TdF Stage 12 - Fri 16th - Bourg-de-Péage - Mende 210.5km

[sublimit]

Getting into the 10 seconds a Kilometer territory,

this looks dangerous.

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone seen sky today

 

[Eyeballs Out]

What on earth are Cervelo riding for ? Protecting Sastre's 15th place ??

 

[Beech Mtn]

<snipped>

If Astana had this planned, it's almost perfect racing. Vino's personal ambitions and Contador's interest covered all at once.

I would bet Martinelli planned this. He seems to be an excellent tactician. And you're right, this does cover both AC's and AV's interests quite well.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Getting into the 10 seconds a Kilometer territory,

this looks dangerous.

That's the formula for dead flat sprinting stages.

But you're right, I don't have Vino in my office-game and one of my main competitors does ;p

 

[Moondance]

What on earth are Cervelo riding for ? Protecting Sastre's 15th place ??

Yes.... I'm mystified too. They don't really have a puncher who can take the stage, and the finish is faaaar too short for even an in-form Sastre to climb away from everyone.

 

[sublimit]

Anyone seen sky today

They may be leaving it too late,

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Oh look the peloton is strung out.

Something is going to happen
*dum dum dum*

 

[Anonymous]

but hesjedal in yellow would mean vino being 40 seconds off the lead with contador.. Why on earth would saxo be happy to have both contador and vino 40 seconds behind their man schleck. sheer stupidity

Vino will blow like a time bomb in the Pyrenees. Saxo can't let it go too far but can't blow themselves apart either.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Nice interview with VDB2.

"Yeah, I'm pretty well placed now but 1 bad day and it could all be gone"

Typical Belgian self-confidence

 

[Cerberus]

but hesjedal in yellow would mean vino being 40 seconds off the lead with contador.. Why on earth would saxo be happy to have both contador and vino 40 seconds behind their man schleck. sheer stupidity

They don't look to be doing that, and if they had wanted to do it, I think they should have let the break have a nice lead, that way only the GC contender in the break would have had an incentive to actually work, and perhaps they could have played a bit of chicken with Liquigas, Rabobank and others about doing the work. After all they have at least as much reason as Saxo to be afraid of Vino.

 

[sportzchick]

Sastre looking for a stage win by the looks

This is playing into AC hands having Saxo working like dogs so early in the tour

I would bet Martinelli planned this. He seems to be an excellent tactician. And you're right, this does cover both AC's and AV's interests quite well.

off topic but I wish he was in charge of RedBull F1 team now!

 

[Carl0880]

but hesjedal in yellow would mean vino being 40 seconds off the lead with contador.. Why on earth would saxo be happy to have both contador and vino 40 seconds behind their man schleck. sheer stupidity

Saxo may decide that its better to allow that and not burn up their entire team today. I don't think its ideal, but it might be the lesser of 2 evils. Rather let Vino get that close and not completely destroy you whole team, or catch him then your team is very tired and a very hot Tour, while Astana will have mostly fresh (er) guys for the Pyrennes.

 

[ak-zaaf]

off topic but I wish he was in charge of RedBull F1 team now!

Please don't compare this noble sport to that travesty.

 

[Moondance]

They don't look to be doing that, and if they had wanted to do it, I think they should have let the break have a nice lead, that way only the GC contender in the break would have had an incentive to actually work, and perhaps they could have played a bit of chicken with Liquigas, Rabobank and others about doing the work. After all they have at least as much reason as Saxo to be afraid of Vino.

EVERYONE is afraid of Vino...

 

[Mellow Velo]

Chalk board malfunction. Peloton shown 2'-30", when the gap was up to 4 minutes.
Cervelo obviously blinked first. Carlos's cards are on the table.

Today, we have a race, so Eurosport bring back the ad fest!

 

[Roland Rat]

Hesjay suffering, looks like he's going to blow spectacularly on the final climb.

 

[ak-zaaf]

EVERYONE is afraid of Vino...

We're not talking bar fights here


Rodriguez will take at least 3 minutes back in Mende ;p

 

[alberto.legstrong]

phil and paul still playing the "can ac trust vino" card....

You know what I think would be fabulous....if Phil said 'we just got this email from Johann saying that we ought to try to keep everyone believing that AC's teammates this year are worse backstabbers than Lance and I were last year. I know that no one without 8 yellow wristbands on 24/7 is dumb enough to believe that, but that type of propaganda just makes us feel better about ourselves....'

Ok, I'm done now.

 

[sportzchick]

Please don't compare this noble sport to that travesty.

certain people are making it a travesty...thats why I wish it!

anywhoo...

Having Vino in yellow now would be worse for Astana than Saxo as they would have to do the lions share of the work

 

[Beech Mtn]

Is Thor still hanging with the rest of the break (the guys dropped by the Vino quartet)? If they manage to stay away, Thor could sweep up a few more sprint points in the stage finish. If the peloton catches them, no chance of that.

Cervelo kind of two opposing goals here, with Sastre and Thor. I'm kind of surprised to see them helping chase the break.

Assuming Thor is still away and hasn't dropped back to the bunch.

 

[Anonymous]

Hesjay suffering, looks like he's going to blow spectacularly on the final climb.

True enough. At least he's racing his bike. Levi could take a tip...

 

[Moondance]

Uh-oh... Dutch TV is reporting Lars Boom is in trouble and isn't feeling well and currently is 12 mins behind the peloton.

If the peloton continues to ramp it up that he could end up being very close to the time limit, maybe even on the wrong side

 

[ak-zaaf]

Uh-oh... Dutch TV is reporting Lars Boom is in trouble and isn't feeling well and currently is 12 mins behind the peloton.

If the peloton continues to ramp it up that could be very close to the time limit.

Dutch TV actually gives relevant information now??!

 

[Cerberus]

EVERYONE is afraid of Vino...

Yeah, but Andy can get away from Vino on the climbs, Menchov and Basso might be stuck in a group with a rabid Kazakh.