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

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Jul 4, 2016
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
Tom Dumoulin said 200km FLAT stages are no longer for this era. He says it bores everyone, spectators and riders alike. And the best thing to do is just to have shorter flat stages if you plan them

Might have a point

Well maybe TOm wants to go back to the 90s when there was just 3 guys that could win anything in GC races.. Though, a couple hills with some time bonuses will come in future TDFs, as will more point sprints .. Cause we need it. We cant have breakaways with no consequence for riders in battle for jerseys anyway, it can bore ppl that dont know the race.. (Majority)
 
Great timing again from Cav and superb work from the team. Did he even have to pedal before the final 200m? Perfectly guided there.

Etixx made the wrong call. Richeze, as the penultimate guy, already went flat out with 1.5k to go. He does a monster pull and by the time he drops off, other trains come round the Etixx guys from both sides with much higher speed. Result is that Sabatini and Kittel get boxed in, although the former could have been a bit more aggressive if you ask me.

And that 90 corner at 300m was absolutely nothing. Lots of unnecessary whining ;)
 
Re: Re:

El Pistolero said:
CheckMyPecs said:
MacBAir said:
The tour being the tour, with these amazing stages. At least put some cobbles on it, put it around unprotected areas (wind) so we can have a freaking race. Otherwise, why having a long stage at all?
Sprinters need stages too.

Why? Cycling doesn't need sprinters to survive.

You would lose people like me, and my husband, if you cut out the sprinters. The sprint stages are the best! Give me more sprints like this one.
 
Re: Re:

akrogirl said:
El Pistolero said:
CheckMyPecs said:
MacBAir said:
The tour being the tour, with these amazing stages. At least put some cobbles on it, put it around unprotected areas (wind) so we can have a freaking race. Otherwise, why having a long stage at all?
Sprinters need stages too.

Why? Cycling doesn't need sprinters to survive.

You would lose people like me, and my husband, if you cut out the sprinters. The sprint stages are the best! Give me more sprints like this one.
I didn't have a problem with today's stage either, it's The Tour after all.

Shouldn't we all just be happy that The Tour's here? :)
 
Re: Re:

Pricey_sky said:
TMP402 said:
Did Cavendish in the post-race interview say the camera gave him a Tour of Qatar stage last year he didn't actually win, or that he wasn't awarded one he actually did win? I didn't get that.

He said Kristoff was given a stage win because of the camera angle but it was actually his tyre that was slightly in front.

:lol: I think Kristoff won that one.
 
Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
you're missing the point. It was not about there not being flat stages. It's about them being 200km long

Dumoulin basically said if you are gonna have flat stages where nothing will happen (no hills or wind) then just make them a bit shorter
There is a lot more that goes into organising a Tour stage than just looking at the distance and obstacles. What if no feasible town could be found to make the route shorter, that was willing to pay all the hosting and police costs, or one that had sufficient accommodation in the surroundings?

Ultimately, for professional cyclists, riding an extra 50km of flat in a peloton is absolutely nothing. For TV viewers it also doesn't change anything - there still isn't going to be any meaningful action before the last 5km. Making them shorter doesn't really serve much purpose - and in fact is less than ideal if it means not starting/finishing at the first choice towns.
 
Oct 23, 2011
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Re: Re:

Irondan said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Shouldn't we all just be happy that The Tour's here? :)

No
Care to elaborate or are you just being difficult?

Because (today) it bores me. Why should I be happy just because it's here? I'm not just going to be happy because a cycling race is there, I'll be happy if I see good cycling though. So normally I'll be happier during the TDF stages that offer more incentive for racing. ;)
 
Jul 4, 2016
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Re: Re:

Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Shouldn't we all just be happy that The Tour's here? :)

No
Care to elaborate or are you just being difficult?

Because (today) it bores me. Why should I be happy just because it's here? I'm not just going to be happy because a cycling race is there, I'll be happy if I see good cycling though. So normally I'll be happier during the TDF stages that offer more incentive for racing. ;)


Who cares about your feelings eXcept you? THe peloton needed a break so they took one, this aint amateurs kid..
 
Oct 23, 2011
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Re: Re:

ExNorseCyc said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Shouldn't we all just be happy that The Tour's here? :)

No
Care to elaborate or are you just being difficult?

Because (today) it bores me. Why should I be happy just because it's here? I'm not just going to be happy because a cycling race is there, I'll be happy if I see good cycling though. So normally I'll be happier during the TDF stages that offer more incentive for racing. ;)


Who cares about your feelings eXcept you? THe peloton needed a break so they took one, this aint amateurs kid..

Well apparently Irondan did, because he suggested I elaborate.

Also, are you seriously suggesting the peloton needed a break during the third stage of the race? They're in for a tough ride if they already needed a break day after two flat stages :D
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Dekker_Tifosi said:
you're missing the point. It was not about there not being flat stages. It's about them being 200km long

Dumoulin basically said if you are gonna have flat stages where nothing will happen (no hills or wind) then just make them a bit shorter
There is a lot more that goes into organising a Tour stage than just looking at the distance and obstacles. What if no feasible town could be found to make the route shorter, that was willing to pay all the hosting and police costs, or one that had sufficient accommodation in the surroundings?

Ultimately, for professional cyclists, riding an extra 50km of flat in a peloton is absolutely nothing. For TV viewers it also doesn't change anything - there still isn't going to be any meaningful action before the last 5km. Making them shorter doesn't really serve much purpose - and in fact is less than ideal if it means not starting/finishing at the first choice towns.

