2014 Tour de France, Stage 11: Besançon - Oyonnax (187.5 km)

[murali]

stage winners so far:
5/07 Stage 1 : Leeds (GBr) - Harrogate (GBr) (191 km) KITTEL Marcel
6/07 Stage 2 : York (GBr) - Sheffield (GBr) (198 km) NIBALI Vincenzo
7/07 Stage 3 : Cambridge (GBr) - London (GBr) (159 km) KITTEL Marcel
8/07 Stage 4 : Le Touquet Paris-Plage - Lille (164 km) KITTEL Marcel
9/07 Stage 5 : Ieper (Bel) - Arenberg (156 km) BOOM Lars
10/07 Stage 6 : Arras - Reims (194 km) GREIPEL André
11/07 Stage 7 : Epernay - Nancy (233 km) TRENTIN Matteo
12/07 Stage 8 : Tomblaine - Gerardmer/La Mauselaine (161 km) KADRI Blel
13/07 Stage 9 : Gerardmer - Mulhouse (170 km) MARTIN Tony
14/07 Stage 10 : Mulhouse - La Planche des Belles Filles (161 km) NIBALI Vincenzo


there are too many teams that dont have a stage win in their name.

Break ftw.

watchout for OPQS, TCS, KAT.

OPQS because it is OPQS. the other two, because they hav no GC rider now. so they need stage wins,

 

[Climbing]

Breakaway stage, no GC actions.

 

[nilfen]

Breakaway stage, no GC actions.

Rogers/Mørkøv in breakaway for the win!

Tinkoff/Saxo need to show the world they are still alive

 

[Miburo]

This is a nibali stage

 

[whittashau]

You mean was

when he didn't have a two minute lead to risk potentially on the descent and 7km of flat that follows it

 

[Miburo]

You mean was

when he didn't have a two minute lead to risk potentially on the descent and 7km of flat that follows it

I know, that was the point of

 

[Tonton]

Breakaway stage, no GC actions.

Agree. Breakaway stage, no GC action. Because ASO and its predecessors always use the Jura stage (when there's one) as a transition stage. Except in 2010, never a mountain top finish. That year, la cote des Rousses did some damage. Why finish in Oyonnax? Why not move the finish line a few miles atop the Colombier? I see Voekler, Chavanel, Blel Kadri on the attack, and the likes of Voigt, Bakelands...

There are many nasty climbs in the Jura mountains: well, there's always next year...NOT

 

[manafana]

any GC losing time on this would be might disappointed with themselves. Increase heat will affect some more than others most teams will have looked to prepare for it best they can.

Im on the saxo orphans to go on the attack expect 2 of them in break.

 

[sir fly]

Should be nice for watching.

 

[luckyboy]

Oyonnax is the birthplace of Éric Barone, who holds multiple speed world records for descending on a bicycle.
Pretty appropriate given the stage profile..

 

[observer]

Hansen in a breakaway, the solo to take it.

 

[paperboyNC]

Looks like a pretty uneventful stage, but the Tour so far hasn't let us down. Plenty of action. My money is on Degenkolb to take this one.

 

[Lil_Tommy_V]

3km's at around 7% would seems a little excessive for Degenkolb and potentially even Sagan if it is raced hard. I'm thinking the Saxo boys (Rogers and Roche) blow it up on the final climb and form a select group on the decent.

 

[SKSemtex]

Some no-name rider will take it in a large break. GC guys will take it easy and I think Sagan too as he's in less of a need to worry about sprint points now.

I am sure he cares about the stage win now more then the green points.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I am sure he cares about the stage win now more then the green points.

Yep, Sagan will not go on vacation until he has a stage win or runs out of stages.

Looking forward to see what plans Cannondale offers over the next two stages.

 

[Sasquatch]

Yep, Sagan will not go on vacation until he has a stage win or runs out of stages.

Looking forward to see what plans Cannondale offers over the next two stages.

De Marchi today from a break

Sagan tomorrow from a reduced group sprint.

 

[SKSemtex]

De Marchi today from a break

Sagan tomorrow from a reduced group sprint.

Probably it would be the best for Sagan to save himself and team for tommorow but I am afraid he is out of control right now. The possiblity of stage win is for him something like the red flag in front of bull and as D&C said he would not take a holiday untill he get one, burn himself out or run out of stages.

Good luck. Even if he loose both stages but give his best he will be the winner for me because I like cycling and Sagan is only part of it.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

De Marchi today from a break

Sagan tomorrow from a reduced group sprint.

De Marchi will not be strong enough to win today imo.
Break will likely contain serious quality.

(you are welcome to beat me up with this post later)

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Probably it would be the best for Sagan to save himself and team for tommorow but I am afraid he is out of control right now. The possiblity of stage win is for him something like the red flag in front of bull and as D&C said he would not take a holiday untill he get one, burn himself out or run out of stages.

Good luck. Even if he loose both stages but give his best he will be the winner for me because I like cycling and Sagan is only part of it.

tomorrows stage is way harder to control in the beginning. he will go for todayt which suits him best. tomorrow even krstiff could hang on

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Oyonnax is the birthplace of Éric Barone, who holds multiple speed world records for descending on a bicycle.
Pretty appropriate given the stage profile..

Thanks, good find. If CF and AC were still here i think we could have seen some downhill action from the heads of state..coulda,woulda,shoulda.

 

[ILovecycling]

Kristoff?or too hard?

 

[manafana]

Probably it would be the best for Sagan to save himself and team for tommorow but I am afraid he is out of control right now. The possiblity of stage win is for him something like the red flag in front of bull and as D&C said he would not take a holiday untill he get one, burn himself out or run out of stages.

Good luck. Even if he loose both stages but give his best he will be the winner for me because I like cycling and Sagan is only part of it.

thats it in nutshell should hold back but we just know he won't

 

[movingtarget]

This one could go either way but it looks good for a break to survive. Someone like Gerrans could win if he got in a break. The usual bunch sprinters won't feature, more likely the sprinters who can climb. Astana won't want a hard day so won't chase too hard unless someone down the GC start to look a little too dangerous to give away too much time to.

 

[neineinei]

Kristoff?or too hard?

Kristoff thinks it is too hard.

 

[JimPanzen]

At least JRod not going full polka dot.