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Tour de France 2014 July 20, Stage 15: Tallard - Nîmes 222km

Who will win stage 15?

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Mar 14, 2009
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Tour de France 2014 July 20, Stage 15: Tallard - Nîmes 222km

Guess what?! We have a poll! :D

Some of best Tour action of recent years has played out on flat, inconspicuous roads where wily teams have used a jinking route and a stiff wind to blow the race to pieces. Often it’s not just the stage result that’s in the balance but the overall classification too; Chris Froome was taught a valuable lesson last year when Saxo-Tinkoff drilled holes in the Team Sky defence on the road to Saint-Amand-Montrond last year in such conditions.

The wide-open roads travelling southwest from Tallard to Nîmes could provide the same theatre this year. Towards the end of the day, the race route crosses the Rhône Valley, down which the stiff and uncompromising Mistral often blows.

Directeurs sportifs will be radioing ahead for as much intel on conditions as possible – some looking for a window of attack while others will be processing the information defensively. If the wind does blow, the day will be tense from the start. No one, not least the GC contenders can afford to be left on dead wheels on such a day. It could be as much a test of a team’s logistics and brain power every bit as much as the riders’ strength.

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May 19, 2011
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Jspear said:
Kittel will take it. Sagan will NOT be 2nd. :) He has lost his top end speed and there are other sprinters here who can beat him.

it is interesting to see how he coped after several hard MTF days.
 
Aug 15, 2012
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maxmartin said:
haha that would be epic!!!

He's taught the cobble riders how to ride cobbles, taught the climbers how to climb, so I'm pretty sure he'll headbutt Sagan hard enough to crash out gerrans and knock talanksky off the couch he's relaxing on.
 
May 19, 2011
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yespatterns said:
Sadly I'm serious. The downhill run in, potential weather, equals vincenzo breaking his ho-hum parade to the champs. Dude can't just stay in the procession.

I am with you, hope nibbles can use legs to shut the mouths of doubters:eek:
 
Jul 17, 2011
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Brian Holm said on Danish TV that it is narrow roads from start to finish. Garnished with crosswind it could make an interesting stage where some GC contenders will loose out.
 
Jul 15, 2014
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Apparently Kittel suffered pretty badly in Stage 13 and Greipel yesterday. We'll see what condition the top sprinters are in after two mountain stages.
 

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