TDF stage 3...

[BeachBum]

Originally Posted by BYOP88
I'm also always afraid Gesink will hurt himself...

I saw the Tour de Suisse on TV and was amazed at how skinny Gesink is, he looks almost like that famous picture of the Chicken.

 

[Anonymous]

Is being in the front all that's really necessary?

Or will a fast pace over cobbles cause a light GC rider with no experience on the surface to possibly struggle or drop off even if they are near the front?

If Quickstep decides to put the hammer down right at the beginning of the 4th cobbled section... will a 130 pound climber (in general) be able to stay near the front by the end of 20 km with 10km of cobbles? Is positioning really the primary factor?

Positioning is critical, especially if there is wind. Once the gaps happen on the cobbles it's almost impossible to close them down. Also, the GC guys will not have their entire teams around them, so if some GC contender gets gapped he will likely have very little help closing it down.

I think it's likely there will be some very tense moments for some of those with GC hopes starting about 25kms before the cobbles start going right to the finish line for the stage.

 

[Kwibus]

I saw the Tour de Suisse on TV and was amazed at how skinny Gesink is, he looks almost like that famous picture of the Chicken.

I think he's 190cm so he must be very skinny else he can't be the climber he is now.

 

[scribe]

Why do some(or most) people think Astana will be so passive on this stage?

Sure they may not have all 9 riders where it matters at the right time(but will any team have all 9 at the front when it matters) but I'm guessing they'll do their best to have Contador at the front and yes Saxo may have the better riders to guide the Schleck's over the cobbles but they can't actually do the riding for them. The GC contender I'm most worried about is Menchov I mean it's not like he's known for great bike handling skills.

Passive is not in the equation. Struggling to keep up is. Many see this as the only opportunity for their GC hopes to take a bite out of Contador. Without the TTT, which effectively hands this tour to Contador, and barring crash and illness, there will be no other opportunity for the hopefuls.

 

[Publicus]

Passive is not in the equation. Struggling to keep up is. Many see this as the only opportunity for their GC hopes to take a bite out of Contador. Without the TTT, which effectively hands this tour to Contador, and barring crash and illness, there will be no other opportunity for the hopefuls.

Well same question. Why will Astana struggle to keep up? It's not a team neo-pros and their projected TdF will have no first time TdF riders.

 

[red_flanders]

I had a chance to ride 50kms of P-R this year the Friday before the race. Couple of things;

If they race au bloc early AND if the North wind is blowing there will be significant time gaps for some of the GC guys. They can't all be at the front and if one GC guy knows he has gapped another they will drop the hammer.

The stones are for real and they ain't for 140lb guys that can fly going uphill.

Yep. Simply no way everyone fits on those roads at once. There will be gaps, and if you're not creating the gap, you're losing time.

 

[Anonymous]

twitter today:

@mcewenrobbie recon'd TdF st3 cobbled final w/ Stijn Vdb, going to be CARNAGE! The TdF will explode on this stage, will eliminate some GC & green riders
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck

 

[flicker]

The smart move for an allied Sky, Shack and Saxo to hammer the front on #3 stage. Gap Contador 7 or 8 minutes. That would make an exciting Tour.

 

[jens_attacks]

twitter today:

@mcewenrobbie recon'd TdF st3 cobbled final w/ Stijn Vdb, going to be CARNAGE! The TdF will explode on this stage, will eliminate some GC & green riders
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck

that's what i want,a fuccing carnage,but no one should get hurt just left behind in mud and rain,that kind of carnage...like that great day in montalcino.

damn,can you imagine if it will rain,how much will struggle menchov and basso on the cobbles?it'll be insane.

 

[Winterfold]

With EBH, Flecha, Barry etc in support and being the most experienced of the GC contenders Wiggins has to attack on this stage.

Cancallara will be protecting the Schlecks, so Boonen must go for the win.

If I was DB, I would be on the phone to Quickstep already.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

that's what i want,a fuccing carnage,but no one should get hurt just left behind in mud and rain,that kind of carnage...like that great day in montalcino.

damn,can you imagine if it will rain,how much will struggle menchov and basso on the cobbles?it'll be insane.

