2016 Tour de France, Stage 3: Granville → Angers (224km)

[Red Rick]

This should be good for Tinkoff, only one man in front. They'll barely have to work, if at all. Pace won't be high and only pick up toward the end

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

When does coverage start?

Sporza starts at 14:10

 

[CheckMyPecs]

7'50" is the current gap.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

This should be good for Tinkoff, only one man in front. They'll barely have to work, if at all. Pace won't be high and only pick up toward the end

Yes,very positive!


Is there a chance for echelons?

 

[52520Andrew]

Re: Re:

Tour is the only GT that does these pan-flat straight line transition stages. They might as well drive there and start the stage with 20km to go.

Then clearly you're only watching one GT.

Yeah the Po Valley brings us a pan flat stage just about every year in the Giro as they cross from south to north

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

This should be good for Tinkoff, only one man in front. They'll barely have to work, if at all. Pace won't be high and only pick up toward the end

Yes,very positive!


Is there a chance for echelons?

They're riding away from the sea.

 

[MacBAir]

Re: Re:

This should be good for Tinkoff, only one man in front. They'll barely have to work, if at all. Pace won't be high and only pick up toward the end

Yes,very positive!


Is there a chance for echelons?

They're riding away from the sea.

Man, how times change. I'm at my faculty working but due to my ISP having a great deal and a great modern website, I can watch EuroSport1 HD on the go. Noice, to need to scummy streams.

Is Tinkoff at the front? Why would they be at the front at all, besides having an yellow jersey that they wont defend, anyway?

 

[vedrafjord]

Re: Re:

Tour is the only GT that does these pan-flat straight line transition stages. They might as well drive there and start the stage with 20km to go.

Then clearly you're only watching one GT.

Yeah the Po Valley brings us a pan flat stage just about every year in the Giro as they cross from south to north

Modena to Asolo this year was close but they put a loop in the finish to fit in a climb. The equivalent the year before was Imola to Vicenza but that had multiple decent climbs in the second half. In 2014 they bypassed the Po valley. But my original point was that today's and tomorrow's stage are just a straight line drawn from la Manche to Limoges. Although stage 13 in 2013 was just a straight line and we got lucky with that one.

 

[saganftw]

its called honoring the yellow jersey,you cant just give a fck about it...but they will not ride too hard,sprinter teams will pick it up later anyway

 

[Billopoulos]

Average speed for the day so far is 34.2km/h

Tinkoff honouring the yellow jersey on a sunday ride!
Not bad for them of course.

 

[RedheadDane]

What an absolutely dreadful place to be alone in the front in an impossible breakaway.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Christophe Agnolutto in 2000 and - the most memorable of them all - Cédric Vasseur in 1997 won stages just like that. It's probably to early in the race this time, though.

(I remember that Vasseur stage quite well - and it's freaking me out that 19 years have passed since then. Gosh, I'm getting old...)

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Remember that time a guy in a similar situation in the Giro d'Italia ended up breaking down and crying from sheer frustration?

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Remember that time a guy in a similar situation in the Giro d'Italia ended up breaking down and crying from sheer frustration?

no, who/when? thanx

 

[MacBAir]

So, with this pace, Ettix and Dimension Data should come to the front. Easy easy stage, easy finale..

 

[rainman]

Re:

Tour is the only GT that does these pan-flat straight line transition stages. They might as well drive there and start the stage with 20km to go.

It does seem pointless and a waste of everyones time. Maybe a remnant of le grand boucle days. Even a crit with a climb thrown in would be way more interesting. Anyway time for a spin before the last 10 k's.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Remember that time a guy in a similar situation in the Giro d'Italia ended up breaking down and crying from sheer frustration?

no, who/when? thanx

I think it was a FDJ rider and it was in the late 2000s. Maybe someone else remembers the details.

 

[cnfdugo]

Re:

What an absolutely dreadful place to be alone in the front in an impossible breakaway.

I think he is driving around like a tourist in his own back yard and enjoying it so far.

 

[MikeTichondrius]

Re: Re:

This should be good for Tinkoff, only one man in front. They'll barely have to work, if at all. Pace won't be high and only pick up toward the end

Yes,very positive!


Is there a chance for echelons?

They're riding away from the sea.

St. Amand Montrond was smack dab in the centre of France too...

 

[vedrafjord]

Re:

Christophe Agnolutto in 2000 and - the most memorable of them all - Cédric Vasseur in 1997 won stages just like that. It's probably to early in the race this time, though.

(I remember that Vasseur stage quite well - and it's freaking me out that 19 years have passed since then. Gosh, I'm getting old...)

And Vasseur just took this photo in his current role as French TV pundit: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmhSmgJWEAABonb.jpg

Were there any solo efforts since 2000 that stuck? Obviously Tony Martin came incredibly close in the 2013 Vuelta, leading for all 175km before being caught in sight of the line. Wiggins lead for 190 of 199km in the 2007 Tour.

At least the sedate pace is buying Sam Bennett more recovery time.

 

[Lexman]

up till now this stage is a good recovery ride for Contador...

 

[RedheadDane]

Halfway expecting them to start going backwards at some point. :razz:

 

[Praying Mantis]

Currently about 40 minutes behind the normal schedule, sigh.

 

[Billopoulos]

Re:

Currently about 40 minutes behind the normal schedule, sigh.

The normal or the slowest prediction?

Tinkoff honouring the yellow jersey, yellow jersey on the top of the peloton joking and laughing :razz:

 

[Praying Mantis]

Re: Re:

Currently about 40 minutes behind the normal schedule, sigh.

The normal or the slowest prediction?

Tinkoff honouring the yellow jersey, yellow jersey on the top of the peloton joking and laughing :razz:

Normal. 30 min behind the slowest.