Tdf Stage 11 - Thursday, July 15 2010, Sisteron - Bourg-lès-Valence, 180 km

[The Hitch]

Tdf Stage 11 - Thursday, July 15 2010, Sisteron - Bourg-lès-Valence, 180 km

Stage 11, aka rest day. Should be interesting for the last 10k, i pick cav ftw but what will be most interesting perhaps will be the positions of hushovd and pettachi in the sprint. Pettachi has a chance at green today i think.

On the + side its mostly downhill so wont take as long as today, though if it is anything like today, the peloton might just sit in their seats and not peddle for most of the stage (relying on gravity to take them to the end)

 

[Big GMaC]

Lol, its like 70k downhill

 

[Jamsque]

French dude from a break (feeling guilty about yesterday), or Cav in a bunch gallop.

 

[Four Winds]

The feed zone is in Die? Must be pretty bad food.

 

[Cobblestones]

Vino will attack on the Cat 3 and defend his 30" lead all the way to the finish.

Or not.

Actually, definitely not.

It's going to be a repeat of today, most likely.

 

[old_bram]

I'd like to see Vino and Voigt to go on a mad breakaway just for the hell of it - (well just to keep me entertained actually)

But, back to reality and the bleeding obvious . . .

Pineau / Charteau to chase up the hill for the spots at about 2.00
Hushovd / Petacchi chasing points at 2.45 and 3.45
Mass tangle at the end around 4.45

(If that's not enough excitement for you all - tune in at 3.00 for the handing out of the musettes)

From what I hear from you Versus viewers, will those be the times of your ad breaks?!

 

[Ryaguas]

The feed zone is in Die? Must be pretty bad food.

LOOOOOOL I thought the same

OK... back to the topic...

Winners: Ale-jet all the way...

This stage is another stage for the sprinters... Hushod will lose sa maillot vert, a breakaway should not be successful cuz the sprinters' teams are going to fight for ALL the points in the finish line... HTC - Columbia is pretty cooked for all the high mountains stages, instead LAMPRE seems to be more fresh than HTC cuz yesterday they were those who had more ppl in conditions to make a lead - out train...

mmm IMHO this will be the result at the end:

Ale-jet
Manxman
McEwen
Jose Ivan Gutierrez
Hushovd
Farrar

but let's see what is going to happen... I put the money on Ale-jet cuz I'm a big fan and he had the legs... he will win la maillot vert!

 

[riobonito92]

Is there any reason why these stages are 180km+ rather than 120km? At 180km you are pretty much guaranteed to have a club run and not a race until someone decides it is time to reel in the break (or like today, not bother). I think that a 120km stage is more likely to be raced throughout.

 

[luckyboy]

Or just have like 2 50/60k stages?

 

[kurtinsc]

Vino will attack on the Cat 3 and defend his 30" lead all the way to the finish.

Or not.

Actually, definitely not.

It's going to be a repeat of today, most likely.

I'd be shocked if the break wasn't brought back on this one. Looks more like a sprinter day then a rest day on wheels where the break is let go.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Totally worthless stage. Only reason for it is to collect $$$ from the towns.

 

[Cobblestones]

I'd be shocked if the break wasn't brought back on this one. Looks more like a sprinter day then a rest day on wheels where the break is let go.

Yeah, you're probably right.

 

[Ferminal]

Totally worthless stage. Only reason for it is to collect $$$ from the towns.

They should at least have a few more KOTM points on offer.

 

[Bennyl]

how is Robbie McEwen still riding in this Tour after that crash? The guy is a machine. And the fact that his is still chewing everyone up in the sprints bar 3 or 4 riders is amazing. Not bad for an old man. Has he even have a lead out man or anyone to assist him for any of his sprints?

 

[2wheels]

One possible scenario that could save us all from boredom would be if Saxo lets two or three dozen guys go up the road. A big enough group of non-threats-- Pineau, Charteau, Moreau, Seau-seau, and all the other French guys---- might actually be too much horsepower for three sprinters' teams to pull back. Then we could listen to Bobke pronouncing their names; that could be fun. . .

 

[jaylew]

Usual suspects in some order:

Farrar
Cav
Ale-Jet
Hushovd
Rojas
EBH
Turgot
McEwen
Ciolek

Not sure what's going on with Freire. He's been a disappointment so far. His best finish has been 10th - not like him.

 

[sagard]

I'd like to see Vino and Voigt to go on a mad breakaway just for the hell of it - (well just to keep me entertained actually)

I think we need to add Chavanel to that mix and let the sprinters fight for fourth.

 

[Nearly]

The feed zone is in Die? Must be pretty bad food.

Does that make the PEDs of choice Diet coke?

 

[Kwibus]

Totally worthless stage. Only reason for it is to collect $$$ from the towns.

Yeh well I like to see fantastic stages every day too, but you can't expect tough stages every day. And the sprinters must have their fun too....

 

[Bennyl]

Yeh well I like to see fantastic stages every day too, but you can't expect tough stages every day. And the sprinters must have their fun too....

correct, this isn't the Giro after all...

 

[blaxland]

Hopefully someone like EBH can win this stage but i fear it will be the Manxman.......with Hushovd also in the placings.

 

[badboyberty]

I went to the pet shop up the road and an octopus told me; Chavendish, Farrar, Ale-Jet.

I just hope the eight-legged beasty is wrong and a screw up by HTC and Lampre lets Yukiya Arashiro steal the stage.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

A break with some guys from the sprinter's teams could survive. Just. If Saxo are clever they put Nicki or O'Grady in it, so they don't have to chase. Then it's all up to the Teams competition teams to chase (= Shack).
Don't think it will happen though.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Another hot day with clear skies.
Weather forecast for tomorrow's heavy stage to the Mende "wall" is for temperatures to jump a further 6C!
Some serious suffering for some riders.

 

[Lyds97]

The feed zone is in Die? Must be pretty bad food.

From the Blazin' Saddles blog on the Eurosport website: "Interestingly, the race passes through the shoemaking town of Die, which raises the morbid question, who will be the first rider to die?"

No way a break survives today. Expect to see Hushovd and Petacchi fighting over sprint points all day and probably the green jersey changing hands.