2014 Paris - Nice, stage 5: Crèche-sur-Saône - Rive-de-Gier 152.5km

[ianstannard]

Is Betancur good in uphill finishes? I think some of the later stages have uphill finishes

 

[jaylew]

Yes, very, very good.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Is Betancur good in uphill finishes? I think some of the later stages have uphill finishes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNSdR3oQxY&t=43m40s

 

[ianstannard]

Is Thomas or Slagter any good in uphill finishes?

 

[Netserk]

Is Thomas or Slagter any good in uphill finishes?

Why don't you search their names on youtube and try to find out for yourself? People are more willing to help someone, who have tried first, rather than someone asking others to serve everything on a silver plate.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Is Thomas or Slagter any good in uphill finishes?

Slagter is rather good in these finishes, Thomas will hang on, he has yellow, will be a confidence booster to hurt himself

 

[theyoungest]

Slagter is rather good in these finishes, Thomas will hang on, he has yellow, will be a confidence booster to hurt himself

Thomas needs to shed Slagter before the final climb tomorrow. Slagter is much better on explosive climbs like that one, as is Betancur of course.

 

[ianstannard]

Then Thomas will need to rely on Lopez

 

[SafeBet]

Enjoyed this stage. El Gordo impressive even with the extra fat, scary to think how strong he's gonna be come the Ardennes.
Thomas looked very good to me, but I'm not sure he can keep the yellow tomorrow.
Nibali improving, still far from top shape.

 

[T-Nielsen]

Nice stage confirming what we knew in an entertaining way.

Thomas is shaky downhill, Betancourt is explosive and Fuglsang does not have the tiniest clue about what to do in a final. Wonder how many times he must fail before he learns... if ever.

 

[Gloin22]

Thomas was alwas a **** descender.

Dont you remeber the stage in 2011 Tour where he got first on Tourmalet, then fell once and other break guys caught up with him, fell second time and they got ahead, and then he caught up with them and was the last rider to be caught by peleton - good times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFWt_MKViKs

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Great finale! The parcours might be a bit lame but the riders make for some great racing.


BTW Navardauskas pushed Maxime Bouet (was in the TV images), causing Bouet to crash heavily, and subsequently abandon. I wonder if there will be consequences for that

I didn't see Bouet hit the deck, but I did see the push and it didn't look like Navardauskas had much choice. Bouet veered right across him, not seeing him coming.

 

[jaylew]

All 5 stage winners have been 25 or younger.

 

[jens_attacks]

lol i think this was one of the classiest sprints i've ever seen. seemed so easy for bananito
i'm happy for him, he might drop g thomas on col d'eze with this form. too bad we don't even have the full climb...

 

[Escarabajo]

Tomorrow the queen stage!!!!

Betancur to get the leadership. So I hope.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Ok thats two good stages so far. Solid action and with Betancur showing everybody he can do much more than a bit of uphill sprinting.

Chapeau to the riders today for making the race.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I really like Betancur's racing so far. Taking chances in not so obvious moments and not just relying on his uphill sprint. He will have a very good year.

 

[Flamin]

Yep, two nice finales in a row. Can't wait for tomorrow. It will be mayhem.

 

[BigMac]

Good stage. Nice to see Nibali attacking.

Anyone but Betancur to win this race please.

Lampre is a joke. Costa spends the entire stage without a single team mate near him.

 

[the asian]

Happy to see Fatty Betancur in decent shape !

 

[veji11]

The route is proving (so far) a success. The clement weather made it extra soft but the last 2 days have been fun. Tomorrow and sunday should see the most action with saturday being for a breakaway.

I could imagine tommorrow AG2R using Bardet to ride as hard as possible on the penultimate climb to try and drop the Degenkolbs, Rojas but also maybe a Slagter as well.

It just goes to show that a super demanding route isn't necessarily the key to entertaining racing.

 

[Christian]

Also impressive was what happened to Sam Dumoulin, don't know if you guys caught that. He had a flat in the last 25km and then ferociously tried to get back to the peloton with the help of Bardet, because he was well placed on GC.

When he was almost at the tail of the peloton, the camera shows him free-wheeling on the side of the road, almost coming to a stand-still, then shifting to the inner ring and slowly start pedaling again to very little resistance.

At first the speakers thought he had a problem with the dérailleur, but the correspondant on the moto right next to him could see nothing wrong with the bike. Turns out he had just really, really overcooked it, and from one moment to the other had to cut his effort completely, unable to maintain any rythm whatsoever. He went on to finish third to last on the stage.

That's the first time I have ever seen this happen to a professional rider. Of course you see mountain domestiques coming close to stand-still, but I feel like that's different because first of all it's often in particularly steep portions of climbs and they have to shift down a lot, so naturally it takes a while to find a new rythm. Plus when they start their effort, they know that they are giving their all for the sake of a team mate.

In this case I guess Dumoulin must just have completely miscalculated his effort! Good to know that this doesn't only happen to me, but can also happen to a pro!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Also impressive was what happened to Sam Dumoulin, don't know if you guys caught that. He had a flat in the last 25km and then ferociously tried to get back to the peloton with the help of Bardet, because he was well placed on GC.

When he was almost at the tail of the peloton, the camera shows him free-wheeling on the side of the road, almost coming to a stand-still, then shifting to the inner ring and slowly start pedaling again to very little resistance.

At first the speakers thought he had a problem with the dérailleur, but the correspondant on the moto right next to him could see nothing wrong with the bike. Turns out he had just really, really overcooked it, and from one moment to the other had to cut his effort completely, unable to maintain any rythm whatsoever. He went on to finish third to last on the stage.

That's the first time I have ever seen this happen to a professional rider. Of course you see mountain domestiques coming close to stand-still, but I feel like that's different because first of all it's often in particularly steep portions of climbs and they have to shift down a lot, so naturally it takes a while to find a new rythm. Plus when they start their effort, they know that they are giving their all for the sake of a team mate.

In this case I guess Dumoulin must just have completely miscalculated his effort! Good to know that this doesn't only happen to me, but can also happen to a pro!

Nice bit of information.
On the last part, Dumoulin simply needed to get back with the bunch sometime before the top. He knew he would lose time on the descend if he was alone or in a group of lost souls. He went all in and dropped everything on the table.

Moving on..

21 (28) JUNGELS Bob Trek Factory Racing 0:24

Nice ride today. What can he do on the next few stages?

 

[alspacka]

Wow impressive from Thomas homing in on Betancur and Nibali.

 

[alspacka]

Degenkolb and Thomas leading the chase, great stuff!

Late to this party, I'm aware.