Tour 2014 Route Rumours

[Dazed and Confused]

As i posted in the comment section, there needs to be a mountain bike stage and a stadium stage were a council of judges will give ratings to riders bike handling skills in a free style program.

putting TdF peleton on a 3m wide cobble section is a stupid idea which is only a high chance crash lottery.

Relax, they won't do too much 5 star stuff if any.

Nevertheless somebody will go down hard.

 

[diegotelmo]

Machado said cobbles is no problem for him

 

[Afrank]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-2014-tour-de-france-to-include-cobbles

Very good to hear, always like it when a race includes parcours that are outside the norm for parcours.

 

[Gloin22]

Oops, Quintana better not be coming to Tour then. Froome can loose time here, but even more can so Quintana.

 

[Netserk]

Oops, Quintana better not be coming to Tour then. Froome can loose time here, but even more can so Quintana.

What are you talking about?! He has Movistar to protect him, so I can't see the problem there.

 

[McLovin]

Port de Bales it's official now (facebook and twitter) I supose before Bagneres de Luchon. So no Portillon.

 

[Descender]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

What. That would be a monster stage right there.

 

[Netserk]

What. That would be a monster stage right there.

Probably as the last mountain stage... Ugh.

 

[Descender]

What. That would be a monster stage right there.

 

[Descender]

Probably as the last mountain stage... Ugh.

Beats ****ing Semnoz...

 

[jens_attacks]

i want hautacam absolutely flat stage of 150 kms

and froome, 2 minutes behind quintana. and then bjarne's record will be broken

 

[Marco Pantani]

Mh, the cobbles make me think about Andys great ride in 2010. Nailing over the cobbles sitting on Cancellaras wheel. One of the greates Tour stages in the last years.

C'mon Andy, resurrection in 2014.

 

[Gloin22]

Mh, the cobbles make me think about Andys great ride in 2010. Nailing over the cobbles sitting on Cancellaras wheel. One of the greates Tour stages in the last years.

C'mon Andy, resurrection in 2014.

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

 

[Marco Pantani]

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

So what?

LOL

 

[Dazed and Confused]

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

how the younger schleck survived this still belongs to one of the worlds greatest mysteries:

 

[LaFlorecita]

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

Exactly lol

 

[Christian]

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

Andy related to Tony Martin?!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That was all due to his pathetic brother causing havoc due to his crash. LOL.

So what?

LOL

The fact that less than 24 hours earlier the same rider who now dragged his team leader away from the rest of the carnage caused by his team leader's idiot brother had instructed the péloton that it was unfair to take advantage of crashes and neutralised the stage after self-same team leader had fallen off, might have had something to do with people's reaction.

Oh yea, and the fact that self-same team leader then spent months whining about how his chief opponent - who was disadvantaged by being behind self-same team leader's brother's poor bike handling skills - didn't wait for him when he dropped a chain, and made a big song and dance of the 39 seconds' gap when in fact he only lost 17" on the climb, and lost the other 22" because he sucks at descending, thus showing self-same team leader to be a massive hypocrite.

Hence why people are sometimes unwilling to give him credit he does deserve.

 

[Christian]

Libertine, I expected better of you - often you are the voice of reason on this forum but not today, alas...

I am surprised to see a cycling expert as yourself buy into the "poor bike handling" explanation of Fränk Schleck's pavé crash - when a rider goes down right in front of you, it's not bike handling, it's physics. Gravity, thou art a heartless b...

Likewise I am saddened by your simplistic explanation of the 17/22 seconds. Surely a forumite of your calibre cannot believe that Andy would have lost 22 seconds regardless of what happened on the ascension. Had they arrived together at the top he would not have lost anything, however it was clear as day that he was stronger than Contador on the climb, thus making it likely that he would have gained time, even factoring in a 20 second loss on the subsequent descend.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Libertine, I expected better of you - often you are the voice of reason on this forum but not today, alas...

I am surprised to see a cycling expert as yourself buy into the "poor bike handling" explanation of Fränk Schleck's pavé crash - when a rider goes down right in front of you, it's not bike handling, it's physics. Gravity, thou art a heartless b...

Likewise I am saddened by your simplistic explanation of the 17/22 seconds. Surely a forumite of your calibre cannot believe that Andy would have lost 22 seconds regardless of what happened on the ascension. Had they arrived together at the top he would not have lost anything, however it was clear as day that he was stronger than Contador on the climb, thus making it likely that he would have gained time, even factoring in a 20 second loss on the subsequent descend.

