TdF 2017 stage 8: Dole > Station des Rousses 187,5 km

[Kwibus]

Re:

The only question to me is if GC contenders push Sky/Froome. If they do, we'll see a GC group at the end of 10+ riders, maybe more. The stage simply isn't challenging enough to split them up or create meaningful time gaps.

Having said that, I'm sure Sky would love to let someone else, someone who isn't a true GC contender, take the jersey in a breakaway, so Froome doesn't have to defend it.

Froome allready said he doesn't mind to give the yellow jersey to a non GC threat.

Ten Dam actually intentionally stayed ok'ish on GC as he would love to have the option to take yellow from a breakaway so my guess is he will try to join the breakaway as well.
Tomorrow will be hell from the start. Will take a long while before the breakaway is formed.

Wellens, Cummings, Gesink, Ullisi... so many good riders have their eyes on this one.

 

[HelloDolly]

Wonder will GVA have a go for this stage ....and it might help Richie to have someone up the road

 

[tobydawq]

Tiesj Benoot the Flandrian from Belgium will win this French stage of a French bike race.

 

[zenoiz]

Re:

Tiesj Benoot the Flandrian from Belgium will win this French stage of a French bike race.

No, Oliver Naesen, the Flemish champion of Belgium, will take this.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Tiesj Benoot the Flandrian from Belgium will win this French stage of a French bike race.

No, Oliver Naesen, the Flemish champion of Belgium, will take this.

Well, he has won a professional bike race before, so I guess it's more realistic.

There are a very large number of possible winners tomorrow. But Benoot has been climbing incredibly lately and should be one of the strongest - if not the strongest - of a breakaway in the mountain and is of course better than most on the flats. The Tour would (obviously) be a very nice scene to finally break his incredible deadlock.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Is it too early/flat for ThiboPinot going for the stage hunt?

He wants the Polka dot jersey, so he'll to wait until Sunday when the route contains half of the HC climbs on the whole parcours. He's already 10 minutes down, so almost everyone except Barguil will let him go.

True. Pinot stated before the PDBF that his Tour starts on Sunday. Big points, and as I wrote in his thread, for us Franc-Comtois, the Jura is our mountain. This trio, from the toughest sides, never seen before, that's a thing that we can only imagine in our dreams. Legend status for the winner if he's a Franc-Comtois. He'll go for the points and the win, I don't doubt it one second.

Summer thunderstorm tomorrow? In the Jura they can be really heavy, really nasty...I choose my couch .

 

[Robert5091]

Majka to start his bid for polka-dot jersey. What will BMC do? Going full speed ahead did n't work last time so LRP to sit on Froome's wheel? The GC guys need to take back minutes on Froome and Thomas - before ITT - so hoping for at least some attempts. The added 11 km after summit though is a real dumb a**e idea.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Majka to start his bid for polka-dot jersey. What will BMC do? Going full speed ahead did n't work last time so LRP to sit on Froome's wheel? The GC guys need to take back minutes on Froome and Thomas - before ITT - so hoping for at least some attempts. The added 11 km after summit though is a real dumb a**e idea.

Majka obviously isn't targeting the polka dot jersey.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Majka to start his bid for polka-dot jersey. What will BMC do? Going full speed ahead did n't work last time so LRP to sit on Froome's wheel? The GC guys need to take back minutes on Froome and Thomas - before ITT - so hoping for at least some attempts. The added 11 km after summit though is a real dumb a**e idea.

Majka is not, he wants a big GC result. The 11 km is not flat at all, not the easy, chasing the leader friendly thing that you suggest. It's up and down, give a rider 30 seconds at the summit, he'll win against three chasers. You shift gears all the time. If you were talking about stage 9, I would agree though.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

D Martin to end up 2o whatever the scenario...

 

[hfer07]

I-for some strange reason- cannot help thinking that Bardet is going to be the one willing to go for it on this stage......

 

[diego721]

I could see Chavez trying something out, and It will bee interesting to see if someone chase him.

 

[Lequack]

Guys, this is the Tour, not he Giro or Vuelta. Nothing is going to happen GC wise. The radio controlled cyclists are kept on a short leash by their teams, they must not go out of range.

To be honest I wish we would have live coverage of the Giro Rosa instead of having a full stage coverage of the Tour. I was watching the highlights and it's so much more exciting, proper racing, not this thing, whatever they call it, but it's not racing. But no, apparently watching 6 hours of nothing is somehow better than the exciting women's racing.

 

[movingtarget]

Looks like a good stage for a win by the breakaway. Sky won't mind at all with the following stage being much harder and the GC riders wanting to hold their positions at this stage of the race. The final kms make it difficult for the GC riders to get clear. Maybe Talansky, Cummings or GVA.

 

[swissfr]

Guys, this is the Tour, not he Giro or Vuelta. Nothing is going to happen GC wise. The radio controlled cyclists are kept on a short leash by their teams, they must not go out of range.

