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

[pigoonse]

What did he say? Weather too hard for him to be in the mix?

He is actually on NBC not NBCSN. He is still talking: commenting on the stage, the weather, the speed of the race, Saxo's tempo and the talking about eating snickers and drinking coca cola all day and gaining weight. This interview is very good. He's STILL yammering away....have to read a transcript of it or watch it again. I like Papy's commentary.

Said Saxo was killing it on the climbs - says he doesn't think the pace could have been higher.

 

[xanadu]

When the going got tough Astana went into stealth mode and dissapeared from the screen. Nibbles may have hung tough but the rest, including Fuglsang were nowhere.
As for the battle for the overall win a couple of points are worth noting.
1) Talansky needs training wheels.
2) Today was a dress rehearsal for the main climbing days. Contador was not at full bore as evidenved by his continual bacward glances. When push came to shove in the final push for the line Nibali could not hold onto Alberto, and he did try.

Make of this what you will but of one thing i am sure Astana cannot hold the jersey all the way to Paris.

 

[maxmartin]

Strange... I saw most of the AC fanboys saying at least 20 sec for Berto over Nibali today before the race. I think the reality was 3? You should actually be disappointed, right and not make huge statement over sprint win? Why would Berto hold back when there was a chance to drop the rest even way more? I thought I saw him asking Nibs to make a stab 500 m to go and help to get more, but Nibali would not even bother. The race is on - 3 seconds in sprint (which Nibali doesn't master anyway) means nothing.

yes, AC wants to put more time into RP, because he is still behind RP. Of coure Nibali refuse this little trick, all Nibali needed to do is to stick with AC

 

[Netbalp]

1. Great stage victory for Kadri, he really deserves it
2. Contador didn't look like he was putting in huge accelerations. He also looked as fresh as a daisy on the finish line
3. You don't let your biggest competitor take 3 seconds on you unless you can't go any harder. The difference is mental
4. Nibali usually suffers the least from bad weather, these conditions favoured him
5. Astana's and Sky's performance is worrysome. If Contador has the strongest team, he'll be able to go on long range attacks to gain minutes

Thanks you for very objective analysis

 

[kingjr]

How can you go from pessimistic to optimistic so fast?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/155330-bpfd-bipolar-fan-disorder-why-we-all-have-it

 

[MBotero]

1. Great stage victory for Kadri, he really deserves it
2. Contador didn't look like he was putting in huge accelerations. He also looked as fresh as a daisy on the finish line
3. You don't let your biggest competitor take 3 seconds on you unless you can't go any harder. The difference is mental
4. Nibali usually suffers the least from bad weather, these conditions favoured him
5. Astana's and Sky's performance is worrysome. If Contador has the strongest team, he'll be able to go on long range attacks to gain minutes

Let's see how strong is Tinkoff-Saxo on the real mountain stages,not on the hilly ones.I wouldn't worry about Astana and Sky,only then will see if they suck or not.

 

[Arredondo]

I'm impressed by Nibali,this was not his type of finish but he handle it very well.Looks like Porte is not matching these guys,so should be a battle in 2 for TDf win Contador vs Nibali.

I'm thinking the result of today says me Porte is going to match these two the next two weeks. This wasn't his climb at all, i found him really impressive. He will be good on the long climbs.

Valverde on the other hand, just shows he doesn't have it in the Tour. This finish was tailor-made for him. I don't think he can really threat Nibali, Contador and Porte.

 

[MBotero]

I'm thinking the result of today says me Porte is going to match these two the next two weeks. This wasn't his climb at all, i found him really impressive. He will be good on the long climbs.

Valverde on the other hand, just shows he doesn't have it in the Tour. This finish was tailor-made for him. I don't think he can really threat Nibali, Contador and Porte.

Problem with Porte is that bad day ,that till now was hard for him to evade.I know he doesn't like this climbs ,but so is Nibali who finish in front of him.

 

[I Love To Dope]

When the going got tough Astana went into stealth mode and dissapeared from the screen. Nibbles may have hung tough but the rest, including Fuglsang were nowhere.

BMC tactics.

All they needed was for Nibali to crash and a team member to attack the front.

 

[Netserk]

I'm thinking the result of today says me Porte is going to match these two the next two weeks. This wasn't his climb at all, i found him really impressive. He will be good on the long climbs.

Valverde on the other hand, just shows he doesn't have it in the Tour. This finish was tailor-made for him. I don't think he can really threat Nibali, Contador and Porte.

