2014 Tour de France, Stage 18: Pau–Hautacam (145.5 Km)

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Peraud is smashed. Chapeau. An actually likeable wheelsucker.

Yeah. A great guy. It´s his once in a lift-time chance to podium. He doesn´t get younger also. I´ll root for him...

 

[Pricey_sky]

Lemond has totally lost the ability to finish any sentence ever. I can't take it any more.

I found that after stage 1 so have switched over to ITV4 every day since once racing had finished.

 

[Jspear]

He gets away when no one cares about him, but when he's in any group, he's a pure wheelsucker, then attacks at the top. Hilarious he tried that move again, and Pinot had none of it.

Majka cannot be defined as a wheel sucker. He has provided lots of entertaining riding by doing the very opposite of wheel sucking. Today he hardly wheel sucked. Only when he was finally caught in the last K's did he hitch a free ride. That was smart of him. He had been out alone, once he got caught he recuperated some and then got some good points for his jersey.

 

[Kwibus]

Peraud is going to finish 2nd in the Tour. 2nd! Completely outrageous, have their been a weaker finishing standing in the last 30-40 years?

Hmmm Peraud rode his best GT ever obviously.
Ofcourse this top 10 isn't the most impressive ever, but because Peraud will probably finish second that doesn't it was a weak field. That depends on how hard Peraud rode up the mountains

 

[Publicus]

I have to say that Tinkoff Saxo has managed to salvage something from this Tour de France after all. Polka dot jersey, 3 stage wins and 2 2nd place finishes.

 

[GroupDK]

any final time on Nibali's climbling, in accordence to Bjarne Riis 34.40 1996..?

// thx..

 

[kingjr]

any final time on Nibali's climbling, in accordence to Bjarne Riis 34.40 1996..?

Nibali's time up Hautacam was 37:20 is 26th fastest. 2:42 slower then record of 34:38 by Bjarne Riis in 1996.

______________

 

[Zam_Olyas]

any final time on Nibali's climbling, in accordence to Bjarne Riis 34.40 1996..?

http://www.climbing-records.com/2014/07/stunning-hautacam-ascent-by-great-nibali.html


jens attack blog

 

[Tashkent Terror]

Did you see Hinault with the Lion? He can't wait to get rid of it, he detests our cuddly jungle friend...really hates him.

 

[skidmark]

The last TT is gonna be pretty interesting; aside from general unpredictability of a TT at the end of 3 weeks (remember 2007 and 2008 GC battles?), it's also both a bit longer and a bit lumpier than the standard finishing TT. The interesting battle is obviously for the podium - TT history suggests its a wash between Peraud and Valverde (although Peraud has historically been more notable at TTs than climbing so my first thought was to think he was 'better' than Valv at TTs, but that's not the case), and that both are better than Pinot. But the profile of the stage could close that gap, or could open it more - I don't know what to expect. Obviously Peraud and Pinot have been stronger than Valv in the last week, but he's better at limiting his losses and controlling things; then again, despite his incredibly consistent high-level career, his GT time trials have been strangely unpredictable. They could all finish around the same time, or could be minutes apart, I just dunno.

Normally I have a bit of disdain for 'wheelsuckers', but I have to take my hat off to Peraud. He's obviously punching above his weight, and in the 4 years since he's transitioned to the road he's been nowhere close to this level. Going with a move and hanging on is obviously his best tactic, and he hasn't made a career out of it, so I'll happily forgive it this race and cheer him on to get 2nd overall. Based on likability and aggressiveness alone, I'd obviously cheer on Pinot for the podium, but Valv getting a TdF podium would at least mean he'd admit reality and stop focusing on it as a career goal to let Quintana take over, so that'd be fine too. All in all, it's obviously too bad that we couldn't see a battle with Contador and Froome on the back foot trying to take time on Nibali at every turn, but this unexpected top 10 is at least a bit of fun.

 

[Kwibus]

Hautacam
2014:13,5 km@7,9%---37:23---average speed 21.67 km/h(Vincenzo Nibali)
2008:13,5 km@7,9%---37:30---average speed 21.60 km/h(Piepoli-Cobo)
2000:13,5 km@7,9%---36:20---average speed 22.29 km/h(Lance Armstrong)
1996:13,5 km@7,9%---34:38---average speed 23.39 km/h(Bjarne Riis)-RECORD
1994:13,5 km@7,9%---35:19---average speed 22.94 km/h(Luc Leblanc)

Stolen from jens attacks website.

Not an extra terrestial performance. He did solo for 9km though... wow.

 

[Kwibus]

More stealing from Jens his site.

1. 1996: 34:38 Bjarne Riis 23.39 km/h
2. 1994: 35:19 Luc Leblanc 22.94 km/h
3. 1994: 35:21 Miguel Indurain 22.91 km/h
4. 1996: 35:27 Richard Virenque 22.85 km/h
5. 1996: 35:27 Laurent Dufaux 22.85 km/h
6. 1996: 35:32 Luc Leblanc 22.80 km/h
7. 1996: 35:35 Leonardo Piepoli 22.76 km/h
8. 1994: 35:37 Marco Pantani 22.74 km/h
9. 1996: 36:11 Tony Rominger 22.39 km/h
10. 1996: 36:11 Jan Ullrich 22.39 km/h
11. 1996: 36:11 Piotr Ugrumov 22.39 km/h
12. 1994: 36:15 Richard Virenque 22.34 km/h
13. 1994: 36:17 Armand De Las Cuevas 22.32 km/h
14. 1996: 36:19 Laurent Brochard 22.30 km/h
15. 2000: 36:20 Lance Armstrong 22.29 km/h
16. 1996: 36:24 Fernando Escartin 22.25 km/h
17. 1996: 36:24 Abraham Olano 22.25 km/h
18. 1994: 36:45 Pavel Tonkov 22.04 km/h
19. 1994: 36:45 Piotr Ugrumov 22.04 km/h
20. 1994: 36:55 Enrico Zaina 21.94 km/h
21. 1994: 37:05 Roberto Conti 21.84 km/h
22. 1996: 37:06 Miguel Indurain 21.83 km/h
23. 1994: 37:09 Laudelino Cubino 21.80 km/h
24. 1994: 37:11 Alex Zülle 21.78 km/h
25. 1994: 37:11 Vladimir Poulnikov 21.78 km/h