To be honest I wish we would have live coverage of the Giro Rosa instead of having a full stage coverage of the Tour. I was watching the highlights and it's so much more exciting, proper racing, not this thing, whatever they call it, but it's not racing. But no, apparently watching 6 hours of nothing is somehow better than the exciting women's racing.

No one forces you to look.

 

[Lequack]

Guys, this is the Tour, not he Giro or Vuelta. Nothing is going to happen GC wise. The radio controlled cyclists are kept on a short leash by their teams, they must not go out of range.

To be honest I wish we would have live coverage of the Giro Rosa instead of having a full stage coverage of the Tour. I was watching the highlights and it's so much more exciting, proper racing, not this thing, whatever they call it, but it's not racing. But no, apparently watching 6 hours of nothing is somehow better than the exciting women's racing.

No one forces you to look.

No but I think the loyal spectators and fans deserve better than this. Am I wrong?

 

[aarononymous]

Re:

I hope this year we have another breakaway rivalry like last year's Alaphillipe vs Pantano.

Unfortunately we won't be seeing Pantano in the same way he made last year's race exciting. Will be working for Contador. Shame as there are lots of stages to see his demon decending skills, definitely one of the best in that regard.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Lets go Contador!

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

OMG. We have a weekend, and not one, but two mountain stages (and NOT MTF's either mind you) that could hypothetically impact on the general classification.

LS must be doing cartwheels

Like many others, I see Cummings as having a great chance to win this stage. The final climb is too long for Gilbert or GVA, and he would get a significant enough advantage to be able to hold them off over the final 12kms. Fulgsang, who already is out of GC contention, is not far enough behind on time to be allowed into the BOD, so it doesn't matter that a rider of his capabilities could defeat Cummings on a finish such as this.

So my question is: Why does it seem inevitable that if Cummings wants to go into the BOD, that he will?

Why don't the other teams try and see that he doesn't make it into the BOD?

Sometimes the BOD is established after 10 kms, but in other stages not for 50 kms. If Cummings gets into the first break attempt, why don't the other riders just sit up when they are only half a minute ahead of the peloton? Cummings might try and succeed again; if so, the others sit up again. Eventually he is going to run out of energy, or just by luck miss a break attempt, then the riders can ride, hypothetically.

Why is it just almost conceded that he will make the BOD, and then probably win the stage?

If a stage was flat, but had a 2 km climb 30 kms from the finish, wouldn't everyone ride hard to distance Kittel?

If a stage had a 1km murito at the end, wouldn't riders do all they could to distance Valverde earlier?

Why isn't such an attitude taken to Cummings in this situation when he could well be a fairly obvious winner?

 

[lenric]

It would good for Quintana to do something. Maybe that could influence some riders, such as Contador, to follow him.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

Majka to start his bid for polka-dot jersey. What will BMC do? Going full speed ahead did n't work last time so LRP to sit on Froome's wheel? The GC guys need to take back minutes on Froome and Thomas - before ITT - so hoping for at least some attempts. The added 11 km after summit though is a real dumb a**e idea.

What should or will BMC do. Now that their tails are between their legs they will tow Porte onto the Sky train.
What Porte should do is mark Froome, AC, Quintana and Aru. If ANY of them attacks he needs to match them. Unfortunately I am not sure he's strong enough now.

 

[dirkprovin]

Re:

I could see Chavez trying something out, and It will bee interesting to see if someone chase him.

On first glance, that looks a plausible scenario.

Two key issues may mitigate against that. Firstly, has he lost sufficient time that they will be willing to let him get any appreciable gap ... and secondly, does he yet have the form and/or the legs to even make such an effort worthwhile ?

This may be just a little too early in the Tour for him but who knows, he was willing to try and die a few times in the Dauphine

 

[blaxland]

Re:

Do you think Rigo or Chaves will be marked?

Yeah its a bit early yet in my opinion but I would like to see both of them in an early break,then go for stage honours..maybe someone like Rolland or howsen might get away.just hoping the sky riders don't control the race to much and give the break a chance?Yates might also surprise tonight"

 

[BetOrLose]

Brambilla is according to Brian Holm not allowed to attack because he's going to protect Dan Martin

 

[dirkprovin]

Re: Re:

Do you think Rigo or Chaves will be marked?

Yeah its a bit early yet in my opinion but I would like to see both of them in an early break,then go for stage honours..maybe someone like Rolland or howsen might get away.just hoping the sky riders don't control the race to much and give the break a chance?Yates might also surprise tonight"

I don't think either have lost sufficient time as yet so as to be allowed to infiltrate any early break. Maybe they may be allowed a little leeway to dart off the front late in the stage but do either of them (but esp Chaves) have the form/legs to do so ?

Rolland or Howson in the break .... now that has mileage. Was probably always going to be Rolland's game plan and it has been noticeable that Howson has seemingly been instructed to sit up and roll in on most of the stages so far. With Howson, one would normally think that any such infiltration would be a signpost for an Orica set piece move but its still somewhat debateable that either SY or Chaves have the form/legs for anything more than a small/late effort on the final slopes.