This was a good climb for Porte...

 

[whittashau]

Wow, people writing off Nibali already. Laughable. If anything surely people would remember that history would tell us that people around here have no clue when it comes to Nibali and typically whatever the consensus says about him tends to be completely wrong.

Remember, Valverde is supposed to beat him in the Tour, and he'll struggle to finish in the top 5

 

[Red Rick]

Now the most important question: Has Sagan finished yet?

 

[indianfanboy]

Problem with Porte is that bad day ,that till now was hard for him to evade.I know he doesn't like this climbs ,but so is Nibali who finish in front of him.

So is Contador he is not really good at this punchy climbs compared to what he can do on a long climb

 

[pigoonse]

I'm thinking the result of today says me Porte is going to match these two the next two weeks. This wasn't his climb at all, i found him really impressive. He will be good on the long climbs.

Valverde on the other hand, just shows he doesn't have it in the Tour. This finish was tailor-made for him. I don't think he can really threat Nibali, Contador and Porte.

Thinking I agree with you about Porte - he seemed fresh after the climb and gave thoughtful answers post race interview. I was thinking he just looks ready for more.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

As I expected Contador attacked. He gained over anyone except Nibali. Italian lost 3 seconds at the end - was he cracking or just slew down before finish? I'm not sure. Earlier he held Spaniard's wheel quite easily. This short mountain test showed that it could be Nibali, Contador and Porte on TdF podium. Valverde slightly dissapointed me. It won't be easy for Contador to close gap to Nibali as Italian may be second best climber in this race. But it's definitely possible. Thanks to that cobbles stage fight for GC win could be even more exciting. It's a pity Kwiatkowski lost time today. I expected more from him in medium mountains.

 

[sir fly]

Nibali didn't look uncomfortable following Contador, but there are some chinks in the Astana armor. Keep pressurizing them, and they might crack at the end.
It was a nice rehearsal for the Monday and rest of the race.

 

[kingjr]

So is Contador he is not really good at this punchy climbs compared to what he can do on a long climb

He could have won FW already hadn't he gone too early.

 

[Arredondo]

Problem with Porte is that bad day ,that till now was hard for him to evade.I know he doesn't like this climbs ,but so is Nibali who finish in front of him.

True, that bad day is (or was) Porte's problem. But i counting the fact he will not have one this Tour. And Nibali showed with some top-10 places in FW and for example 2nd on Valdepenas de Jaen in the Vuelta '10 that he can do well on these kind of climbs.

 

[willbick]

Problem with Porte is that bad day ,that till now was hard for him to evade.I know he doesn't like this climbs ,but so is Nibali who finish in front of him.

Has Porte ever had a bad day except for that one stage last year? I think Nibali is more favoured by small climbs than Porte. Porte is a diesel climber who tends to get better the longer the climb. Nibali is punchier but I dont think he excells on the bigger climbs

 

[Arredondo]

This was a good climb for Porte...

Yeah sure. You know it better then all the results of the past

He never really perfomed on a short steep climb like this. Or you think a 6th place on La Lejana is a proof of that.

 

[whittashau]

Astana wasn't anywhere as weak as people were suggesting
Supposedly Birdsong was sick this morning, and Kangert wasn't dropped he dropped back to help him, and Scarponi was in the main group until the last climb

Again it seems that people are really grasping at straws rather than actually paying attention.

 

[Netserk]

Has Porte ever had a bad day except for that one stage last year? I think Nibali is more favoured by small climbs than Porte. Porte is a diesel climber who tends to get better the longer the climb. Nibali is punchier but I dont think he excells on the bigger climbs

Whut?!?

 

[roundabout]

I actually think Porte has a decent 1 km uphill kick as seen in Paris-Nice last year when he took massive time out of everybody, so I wouldn't really say that this climb was that bad for him.

 

[xanadu]

If Astana ride all day at the front tomorrow it might just be the longest suicide note in TDF history.

 

[ILovecycling]

But with a damn good poker face. It was interesting that he followed Contador's accelerations instead of going in his own pace, his usual style.

yep,great poker indeed!

No guys it's obvious Nibali lost 3 seconds ON PURPOSE against the best climber of the last 15 years

That said, I'd say a short steep wall is not Nibali's specialty.

Thats very true,lot of people here dont realise this!

Nibali didn't follow any of Contadors acceleration s coz Contador didn't make any and still shafted everyone.

This.