2014 Tour de France, Stage 8: Tomblaine – Gerardmer/La Mauselaine: 161km

[indianfanboy]

Petit looks pretty banged up

 

[djlovesyou]

A Pity. I was hoping for a Piti win.

It's still at that stage of Le Tour where he's considering himself a challenger for the GC.

Once the first proper mountain stage is finished he'll target the punchy stages instead.

 

[indianfanboy]

Will we see the Sky Bot train today?

 

[Miburo]

I still think that Movistar should at least make some effort in trying to win today

True that but yea...

 

[uconnryan]

‏@AdamYates7 3m
Hahahahahahaha @simonyatess got this! For sureeeeee #tdf

 

[l.Harm]

GPS didn't work well

 

[Hugo Koblet]

‏@AdamYates7 3m
Hahahahahahaha @simonyatess got this! For sureeeeee #tdf

Now I really hope he won't win

 

[glassmoon]

Mandatory TV time for Tommy V

 

[JRTK73]

10:25 is the time gap now. It seems they will be allowed to stay away.

 

[Armchaircyclist]

Will we see the Sky Bot train today?

-----------
If that happens surely cyclingnews will be down for a year

 

[SafeBet]

Most of my life too

I'm sure your boss is happy about you (if you've got one).

Now seriously, I don't think a Yates win should be taken fro granted. Machine will be hard to drop.

 

[maxmartin]

10:25 is the time gap now. It seems they will be allowed to stay away.

why not? Astana play it smart, there may be many stages like this in the Tour

 

[SafeBet]

Who's the best placed rider in GC from the break?

 

[sultanofhyd]

Who's the best placed rider in GC from the break?

Chavanel at 26 minutes

 

[tomorrow]

with the current state, could there be problem with time limit for grupetto today? Surely, those mountains will hurt them terribly, and they will have somewhere near 10 minute gap before they even start

 

[the_cutter]

I suspect the GC guys will wait until the last climb, and mostly observe how strong/weak everybody is, but I'd love somebody to have a go. There is hardly any flat in the last 30kms. Astana seems the obvious choice - perhaps a 1-2 attack? Judging by the cobbles stage Birdsong is a good bikehandler, how is he at descending? An aggressive strategy in the first stage could catch other teams off guard. Trim the field on the first climb, attack on the second. It's unlikely, but other teams lost some decent climbers and if they feel good, then why not? I'm sure Vino would approve.

Most people here seem to think that Nibbles will lose few seconds in the uphill sprint, so why not try gaining few instead? Depends on the situation, I guess, if the descent is not technical enough and/or there's headwind he should stay tucked in and conserve energy. I think Nibbles still needs to be opportunistic and find some seconds somewhere because there are likely 1-3 better climbers (and TTists) than him among the contenders.


And, of course, given that I've now wasted 10mins writting this, they will do nothing today and wait for monday.

 

[sultanofhyd]

with the current state, could there be problem with time limit for grupetto today? Surely, those mountains will hurt them terribly, and they will have somewhere near 10 minute gap before they even start

The break is not going to finish 10 minutes ahead

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

with the current state, could there be problem with time limit for grupetto today? Surely, those mountains will hurt them terribly, and they will have somewhere near 10 minute gap before they even start

...no .

 

[indianfanboy]

Katusha have no interest to chase too.Rodriguez must still be short of form

 

[sultanofhyd]

Katusha have no interest to chase too.Rodriguez must still be short of form

Yeah, he wouldn't be in 154th in the GC if he had any semblance of form

 

[maxmartin]

Katusha have no interest to chase too.Rodriguez must still be short of form

he is training for Vuelta, only expect him something in the third week when it is get close to Vuelta

 

[Liquigas]

Yeah, he wouldn't be in 154th in the GC if he had any semblance of form

Being so far down has nothing to do with form...

 

[tomorrow]

The break is not going to finish 10 minutes ahead

i know it's not going to finish 10 minutes ahead of course, but I suspect that the first sprinters will be dropped in the first climb, and there are not exactly weak people there, so the sprinters might reasonable time there too

 

[zombo10]

Kadri or Yates for the win today i think...

 

[sultanofhyd]

Being so far down has nothing to do with form...

If he wanted the freedom to go on attacks, losing 10 minutes would be enough, no need to lose 500 years.