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

[go crazy]

AC is 2'37" down. A lot, but he can pull that back. Nibs was about 2' back on AC at the end of the 1-week long Dauphine. AC's got 2 weeks now to make this up

 

[Publicus]

I doubt it this time. He's not in his best shape.

lol. from what i saw he had a crash of some sort and then had a mechanical leading into the final sector. We'll see, but all indications are that he is in great shape, and just had some bad luck.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Virtual GC

1 Nibali
2 Fugslang +2s
3 Kwiatkowski +50s
4 Van den Broeck +1m45s
5 Porte +1m54s
6 Talansky +2m05s
7 Valverde +2m11s
8 Bardet s.t.
9 Van Garderen s.t
10 Costa s.t.
11 Pinot +2m25s
12 Mollema +2m27s
13 Contador +2m37s
14 Peraud +3m29s
15 Zubeldia +3m59s
16 Frank +4m13s
17 Horner s.t.
18 Ten Dam s.t.

 

[icefire]

Incredible the fans AC has. Wasn't Quintana down almost 3 minutes at some point in this year's Giro?? I don't think he panicked at all.

Quintana was taking 20" on Urán in each MTF until the confusion about the neutralized Stelvio descent.

At that pace Contador needs 9 MTFs to overtake Nibali

 

[MartinGT]

Big George saying he thinks Bertie bonked.

 

[Ramira]

Sagan did not look very happy on that podium. Unless he wins a stage somewhere this tour he will be one hell of a sad green jersey winner.

 

[go crazy]

I doubt it this time. He's not in his best shape.

Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Nevermind take that back

 

[Descender]

Cycling mother****ers!

 

[No_Balls]

Contador was not as good as i thought he be but probably as much due to the rain as much as wet roads.

JVDB impressed me and talansky was good but Nibali just a star today.

If he is in the shape we have heard then there would be no major worry (as we saw in Dauphine). It did not look good today though due to mechanicals and "crash".

 

[Flamin]

Congrats to Boom, but kind of gutted for Vanmarcke.

Immense fail by Sagan and Cancellara.

Nibali heroic ride _O_ and credits for an amazing Lieuwe.

 

[JimPanzen]

I wonder how defending the yellow jersey from day 2 on will work out for Astana over the course of the race.

 

[Descender]

Contador can still win this if he's 100%. But he'll now be forced to attack from afar, as will the rest of the top riders.

Looks promising. Goes to show these stages are necessary.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Quintana was taking 20" on Urán in each MTF until the confusion about the neutralized Stelvio descent.

At that pace Contador needs 9 MTFs to overtake Nibali

Or just 1 54km long ITT

 

[go crazy]

Quintana was taking 20" on Urán in each MTF until the confusion about the neutralized Stelvio descent.

At that pace Contador needs 9 MTFs to overtake Nibali

This is Sky math at it's best. Beep boop beep computer say blah blah. Means nothing. Can never take into account the dynamics of actual road racing. Sure, let's just plug everything into a computer and just stop the tour now.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Still think that if Contador had the choice of losing 3 mins to Nibali or a Froome DNF he would prefer the latter.

I totally agree. I am confident that Nibali has the tactical nous and strong team to handle the attacks in the mountains but does he have the legs to stave off a hard-charging Contador in the MTFs? Then again, maybe Contador left some of his best form at the Dauphine.

 

[Parrulo]

Cycling mother****ers!

^^QTF

10 chars

 

[SKSemtex]

Sagan did not look very happy on that podium. Unless he wins a stage somewhere this tour he will be one hell of a sad green jersey winner.

Yes. The green jersey hunting costs him too much energy. It is fifth stage he is going full power. And the difference is only 50 points to Kittel. He can easilly loose it. He is not a bot afterall.

 

[arvc40]

I see contador winning Tour by 5 min. He will Rip this race to pieces just as Froome did last year.

 

[inri2000]

I doubt it this time. He's not in his best shape.

You are right, I think Nibali will fade eventually and it will be between Porte and Contador in the long run

 

[Squirbos19]

Sagan hasn't looked happy at all on the podium this whole tour. I think only a stage win or a stint in the yellow jersey could cheer him up.

 

[dduff442]

This is between Nibali and Contador now with Lil' Richie the main candidate for the last podium spot.

Talansky or Valverde for 3rd IMO.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Question. Was ever Tour when the winer picked up the yellow jersey in the first stage and and have it till the end?

Yes. Bottechia did it in 1924, Frantz in 1928. Garin held the lead from start to finish in the first ever edition in 1903, but the yellow jersey wasn't awarded back then.

 

[The Hitch]

Switch onto Lemond cycling programme

Presenter: The Hell of the North gave its verdict today in Nuremberg.


Wait what???

 

[mikkemus23]

Crazy stage! Porte wins the tour

 

[sjonnie]

Westra gets prize for most combative rider, did an awesome job today.