2015 Tour De France Stage 4: Seraing - Cambrai, 223.5 km

[Punkan]

No question that Purito is going for the GC. From tdf live feed:

“This mountain jersey is nice”, Rodriguez said. “I would be happy with it in Paris but my real goal is a good GC.”

 

[wwabbit]

J.Rod and Froome are planing to ride for the win on this stage too

Looking at Purito's stem

 

[Punkan]

Vansummeren, from the live feed:

“I've had a bad night. I know the first 100 kilometres will be hard today. After that, I hope it'll be all right. I was involved in the second crash after the big one. When you crash at 80km/h with the heat, tyres explode. My role today is to accompany my leaders but in the finale, if I see a possibility to go away with one or two riders who aren't dangerous on GC, I'll go for it.” Today's L'Equipe reports that Vansummeren apologized yesterday to his mechanics because he's giving them a lot of work with the broken bike! To recover quicker from his injuries, team doctor Eric Bouvat prepared an icy bath in a truck on the car park of the hotel. His wife Jasmine was there to support him.

What a dude!

 

[Max Rockatansky]

J.Rod and Froome are planing to ride for the win on this stage too

Wonder what Greipel thinks...

 

[SeriousSam]

Froome looks quite skinny there

 

[Punkan]

Re:

Froome looks quite skinny there

Bale still thinks he has some work to do.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Froome looks quite skinny there

I had a good and close look yesterday at him at the start in Antwerpen. Believe me, he is as skinny as he looks on TV. Really scary and I can't imagine it's anywhere near a healthy thing.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Sagan will win this stage today....if he doesn't wait for Contador.

 

[rainman]

Interesting about the tyres exploding. It would explain why some riders were still piling into the back of the crash several seconds after others had stopped or avoided the carnage.
Heat wont be the problem today but I'm hoping it stays dry. Everyone knows PR is a lottery but I think TDF should be made as safe as possible, given that its ridiculously dangerous enough already.

 

[46&twoWheels]

more than 8' advantage for Lieuwe Westra, Thomas De Gendt, Perrig Quémeneur and Frédéric Brun..about 170km to go

 

[ILovecycling]

I just hope that any big GC rider won't be injured and lose more than 2 minutes, everything else is secondary for the development of the race.


Bring it on!

 

[46&twoWheels]

Re:

I just hope that any big GC rider won't be injured and lose more than 2 minutes, everything else is secondary for the development of the race.


Bring it on!

so you would rather watch a race where there are only 4 riders instead of 200

 

[franic]

I'm curious to see if Nibali can prevail today like in 2014. Since then and prior to today, a lot of people where talking like he is owning the cobbles. I think 2014 was 'random'...in terms of being well guided by Boom and also having the luck of no mechanical failures.

That being said, today will be a lottery and I wouldn't rate Nibali higher than the other GC contenders...apart from Quintana maybe.

I’m curious too. I don’t see him as a specialist of the cobbles as people like to portrait him. Anyway, we’ll see pretty soon.

 

[Cimber]

Re:

I just hope that any big GC rider won't be injured and lose more than 2 minutes, everything else is secondary for the development of the race.


Bring it on!

Tbh it would be good for the race if Nibali could get a few minuts on Froome. But totally agree with you regarding crashes.

 

[46&twoWheels]

I'm curious to see if Nibali can prevail today like in 2014. Since then and prior to today, a lot of people where talking like he is owning the cobbles. I think 2014 was 'random'...in terms of being well guided by Boom and also having the luck of no mechanical failures.

That being said, today will be a lottery and I wouldn't rate Nibali higher than the other GC contenders...apart from Quintana maybe.

I’m curious too. I don’t see him as a specialist of the cobbles as people like to portrait him. Anyway, we’ll see pretty soon.

Nibali is not better on the cobbles,he's just a better bike handler..generally speaking

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Froome looks quite skinny there

In Utrecht I saw pretty much every rider pass me once or twice and Froome is the skinniest of them all.

Contador really didn't look that skinny to me. Heck he even passed and I barely noticed it was him......

 

[sky2500]

I am back so is chris frrome and sky,

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

I just hope that any big GC rider won't be injured and lose more than 2 minutes, everything else is secondary for the development of the race.


Bring it on!

Tbh it would be good for the race if Nibali could get a few minuts on Froome. But totally agree with you regarding crashes.

Like I said, till 2 minutes (ok Nibali can gain even 3 )



Break with a huge gap so far.

 

[46&twoWheels]

Froome can do well if he treats the cobbles like a TT and if he has enough room to be safe

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I'm curious to see if Nibali can prevail today like in 2014. Since then and prior to today, a lot of people where talking like he is owning the cobbles. I think 2014 was 'random'...in terms of being well guided by Boom and also having the luck of no mechanical failures.

That being said, today will be a lottery and I wouldn't rate Nibali higher than the other GC contenders...apart from Quintana maybe.

I think you're right that 2014 was quite random. However, I do think that Nibali is a decent bike handler and should be able to do alright on cobbles usually. Of the GC contenders, I think that he and Froome are probably the best on cobbles.

 

[Kwibus]

I really hope Froome loses a lot of time today. I'm not anti Froome, but for the GC battle it would be good. Pretty sure about that.
I expect Froome to deal 1-2 more blows in the Pyrenees and if he allready has this lead it will be a problem for the other candidates to close the gap.
In the Alps I expect an less dominant Froome, but it's all just speculation really.

 

[ILovecycling]

I am back so is chris frrome and sky,

yep, you'd better hope they will stay on their bikes today




Sky is chasing, here we go

 

[Kwibus]

p.s. I really looks like it's going to rain between 15:00 and 19:00.....

It allready rained as well.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Froome has to just follow G like Porte did last year.

He will be fine today. May gain or lose a bit, but assuming no major crash right in front of him, he will be just fine.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Froome looks quite skinny there

In Utrecht I saw pretty much every rider pass me once or twice and Froome is the skinniest of them all.

Contador really didn't look that skinny to me. Heck he even passed and I barely noticed it was him......

Kwibus! That's terrible