Obviously there are organisational considerations, but it grates that so little effort appears to have been made with this stage's route. The thing with the Tour de France is the organisers have more latitude than any other race in the world - towns want to host the race, and are willing to pay for it, and the police do it for free.

Looking on Strava segment explore, there are plenty of small côtes that could have been incorporated into the second half of the route with only slight detours, which would keep it as a sprinter's stage but make the breakaway's chances much more attractive, and you wouldn't even have to make the stage longer if you went through Avranches at the start instead of cutting inland. You could mix it up more and say that the purpose of today and tomorrow is to get the race from La Manche to the Massif Central. The good folks in the race design thread would have no problems creating something interesting.
 
Re: Re:

ExNorseCyc said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Maaaaaaaarten said:
Irondan said:
Shouldn't we all just be happy that The Tour's here? :)

No
Care to elaborate or are you just being difficult?

Because (today) it bores me. Why should I be happy just because it's here? I'm not just going to be happy because a cycling race is there, I'll be happy if I see good cycling though. So normally I'll be happier during the TDF stages that offer more incentive for racing. ;)


Who cares about your feelings eXcept you? THe peloton needed a break so they took one, this aint amateurs kid..

The peloton took a break as there was absolutely nobody going to try to win this stage besides a bunch sprint. So why bother with a stage like this.
You need to give the riders a reason to ride. A few years ago they attacked for exposure, but even that's not worth it anymore.

Something has to change and smaller teams are the answer to a lot of problems. Also to todays problem.
A decent break will have a bigger chance vs smaller teams.
 
Re: Re:

vedrafjord said:
DFA123 said:
Dekker_Tifosi said:
you're missing the point. It was not about there not being flat stages. It's about them being 200km long

Dumoulin basically said if you are gonna have flat stages where nothing will happen (no hills or wind) then just make them a bit shorter
There is a lot more that goes into organising a Tour stage than just looking at the distance and obstacles. What if no feasible town could be found to make the route shorter, that was willing to pay all the hosting and police costs, or one that had sufficient accommodation in the surroundings?

Ultimately, for professional cyclists, riding an extra 50km of flat in a peloton is absolutely nothing. For TV viewers it also doesn't change anything - there still isn't going to be any meaningful action before the last 5km. Making them shorter doesn't really serve much purpose - and in fact is less than ideal if it means not starting/finishing at the first choice towns.

Obviously there are organisational considerations, but it grates that so little effort appears to have been made with this stage's route. The thing with the Tour de France is the organisers have more latitude than any other race in the world - towns want to host the race, and are willing to pay for it, and the police do it for free.

Looking on Strava segment explore, there are plenty of small côtes that could have been incorporated into the second half of the route with only slight detours, which would keep it as a sprinter's stage but make the breakaway's chances much more attractive, and you wouldn't even have to make the stage longer if you went through Avranches at the start instead of cutting inland. You could mix it up more and say that the purpose of today and tomorrow is to get the race from La Manche to the Massif Central. The good folks in the race design thread would have no problems creating something interesting.
I have to say, I don't really know the area well, so I take you're word for it that it could have been a more interesting route. I don't disagree that a few more minor obstacles could have been put in; I was really only responding to the issues about length - which Dumoulin was complaining about.

I think Angers is the principle town for a long way around, so it's normal to want to finish there. They will have a big budget, lots of accommodation and will ensure decent crowds at the finish. And, like you said, it's basically a transition stage. After all, this is the Tour de France, not the 'ride 120km then get in the bus for another 100km around France.
 
Jun 30, 2014
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Re:

Vroome.exe said:
Stop blaming Kittel, of course it wasn't too tough for him, just etixx are so dumb. They still can't figure out that Richeze is the best lead out man in the world and when he left it to Sabatini, Kittel was positioned by him in like 30th position.
Exactly, that's the problem.
The big problem is that they have never used Richeze (a world class leadout man) as Kittel's leadout man or even as a memmber of his train durning the season, he has always ridden with Gaviria, so they probably don't have the best chemistry, but that's a pretty stupid mistake.
 
CmhmecqWcAAn8R-.jpg


:p

Of course the big question is why they were playing in English...
 
OK, I am a newbie and a July bicycling poster and all (though I have read posts here for a long time) ... glad to get that out of the way.

What bothered me most about this leg of the TdF was this: Fonseca made the break-away and then the peloton settled in to a day of soft-pedaling. But why should the peloton soft-pedaling affect what Fonseca did? If you watched the times they showed Fonseca at the front, you would see he was soft-pedaling too! That is not the way break-aways go! They mostly pedal to their max all the way until the end or they are caught by the peloton.

I think somebody behind the outward race scenes made him slow his break-away down. If he had pedaled to what he was capable of, he would have reached the end way before the peloton did. To me, this smacks of someone holding him back and fixing the race for the soft-pedaling sprinters. Thank gawd for Voeckler upping the pace, but then even when he caught Fonseca, the pace of the race settle back down to a slower version, but not as slow as before.

I don't tune in to the TdF, or any other pro bicycle race for that matter, to see them soft-pedal all day. Sagan was talking yesterday that some of the bicyclist there lacked respect. To me, the lackluster held-back racing of today was a display of disrespect to the tradition of the TdF and pro races in general.
 

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