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

[Captain Serious]

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.

thanks ,,,,

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Even worse carnage than I expected. Alien vs Predator duel is unfortunately over. Alien is killed and Predator is seriously hurt. Nibali stamps his authority on the race. How the hell was he better than Cancellara? Contador looses 2 and half minutes, which is really bad for him. Nibali is the favourite now. I am sure Contador will attack wildly in the mountains to reduce the gap (it could be very exciting to watch) but Nibali showed his form today and it could be hard to drop him in the mountains and gain 3 minutes.

 

[del1962]

I think Contador was the only GC favourite not to crash ?

Froome/Nibali/VDB/Porte/Talansky/Valverde/Tejay all went down.

Ah nvm think Costa/Mollema stayed upright, oddly enough them and Contador lost the most time.

Don't think he likes the cold and wet

 

[luckyboy]

Phil Sheehan ‏@_FlammeRouge_ 16m
Team Sky mechanic told me that Froome started the day's stage with a broken wrist #nails #TDF2014

 

[Red Lobster]

'cept poor ol Froome boy crashed on that pesky smooth tarmac stuff, not the cobbles.

Too bad for Froome as it sucks to be unable to defend your title because of a crash ... But on a personal level I am happy because Froome won't be there to spoil the aesthetics of such a beautiful race with his ghastly style.

 

[Climbing]

You can see some determination there

 

[veji11]

Phil Sheehan ‏@_FlammeRouge_ 16m
Team Sky mechanic told me that Froome started the day's stage with a broken wrist #nails #TDF2014

Yep, maybe not broken but majorly sore. He had no chance anyway. From the beginning, seeing him back in the middle of the bunch with his wristcast it looked off, like he knew. I think without the falls today we would have seen him fall down the groups like a stone and he would have left the race anyway.

Major unluck for him, but let's not blame it on today's stage being dangerous or what : In the end he is the only DNF, less than many flat stages on the tour. He just had unbelievable bad luck being clipped yesterday by the orica rider and hurting his wrist.

 

[go crazy]

Yep, maybe not broken but majorly sore. He had no chance anyway. From the beginning, seeing him back in the middle of the bunch with his wristcast it looked off, like he knew. I think without the falls today we would have seen him fall down the groups like a stone and he would have left the race anyway.

Major unluck for him, but let's not blame it on today's stage being dangerous or what : In the end he is the only DNF, less than many flat stages on the tour. He just had unbelievable bad luck being clipped yesterday by the orica rider and hurting his wrist.

Froome would have lost time no matter what. It was too wet and the roads too tough. He's good at his insane seated attacks in the mountains, but he was doomed to lose time on a stage like this.

 

[go crazy]

You can see some determination there

I can't wait to see all the photos from today's stage. Great capture!

 

[patrick767]

Your assessment of the GC riders is a bit harsh and selective I think. For me, apart from Nibali, Kwiatkowski, JVDB and Talansky would be winners, as were Pinot and Bardet (as everyone expected those to do worse).

Contador is the only major loser, together with top-10 contenders like Schleck, Horner etc. And Froome, obviously.

Any idea what happened to Frank Schleck? He lost 8:10. Either he had a nasty crash or two, a serious mechanical, or he's pretty much quit trying.

Zubeldia lost over 4 minutes. Trek is pretty laughable.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

My biggest takeaway from this race:

we will actually get to see a GT with Quintana, Contador and Froome as tour leaders.

fireworks in Veulta!!

If Contador wins the Tour, I don't think he will do the Vuelta. He'd be arriving into it tired, with the Tour in his legs, and an absolutely terrible team. Why risk taking a beating from a rested Froome and Quintana in a race where he will have none of the advantages? Why give them a likely psychological edge next year, rather than having it himself?

 

[Gorgeous Jim]

Actually - are things really that bad for Sky after today?
Porte is in 8th with only Nibali the only established GC contender ahead of him
Porte winning would be a stretch, but a decent podium seems possible, no?

 

[thehog]

Epic.

 

[deValtos]

Actually - are things really that bad for Sky after today?
Porte is in 8th with only Nibali the only established GC contender ahead of him
Porte winning would be a stretch, but a decent podium seems possible, no?

For sure they still have decent prospects in GC (podium or even better) but don't expect sky to be throwing any parties about it ...

Lot's of teams would love to have someone in Porte's position right now but it's the change in circumstances of losing Froome which is what makes it so dissapointing for them.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Actually - are things really that bad for Sky after today?
Porte is in 8th with only Nibali the only established GC contender ahead of him
Porte winning would be a stretch, but a decent podium seems possible, no?

