2014 Tour de France July 19, Stage 14: Grenoble - Risoul 177km

[Liquigas]

Yeah, and he doesn't even mention Konig in the post-interviews.

“I’m satisfied but I’m definitely hungry for more and the stage to Risoul tomorrow is a possibility. I’m at the Tour and I’ve done the Giro, so naturally I’m a bit tired. But I’m glad that I came in second just after Nibali on a 20-kilometer climb. That’s not so bad”, says Rafal Majka after the stage.

“I will try to be aggressive tomorrow like I was today. Rogers and Roche are strong on the climbs so we have different cards to play. The first climb tomorrow will definitely be hard as well so I’ll be ready if the right moment comes”

He made ONE move where he jumped on König's wheel. That's not aggressive to me.

To wheelsuck someone he obviously means...

 

[thrawn]

Porte to do a Landis and win the tour.

 

[qwerty16]

Maybe Majka is eyeing the Polkadot jersey and felt he needed those extra 8 points for second place more than a (very) small shot at the stage win?

 

[Netserk]

What a loser move by Majka at the finish line. Even Konig was shaking his head.

I also wondered why Majka didn't share more of the work, but it was damn stupid of König to pull the group when Nibali joined. He was practically begging to be wheelsucked the way he rode. At the end Majka probably jumped for the KOM points.

 

[classicomano]

Majka was wheelsucking poor König the entire climb only to jump out of it in the last 150 m. Earned a lot of minus points in my book.

Yeah that was really dreadful. Breakaway will take this, Purito finally.

 

[zombo10]

First big stage for the polka dot jersey tomorrow...

And i'm ok with this preview: http://www.c-cycling.com/sites/tdf14/stage14.html

I think a break of strong riders will make it all the way and I would be surprised not to see Purito in it. Therefore, Purito is my top favorite for the stage. On stage 13, he took it easy on the final climb. He saw that he couldn't follow the top favorites and decided to save as much energy as possible for this big day in the Alps.

 

[inthepink]

TJ Van Garderen did alot of pulling of Roman Bardet today and when they crossed the line Bardet thanked TJ

Rafal Majka is not a team player in my book ( had a fit when asked to ride the Tour and threw a strop at team , did no work in first 10 days and left it to Roche & Rodgers to be both flat & mountain doms..They also rode the Giro) and then came out today and is suddenly 2nd on stage ...what happened to the tiredness all of a sudden...seemed to go when he was going for personal glory
He then jumped Koneig on the line when Koneig did l all the work up the climb....He never even thanked him or mentioned him.....

I am not a fan ....

 

[Pricey_sky]

Hopefully there will be a strong break for this one. Purito will surely go along with Saxo and other GC guys who are well down. Time for Sky to go plan C and let Nieve and Thomas go in the break for a stage win too as Porte had his usually GC-ending bad day. I wouldn't be surprised though if they just told Nieve to take the last week easy in prep for Froome's Vuelta bid.

 

[Frosty]

With a (relatively) easy day on Sunday, followed by a rest day, i cant help thinking that one of the GC guys will fancy their chances of taking some time on the other GC guys (excluding Nibali) and therefore make their team-mates set a high pace tomorrow. This makes me think that the break will be caught, or, that the winner from the break will have to have some team mates in the break to really drive it along. Personally, i fancy Thomas and Kirienka to drive the break along to allow Nieve to take off on the last climb.

 

[petiagos]

one thing for sure:
Purito in the break...
Nieve in the break or in the last mountain to try win the stage
Frank S. in the break ...
Majka ... in the break to the KOM points or in the last mountain attack again to try win...and vice-versa to Rogers...

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Majka and Gadret to ride a tandem to victory tomorrow.

 

[manafana]

Could Rafal Majka have challenged for the Yellow if he had not been so wasted from the Giro? He had a great race today, even though Nibali pulled away from him at the end.

he is a good rider and had a good giro, per tinkoff he is still young and they are holding him back a little for now.

 

[cineteq]

Could Rafal Majka have challenged for the Yellow if he had not been so wasted from the Giro? He had a great race today, even though Nibali pulled away from him at the end.

