2015 tour de france stage 3, Antwerpen-Hoei 159.5km

[blaxland]

just heard white say albasini is the man today fingers crossed.still think if anyone can outsprint valverde than its Gerrans"

 

[Ruby United]

Re:

gerrans for the win.considering the whole team went to sleep in yesterdays stage.lol

Surely Orica will look for Albasini?

They have two (or three with Mathews) cards to play today, and, knowing them, they will go full out for one and use second as back up.

They will possibly try steam-train the last 20k, prevent breakaway/puncheur escaping and then Gerrans to lead out Albasini on the Mur. Stage is too hard for Mathews though.

Whilst Nibali and Conta are relatively accustomed to these types of stages, Froome and Nairito will have to be the most careful. Positioning is pivotal before the Mur and neither are known for their positioning.
Valverde FTW, Kwia and Martin for podium.
Canc in yellow

 

[DBotero]

J.Rod has some problems so this should be easy.

 

[staubsauger]

No love for Rui Costa & Warren Barguil!?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

No love for Rui Costa & Warren Barguil!?

I considered them, don't think one of them will win though, top 10 is possible.

 

[Punkan]

I wonder about Simon Yates today. He did a great performance on Muro de Aia in this years Vuelta al País Vasco.

But I guess it's all for Albasini.

 

[janraaskalt2]

Re:

just heard white say albasini is the man today fingers crossed.still think if anyone can outsprint valverde than its Gerrans"

I also thought they would ride for Gerrans, but even Gerrans said that Albasini is their man for Huy, who's more suitable for that climb.

 

[Punkan]

Re: Re:

Huy should suit Quintana quiet well should it not?

As people have said...
No

Based on what? How many times have we actually seen Quintana on short and steep climbs? He did Aia this year and was distanced by Purito with 12s, but had the same time as Kwia and he beat Pinot and Costa (Yes I no Aia is much harder than Huy and more suited to light riders than Huy.). Some years back he won Giro dell'Emilia which then finished with 1.5-2k fairly steep climb, but here the competition wasn't superhard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xSHJUo7VA0

Quintana came 4th on stage 3 Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2013. Short and steep finish, he beat Contador.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OegAW-m5JfQ

If he gets a good posititon when they enter Huy, I think he could do a decent climb and stay with the likes of Contador, Froome and Nibali. But maybe I'm wrong. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Re:

just heard white say albasini is the man today fingers crossed.still think if anyone can outsprint valverde than its Gerrans"

yeah I'm sure it's going to be a sprint on the mur de huy

 

[rainman]

Maybe Cherave could be decisive for the stage, I'm looking forward to a Wellens attack. Then probably a regroup of whoever is left from the chaos and hard to see past Piti.
Cance apparently new to Huy, will be good to see how he goes, hopefully will retain yellow. Weather looks more settled than yesterday but who knows.

 

[blackmamba]

Im busy as hell at work with some important stuff so I havent had the chance to check out the weather forecast along the stage for todays stage etc? Do anyone know if its gonne rain, wind?

 

[rainman]

What I saw was 25 celcius, some cloud, SW breeze and no rain expected.

 

[Sasquatch]

Re:

just heard white say albasini is the man today fingers crossed.still think if anyone can outsprint valverde than its Gerrans"

Considering Albasini finished 3rd on this climb 2 months ago, and finished high up again last year, it's not surprising Albasini is the man.

 

[Sasquatch]

I want one of Arredondo or Uran to win the stage. Happy with either. Colombian Power!

 

[Electress]

FWIW I read Nairo not 100% - allergies.

 

[Gigs_98]

Andy Schleck was second in the flèche wallone 2009, and I think quintana is a very similar rider. So I think its possible that nairo wont even do as bad as everyone expects.

 

[justmeagain]

Nibali to make a point today up the Mur de Huy.

 

[DFA123]

I think this stage could surprise people. It's a much easier stage than Fleche Wallonne and, even with the other climb 4km from the finish, there will be a lot of relatively fresh riders at the bottom of the Mur. That will probably favour the more powerful riders - Albasini, Kwiatkowski - rather than climbers like Martin and Rodriguez. Valverde of course can do it all, so he has a great chance as well. I hope Sagan is given free reign as well - with his current form even he would have a chance, especially given the relative lack of climbing in the rest of the stage. Perhaps Contador could lead him out.

Riders attacking from further out with also be fresher than in Fleche, so there is a chance that it could stick if someone like Nibali went all in on the penultimate climb and descent.

 

[BYOP88]

Re:

FWIW I read Nairo not 100% - allergies.

Flat roads and echelons?

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

FWIW I read Nairo not 100% - allergies.

Flat roads and echelons?

Maybe. I forget who it was - journo. I think - had spoken to him (don't know when) and his throat sounded very rough. He thought he was ill. Later came back from MS that it was "allergies".

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Andy Schleck was second in the flèche wallone 2009, and I think quintana is a very similar rider. So I think its possible that nairo wont even do as bad as everyone expects.

quintana and andy are COMPLETELY different type of riders. still as long as quintana is placed well he won't lose much time. froome will have a harder time on mur

 

[rainman]

Re:

Nibali to make a point today up the Mur de Huy.

Three posts in six years, is this a lurkers record?

 

[capuldemetal]

I still have in mind the image of Froom crashing down this spring.So..there could be mayhem!

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Given the break won´t survive:
Valv T-3, Froome T-5, Uran T-10...

 

[justmeagain]

Re: Re:

Nibali to make a point today up the Mur de Huy.

Three posts in six years, is this a lurkers record?

Just found my password