2016 TdF, Stage 2: Saint-Lô → Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (183km)

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Bit disappointed by Matthews today. Perhaps feeling the effects of his injury, but he shouldn't really have managed to lose wheels in those final 500m.

I would say the opposite, that it was a good ride by Matthews. He was only beaten by Sagan, who is a freak, and the Fleche podium.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Losing lean weight would only diminish his chances as he loses lactate-clearing muscle.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Nice to see the yellow jersey on the world champions shoulders!

Do they have a special jersey (or something) for those occasions? I mean, they should have. Doesn't he also have green jersey?

I would assume that Tinkoff will have a (yellow) jersey printed up tonight that has the rainbow bands on it, but the green jersey will be relegated to the next person in line, I'm not sure who that is at the moment.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Nice to see the yellow jersey on the world champions shoulders!

Do they have a special jersey (or something) for those occasions? I mean, they should have. Doesn't he also have green jersey?

No, Evans wore regular yellow in 2010. Can still do the rainbow shorts though

 

[Lance Armstrong]

Did something happen to Coquard? Pretty disappointing after all that work.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

So who wins the Tour, Froome or Quintana?

On the evidence of today, Quintana.

What evidence is that? Climbing (marginally) more slowly?

I guess the suggestion is that Quintana normally comes into the Tour slowly and finishes it flying - while Froome the other way round. If Quintana is already matching Froome at this stage, then it's looking good for him.

Personally I wouldn't read too much into it - the vast majority of GC riders finished in the same bunch - would have been a big shock if Quintana got dropped from such a big group on such an easy climb.

Pinot lost 11 seconds though.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Losing lean weight would only diminish his chances as he loses lactate-clearing muscle.

He'd create less lactate anyway

 

[GuyIncognito]

Meintjes losing time already

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Nibali lost 11 seconds.

Definitely missing some speed. Not bad gotta say.

He let Aru fly on the final sprint. He looks good, let's see what happenes Wednesday.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

At what stage will Sagan lose Yellow? Who will be the likely successor?

Froome stage 7.

Agreed. But he could also get into some trouble in stage 5 if the GC hopeful really look to put the hammer down to try and completely eliminate Contador.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Sagan was in Utah before the Tour.

Absolutely crushing 10 foot drops on the mountain bike. Dude is a straight up beast on the bike. He's exactly what cycling needs.

 

[HelloDolly]

Kreuziger is in very good form...AT least Tinkoff need to protect him on GC

Majka has lost alot of time

Mixed feeling about Contador ...want him tot fight on but not if injured and cannot do a podium now...its quite painful to see him struggle

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

So who wins the Tour, Froome or Quintana?

On the evidence of today, Quintana.

What evidence is that? Climbing (marginally) more slowly?

I guess the suggestion is that Quintana normally comes into the Tour slowly and finishes it flying - while Froome the other way round. If Quintana is already matching Froome at this stage, then it's looking good for him.

Personally I wouldn't read too much into it - the vast majority of GC riders finished in the same bunch - would have been a big shock if Quintana got dropped from such a big group on such an easy climb.

Pinot lost 11 seconds though.

Yeah, that was shocking.

 

[Alexandre B.]

It's sad, we won't be able to see the world champion jersey anymore in this race.

 

[Squirbos_19]

Damn, if Purito was placed at the front he could have had a decent result today. He looks in decent form.

Always good to see the World champion winning, but disappointing to see Contador and Porte lose time.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

LBL entered the last few (3?) KMs with a bunch of 60 to 70 riders since, like, 2013. Now, the last climb has cobbles in it, before it and after it.

Amstel... Peter podiumed there already in worse shape than he is now. The muur is a tough one, but Phil did it and there's almost no action before it.

After today's finish, his performance's at Tirreno, Ronde and the worlds, his masterpiece at Suisse... You are completely wrong.

 

[SeriousSam]

Contador could still recover and be in a good condition to fight for third. That was probably the most likely place he'd up with in peak condition too.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Losing lean weight would only diminish his chances as he loses lactate-clearing muscle.

He'd create less lactate anyway

Lol, indeed! Considerably less than if he'd be dragging an extra 5kg of bulk up every single climb.

 

[Vroome.exe]

I guess today's podium consists of three most versatile riders in the peloton.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Losing lean weight would only diminish his chances as he loses lactate-clearing muscle.

He'd create less lactate anyway

Really he should get heavier. If he could lift his way to 100kg of beautiful, sculpted, upper body muscle he'd never have to worry about lactate again.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

LBL entered the last few (3?) KMs with a bunch of 60 to 70 riders since, like, 2013. Now, the last climb has cobbles in it, before it and after it.

Amstel... Peter podiumed there already in worse shape than he is now. The muur is a tough one, but Phil did it and there's almost no action before it.

After today's finish, his performance's at Tirreno, Ronde and the worlds, his masterpiece at Suisse... You are completely wrong.

All of which, of course, have a completely different set of demands to the Ardennes. He has no chance of challenging for LBL or FW at his current weight. He consistently can't even put out a sprint at the end of Strade Bianche because he is so cooked - let alone coping with the extra 1500m of climbing in the Ardennes.

 

[TomLPC]

Good for nairo, Valverde looking pretty sharp.

Froome looking class as expected, entertaining to see him having a go in the sprints

Sad for bert, though we might get to see some attacks earlier than anticipated with his time loss.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Sagan can win on almost any terrain nowadays. It didn't matter today, if it had been a flat stage or a hilly ardennes-like profile. The guy has won mountain stages in Tour de Suisse and he's won the Tour of California by finishing 6th on Mt. Baldy . .

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

Losing lean weight would only diminish his chances as he loses lactate-clearing muscle.

He'd create less lactate anyway

The scientific reference I posted on the other thread explains how a bulkier upper-body clears more lactate than it creates.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

So, this was the best possible stage for Roman and Peter. Peter wins the stage (bosses it), shows everybody that not even the Ardennes are safe. The other Bosses the hill, does a terrific job and sees the leader falter due to injury.

Peter should now be the undisputed leader, and Roman should be their GC guy/Workhorse for finishes like these/breaks.

Dude, it was nothing like the Ardennes. It came after a flat stage not 4000m or so of tough climbing. A flat stage with a fairly challenging uphill sprint was tailor-made for Sagan and he duly delivered. Fair play to him, but he's got a lot of weight to lose before he can challenge for LBL or FW.

LBL entered the last few (3?) KMs with a bunch of 60 to 70 riders since, like, 2013. Now, the last climb has cobbles in it, before it and after it.

Amstel... Peter podiumed there already in worse shape than he is now. The muur is a tough one, but Phil did it and there's almost no action before it.

After today's finish, his performance's at Tirreno, Ronde and the worlds, his masterpiece at Suisse... You are completely wrong.

All of which, of course, have a completely different set of demands to the Ardennes. He has no chance of challenging for LBL or FW at his current weight. He consistently can't even put out a sprint at the end of Strade Bianche because he is so cooked - let alone coping with the extra 1500m of climbing in the Ardennes.

Did you miss the part where he podiumed Amstell and where 70 riders or more reach the last climb of LBL, a cobbled climb? Answer this, please.

Also, not sprinting at the end of Strade had something to do with other factors (shape, mind, pressure). He also showed more consistency on those races than any other rider.