do every metre of that stage, CP should resign by the end of the day.

This!!

7 8 9 10

 

[Pippo_San]

They cancelled the Crostis descent, I can't see how they're going to race this ****.

Oh wait Riis & Velasco now have to gain time so it's all ok to race furiously, while at the Crostis time they just wanted to relax.

The sooner these guys quit cycling, the better (and I'm not even touching the obvious clinic things).

(that said, I hope they race, even under a snowstorm )

 

[Afrank]

..............

Glad to hear it. Would be an utterly stupid decision to cut the first ascent at this point.

 

[trevim]

I wish we have a good race, flat out from the start and please Froome don't win. Contador would be great, Nieve awesome and Kreuziger very nice.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Why is it that the same riders who put all sorts of crazy sh!t in their bodies so they can ride faster and harder are the same ones who complain about "rider safety" when it rains or when the descent is a bit tricky?

 

[Rajna31]

Hope for some fireworks tomorrow. Maybe long attack by Contador, Valverde or Rodriguez on first Alpe d' Huez ascent? Alberto will not be happy with 2nd and he can take more risk, I think. Who knows, maybe famous Sarenne descent will be used to distance the yellow jersey (but Contador's got to be careful because Sarenne will be less forgiving than Manse).

No way Purito attacks from more than 3km out.

 

[spalco]

Probably because they are the most highly paid riders, who have the most to lose financially from crashing, as well as having the largest fan bases who moan about their bad luck?
I mean, of course it sucks if a Peraud crashes out of the race, but how many people really care compared to Contador, Froome, Sagan, Valverde, Evans, etc.?

eta: whatever post I was commenting on disappeared apparently?

 

[Cimber]

Froome and Andy would like the stage to be shortened cos of the bad weather (surprise). Riis says he will be mad if they do. He says ppl just have to go slowly if they are scared and also refers to the incident yesterday when Froome accused Contador of being reckless saying "if its to fast for him he can just slow down".

http://www.bt.dk/cykling/riis-bliver-gal-hvis-alpe-dhuez-etape-forkortes

Sounds as if saxo got a party planned for tomorrow. Hopefully the stage wont be shortened

 

[Cimber]

..............

Best news of the day. Hopefully that's true

 

[BigMac]

Best news of the day. Hopefully that's true

Can you quote the entire comment you were responding to from Lupetto pls? All i see is ''.........................''

 

[Cyivel]

Can you quote the entire comment you were responding to from Lupetto pls? All i see is ''.........................''

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=1307486&postcount=67

 

[Cimber]

Can you quote the entire comment you were responding to from Lupetto pls? All i see is ''.........................''

You can always see it if you click on the little arrow next to the name in the quote (will take you back to the post that is quoted): but here it is

Ned Boulting ‏@nedboulting

JF Pescheux denies any possibility that tomorrow's stage will be shortened. Has no idea how these rumours started.

 

[Gugashwill]

I rode down the Col du Sarenne yesterday and they were digging up and re asphalting large sections including one entire corner. Instill have bits of ashphalt stuck on my tyres. The road is very bumpy and narrow in many sections that will be interesting how the riders approach it even if it was dry. It's been raining steadily for the past hour in Venosc around 20kms away.

Brand new asphalt is very dangerous if it's wet.
Also, the riders have reconnoitered the descent on the bad surface, the new one might be tempting.

 

[Cimber]

Look, those who don't want to ride it they can choose not to. No one is forcing them.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

J-Rod will win this stage easily.

 

[hfer07]

Froome goes full *** on the last Alpe d'Huez round & win it just 10 secs shy of Pantani's record....

 

[Cimber]

Froome goes full *** on the last Alpe d'Huez round & win it just 10 secs shy of Pantani's record....

He will falter in the rain, but not lose to much

 

[Nastyy]

Can't see what the problem is with the descent, just go slow and you will be fine. If you don't dare to go as fast as others who take more risks then that's your problem. It's a race ffs.

 

[royalpig180]

Can't see what the problem is with the descent, just go slow and you will be fine. If you don't dare to go as fast as others who take more risks then that's your problem. It's a race ffs.

This. It would be crazy if every descent in the tour were like this. Or maybe not, I guess descending skill would just be further emphasized in determining the winner. But I digress, anyway, I think this is absolutely right, bike racing is inherently dangerous and if Froome feels that the speed of others is too dangerous, he can slow down. He could do that and still win the overall comfortably as it is...

 

[King Of The Wolds]

that descend in rain...ugh it will be ugly as hell

Having watched the descent video, I genuinely fear for someone's life tomorrow if it rains.

 

[The Hitch]

Don't worry guys, it'll be an epic stage, since tomorrow I won't be able to watch it. This year all the time I couldn't watch a stage it turned out to be one of the best of the year

edit: it happened last year too, now that I mention it.

You must have watched the entire Giro then

 

[Cimber]

Rain, hail, fog, thunder, lightning and a lot of wind

http://vejret.tv2.dk/artikel/id-70156521:vildt-vejr-truer-tourfeltet-på-alpe-dhuez.html