Yea, that's right, just like Montalcino, nobody getting hurt, just Sastre crashing and herniating a disc in his back

 

[offbyone]

If there isn't some kind of shake up with the gc riders on this stage it might be the biggest let down of the tour.

 

[peloton]

Yea, that's right, just like Montalcino, nobody getting hurt, just Sastre crashing and herniating a disc in his back

+1

Boonen’s talents and past achievements suggest that the stage will play directly to his strengths but, to his credit, he is able to remain objective and to see the problems that this could cause.

"What is now on the table will be a nightmare for the climbers and general classification riders,” he said. “I have my doubts. This type of cycling has no place in the Tour. It is not important for a Tour winner that he can go fast on the cobblestones. This is regarded by me as trying to cause a sensation. But it’s sensation with a bad taste. "
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4...cobblestones-appearing-in-Tour-de-France.aspx

 

[kurtinsc]

+1

Boonen’s talents and past achievements suggest that the stage will play directly to his strengths but, to his credit, he is able to remain objective and to see the problems that this could cause.

"What is now on the table will be a nightmare for the climbers and general classification riders,” he said. “I have my doubts. This type of cycling has no place in the Tour. It is not important for a Tour winner that he can go fast on the cobblestones. This is regarded by me as trying to cause a sensation. But it’s sensation with a bad taste. "
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4...cobblestones-appearing-in-Tour-de-France.aspx

Just to play opposite of Boonen... it' snot not important for a tour winner to go fast on the cobblestones because the Tour hasn't included many cobblestone stages.

What makes a GC champion is being able to complete the stages of the tour faster then anyone else. If there were 5 cobbled stages... then riding the pave would be part of what makes a good Tour rider.


I'd actually like to see a tour that really did mix it up. 2-3 cobbled stages. A couple of fairly flat stages with a big climb at the end. A few constant up and down stages over big climbs. A long flat ITT, a mountain ITT (say up Alpe d'huez) and a hilly ITT with technical descents. A couple of flat/likely windy stages along the coast. A couple of hilly-classic type stages. A couple of easy sprint stages. A couple of mostly flat stages with a few significant bumps at the end. And even a TTT. Heck, even a dirt stage like we had at the Giro.

 

[scribe]

Just to play opposite of Boonen... it' snot not important for a tour winner to go fast on the cobblestones because the Tour hasn't included many cobblestone stages.

What makes a GC champion is being able to complete the stages of the tour faster then anyone else. If there were 5 cobbled stages... then riding the pave would be part of what makes a good Tour rider.


I'd actually like to see a tour that really did mix it up. 2-3 cobbled stages. A couple of fairly flat stages with a big climb at the end. A few constant up and down stages over big climbs. A long flat ITT, a mountain ITT (say up Alpe d'huez) and a hilly ITT with technical descents. A couple of flat/likely windy stages along the coast. A couple of hilly-classic type stages. A couple of easy sprint stages. A couple of mostly flat stages with a few significant bumps at the end. And even a TTT. Heck, even a dirt stage like we had at the Giro.

It sounds good to me. Imagine a team vigorously trying to defend a 10+ minute advantage of a bigger rider going into the mountains. Lay down a great first week, limit the damage in the mountains, and defend in the TTs.

 

[ferryman]

Just to play opposite of Boonen... it' snot not important for a tour winner to go fast on the cobblestones because the Tour hasn't included many cobblestone stages.

What makes a GC champion is being able to complete the stages of the tour faster then anyone else. If there were 5 cobbled stages... then riding the pave would be part of what makes a good Tour rider.


I'd actually like to see a tour that really did mix it up. 2-3 cobbled stages. A couple of fairly flat stages with a big climb at the end. A few constant up and down stages over big climbs. A long flat ITT, a mountain ITT (say up Alpe d'huez) and a hilly ITT with technical descents. A couple of flat/likely windy stages along the coast. A couple of hilly-classic type stages. A couple of easy sprint stages. A couple of mostly flat stages with a few significant bumps at the end. And even a TTT. Heck, even a dirt stage like we had at the Giro.

