Tour de France 2018 stage 9: Arras > Roubaix 156,5 km

[Robert5091]

QS, BMC, Sky to go nuts to be first to the pavé. Sagan to win, a few GC guys lose whatever podium hopes they had & some are very relieved.

 

[rick james]

If the classics really put the hammer down not many GC guys will stay with them

 

[yaco]

Have to wonder how any could doubt Dumoulin's credentials on cobbles - You have to be decent on cobbles to win the Eneco tour - of course Dumoulin could crash or have a mechanical.

 

[DNP-Old]

Contador finished 8th on De Muur once in Eneco Tour, 6 seconds from winner Ballan and ahead of Terpstra, Kwiatkowski and Van Avermaet. I don't think that race tells us much regarding how good one is on the cobbles.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Contador finished 8th on De Muur once in Eneco Tour, 6 seconds from winner Ballan and ahead of Terpstra, Kwiatkowski and Van Avermaet. I don't think that race tells us much regarding how good one is on the cobbles.

Well it's hard to find references in results when he didn't ride flanders classics much (and never as a goal). But I suppose he won't tell people he wants to race and attack if he's bad on cobbles.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Contador finished 8th on De Muur once in Eneco Tour, 6 seconds from winner Ballan and ahead of Terpstra, Kwiatkowski and Van Avermaet. I don't think that race tells us much regarding how good one is on the cobbles.

Well it's hard to find references in results when he didn't ride flanders classics much (and never as a goal). But I suppose he won't tell people he wants to race and attack if he's bad on cobbles.

I agree. I would put Tom in my top 5, up there with the likes of Valverde, Nibali, Fuglsang and Thomas as far as GC riders go, but not because of how well he fared in the Eneco.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Anyway, just as a reminder:
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2010/stage-3

There's a whole bunch of GC riders in the first 3 groups, and a lot of whom you'd not even expect. And then classic riders as O'Grady, Hagen, Boom on a far distance. So I don't really believe much in the skill difference on cobbles regardless. It's just that most GC riders skip cobble races because of the danger.

 

[Bolder]

I think the GC guys will be closer to the classics guys that we think. Because people forget that after 8 stages riders will be tired and the GC guys are naturally the best at recovery.

Can't wait for today, it's like a second Christmas for cycling fans

This was my thought. Big difference between a one-day race you target for months vs. the ninth consecutive state in a GT. And no way is any team with a credible GC rider going to let their own classics specialist go up the road. The goal will be to minimize any damages du to crashes or mechanicals.

Of course, that's the view a DS might have. I would prefer a more...wide-open...race

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty sure Froome give me more saddle sores that he gives himself.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

I think the GC guys will be closer to the classics guys that we think. Because people forget that after 8 stages riders will be tired and the GC guys are naturally the best at recovery.

Can't wait for today, it's like a second Christmas for cycling fans

This was my thought. Big difference between a one-day race you target for months vs. the ninth consecutive state in a GT. And no way is any team with a credible GC rider going to let their own classics specialist go up the road. The goal will be to minimize any damages du to crashes or mechanicals.

Of course, that's the view a DS might have. I would prefer a more...wide-open...race

This is true. Good cobbles riders who don't have a leader to support- EBH, Benoot, Keukeleire. Apart from that it's down to Quickstep and maybe Astana to split the race up, Bora will be content with getting rid of the other sprinters. Riders like Stuyven, Vanmarcke and GVA trying to make it hard would inevitably backfire and hurt their teams.

 

[janraaskalt]

Good cobbles riders who don't have a leader to support- EBH, Benoot, Keukeleire.

I wouldn't bet too much money on Benoot.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Froome has a saddle sore.

Source?
Because if true his rivals will smell blood.

Very unpleasant image about where they have their noses will be difficult to dislodge from my mind.

