2014 Tour de France, Stage 5: Ypres – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut: 156km

[cineteq]

Rumours that the last two sections (8 and 9) will be taken out top )-:

@cyclingweekly: Cobble sectors 5 and 7 have been removed from today's 155.5km route over safety concerns caused by bad weather conditions.

 

[Miburo]

Rumours that the last two sections (8 and 9) will be taken out top )-:

oh no ffs man

 

[Cimber]

Where are you seeing this?

They just said it on Danish TV

 

[Arredondo]

They just said it on Danish TV

No other international TV station, or French source, confirms this rumour. So i don't know how Danish TV knows it.

 

[murali]

sad to see many who only showup during tour making many unwarranted comments about other members.

as long as hey dont cancel sec 1,2,3 and the finish, i am happy.
i predict real action there.


for the cry-babies and macho a$$holes, i have only one thing to say: get a life!

i'm pretty sure tht every veteran here appreciates rider safety more than a WWE match.



i think trentin will watch over Kwiatko while Bakelants and Terpstra will go for the stage win.
Canc and sagan are alone in the teams.

I'm betting tht there will be one early break (most likely with voigt) in the front, attacks in s 6, or echelons.

There is no way for a bunch sprint today.

 

[Ryongsyong]

Originally cycling races were made tough to show that you could use a cycle anywhere. Now if there are puddles on the road they re-route somewhere else. Somewhere along the lines some very important parts of what cycle racing is supposed to be got forgotten about and while the spectacle may remain the same if you close your ears and try to live in ignorance the feeling is now just nothing at all compared to the past.

I genuinely think I and my fellow commuters take more of a risk on the roads, rain or shine, summer or winter, than the pros do. There aren't many sports where that can be said of its fans, and it doesn't make it look very good.

 

[Walkman]

Rumours that the last two sections (8 and 9) will be taken out top )-:

What?! Why?

 

[cineteq]

What?! Why?

@cyclingweekly: Cobble sectors 5 and 7 have been removed from today's 155.5km route over safety concerns caused by bad weather conditions.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

No they didn't

yes they did. mons evn pevele was THE stroke

 

[jens_attacks]

well maybe they should cancel it all. didn't they think that it might rain when they designed it??aso idiots

 

[veji11]

Originally cycling races were made tough to show that you could use a cycle anywhere. Now if there are puddles on the road they re-route somewhere else. Somewhere along the lines some very important parts of what cycle racing is supposed to be got forgotten about and while the spectacle may remain the same if you close your ears and try to live in ignorance the feeling is now just nothing at all compared to the past.

I genuinely think I and my fellow commuters take more of a risk on the roads, rain or shine, summer or winter, than the pros do. There aren't many sports where that can be said of its fans, and it doesn't make it look very good.

Look man what you don't get is that the main problem isn't safety due to individual riders, it is how to deal with the bunch. the Peloton as an entity, an organism.

Nowadays you have a packed group of 180 riders entering a cobbled section at 55ks/h, you have riders riding so so close to each other, so so fast, it is just not manageable when a sector is flooded. It would result in a massive pile up.

Send riders by themselves on the route and they can all go through fine. Send them by groups of 20 (what would have been the case up until the 70s when separation between gregarii and leaders was more obvious) and it is manageable. A tight bunch of 150/180. It is just plain suicide.

It is the way it is. Playing the hard hat gladiator misses the point : it isn't about individual riders, their courage or abilities, the point is that we don't know how to deal with today's peloton in that sort of circumstances...

 

[MartinGT]

If the Dawg didnt have a sore wrist they would have cancelled 0 (zero) stages!

 

[Netserk]

yes they did. mons evn pevele was THE stroke

Perhaps take a look at the map next time? It was only the easiest third of the sector that was planned

Or are you saying that the original stage went through the whole of the P-R sector 10?

 

[ILovecycling]

yes they did. mons evn pevele was THE stroke

no,only easy part of Pévele was supposed to be raced,it was actually of the easier secteurs

You havent read my/netserk preview,how that happened?

 

[veji11]

well maybe they should cancel it all. didn't they think that it might rain when they designed it??aso idiots

come on dude, you are being disingenuous. They would have done the same if it was Paris-Roubaix ! you just can't ride on a flooded sector. Simple as that. You have to realise that today's condition are worse than what was last exeperienced in 2001/2002 in Paris Roubaix !

 

[ILovecycling]

Lemond talks how he crushed hinault on pave

 

[murali]

how is the wind between sector 8 and 6?

any chance for echelons there?


i wud rather have small groups hitting the paves with screaming fans in the side. i havent yet forgotten how Stybie lost a sureshot victory

 

[luckyboy]

Renaat Schotte ‏@wielerman 1m
Quote @f_cancellara about the cancelled cobbles 'a mistake by the Tour organisation' #tdf #sporza


No Neutralisation then!

 

[LosBrolin]

Pre-stage favourite Fabian Cancellara is in fighting spirits, having talked to CN's Stephen Farrand at the start line: "We go, we race, warriors always race. There are two sectors less but t won't change anything. It's going to be a mess, a roulette, a race.

oh yesss, now we're talking

 

[Arredondo]

And they're on. Sector 8 and 9 are in it. Lets race!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

the weather is really atrocious

 

[Netserk]

I have a feeling this will be the best stage of the Tour

 

[Fight.The.Power]

It begins !

Looks pretty awful weather.

 

[ILovecycling]

Pre-stage favourite Fabian Cancellara is in fighting spirits, having talked to CN's Stephen Farrand at the start line: "We go, we race, warriors always race. There are two sectors less but t won't change anything. It's going to be a mess, a roulette, a race.

yep,like in Spa,this guy is really pathetic

 

[Netserk]

Tony Martin and Greipel among the first in the bunch during the neutralized start.