That would be a fab mix. How about a TTT up the Alpe

 

[ferryman]

A warning for the climbers, from Stage 3 of the 1983 Tour:

'Stage 3 took the riders to Roubaix over the the infamous cobbles...Millar (Robert) did not fall once, nor twice but three times...finally limping in 14 minutes behind the peleton. "I was brought down on the very first section of pave, I got up, but someone fell off right in front of me 50 metres later. I went right over the top of him". He remounted again, got himself into a chasing group that was within 300 metres of regaining contact with the peleton, then hit another rider who crashed in front of him. "That was the end for me" commented Millar.'.

Get behind your big guys oh skinny ones

 

[Kender]

That would be a fab mix. How about a TTT up the Alpe

that would be horrible. it would favor 1 or 2 teams massively over the rest. in order to do well you'd need to have at least 5 great climbers. only team that can field 5 would be radioshack with maybe saxo next

it would completely emiminate some GC contenders like cuddles. he'd lose 10 minutes while he waited for rider 5 to ride in. Sastre would be in the same boat

p.s. opps left off leakygas. they'd be able to field 5 good climbers also

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think you can discount BMC. SKY can be added to the list they have solid riders experienced on this terrain - but obviously need to stay upright.

Radioshack will sit on near the front and wait till later and conserve energy i reckon.

Sky have Flecha! BMC have Hincapie, Burghardt and Ballan who IS now riding the tour.

I'm 100% sure Menchov wil lose time. He's the kind of rider who is always at the back of the peloton. I'm also always afraid Gesink will hurt himself so I hope he decides to lose time in this stage just to stay healthy for the mountains

Hmm, rabobank will already be pretty much out of the tourr after 3 stages.

 

[kurtinsc]

Sky have Flecha! BMC have Hincapie, Burghardt and Ballan who IS now riding the tour.

BMC has the cobbled riders... but Evans is still a question mark on how well he can handle the surface. Many think he'd be okay... but we don't know for sure.

Sky has Flecha... but also has Boassen Hagen and Thomas who can ride cobbles. And Wiggins has proven himself to be solid on the surface... he and Armstrong are really the only two GC guys who have ever finished in the top 30 of a major cobbled race.

I was thinking (for some reason) that Arveson would be there too for Sky... so their roster isn't quite as cobbled up as I thought it was.

 

[Winterfold]

Barry is also good on cobbles - 26th in P-R this year.

Thomas won the Junior P-R.

So I think Sky should at least do OK - so will BMC - I think they can both dish out a hard time to some of the other GC contender's teams. A three-way alliance with Quickstep could create so much fun (for spectators).

 

[Merckx11]

"but Evans is still a question mark on how well he can handle the surface. "
Really? Evans is an awesome mountain biker. he should excel on the cobbles.

 

[Anonymous]

"but Evans is still a question mark on how well he can handle the surface. "
Really? Evans is an awesome mountain biker. he should excel on the cobbles.

I think , if he's in a good position entering the cobbles, Evans will fine especially with Hincapie and Ballan looking after him. Of all the potential GC contenders I think he will have the least amount of trouble but, riding the cobbles is not just bike handling... it's really about laying down some serious wattage to keep your speed high while on the stones. Also, one needs big wattage at a relatively low cadence, which is very different than high cadence climbing.

GC guys who can put it in a big gear and grind over the stones will be OK if they are at or near the front. For me, AC has the most to worry about with this stage however if I were him I would not worry too much if I lost some reasonable amount of time here. It is more important for him to come out unscathed. Even if he loses 2:00, it would not necessarily be a disaster unless he hits the deck and has some injury to deal with.

 

[kurtinsc]

"but Evans is still a question mark on how well he can handle the surface. "
Really? Evans is an awesome mountain biker. he should excel on the cobbles.

How well does MTB experience translate to riding cobblestones?

I honestly have no idea. That's why I said "question mark"... I haven't ever heard of him riding on cobbles... so while we may expect him to do okay, he's still a question mark until he actually DOES ride them.

For all we know, Contador may excel on the cobbles... but he's a question mark as well.

 

[euanli]

Its not just experience riding in cobbles though is it. Its riding in cobbles in a bunch in race conditions. Totally different from going out there checking what the cobbles are like for a day and then continuing with the rest of your programme.