2013 Tour de France, Stage 3: Ajaccio - Calvi 146 Km

[Lil_Tommy_V]

Mollema to crank it up the last climb

 

[xrayvision]

Interesting finish. Would not be surprised if Purito will try something to see if he can gain some time before the TTT.

Small group, 30 guys tops, a walk over for Sagan.

 

[xrayvision]

Yes... Tirreno and the Tour are the same.
Where was he on the last climb today?

Eh? What?

Hilarious Please continue...

 

[Dazed and Confused]

yellow to change hands again, its pretty likely.

Bakelants is strong, it will take a significant climber team to get rid of him on the last hill. Maybe Garmin, which then have to hope Millar can hang around, because I think both Kwia and EBH can (or they can bridge on the descent).

BMC could hammer really hard too and let Evans sprint in the end to see where that lands him placement wise.

There will be GC action, but will it be behind a break? Thats the issue I think.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Bakelants is strong, it will take a significant climber team to get rid of him on the last hill.

I wonder if he'll be recovered from all the interviews he gave last night. Otherwise he might do a Mark Wauters and get dropped early in yellow.

 

[SKSemtex]

I think this is going to be one awesome stage with some GC real climbing. I just hope Sagan will be with the best till last climb. Even if he loose some seconds on it he might have some chance to get them back on descent. I am sure he will go nuts there if he needs to.

 

[Ferminal]

Yes, Bakelants can actually climb. With only 2km of steep stuff the only likely way he drops is if someone big attacks or Porte goes 98% for the whole section.

 

[Ryaguas]

Thomas calls it... the fall left him really touched... That sucks would have been really nice to check his progression in this Tour...

 

[nesocip]

Thomas calls it... the fall left him really touched... That sucks would have been really nice to check his progression in this Tour...

Although Thomas is probably the only Sky rider i like, i must say this is good for the race.

 

[Ryaguas]

Although Thomas is probably the only Sky rider i like, i must say this is good for the race.

mmmm why?

 

[Jan the Man]

Indeed disappointing. He and Kiryenka are the two Sky riders whom i like.

 

[Cimber]

Thomas calls it... the fall left him really touched... That sucks would have been really nice to check his progression in this Tour...

Ouch, is he is oficially out? Sucks

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Although Thomas is probably the only Sky rider i like, i must say this is good for the race.

There are other uber strong teams in this tour. Taking out Thomas will have little impact on the script.

Its still Froome vs Spanish Armada (led by Contador) vs zombie Schleck vs JV's chaos tactics.

 

[phanatic]

It's incomparable.
If he's such a good rider on these kind of climbs, why didn't he target Amstel or LBL?
Don't say: "He targeted cobbles", 'cause it's not the reason.
It simply isn't his cup of tea.

Also, Switzerland isn't France in July.

I just wanted to post a few links for anyone that didn't know:
Sagan did target Amstel, and he skipped Paris-Roubaix in order to do this. He didn't do well in Amstel this year, but you can see him finishing third last year in impressive fashion.

 

[theyoungest]

Thomas calls it... the fall left him really touched... That sucks would have been really nice to check his progression in this Tour...

I don't think this has been confirmed? He just went to the hospital for another checkup.

 

[webvan]

Probably means that Froome will go even more ballistic on these last climbs. Dude's going to have nothing left in the tank come the third week!

 

[manafana]

Albasini and Gerrans have this stage as a target during the tour.But i think Sagan will hang on for this today?

Yeah Orica love these type of stages surely one those two gets involved.

Sad if thomas is now out of the reckoning.

 

[veji11]

I believe after Ajaccio's failure, where the Cannondale team failed to bring a late attack to heel and Bakelandts got the win, lots of strong Classic-type riders will have smelled blood and realised that on such stages Sagan has a weak team and is therefore beatable if attacked.

With that in mind and knowing that today's stage will be a really hard one, very nervous with lots of turning roads going up and down all the time, I think Sagan needs to be aggressive. His team's job will be to try to get the peloton to the last hill in one piece or just behind the breakaway, and then he should follow attacks and collaborate.

I would'nt be surprised if this stage saw a high quality breakaway anyway, and I think it is quite possible the breakaway gets the win.

What I hope is that in that last climb we will see big attacks from the punchers like Gilbert and co.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

We'll have confirmation on Thomas pretty soon given the early start today to allow for the transfer tonight.

 

[Cimber]

Having tested his legs out yesterday Froome will ignore team instructions again and go full **tard from the bottom of the final climb, time trialling over the top and down to the finish with Porte and taking 5 min out of the rest by the finish. Tour over.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll63/VelvetHammer1960/never-go-full-***.jpg

 

[Carstenbf]

Yeah Orica love these type of stages surely one those two gets involved.

Yeah, just wonder if they brought their secret weapon again.

pic.twitter.com/ZCf3TkeJ7Y

 

[JRanton]

Thomas is starting today's stage (via GF)

 

[JRanton]

Read a rumour elsewhere that Cav has been on antibiotics for the last 5 days.

 

[Liquigas]

Team Sky should go full gas on the final climb. Given that Contador is not comfortable (admitted by himself) after first stage fall, maybe they could drop him and if Froome is feeling so good why not trying it. You never know, getting 30 seconds on Contador today could mean winning or not the Tour.

 

[JRanton]

owenslotTheTimes ‏@owenslot now

Just watched Geraint Thomas attempt to swing his leg over his bike. Took two attempts and eventually required assistance. V painful