2013 Tour de France, Stage 7: Montpellier→Albi (206 km)

[Boardslide]

I wouldn't say unbelievable. It was quite clear they targeted this stage, an easy guess considering they don't have a GC contender and tomorrow's the great day!

You don't really understand the subtleties of English do you, unbelievable = outstanding, really good.

 

[Gloin22]

Why bother giving EBH a train anyway? lol

The guy is not fast enough, the best he can get is to try and grab Cavendish's wheel and just stay on it as long as possible. That the method he got 2nd few days ago and 2nd in Champs-Élysées few years back.

I remember when Sky gave him a train in Tour of Norway. He used it to perfection :lol:

 

[dgodave]

Was just about to write how ugly I thought it was.

Albi Cathedral is like early medieval brutalism.
.
And it continues on the inside with a horrifying last judgement fresco, in which sinners get their due.
.

 

[maltiv]

Why bother giving EBH a train anyway? lol

The guy is not fast enough, the best he can get is to try and grab Cavendish's wheel and just stay on it as long as possible. That the method he got 2nd few days ago and 2nd in Champs-Élysées few years back.

I'm talking about today's stage, Cavendish wasn't there. He's beaten Sagan head to head in a sprint before, and although Sagan would win at least 4 out of 5 times it would've been worth it to give him at least one guy to assist him so he could've had a chance. On his own he can't do a ****.

Even Simon Gerrans has beaten Sagan in a sprint so it's not like it's impossible...

 

[ToreBear]

Brailsford to Procycling.no: "We never considered helping Edvald in the sprint. If we had given him a sprint train, and Froome had lost 10 seconds, we would have looked stupid".

That makes sense. I'm sure Froome would have gotten dropped by the peloton immediately if they had given EBH a guy to help him out. Brailsford is such a tactical genius.

I think any sprint train was planned to include G. I don't know how able the others are in this role. Specially in the tour were things are more aggressive. Today they might conceivably have used Kennaugh. But the question with him is whether he could A, do the job, B not end up crashing and taking EBH with him. That is too high a risk IMHO.

I remember the tour de suisse where Kristoff was given a little help, but those guys were totally off on positioning. I think Katusha has an Austrian kid who helped him in de panne or something, and he seemed quite good. Anyway, I think it takes a bit more to do a lead out. You can't just put anyone into doing it.

As for todays sprint, EBH was on Sagans wheel, but did'nt follow quick enough and then was sandwiched out, so he had to go another route. He was probably a bit ****ed at himself for loosing Sagans wheel(though if he had tried he might have caused a pile up), and went trough an opening that was not really an opening.

I'm thinking it has something to do with a lack of aggression from EBH. He wants to win, but he is not prepared to risk all to get it. A good example of the opposite here would be Bouhanni, and we've seen how that went.

It's a three week tour, and it's IMHO better to play it safe, especially since he is there to help Froome and Porte.

 

[ToreBear]

One thing that cycling continues to disappoint in, is information as to what is going on. Like where the interesting carachters are. Degenkolb being there was a surprise to me, and none of the media that I switched between had any idea of that.
Earlier in the race I was wondering were Kristoff was. After some time the camera went passed him and I could see he was in the early Greipel group.

This information could have been easily available with even a minimal use of idiot proof technology.

As for the early crash. EBH did not fall of his bike, but Kristoff and LPN did. LPN was hurting with knee pain and hip pain.(finished with the GC though).

Really the information of whats going on is really abysmal.



By the way, anyone know how little Nairo is doing? Has all his tumbles affected him? I'm thinking of putting him in my tour team for the next two stages, but am concerned about his condition.

 

[tomorrow]

well, I little bit hoped for cannondale stepping up for Sagan in this stage, but this was so much beyond I have expected. I would never say, they were even capable of doing this, basically, all day in the front and all of them present in the peloton to nearly end. A trully epic performace win for cannondale.
Also, in some interview Peter has said, he plans something special this tour. I am curious, if by any chance stage 19 is in his viewfinder. With good circumstances, it doesn't necessarily have to be impossible, since the HC climbs are in the start and they won't probably be ridden in such a big pace. And then there is descent before the finish and last 500m is in 8% ascent. What a epic show that would be from him.

 

[batchuba]

Was just about to write how ugly I thought it was.

Damn straight it's ugly - its a massive, terrifying statement of physical and spiritual conquest. It pretty much marks the occasion when that part of the world became properly French.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

As I was bored, I worked out how the GC would look with time bonuses of 20-12-8 for the top three in the stage. I didn't bother checking intermediates for time bonuses but that would have just extended Sagan's lead.

1. Sagan
2. Gerrans 15 seconds
3. Eddie B 27
4. Kwiatowski 28
5. Impey 30.

Personally I think this is far more reflective of what has happened this week, not having time bonuses on the parcours we have had so far has turned the race for the yellow jersey into a bit of a joke with a rider in yellow just for coming in 15th every stage.

 

[postmanhat]

Dullest stage so far for me, and I expect the next one targetted by Cannondale will be the same. Nothing against the team, but they're just here to kill a couple of stages in support of Sagan

 

[tomorrow]

Dullest stage so far for me, and I expect the next one targetted by Cannondale will be the same. Nothing against the team, but they're just here to kill a couple of stages in support of Sagan

yup, because going easy whole stage and win in break or same late catch made by sprinters team, that would be so much more entertaining. Haters gonna hate.