Eneco Tour - 8th to 14th August

[AussieGoddess]

Phil not going for it today

 

[Ferminal]

Wow, break stays away, Bono wins!

Bunch sprint won by Vaitkus.

 

[maltiv]

So an exhausted breakaway that had 40 seconds with 35k to go stayed away. Clear that no one was interested in winning today. No idea what OPL were trying to do...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Wow, break stays away, Bono wins!

Bunch sprint won by Vaitkus.

wouldn't ya know it!!! my feed blanked out just as the 3 breakaway guys rounded the last corner.

 

[roundabout]

1 min with 30 to go. *shakes head*

 

[Ferminal]

Breaking news: Phinney may have got a couple of seconds with a split in the sprint.

 

[maltiv]

EBH was faaaar back when the sprint started, Sky really failed there and couldn't get him in position at all.

 

[Jamsque]

EBH was faaaar back when the sprint started, Sky really failed there and couldn't get him in position at all.

I think Sky disappeared on purpose, they wanted the break to stay away so no-one could steal bonus seconds on EBH. Would have expected them to be better placed in the finale though.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

who's the horse from OPL in the yellow shoe covers leading Greipel back??

he's huge... makes the bike look like a kids bike

prolly Sieberg

 

[sublimit]

Not walking in a Phinney wonderland.

Meanwhile back to reality Hagen leads and looking good FTW. I'm not sure where Sky were but maybe holding back for tomorrow..

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

prolly Sieberg

Not walking in a Phinney wonderland.

Meanwhile back to reality Hagen leads and looking good FTW. I'm not sure where Sky were but maybe holding back for tomorrow..

thanks MVDV.

Yeah, agree on EBH. Hope he gets it. go Norge!

 

[maltiv]

Not walking in a Phinney wonderland.

Meanwhile back to reality Hagen leads and looking good FTW. I'm not sure where Sky were but maybe holding back for tomorrow..

I don't see why they would give Phinney those seconds he gained though. I think it was just a case of getting stuck, G was trying to get to the front with EBH was unable to do so.

 

[hatcher]

More than anything I think EBH is very, very tired.

 

[sublimit]

Phinney did well but not too much damage done there, Gilbert struggling to get up there also so that says something - some tired riders there as mentioned.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just caught up watching. (and sleeping)
Glad I watched the Grand Colombier.
Number of posts = crap stage.
Harmon is desperate for Phinney to overhaul Millar in the bonus second bonanza.
Hope tomorrow is better.

Now, off to Portugal...........or maybe later.

 

[jsem94]

I missed the stage today. But EBH is probably gonna sail home with the victory here unless Gilbert cooks something up in the last three climbs

 

[l.Harm]

Final two stages are idiot. Mehh

 

[maltiv]

EBH says it was the plan to let the break stick. He didn't want to get involved in the final sprint since there were no bonus seconds left to fight for and he didn't want to take any risks. A bit boring tactically, this was his best chance to get a stage win, but I guess it's sometimes best to play it safe.

 

[theyoungest]

EBH says it was the plan to let the break stick. He didn't want to get involved in the final sprint since there were no bonus seconds left to fight for and he didn't want to take any risks. A bit boring tactically, this was his best chance to get a stage win, but I guess it's sometimes best to play it safe.

Huh? What, no bonus seconds?

 

[maltiv]

Huh? What, no bonus seconds?

Since the break stayed away in the first place there were no bonus seconds left for the gc riders, which for some reason was sky's plan. They clearly overestimated the hardness of the uphill sprint though as Gilbert wouldn't have beaten EBH anyway so was kinda pointless to decide not to go for it.

 

[theyoungest]

Since the break stayed away in the first place there were no bonus seconds left for the gc riders, which for some reason was sky's plan. They clearly overestimated the hardness of the uphill sprint though as Gilbert wouldn't have beaten EBH anyway so was kinda pointless to decide not to go for it.

Ah, sorry, now I see what you mean in your previous post, EBH didn't want to contend the sprint now that the break stuck.

 

[Richeypen]

I don't see why they would give Phinney those seconds he gained though. I think it was just a case of getting stuck, G was trying to get to the front with EBH was unable to do so.

No results ive looked at have shown a time gap. The field all came in at +6

 

[ingsve]

No results ive looked at have shown a time gap. The field all came in at +6

The inital provisional results had a few time gaps in the field but the official results have them all on the same time.

As for EBH not contending the stage, I think that was the right decision to make at the time. They are the ones that have the lead so it's up to other teams to do the work of trying to get the jersey from them. They have enough work to do throughout the stage and on tomorrows stage that it wouldn't make sense to also take the work away from his competitors.

 

[luckyboy]

Really need to catch up with this. Only saw the first stage.

 

[AussieGoddess]

Since the break stayed away in the first place there were no bonus seconds left for the gc riders, which for some reason was sky's plan. They clearly overestimated the hardness of the uphill sprint though as Gilbert wouldn't have beaten EBH anyway so was kinda pointless to decide not to go for it.

I agree - I think Sky decided they would like the break to stay away as they thought maybe Phil would win.

And I think Lotto thought that maybe EBH would win, so once Greipel was out of it, they stopped chasing the break just to make sure that Eddie didnt get there.

And in the end - no one contested anything.