Sure, but a podium for titchy Richie isn't much use as a marketing tool. The British public may buy into British winners, but that's a long way from buying into Australian second runner ups.

 

[UpTheRoad]

Actually - are things really that bad for Sky after today?
Porte is in 8th with only Nibali the only established GC contender ahead of him
Porte winning would be a stretch, but a decent podium seems possible, no?

For Sky it is not bad at all, and Geraint Thomas deserves huge kudos for his ride today helping Porte.

The main problem is that the Sky train has seriously derailed. I'm not sure Sky knows how to ride any other way, but who will be his mountain leadouts? He'll have Nieve as his right hand man, which is very good, but who else will be there to help at the end of stages? Who will be there consistently?

 

[Frosty]

Wonder how much Sky will go into protecting Porte - will it be 100% like Froome or are the stronger guys now far more likely to be allowed into breaks on the better days for the breaks?

 

[trevim]

Any idea what happened to Frank Schleck? He lost 8:10.

I'm surprised too, he performed way above expectations

 

[Gorgeous Jim]

I guess you're right - noone really noticed when Uran was 2nd in the Giro after Wiggins bugged out........

 

[Frosty]

For Sky it is not bad at all, and Geraint Thomas deserves huge kudos for his ride today helping Porte.

The main problem is that the Sky train has seriously derailed. I'm not sure Sky knows how to ride any other way, but who will be his mountain leadouts? He'll have Nieve as his right hand man, which is very good, but who else will be there to help at the end of stages? Who will be there consistently?

Depends how well Porte is going - it may now end up with the Astana and Saxo trains doing all the work on the climbs and then it going into tt mode uphill. Nieve might be able to help consistently until it all blows up, others may be around too when there are, say, 20 people left in the main group.

 

[red_flanders]

“Well, we lost about 2 and a half minutes to a very strong riding Nibali but we’re still confident. Alberto lost touch with the back wheel of Vincenzo and we simply couldn’t close the gap even with the help from other teams. Fortunately, he didn’t crash at any point and he didn’t have any punctures and not having any crashes is very important concerning the rest of the race. We’re five days into the race. Alberto is in peak shape and better than he was in Dauphine and we’re going to do some hard mountain stages. So, we’re still absolutely confident but aware that there’s some hard work to be done in order to make it back to the top of the rankings,” says DS, Steven De Jongh.

Riis is full of cr***

Sounds spot on to me. What's the issue?

 

[jilbiker]

“Well, we lost about 2 and a half minutes to a very strong riding Nibali but we’re still confident. Alberto lost touch with the back wheel of Vincenzo and we simply couldn’t close the gap even with the help from other teams. Fortunately, he didn’t crash at any point and he didn’t have any punctures and not having any crashes is very important concerning the rest of the race. We’re five days into the race. Alberto is in peak shape and better than he was in Dauphine and we’re going to do some hard mountain stages. So, we’re still absolutely confident but aware that there’s some hard work to be done in order to make it back to the top of the rankings,” says DS, Steven De Jongh.

Riis is full of cr***

I put AC's form and confidence at 2011 Giro. I don't even count 2009 TDF as his best. He came into 2011 Giro very confident, absolutely no one even "the Cannibal" could have beaten him, his confidence and shape is very close to that.. Cobbles is just not AC's thing, Nibbles on the other hand is arguably the best when it comes to tough conditions, I don't know if he grew up in the streets I remember on a very snowy Giro stage, Nibbles weathered it all.

The problem with Nibbles though is that he cracks easily under repeated fast acceleration on mountains, its just not his thing, much like Wiggins. so we will see how he will cope in the mountains.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Wonder how much Sky will go into protecting Porte - will it be 100% like Froome or are the stronger guys now far more likely to be allowed into breaks on the better days for the breaks?

That probably depends on when/if lil Richie's traditional flakeyness rears its head. As long as he's in contention to win at all, I don't see Sky allowing anyone off the leash. Their team is thin enough as it is, without letting riders use up energy.

 

[UpTheRoad]

Depends how well Porte is going - it may now end up with the Astana and Saxo trains doing all the work on the climbs and then it going into tt mode uphill. Nieve might be able to help consistently until it all blows up, others may be around too when there are, say, 20 people left in the main group.

I still don't fully understand why Saxo would want a train going. They should want AC to jump time and again. The change of pace is what will get AC the victory if it is meant to be for him. They should want to get someone ahead and have AC leapfrog.

Astana I get. They have a great mountain team and Nibali is in terrific form. AC isn't going to just ride him off his wheel, but he can attack and get time.

Talansky, Valverde, TJVG and the others will also have to take the fight to Nibali and not just Contador. I hope that we see some action (not just reaction) from those guys, too.

 

[thehog]

Classic.