2014 Tour de France July 23, Stage 17: Saint-Gaudens - Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet 1

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Roche and Herrada finally ride away

 

[AICA ribonucleotide]

Which of those 5 riders finished first and second in the Alps? Majka might not be on his best day, but my thinking wouldn't change.

Majka only did that because he was allowed to get away.

 

[Rollthedice]

I got the feeling we'll see a lot of close-ups with Vasil's poker face.

 

[damian13ster]

To be fair, Rodriguez was allowed to ride away as well, also, he kept advantage over pretty much everyone but Nibali and Peraud on final climb in stage 14. On a good day he is very strong, and his bad days are not terrible so I would guess he is just conserving strength now, but we will see his true colors later in the stage on the 2nd to last, and the final climb

 

[trevim]

I got the feeling we'll see a lot of close-ups with Vasil's poker face.

Voeckler could learn something there...

 

[Eclipse]

birdsong has no wings

 

[vcampbell]

Majka only did that because he was allowed to get away.

Wow, really? You say all of them are better. I say, that all of them are older, and except Purito none of them showed that they are really a better rider than him. Okay, Rolland was 4th at the Giro, but he was also allowed to get away and I can't really see a win or anything at his name.

 

[luckyboy]

Kwiatkowski should forget about GC riding

 

[Pricey_sky]

Roche and Herrada starting to cut into Kiri's lead. Down to 1m 30.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

birdsong has no wings

Called back, to serve Nibs it seems.

 

[damian13ster]

Now would Roche be riding if Majka was feeling weak?

 

[Carols]

Movistar team car (via Steve Purino on the moto) says saddle adjustment was because Valverde's bike underwent 'bike check' yesterday and the seat wasn't put back properly by the organization checker. The pace was so hectic at the start that that was the first time he was able to go back to get it adjusted.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Now would Roche be riding if Majka was feeling weak?

Roche is riding for himself, for the stage win. He will take any KOM points he can to help Majka.

 

[Carols]

Now would Roche be riding if Majka was feeling weak?

He's taking points from Purito I'd assume.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Kwiatkowski should forget about GC riding

In the sprinters grupetto.. that's easily 30 minutes

 

[kingjr]

Coquard is still in the yellow jersey group. Not bad.

 

[KoolAid Man]

Coquard is still in the yellow jersey group. Not bad.

A guy that light has to be able to climb a little bit
What surprises me is how well he does on cobbles

 

[AICA ribonucleotide]

Roche is riding for himself, for the stage win. He will take any KOM points he can to help Majka.

Lets be honest Roche hasnt a chance of the stage win.
How is taking the KOM helping Majka?
Majka got 2 and Purito 4 there.
If Roche and Herrada werent there it would be Majka 6 and Purito 8.
Its the exact same difference expect to Nibali. Roche just gained 4 points for Nibali really.

 

[Netserk]

Assume 40 km/h vs 52 for the flat first 50 km. Assume 28 km/h in both cases for the hills. Then the time difference for the whole stage is 17 minutes, however after the time limit is only 13 minutes later, meaning the sprinters have to climb for minutes faster.

40km/h on the flat scenario:
50km at 40km/h = 1h15'. 74km at 28km/h = 2h38'34''. Total time = 3h53'34''. Total average speed = 31.85km/h. Time cut = +30'21''.

52km/h on the flat scenario:
50km at 52km/h = 57'41''. 74km at 28km/h = 2h38'34''. Total time = 3h36'15''. Total average speed = 34.4km/h. Time cut = +34'36''.

Faster on the flat part = better for the grupetto.

 

[Eclipse]

Bruno Thibaut lol

 

[damian13ster]

He's taking points from Purito I'd assume.

YeahI just have live ticker and assumed they are driving the group. It is possible he is going for himself or to steal points though but he hasnt shown much in past 2 weeks so dont know if he is strong enough to go for a stage win. Then again, before Alps most people thought Tinkoff-Saxo had worst team among contenders

 

[Afrank]

Kwiatkowski should forget about GC riding

I think he probably has for the most part, yesterday he went in the break to target the stage win. He rolled across the line pretty slow, I would assume if he was still looking at GC he would have pushed a little more to get across the line faster. But chose to just roll in (probably when he saw he wasn't going to catch the break.

 

[Carols]

YeahI just have live ticker and assumed they are driving the group. It is possible he is going for himself or to steal points though but he hasnt shown much in past 2 weeks so dont know if he is strong enough to go for a stage win. Then again, before Alps most people thought Tinkoff-Saxo had worst team among contenders

Roche is never going to win this. He's just not good enough IMO and I'm a Saxo fan !

 

[The Barb]

This would be an amazing ride by Kiryienka if he can pull this off after his exertions yesterday.

 

[damian13ster]

This would be an amazing ride by Kiryienka if he can pull this off after his exertions yesterday.

He can't. Losing advantage already. Is Nibali group really 3 minutes behind Mollema group? If thats the case then its possible the winner is somehwere among those 15 riders