No. 10 chars

 

[maxmartin]

TJ Van Garderen did alot of pulling of Roman Bardet today and when they crossed the line Bardet thanked TJ

Rafal Majka is not a team player in my book ( had a fit when asked to ride the Tour and threw a strop at team , did no work in first 10 days and left it to Roche & Rodgers to be both flat & mountain doms..They also rode the Giro) and then came out today and is suddenly 2nd on stage ...what happened to the tiredness all of a sudden...seemed to go when he was going for personal glory
He then jumped Koneig on the line when Koneig did l all the work up the climb....He never even thanked him or mentioned him.....

I am not a fan ....

TJ said he worked well with Bardet before 1km, at 1km Bardet told TJ he was at his limit could do no more.

 

[maxmartin]

Hopefully there will be a strong break for this one. Purito will surely go along with Saxo and other GC guys who are well down. Time for Sky to go plan C and let Nieve and Thomas go in the break for a stage win too as Porte had his usually GC-ending bad day. I wouldn't be surprised though if they just told Nieve to take the last week easy in prep for Froome's Vuelta bid.

for sure it is about time for Astana to take it easy to get ready for the Pyreness. I would think Nieve stage win in Tour is more important than helping CF, plus Nieve is from Basque, so winning over there in Pyreness would be a huge honor.

 

[Jspear]

Rafal Majka is not a team player in my book ( had a fit when asked to ride the Tour and threw a strop at team , did no work in first 10 days and left it to Roche & Rodgers to be both flat & mountain doms..They also rode the Giro) and then came out today and is suddenly 2nd on stage ...what happened to the tiredness all of a sudden...seemed to go when he was going for personal glory
He then jumped Koneig on the line when Koneig did l all the work up the climb....He never even thanked him or mentioned him.....

I am not a fan ....

It was obvious from the performance that he did in the Giro that he wouldn't be ready the first week and a half or so of the Tour. His team knew that as well. He had to race into some sort of form....he's just finding that now. If AC had been here it would have been perfect. He would have been ready right at the right time.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Nibali to gift the stage to Pinot, but then Valverde out sprint them to get the stage and further their mutual hate

Replace Pinot with Koneig and Valverde with Majka. Would be even better.

This forum would crash

 

[purcell]

Stage details

Distance: 177km

Category: High mountains

Highest point: 2,360m

The second day in the Alps is a rival for the queen stage epithet, but probably comes off second best to the Pla d’Adet stage three days later. The first two climbs – the Col du Lautaret and Col d’Izoard – are old Tour haunts. At 2,361m, the Izoard is also the roof of the race, with the route planners hoping it will be a springboard for a desperate chase up to Risoul, which is debuting in the Tour this year. The peloton tackles the Col d’Izoard from the Briançon side, but the steep and technical descent alongside the Torrent d’Izoard could provide the impetus for the brave to set off and pressurise the race leader on the Risoul which starts after a period of flat on the valley floor.

Risoul has featured in ASO races in the recent past – twice in the Tour de l’Avenir and twice in the Critérium du Dauphiné. It’s only 6.1km in length and has an extremely constant gradient around seven per cent, so anticipate the speed up the climb to be punishingly high.

Chris Froome finished second up the climb in the Dauphiné last year, so it’s a mountain that will hold no worry for him. Indeed, with his climbing abilities, this provides the perfect opportunity for him to draw the blood of some potential rivals and see how they bleed.

uummmm??????

 

[Tournesol]

uummmm??????

Its a preview from before the Tour started i think.

 

[auscyclefan94]

TJ said he worked well with Bardet before 1km, at 1km Bardet told TJ he was at his limit could do no more.

It was well before the 1km mark that Bardet stopped doing any work. TJVG should do well on this climb and I can only see him moving up the GC in the coming stages.

 

[maxmartin]

It was well before the 1km mark that Bardet stopped doing any work. TJVG should do well on this climb and I can only see him moving up the GC in the coming stages.

I also thought so from the broadcasting, but that is what TJ said in the interview.

 

[Jagartrott]

I hope that, whenever Purito or any other Katusha goes in the break from now, Quickstep, Cannondale and Cofidis chase ultra-hard.

 

[hoolaparara]

Sagan from the break!

 

[jens_attacks]

if i'd be richie, today i would go full landis on morzine

probably purito will take it from the breakaway
nibali to attack in the last 4 kms of risoul, take another minute on everyone

 

[manafana]

agreed on TVG he said he had a little more in his tank but he knew Saturday wouldn't be easy either. If he had been little better placed he might have gone with Pinot ot Valverde.