Andy was not stationary for 39 seconds. Much like the Cadel puncture on Sierra Nevada, it's been exaggerated in the re-telling because the chase from behind is more dramatic than the surge from in front (Cadel lost the Vuelta by more than he lost on that stage anyway so it's a moot point, but that didn't stop it being brought up time and again as the cause of the defeat). Andy lost 22 seconds on the descent because he's a rubbish descender. Andy wouldn't have been in that position if Fabian Cancellara wasn't a huge great whopping hypocrite anyway, because Cancellara would have neutralised stage 3 as well, and Contador would have been 1'13 further up than he already was. If crashes and accidents are just racing incidents, Andy loses time to Contador in stage 2 (how much, we don't know, as the Contador group was a minute or two behind when the neutralisation occurred, and the Schleck group over 4 minutes, but I don't recall who was in which group in terms of engines. Menchov was in the front group though, as miraculously he of all people had stayed upright when everybody else was falling over!!!). If they aren't, Contador should have the time he lost on stage 3 back. Saxo picked and chose which incidents were fair game and which weren't that year. Even if you argue that the crash of Martin and Fränk wasn't a justification, they didn't wait when Chavanel - in the maillot jaune - punctured. Hypocritical to then expect Contador to wait when you slip your chain two weeks later, huh? Even if Chavanel wasn't likely to be GC relevant after three weeks, there's more than enough intrigue to have hours of debate from the 2010 Tour. It was its only hope to compete with the 2010 Giro.

It's also impossible to extrapolate what would have happened as, had the chain incident not occurred, they wouldn't have had their little bromance on the Tourmalet and they might have attacked each other. I don't recall who was strongest that day or if we ever got to find out since they were joined at the hip.

 

[LaFlorecita]

The fact that less than 24 hours earlier the same rider who now dragged his team leader away from the rest of the carnage caused by his team leader's idiot brother had instructed the péloton that it was unfair to take advantage of crashes and neutralised the stage after self-same team leader had fallen off, might have had something to do with people's reaction.

Oh yea, and the fact that self-same team leader then spent months whining about how his chief opponent - who was disadvantaged by being behind self-same team leader's brother's poor bike handling skills - didn't wait for him when he dropped a chain, and made a big song and dance of the 39 seconds' gap when in fact he only lost 17" on the climb, and lost the other 22" because he sucks at descending, thus showing self-same team leader to be a massive hypocrite.

Hence why people are sometimes unwilling to give him credit he does deserve.

Andy was not stationary for 39 seconds. Much like the Cadel puncture on Sierra Nevada, it's been exaggerated in the re-telling because the chase from behind is more dramatic than the surge from in front (Cadel lost the Vuelta by more than he lost on that stage anyway so it's a moot point, but that didn't stop it being brought up time and again as the cause of the defeat). Andy lost 22 seconds on the descent because he's a rubbish descender. Andy wouldn't have been in that position if Fabian Cancellara wasn't a huge great whopping hypocrite anyway, because Cancellara would have neutralised stage 3 as well, and Contador would have been 1'13 further up than he already was. If crashes and accidents are just racing incidents, Andy loses time to Contador in stage 2 (how much, we don't know, as the Contador group was a minute or two behind when the neutralisation occurred, and the Schleck group over 4 minutes, but I don't recall who was in which group in terms of engines. Menchov was in the front group though, as miraculously he of all people had stayed upright when everybody else was falling over!!!). If they aren't, Contador should have the time he lost on stage 3 back. Saxo picked and chose which incidents were fair game and which weren't that year. Even if you argue that the crash of Martin and Fränk wasn't a justification, they didn't wait when Chavanel - in the maillot jaune - punctured. Hypocritical to then expect Contador to wait when you slip your chain two weeks later, huh? Even if Chavanel wasn't likely to be GC relevant after three weeks, there's more than enough intrigue to have hours of debate from the 2010 Tour. It was its only hope to compete with the 2010 Giro.

It's also impossible to extrapolate what would have happened as, had the chain incident not occurred, they wouldn't have had their little bromance on the Tourmalet and they might have attacked each other. I don't recall who was strongest that day or if we ever got to find out since they were joined at the hip.

Great posts LS

 

[42x16ss]

how the younger schleck survived this still belongs to one of the worlds greatest mysteries:

It was absolutely bizarre that was, especially considering the other riders in the break. For one stage it was Bizzaro-Andy!

 

[Marco Pantani]

Man a lot of hate for Andy here.

Number one. Nothing you guys wrote take anything away from Andys ride. Number two, it's dumb to compare the two stages. To be honest, I expected better from some guys here. Number three, if you want to bash a rider, instead of just giving him credit for what was a great ride, have fun, going on like that. I'm not gonna read that sheet any more.

Sorry for off topic.

 

[theyoungest]

Man a lot of hate for Andy here.

Number one. Nothing you guys wrote take anything away from Andys ride. Number two, it's dumb to compare the two stages. To be honest, I expected better from some guys here. Number three, if you want to bash a rider, instead of just giving him credit for what was a great ride, have fun, going on like that. I'm not gonna read that sheet any more.

Sorry for off topic.

Andy indeed did great on the cobbles, just like the climbs in that Tour.

Otherwise, he's a massive hypocrite.

 

[42x16ss]

Man a lot of hate for Andy here.

Number one. Nothing you guys wrote take anything away from Andys ride. Number two, it's dumb to compare the two stages. To be honest, I expected better from some guys here. Number three, if you want to bash a rider, instead of just giving him credit for what was a great ride, have fun, going on like that. I'm not gonna read that sheet any more.

Sorry for off topic.

Andy's ride that stage was amazing. For a skinny climber to hold on to a break with Cancellara, Hushovd and Thomas (three classics specialists), Evans and Hesjedal(Former MTB pros and Evans in awesome form until his crash) is something you rarely see and was certainly underrated. It was Andy's behaviour off the bike that annoyed a lot of people and lost him fans.