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

[Dazed and Confused]

Unbelievable stage.

Astana, lol

This is racing to me.

Congrats to Nibali. Respect.

 

[Captain Serious]

jee, fast stage, especially for all the cobbles. Was there a tailwind?

 

[Afrank]

Someone mentioned "epic" being thrown around loosely quite a bit these days, but this stage has got to be considered as one to be remembered for a long time.

As another posters said, greatest stage since Galibier 2011.

 

[No_Balls]

Sounds like a great setup for the rest of the tour.

Can Contador get the time back in the mountains, probably, but epic daym, shame Froome is out though, I guess if your wrist is fractured not a stage you can get through

Its all up to if Astana can defend the jersey over three weeks (included the stage ridden).

 

[mr. tibbs]

Contador out of the top ten!

 

[the sceptic]

epic stage. Nibali has some balls.

Does anyone know what happened to Papy? Didnt see him at all

 

[Ramira]

jee, fast stage, especially for all the cobbles. Was there a tailwind?

They changed directions a bit so they must have had a tailwind for some of it, however I do remember the first hour they rode over 49k with a decent headwind, they just raced their asses off.

 

[JimPanzen]

The question is...if there are time gaps of 3mins for a single stage between GC guys and that one stage could also already decide the overall race...Is it good to have such a stage in a GT? (Apart from the entertainment factor)

 

[Lanark]

What a stage. Froome out, Nibali riding like a true champ, Contador having a bad day, and a great winner with Boom. Already the best stage of this Tour.

 

[icefire]

Looking forward to Conti lighting it up in the mountains then

Can't see him getting more than 20-30 secs per MTF.

 

[Escarabajo]

Hitch dream came true today. Contador lost nearly 3 minutes today.

 

[dduff442]

jee, fast stage, especially for all the cobbles. Was there a tailwind?

Yeah, the wind was mostly from behind.

 

[happytramp]

As another posters said, greatest stage since Galibier 2011.

Better though, cause it had rain, cobbles, and Nibali in it.

 

[Linkinito]

Came to see mayhem.
Wasn't disappointed.

I bless the atmosphere for bringing us the rain that turned this frightening stage into one of the greatest stages ever in the Tour.

 

[Unkown]

jee, fast stage, especially for all the cobbles. Was there a tailwind?

Had to be, average speed 44.9 km/h!

 

[Yamato]

Kinda disappointed in Mollema, didn't expect him to do so badly.

Great stage though, we will see a lot of attcks now on Nibali.

 

[sultanofhyd]

There is no need to be so melodramatic. Contador lost two and a half minutes, not hours.

 

[pigoonse]

........... yay !!!!!!!!




:d:d:d:d

YES!!!!!!

No other words for today

 

[mr. tibbs]

Can't see him getting more than 20-30 secs per MTF.

Hopefully they'll be fighting every day, every time. The stage really is set.

 

[kingjr]

the horror.... the horror

 

[Ramira]

The question is...if there are time gaps of 3mins for a single stage between GC guys and that one stage could also already decide the overall race...Is it good to have such a stage in a GT? (Apart from the entertainment factor)

Considering any TT of over 40k can easily lead to gaps of around two minutes, and there are often two of those in a GT, I don't really see why riding over the cobbles would be a skill you need to win a GT just like time trialing.

 

[xanadu]

Gtreat ride by Nibali and his Astana team , just hope the lads havn't burnt too many matches today.

 

[trevim]

There is no need to be so melodramatic. Contador lost two and a half minutes, not hours.

Yeah it was bad but it's not like the Tour is over. Every GC rider has to attack Nibali now, not just him.

 

[armchairclimber]

One of the great days racing. Extraordinary performance from Astana. Monstrous from Lars. Great GC shake up and the promise of some fierce racing in the mountains.

 

[Ramira]

Gtreat ride by Nibali and his Astana team , just hope the lads havn't burnt too many matches today.

They will have two easy days to recover before Saturday, and remember Contador got dropped after the final cobbles section, so he probably used at least as much energy as Nibali.