 

[Salvarani]

Wonder how Roglic will do on this

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Sky plan to have six to seven wheels waiting at each sector along the route, on all 15 sectors of pavé
Three bikes per rider brought in just for the Roubaix stage mounted with aluminum handlebars

https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/to...g-full-on-roubaix-approach-for-cobbles_472276

I hate this team so much

What is it about well prepared resourcefulness that you find detestable?

 

[Gorecki]

Stage preview:

https://youtu.be/eqKk932HaYk

 

[spalco]

Why didn't they start the stage a little earlier today? It's a pretty short stage, but it will probably still be colliding with the WC final imo.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

Sky plan to have six to seven wheels waiting at each sector along the route, on all 15 sectors of pavé
Three bikes per rider brought in just for the Roubaix stage mounted with aluminum handlebars

https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/to...g-full-on-roubaix-approach-for-cobbles_472276

I hate this team so much

What is it about well prepared resourcefulness that you find detestable?

I said "team" and it obviously goes deeper than this

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Why didn't they start the stage a little earlier today? It's a pretty short stage, but it will probably still be colliding with the WC final imo.

I would guess that routes are announced along with road closures in areas, towns etc. Well in advance so locals can work around them if needed. I don’t know much about the surrounding area but where I currently am in Poitou-Charentes there is a lot of harvesting going on. Suddenly shifting timings by an hour or two is probably a big deal and maybe without an actual, logistical, reason on the road, it’s something they can’t do?

 

[vedrafjord]

Really looking forward to this, just hope there aren't too many cobbles specialists forced to defend GC no-hopers.

 

[spalco]

Re: Re:

I would guess that routes are announced along with road closures in areas, towns etc. Well in advance so locals can work around them if needed. I don’t know much about the surrounding area but where I currently am in Poitou-Charentes there is a lot of harvesting going on. Suddenly shifting timings by an hour or two is probably a big deal and maybe without an actual, logistical, reason on the road, it’s something they can’t do?

Yeah, but the WC schedule was known for a long time, and they even said they are planning the Tour to avoid conflict with the WC, and now France is playing for the title and the sunday Roubaix stage will probably still overlap.

 

[King Boonen]

Maybe, who knows. It could be they had to arrange it around this schedule. To be honest, the interest in the Tour here in France compared to the interest in the football seems very low. I’d guess the potential conflict doesn’t bother a huge number of people.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

Good cobbles riders who don't have a leader to support- EBH, Benoot, Keukeleire.

I wouldn't bet too much money on Benoot.

Oh yeah, I forgot he crashed out.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Sky plan to have six to seven wheels waiting at each sector along the route, on all 15 sectors of pavé
Three bikes per rider brought in just for the Roubaix stage mounted with aluminum handlebars

https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/to...g-full-on-roubaix-approach-for-cobbles_472276

I hate this team so much

What is it about well prepared resourcefulness that you find detestable?

I said "team" and it obviously goes deeper than this

So no relating it to this thread and this comment on their preparation?

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Anyway, just as a reminder:
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2010/stage-3

There's a whole bunch of GC riders in the first 3 groups, and a lot of whom you'd not even expect. And then classic riders as O'Grady, Hagen, Boom on a far distance. So I don't really believe much in the skill difference on cobbles regardless. It's just that most GC riders skip cobble races because of the danger.

The most important part of Roubaix is positioning. If you are at the front when the cobbles start you won't get dropped in a big group.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

Sky plan to have six to seven wheels waiting at each sector along the route, on all 15 sectors of pavé
Three bikes per rider brought in just for the Roubaix stage mounted with aluminum handlebars

https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/to...g-full-on-roubaix-approach-for-cobbles_472276

I hate this team so much

What is it about well prepared resourcefulness that you find detestable?

I said "team" and it obviously goes deeper than this

So no relating it to this thread and this comment on their preparation?

I responded to that relating to what I said, but what I commented also goes deeper than what I commented on.

Is your questioning relating to anything in the thread? Because you can PM me instead with this and not bother anyone else.