Here comes Nibali.

26. 1994: 37:24 Nelson Rodriguez 21.66 km/h
27. 2008: 37:30 Leonardo Piepoli 21.60 km/h
28. 2008: 37:30 Juan Jose Cobo 21.60 km/h
29. 1996: 37:37 Yevgeny Berzin 21.53 km/h
30. 1994: 37:40 Oscar Pellicioli 21.50 km/h
31. 1994: 37:40 Bjarne Riis 21.50 km/h
32. 1994: 37:40 Tony Rominger 21.50 km/h
33. 1994: 37:40 Udo Bölts 21.50 km/h
34. 1994: 37:50 Pascal Lino 21.41 km/h
35. 1994: 37:54 Jean François Bernard 21.37 km/h
36. 2008: 37:58 Frank Schleck 21.33 km/h
37. 1996: 37:59 Peter Luttenberger 21.33 km/h
38. 1994: 38:10 Oliverio Rincón 21.22 km/h
39. 1994: 38:10 Abraham Olano 21.22 km/h
40. 1996: 38:11 Patrick Jonker 21.21 km/h
41. 1996: 38:14 Manuel Fernandez 21.19 km/h
42. 2008: 38:36 Bernhard Kohl 20.98 km/h
43. 1994: 38:40 Giorgio Furlan 20.95 km/h
44. 2000: 38:43 Christophe Moreau 20.55 km/h
45. 1994: 38:47 Alberto Elli 20.89 km/h
46. 1994: 38:47 Franco Vona 20.89 km/h
47. 1996: 38:48 Bo Hamburger 20.88 km/h
48. 1996: 38:49 Alberto Elli 20.87 km/h
49. 1996: 38:53 Laurent Madouas 20.83 km/h
50. 2000: 38:57 José Maria Jimenez 20.80 km/h


It does put him in the middle of EPO era times, but so did Froomes climbing times last year. Those were a lot closer to the top times.

 

[Escarabajo]

http://www.climbing-records.com/2014/07/stunning-hautacam-ascent-by-great-nibali.html


jens attack blog

7" faster than Piepoli and Cobo.

 

[therhodeo]

How many times have they used this climb though?

 

[Tashkent Terror]

Bernhard Kohl!

Still only 32 according to Wikipedia. Some interesting names there from 2008.

 

[Kwibus]

Nibali and Peraud had the 6th time ever up the Pla 'd Adet, but I have no idea if earlier times were also the MTF.

 

[woodenswan]

back to whats important.. no Rojas win now on the Champs-Élysées

 

[Netserk]

Nibali and Peraud had the 6th time ever up the Pla 'd Adet, but I have no idea if earlier times were also the MTF.

It's a dead end.

 

[whittashau]

As for the quote of the day:

Fuglsang: 'Today's stage was horrible, horrible, horrible. My team mates were riding like they had stolen their bikes'

 

[Netserk]

How can people call Papy a wheelsucker? He had absolutely no responsibility to pull in that group, as he already had enough on Valverde with the ITT to come, wouldn't help TJ taking time (and 5th) from Bardet and to limit his losses to Pinot so he can get 2nd place. Jeebus, it's as stupid as blaming those who didn't pull for Valverde.

 

[Dr. Juice]

Great ride by Nibali, first time he went 99% and smashed it. Would not have been easy for anyone to catch him ( Contador).

Second thought: Zubeldia the invisible ninja has made it! 10th now. And the most hilarious thing (as someone before mentioned) :
When they showed the GC they showed top 9 instead of top 10.
TdF television trolling

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

So Cavendish finishes outside the time limit whenever he feels like it in 2011 and gets to keep the green jersey (nevermind being thrown out the race) in front of Rojas, but Rojas gets expelled the minute he allegedly gets a little too much help from his team car. Talk about double standards
Don't get me wrong, what Rojas did was silly but he was always going to finish well inside the time limit so why not just fine him and give a time penalty like usual in this instance. Surely, he wasn't even close to Meersman's Paris-Nice level in regards of using the team car for drafting and even Meersman wasn't thrown out.

 

[maxmartin]

As for the quote of the day:

Fuglsang: 'Today's stage was horrible, horrible, horrible. My team mates were riding like they had stolen their bikes'

good lads 10chra

 

[go crazy]

Anyone have a link to the video clip where Nibali hits the woman with the phone? I'm blocked out of the Eurosport clip.

 

[pastronef]

Second thought: Zubeldia the invisible ninja has made it! 10th now. And the most hilarious thing (as someone before mentioned) :
When they showed the GC they showed top 9 instead of top 10.
TdF television trolling

yes, I was waiting to see the GC to see if Haimar made the top 10. and French tv just shows the first 9!
bravo Haimar