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

[Robert5091]

A 90 degree turn 300 meters from the finish - what could possibly go wrong?
Hope everyone comes home unscathed.

 

[SeriousSam]

Tinkoff face a difficult decision now: Do they protect the yellow jersey of Peter Sagan or do they give Contador another chance?

 

[King Boonen]

300m is enough for any sprinter to make the stage play to their strengths from the right position. The winner is going to be dictated by who is either piloted through that corner at the front or who is willing to take the risk, push their way in and get the right wheel. OPQS will try to dominate that turn, if they do Kittel is almost nailed on. Renshaw is more than capable of muscling people out of the way so Cavendish should have a very good chance. Kristoff and Sagan could both take advantage if there is a bit of confusion on the bend. When a finish gets rough Greipel is usually nowhere to be seen. I reckon it'll be Kittel or Cavendish, with Kristoff the outside chance.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

300m is enough for any sprinter to make the stage play to their strengths from the right position. The winner is going to be dictated by who is either piloted through that corner at the front or who is willing to take the risk, push their way in and get the right wheel. OPQS will try to dominate that turn, if they do Kittel is almost nailed on. Renshaw is more than capable of muscling people out of the way so Cavendish should have a very good chance. Kristoff and Sagan could both take advantage if there is a bit of confusion on the bend. When a finish gets rough Greipel is usually nowhere to be seen. I reckon it'll be Kittel or Cavendish, with Kristoff the outside chance.

Sprint stages shouldn't be decided by who's more willing to risk smashing into a fence.

 

[King Boonen]

Tinkoff face a difficult decision now: Do they protect the yellow jersey of Peter Sagan or do they give Contador another chance?

I don't see the decision to be honest. Flat stage pretty much guaranteed to finish in a sprint and there are enough teams who want it to end like that so that Tinkoff won't have to do all the work. No one who will contest the finish is within reach of Sagan, even if he doesn't sprint he'll keep yellow. Contador can just sit in the pack and roll in with them.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

300m is enough for any sprinter to make the stage play to their strengths from the right position. The winner is going to be dictated by who is either piloted through that corner at the front or who is willing to take the risk, push their way in and get the right wheel. OPQS will try to dominate that turn, if they do Kittel is almost nailed on. Renshaw is more than capable of muscling people out of the way so Cavendish should have a very good chance. Kristoff and Sagan could both take advantage if there is a bit of confusion on the bend. When a finish gets rough Greipel is usually nowhere to be seen. I reckon it'll be Kittel or Cavendish, with Kristoff the outside chance.

Sprint stages shouldn't be decided by who's more willing to risk smashing into a fence.

I agree, but that's cycling.

 

[Armchaircyclist]

It's almost like they want crashes when they make a finish like that. I just hope that Contador gets through without another crash today, and that Kristoff has the legs to at least be in the fight for the win. I'm thinking Greipel will take it, but lets see.

 

[rick james]

Tinkoff face a difficult decision now: Do they protect the yellow jersey of Peter Sagan or do they give Contador another chance?

Safe to say tinkoff will try and get someone into the breakaway

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

300m is enough for any sprinter to make the stage play to their strengths from the right position. The winner is going to be dictated by who is either piloted through that corner at the front or who is willing to take the risk, push their way in and get the right wheel. OPQS will try to dominate that turn, if they do Kittel is almost nailed on. Renshaw is more than capable of muscling people out of the way so Cavendish should have a very good chance. Kristoff and Sagan could both take advantage if there is a bit of confusion on the bend. When a finish gets rough Greipel is usually nowhere to be seen. I reckon it'll be Kittel or Cavendish, with Kristoff the outside chance.

Sprint stages shouldn't be decided by who's more willing to risk smashing into a fence.

I agree, but that's cycling.

It doesn't have to be so. Organisers should do their homework.

 

[Stelvio]

Back in 2004 they used a different route, but the finish seems to be the same - in front of the Hotel de Ville. This video starts with around 700 metres left (after a sharp left hander not in today's stage).

The right hander shouldn't cause any problems, even though the speed is likely to be higher today.

StreetView of the final corner.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

This doesn't look a dangerous finish to me. The bend before the final straight is an easy curve on a roundabout and on a uphill drag. A lot of fuss over nothing. The only potentially difficult bends are at 4 km and 2 km to go

 

[Martin]

Re:

223 km of waiting for a 90° turn.

Thank god for online coverage and smartphones.
Last 5km will be interesting, the rest is crap.
Unless some hell of the wind picks up and rips the peloton to pieces.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

300m is enough for any sprinter to make the stage play to their strengths from the right position. The winner is going to be dictated by who is either piloted through that corner at the front or who is willing to take the risk, push their way in and get the right wheel. OPQS will try to dominate that turn, if they do Kittel is almost nailed on. Renshaw is more than capable of muscling people out of the way so Cavendish should have a very good chance. Kristoff and Sagan could both take advantage if there is a bit of confusion on the bend. When a finish gets rough Greipel is usually nowhere to be seen. I reckon it'll be Kittel or Cavendish, with Kristoff the outside chance.

Sprint stages shouldn't be decided by who's more willing to risk smashing into a fence.

I agree, but that's cycling.

It doesn't have to be so. Organisers should do their homework.

Possibly. They are at least trying to make a flat stage more interesting and the road looks wide enough that they should get round ok. If every flat stage was just a long 4km run in it would a) limit the towns that could host it and b) make them incredibly boring. They need something in there to make it difficult and this doesn't look too bad.

 

[blaxland]

Re:

What about Michael Matthews? No chance tomorrow..?

Forsure Matthews has a chance he only came up short in yesterdays stage with about 150mtrs to go,but Greiple will win this stage the last bend is perfect for the german.

 

[Martin]

Abandons Stage 2:
None (!!)
198 of 198 riders remain in the race.

These are the most postive news.
Let's hope it stays the same after this stage, with that nasty corner and rain predicted inf the finish/.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/fr/angers/135974/hourly-weather-forecast/135974

 

[phanatic]

This seems like a good day for Tony Martin to stretch his legs and lungs.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

We're go!

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Get ready for the borefest. Just one rider (Amindo Fonseca) in front with 1'55" over the peloton.

 

[BalearicBeats]

Poor Armindo

 

[52520Andrew]

Looks to be a typical flat stage to get us closer to the mountains(Massif Central in this case). The right hander that close to the line is interesting, especially with the roundabout there

 

[vedrafjord]

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.

 

[Alexandre B.]

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.

 

[vedrafjord]

I mean as a way of getting from one part of the country to the other. Giro and Vuelta routes are a lot less joined up and typically use more transfers, also Spain and Italy have a lot less flat land.

 

[Red Rick]

When does coverage start?

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

When does coverage start?

1pm CET I think