Tour de France 2015 Stage 15: Mende-Valence 183km

[Sasquatch]

Re:

The break looks good but Kathusha's tactics are very odd........

Sagan to be 2nd by Trentin again

It's not that odd. Rodriguez has 0 chance of winning this stage. He's only there to get points in the polka dot jersey comp.

Katusha have this stage penciled in for Kristoff, that's why they didn't do anything yesterday. The smaller the break, the easier it is to control.

 

[sultanofhyd]

If you ask me, Purito going in the break to collect a handful of KOM points with the Alps coming is pretty ***. There's only two cat 4 climbs and one cat 2, no telling if the break is going to survive for that long.

 

[DBotero]

Very strong break.But seriously J.Rod wtf are you doing
Now Katusha pulling

Well, it's a huge break and Jrod won't pull a meter, just collect some easy mountain points.

There are better stages for him if he wants the KOM jersey,he shouldn't do it on this stage.

 

[The Barb]

Re: Re:

What an odd thing by Katusha to be so intent that Purito wouldn't go in the break yesterday, to conserve energy for the Alps, but here he is in the break today on a stage in which he has no chance.

Won't he just be trying to hoover up the KOM points then ease off after the final clilmb?

Sure, I suppose, although there are so few mountain points available one would wonder if it's worth the effort particularly when he has no chance of winning the stage. As opposed to yesterday when there were twice as many mountain points and a strong chance of a stage win.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

If you ask me, Purito going in the break to collect a handful of KOM points with the Alps coming is pretty ***. There's only two cat 4 climbs and one cat 2, no telling if the break is going to survive for that long.

He's not going to have work any harder in this break than he would in the peloton. Seems reasonably to try to get in it; he could really close the gap to Froome if he takes all the finishes.

 

[Punkan]

Very strong break.But seriously J.Rod wtf are you doing
Now Katusha pulling

Well, it's a huge break and Jrod won't pull a meter, just collect some easy mountain points.

There are better stages for him if he wants the KOM jersey,he shouldn't do it on this stage.

Well, I think Jrod knows what he is doing. Guess he doesn't think he will need to spend that much energy to get mountain points. He will still be fresh enough to be active in the alps.

 

[spalco]

Eurosport is live, but no current pictures yet. (not that anything will happen in the next three hours most likely).

 

[Punkan]

Gap only 30s now.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Very strong break.But seriously J.Rod wtf are you doing
Now Katusha pulling

Well, it's a huge break and Jrod won't pull a meter, just collect some easy mountain points.

There are better stages for him if he wants the KOM jersey,he shouldn't do it on this stage.

Well, I think Jrod knows what he is doing. Guess he doesn't think he will need to spend that much energy to get mountain points. He will still be fresh enough to be active in the alps.

Cyclists have shown time and again that they're not the sharpest tools in the box. See Pinot and Bardet yesterday.

Purito also has the history of losing a Grand Tour on a transition stage.

 

[tomorrow]

Re: Re:

If you ask me, Purito going in the break to collect a handful of KOM points with the Alps coming is pretty ***. There's only two cat 4 climbs and one cat 2, no telling if the break is going to survive for that long.

He's not going to have work any harder in this break than he would in the peloton. Seems reasonably to try to get in it; he could really close the gap to Froome if he takes all the finishes.

same for sagan I think, he's basically made the green yesterday, no need to hunt the intermediate sprint today, when it's clear that the break won't be allowed to go, unless katusha gives up. But with such a big break is no that big of a difference to be in a break and to be in peloton.

 

[Sasquatch]

Purito has a few days to rest anyway. Any point is going to help. If he wants the jersey, and that is the same as anyone else who can't ride with the GC favourties - they need to back up stage after stage and pick up cheap points. They won't get it any other way. Purito doesn't have the condition to ride with the GC favourites on the final climbs, neither does Majka, neither does Fuglsang etc. So he and those guys need to pick up as many points as he can. In the Tour de France you need to be able to back up in breaks day by day. Any point matters. He can get some cheap points today if he stays in the break.

 

[saganftw]

if the break doesnt work,i expect tinkoff to set a decent pace up the 2nd cat climb anyway...id be surprised if this was a full peloton finish

 

[Linkinitouille]

Re: Re:

2006: Montélimar (flat stage) & Gap (intermediate stage, Col du Manse)

Actually it was the easier Col de la Sentinelle. Historically finishes at Gap had Sentinelle before they "found" Manse. What they wanted was to reused the mythical Rochette descent from 2003.

With Le Gruppetto we're working on finding all the official profiles and maps from ALL Tours de France since 1947.

 

[Sasquatch]

Re:

If you ask me, Purito going in the break to collect a handful of KOM points with the Alps coming is pretty ***. There's only two cat 4 climbs and one cat 2, no telling if the break is going to survive for that long.

No it's not ***. Far from it.

Froome has the jersey signed sealed and delivered. He is going to get 50 points on Alp d'Huez and Rodriguez will get 0. He could also pick up another bunch of points on Stage 19. So let's assume he does that, he's going to have an 80 point lead on Purito.

If Purito wants this jersey, he needs to pick up points today if at all possible, he needs to pick up 10 points tomorrow and he is going to need to be in the breakaway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and pick up points on the climbs Froome won't pick points up on and there's a huge chance anyway that those climbs in the middle of those stages could be contested by GC people if everyone takes it up to Sky. So Purito needs any point he can if he wants this jersey. Otherwise it's Froome's.

Any point now is going to help. If he picks up 5 points today by cresting the cat 2 climb first, then that's 5 points. That's a a big help.

Unless you can climb with the GC favourites, the only way you can win the Polka Dot jersey is being in the break every stage like Voeckler was 2012 and what Charteau did in 2010

Purito is a fool if he waits and hunts it and collects points trying to outclimb the GC guys. He made that mistake last year. This year he won't make the same mistake and he knows he needs to be in at least 4 breakaways over the next 5 stages.

He's a fool if he waits for the Alps knowing that teams are not giving up yet on beating Froome and chances are some of those Alpine stages could be hot earlier than expected thus harder to gain points, so any points he gains now is perfect. He needs to go in the break tomorrow and pick up a free 10 points.

 

[Frosty]

9 riders in the lead now, with the peloton at 46 seconds. Cav's group further back at 1:15

 

[tomorrow]

Jesus, I wish the break sticks at least to the second cat4 climb, watching sagan descending that technical downhill will be something

 

[Frosty]

Looks like the Cavbus is giving up, gap going out. Average speed so far today has been 49kmph and they are higher up than when they started! Not that much of a tailwind,

 

[Punkan]

Cav now 4 minutes behind, he will not be relevant today.

 

[Jagartrott]

Sagan fully deserves a win. Go Peto!
(he's alone though, and Trentin has Kwiatek)

 

[roundabout]

Re:

Sagan fully deserves a win. Go Peto!
(he's alone though, and Trentin has Kwiatek)

He should have Rogers.

 

[Sasquatch]

Kristoff is winning this stage anyway

 

[Arnout]

If Rogers wins this I'm gonna break something expensive.

 

[Pricey_sky]

So Cav and Greipel dropped. It's Kristoff v Sagan then. Maybe Coquard or Degenkolb can get involved.

 

[DBotero]

Anyone knows anything about Kennaugh,is sick or what? He's going backwards from some days

 

[Frosty]

What would the time limit be on a stage like this? One third of the way through and the Cavbus is at 5 minutes. The rate of time loss should decrease on the downhill but then grow again on the uphill. Not that many back there to work if letour is to be believed - is it a bigger group than 11?