2014 Tour de France July 18, Stage 13: Saint-Étienne - Chamrousse 197.5km

[Ryongsyong]

Oh dear. Well done to Nibali, but it's all a bit dull. The extent of his growing lead is testament to the lack of competition rather than any ability unfortunately. Maybe he is the best right now, but without being able to prove it, it's not really much to enjoy. Not his fault though— Mr Prudhomme wanted a stage that would cause people to crash and get delayed, and everyone was, except one.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Nice action on this climb.

Good to see Pinot being strong. I hope he destroys Valverde and gets himself a 2nd place this TDF.

Good to see Porte stops pretending to be a GC rider. Also, Sky are idiots for making Nieve wait for Porte. Nieve actually has a bunch of top 10 finishes (albeit in the lowest regions of the top 10) and stage wins in GT's in recent years, unlike a certain Australian, who only has one top 10 finish from years back. I'm really sad for Nieve. With racing like this and the mountains still to come he could've done okay I think. If Porte drops with like 15km to go or something on an MTF you know it's hopeless, no need for a real GT rider to wait for him.

 

[hfer07]

well- there it is: Nibali Untouchable

Bardet is the real thing

Valverde is just a POS

 

[Marco Pantani]

Gastauer already in.

 

[The Blues]

Nibali smashing without being on his absolute limit, I believe.

 

[jilbiker]

Great riding from Nibali. Be strange next year when he's still 3rd favourite with the book markers.

He looks strong...but appears unchallenged or untested. Its a really yawnfest TDF.

 

[Alcanelo]

Porte and Sky can f*ck right off now...good riddance

 

[Frosty]

Gastauer already in.

Ag2r going for team comp

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Are you kidding me? What race did you watch?? He attacked 1st and did the vast majority of the work on the front when he was with Nibs, Pinot and Ten Dam.

If Valverde wanted to race for the win, he'd have worked better with Pinot, rather than trying to attack him to get time for his 2nd place.

Sky off the back. I'm happy.

 

[Marco Pantani]

Yeah, genius move by Brailsord.

 

[fantomas]

Porte apparently had a virus according to German TV.

 

[Akuryo]

9 Minutes for Porte

 

[Fzotrlool]

Porte, almost 9 minutes down. Give Nieve a free role, please.

 

[thehog]

Porte chocked. Not a GT leader.

 

[ILovecycling]

Are you going to follow through your bet? ILOVECYCLING

Look at the post before like 5 minutes

 

[Escarabajo]

well- there it is: Nibali Untouchable

Bardet is the real thing

Valverde is just a POS

Pinot dropped him! He is breathing on his shoulder.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I don't think Sky needs to warm down after the stage. It think they did it on the last climb.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Porte, almost 9 minutes down. Give Nieve a free role, please.

Nieve will be allowed in breakaways now, that's the only way Sky can get anything from the race.

 

[Fzotrlool]

Costa still in top 10 because of Papy.

 

[Hugo87]

Costa 9th in the GC and Konig 10th.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

They forgot Costa btw

1. ITA NIBALI Vincenzo 41 ASTANA PRO TEAM 56h 44' 03''
2. ESP VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 11 MOVISTAR TEAM 56h 47' 40'' + 03' 37''
3. FRA BARDET Romain 82 AG2R LA MONDIALE 56h 48' 27'' + 04' 24''
4. FRA PINOT Thibaut 127 FDJ.FR 56h 48' 43'' + 04' 40''
5. USA VAN GARDEREN Tejay 141 BMC RACING TEAM 56h 49' 22'' + 05' 19''
6. FRA PÉRAUD Jean-Christophe 81 AG2R LA MONDIALE 56h 50' 09'' + 06' 06''
7. NED MOLLEMA Bauke 61 BELKIN PRO CYCLING 56h 50' 20'' + 06' 17''
8. BEL VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 131 LOTTO-BELISOL 56h 50' 30'' + 06' 27''
9. POR COSTA Rui Alberto 111 LAMPRE - MERIDA 56h 52' 38'' + 08' 35''
10. CZE KONIG Leopold 201 TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA 56h 52' 39'' + 08' 36''

 

[woodburn]

Tejay can podium this race. But like his high finish in 2012 it'd be pretty hollow given who left here.

 

[perico]

Pinot and Valverde will need to keep a 2 minute gap over TJVG going into the final 50k TT. He's not a world beater, but he's much better than those two when he's on his game.

 

[sir fly]

I guess the battle of Frenchmen is the story of this Tour.

 

[Parrulo]

Costa 9th in the GC and Konig 10th.

Tomorrow he will drop out of the top 10.

Without his sickness i think he could have easily finished inside the Peraud group