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

[slosada]

Great preview, Ilovecycling
I see OPQS drilling it...
For the record, I wonder if Froome did MTB when he started, how did he lose bike handling skills... yes, I know he felt in DL and also today's stage (swept by someone else). I also know he stares at his SRM.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Contignous precipitation likely in the late afternoon tomorrow. Gonna be carnage indeed.

 

[veji11]

plus the weather prediction has been updated, strong rain, 12°C and winds up to 40km/H... It begins ! Not only is ther crash danger, but quite a few riders might catch the flue as well !

 

[Matt92]

How many of you guys are praying for rain ? you evil !

Here I am

 

[rghysens]

Mollema,Van den Broeck,Kwiatkowski are decent cobble riders with really powerful teams i dont think they will neutralize the stage
They could be gaining minutes at the end of the stage

Vandenbroeck a decent cobble rider?
He can barely stay upright on a smooth, wide road.

 

[Arredondo]

Vandenbroeck a decent cobble rider?
He can barely stay upright on a smooth, wide road.

Just watch the results back in 2010

 

[Arredondo]

Next time when you try to correct me, please read my post.

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Paris_Roubaix_2002

I could also discovered it by reading the word ''also''

 

[SKSemtex]

I am afraid that in Giro they made the precedens. Unfortunately they were proven right.
Rain and 40 km/h might be too much.

 

[SKSemtex]

We might loose the chance to see Tony Martin testing the cobbles. He might fall in love with them and start the new german era of cobbled classics.

 

[No_Balls]

plus the weather prediction has been updated, strong rain, 12°C and winds up to 40km/H... It begins ! Not only is ther crash danger, but quite a few riders might catch the flue as well !

A storm is coming. Seriously, that is a little over the top.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

A storm is coming. Seriously, that is a little over the top.

#theperfectstorm

 

[dduff442]

The rain looks a non-event according to this :-

http://www.tameteo.com/meteo_Roubaix-Europe-France-Nord--1-25380.html

It says showers with winds of 30kph gusting to 50kph. In the open countryside, the wind could be a factor alone. Wind and rain combined with narrow cobbled sections equals total anarchy.

 

[Beech Mtn]

It says showers with winds of 30kph gusting to 50kph. In the open countryside, the wind could be a factor alone. Wind and rain combined with narrow cobbled sections equals total anarchy.

That's gonna upset Papy's rheumatism. Gonna need an old man TUE. Jens too.

 

[Jagartrott]

http://www.meteo.be/meteo/view/en/219768-Precipitation.html

Look at those quantities for tomorrow afternoon...

 

[go crazy]

Great preview, Ilovecycling
I see OPQS drilling it...
For the record, I wonder if Froome did MTB when he started, how did he lose bike handling skills... yes, I know he felt in DL and also today's stage (swept by someone else). I also know he stares at his SRM.

I totally agree. OPQS has looked amateurish so far in this Tour, and tomorrow they could set it all right if they launch Kwiatkowski into the lead. I think that could be great fun if Kwiat can get several minutes on the field, it would set up the rest of race quite nicely.

So does anyone think most of the GC guys race or do they let the strong men fight it out and call a truce amongst themselves? I sure hope they race, they've got to know Froome is hurting and him busting it over those cobbles and cold, wet, windy roads could be an opportunity.

 

[jens_attacks]

someone call bobbie traksel and send him up the road tomorrow

 

[Bushman]

Nice preview. But how can you put Contador in same group as Pinot??? That is ridiculous. And why behind Nibali and Valverde? His team is was better than Valverde's.

 

[DirtyWorks]

So does anyone think most of the GC guys race or do they let the strong men fight it out and call a truce amongst themselves? I sure hope they race, they've got to know Froome is hurting and him busting it over those cobbles and cold, wet, windy roads could be an opportunity.

IMO, the GC riders could let the stage contenders go and come in a couple of minutes down without any worries. It's early and a big risk to take some time now. Among other things, the weight of the yellow jersey is heavy.

Contador did something similar last year, so who knows how it plays out.

The wind forecast is probably the biggest factor. I realize it looks very likely the stage will be run in rainy conditions, but cross winds and echelons on not-wide roads will make time splits. The only thing needed is to be slightly out of position in the peloton and the gaps will open.

 

[ILovecycling]

Nice preview. But how can you put Contador in same group as Pinot??? That is ridiculous. And why behind Nibali and Valverde? His team is was better than Valverde's.

Imo Fdj has got better team for cobbles than saxo,and he is not behind,the riders in e.g. Two star group have more or less all the same chances

 

[Frosty]

Have to be pretty bad for the GC guys to neutralize. Some will fancy their chances of taking significant time here and be very reluctant to give that chance up.

 

[Bushman]

Pinot is just really bad at positioning and in this sort of terrain, so I would say that if Contador performs equal to Pinot the chances of winning the Tour are slim.

 

[Taxus4a]

With people as Cancellara, Sagan or the current winner of Roubaix, Tepstra, willing to win, and with the teams wanted to put his riders on the front...with Froome crash, the forecast, wind and rain, the stage it is going to be a masacre... to predit who is going to be beneffiting is difficult, but surely Nibali has more chances now than others.

 

[Poursuivant]

Excellent preview

 

[Orbit501]

I quite fancy Haussler as an outsider to do something tomorrow. He seems to be in decent form.

 

[jaylew]

Why are people saying they hope no GC guys lose a lot of time?

If you said I hope no GC guy loses a lot of time in the mountains or TT that would be dumb wouldn't it?

The whole point of this stage is to watch the GC lightweights and ****ty bike handlers lose a lot of time

I don't mind a GC guy losing time because he can't follow wheels tomorrow but I don't want any of them (even the ones I dislike) to lose time due to a cobble-caused crash or flat.

I'm really looking forward but god man i hope no one crashes, even froome not. You don't wanna win that way, so please no one crash tomorrow.

Exactly this.

This is too much, i want to use this thread but my jymmies can't handle this tittle. I am going to edit it

Not cool, Parrulo. Imo, mods shouldn't alter thread titles for something so trivial or personal, just if it's offensive, breaks a forum rule, or the author requests it.