2016 TdF, Stage 16: Moirans-en-Montagne → Bern (209km)

[Cookster15]

Sagan FTW. The course suits him well. If not then perhaps Albasini.

 

[The Hegelian]

Re:

Matthews would be in with some chance too. Now that he doesn't have to fight Gerro for support!

Might ride for Albasini though, or vice versa.

 

[claude cat]

Re: Re:

Matthews would be in with some chance too. Now that he doesn't have to fight Gerro for support!

Might ride for Albasini though, or vice versa.

yeh this might suit Albasini, especially if he can get clear with a few km to go. We all know how well he goes on home turf.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Cancellara to neutralize-ish the stage. In the final 20km, he will tell the peleton that he's just going off the front to chat with some friends but instead he'll disappear down the road and solo it home.

You beat me to it.

Only I was thinking that Fabian would get himself into prime position to win the stage, only to have some incident non related to him happen on the cobblestones and result in the nightmare N word. Except that on this occasion it is the L word, and there is peace on the cycling forum. There haven't been this many smiles seen around here since Lance received his comeuppance

 

[peterst6906]

Bling to win.

 

[claude cat]

MathewHayman ‏@Mathew_Hayman 4m4 minutes ago
Did someone say cobbles in the final today?

 

[Kjellus]

Would be fantastic if Degs took this.

 

[vedrafjord]

Re:

It's telling that this stage is more interesting for us than full blown mountain stages these days. Probably more chance for the GC to split up here than in a mountain stage lol.

Well medium mountain stages have been the most entertaining stages for several years now in all GTs, including ones where Sky isn't dominating.

2015 Giro stage 4:

2014 Tour stage 2:

2016 Giro stage 4:

It's easier to do these stages in Italy and Spain, which have hills around the whole country, vs France which has large flat areas. It's also likely that the route of this year's Tour, with lots of very flat stages, lots of big mountains, and not much in between, was designed to a) help Quintana beat Froome and b) make it harder for Sagan to run away with the green jersey. Since that failed miserably on both counts, it's possible they'll go the other way next year. It very much depends on which towns are willing to pay to host stages, but if you look in the Race Design thread, people have made great hard-to-control stages in the Jura, Vosges, Massif Central etc. Fingers crossed.

 

[yaco]

OBE will be riding for Albasini with Matthews the back up plan. Like Kristoff for this stage.

 

[BeagRigh]

If I'm looking at it corerctly on google maps the corner at the top of the cobbles just before 2km to go is extremely tight.

Agree with the comparison with Richmond.

Sagan and Canc will definately feature not sure if they will win though. Quintana will probably lose a few more seconds.

 

[Carols]

Fabu for a hometown win!

 

[BullsFan22]

Cancellara, Froome and Sagan will break away in the final kilometers, putting on the afterburners on the cobbled section and Froome will win the sprint to the line.

 

[doperhopper]

Wot? Alaph and Panzer? Should take 2 more guys and TTT away.

 

[Vroome.exe]

No way they will bring those two back.

 

[spiritualride]

Here's an example of excessively conservative racing philosophy. According to Sean Yates this morning, Tinkoff would prefer a breakaway succeed, because the risk of Cav getting points outweighs the potential of Sagan winning another stage. Even though this would be a great opportunity for Sagan and the risk of losing the green jersey due to a bunch sprint here is practically nonexistent.

 

[Martin]

Re:

Wot? Alaph and Panzer? Should take 2 more guys and TTT away.

LOL exactly. Cancellara with Stuyven would have been happy to jump in. They should have waited for them.

 

[Orbit501]

Gutting for Alaphilippe. Yesterday denied a stage win because of a mechanical, and today possibly denied the chance again because no one seems willing or able to get across to these two to form a break with a chance of sticking.

 

[claude cat]

Re: Re:

Wot? Alaph and Panzer? Should take 2 more guys and TTT away.

LOL exactly. Cancellara with Stuyven would have been happy to jump in. They should have waited for them.

Add those or equivalent (eg Dumoulin, Durbridge, Albasini etc) and they stay away all day.
Not sure 2 can carry it all the way, but lets see!

 

[sir fly]

Peloton gave up of chasing.

 

[classicomano]

Katusha and Direct Energie at the front of the peloton now.

 

[fantomas]

Tony doing all the work, telling Alaphilippe to just take his wheel.

 

[classicomano]

Etixx is looking a bit silly now.

 

[doperhopper]

OK, 4 more guys coming... gets better, few more please... Looks like everyone expects Katusha will chase everything for Kristoff (maybe also Orica, Giant etc.).

Concerning S. Yates - did Tinkoff do a real recon? From the comments it looks like the climb before the finish will be way too much for Cav/Kittel if raced hard (so no risk for Sagan to lose points, he can only gain).

Panzer pullig all himself, saving Julian for later, why don't they wait for the chasers? Maybe they don't want them... but they are only 1:30 back.

 

[sir fly]

It's not a slow day.

 

[Martin]

I can't watch coverage all the time, but when I do and they show the front group it's always Martin who pulls. Did you see Alapahillipe take a turn?