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

Mar 14, 2009
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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.

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FINAL CLIMB

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May 19, 2011
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A break away, J Rod? Nibali follows those who are fighting for the second place, may take some time if opportunity presents itself.
 
Feb 10, 2014
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Hopefully a strong breakaway to win this time. They need at least ten men with strong climbing abilities.

A dream break would be like, Nieve (plan C), JRod, Voeckler, Fränk (hopefully he is allowed), Serpa, Kiry (for Nieve), Quemeneur (for Voeckler) Spilak (for Purito), Rogers, Roche, Feillu, Kruijswijk and Serpa.
 
I think the competition could isolate Nibali pretty quickly, perhaps somewhere half way up Col d’Izoard. But it requires a good plan up the first climb or at least a concerted GC contender attack on d'Izoard. Nibali is ridiculously strong but who dares wins. Perhaps.

Anyway Sky and Tinkoff to attack from the get go allowing Peraud to sneak into the break with them. Horner and Ten Dam should join them too.
 
Jun 4, 2014
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Dazed and Confused said:
I think the competition could isolate Nibali pretty quickly, perhaps somewhere half way up Col d’Izoard. But it requires a good plan up the first climb or at least a concerted GC contender attack on d'Izoard. Nibali is ridiculously strong but who dares wins. Perhaps.

Anyway Sky and Tinkoff to attack from the get go allowing Peraud to sneak into the break with them. Horner and Ten Dam should join them too.

Looks like a good plan,it will be interesting to see how Nibali would deal with such a situation.The only problem is that nobody seems to be strong enough for such a plan to be implemented.
I would go with Nieve for the win,time to show Sky management that they are useless.
 
May 14, 2009
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I'd like to see some french teams get riders up the road and then help Pinot, Bardet or Peraud get from the top of the Izoard to the base of Risoul.

Honestly the fight for the podium is going to be great over the next week.
 
RobbieCanuck said:
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.

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.
 
MBotero said:
Looks like a good plan,it will be interesting to see how Nibali would deal with such a situation.The only problem is that nobody seems to be strong enough for such a plan to be implemented.
I would go with Nieve for the win,time to show Sky management that they are useless.

Thats why I think it needs to be concerted. 5 or 6 of the top guys attacks halfway up sort of thing.

Fuglsang won't be much help. Scaponi is tired from the Giro plus some crashes here. Kangert perhaps only man left when it gets tough.

It can definitely be done, but big risk involved for some of these guys.

Sky operates like it was 2012.....
 
Mar 14, 2009
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Jagartrott said:
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.

What a loser move by Majka at the finish line. Even Konig was shaking his head.
 
Jun 29, 2014
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Jagartrott said:
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, 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.
 
Mar 14, 2009
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Coat-O said:
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.

What a *** Majka is. As Leo said, he should at least pull the last few minutes and not just jumping over finish line. But no worries, karma will get him sooner than later. What goes around comes around.
 

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