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

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

The problem is that ASO wanted to give a taste of PR to this stage. Make it >250 with Arenberg in, it would become a massacre,

Thats not even realistic, cmon. 160-180 km with 20-30 km of cobbles is more than enough for one Tour stage.

2014 they finished right outside Arenberg, but didnt ride it. Im sure they could make a route to incorporate it tho.

Will never see a >250 km with cobbles


Weather and good support to keep it together was the factor here. Everyone had prepared great for this. Some had more bad luck than others.

Also the teams are half full with tiny climbers whereas in PR the complete team is full of big roulers who make it hard for the riders initially.

 

[bigcog]

Porte hasn't broken his collar bone apparently ????

https://twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/1018503620612927488

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

The problem is that ASO wanted to give a taste of PR to this stage. Make it >250 with Arenberg in, it would become a massacre,

Thats not even realistic, cmon. 160-180 km with 20-30 km of cobbles is more than enough for one Tour stage.

2014 they finished right outside Arenberg, but didnt ride it. Im sure they could make a route to incorporate it tho.

Will never see a >250 km with cobbles


Weather and good support to keep it together was the factor here. Everyone had prepared great for this. Some had more bad luck than others.

Also the teams are half full with tiny climbers whereas in PR the complete team is full of big roulers who make it hard for the riders initially.

That too

 

[DFA123]

It sort of seems like anyone complaining about this stage is basically complaining that Froome didn't lose time.

I think more that a stage where a good chunk of GC contenders, and many other riders, hit the deck - largely as a result of the parcours - doesn't really belong in a three week race.

The problem is a lot of people were fine with it when it was Froome. I’m not going to cross-reference posts but it would be interesting to see how consistent they are.

Yeah, that's a good point. I don't really understand how, even if you are a Froome-hater, you would prefer him to lose time in a crash, rather than hope he is beaten fair and square in the mountains. Surely it's better to love to hate him as a rival, than just hate him.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Re: Re:

The problem is that ASO wanted to give a taste of PR to this stage. Make it >250 with Arenberg in, it would become a massacre,

Thats not even realistic, cmon. 160-180 km with 20-30 km of cobbles is more than enough for one Tour stage.

2014 they finished right outside Arenberg, but didnt ride it. Im sure they could make a route to incorporate it tho.

Will never see a >250 km with cobbles


Weather and good support to keep it together was the factor here. Everyone had prepared great for this. Some had more bad luck than others.

If race organizers create Tour stages nearly as difficult as genuine classics, they do so at the expense of the prestige of said classics.

I'd be O.K with Arenburg but that would be the only true difficulty of the the race; no more cobbles afterwards.

 

[greenedge]

Great for Degenkolb to win again, hopefully this marks his revival. GVA and Yves were both so strong, you've got to assume GVA will successfully nab a stage later in the race.

Very sad for Uran as he was riding well, and with Porte gone this gives less incentive to Sky to race creatively (try isolate Porte then drop him somewhere) and one less rival to focus on.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

The problem is that ASO wanted to give a taste of PR to this stage. Make it >250 with Arenberg in, it would become a massacre,

Thats not even realistic, cmon. 160-180 km with 20-30 km of cobbles is more than enough for one Tour stage.

2014 they finished right outside Arenberg, but didnt ride it. Im sure they could make a route to incorporate it tho.

Will never see a >250 km with cobbles


Weather and good support to keep it together was the factor here. Everyone had prepared great for this. Some had more bad luck than others.

Also the teams are half full with tiny climbers whereas in PR the complete team is full of big roulers who make it hard for the riders initially.

That should actually make the splits easier because teams with tiny climbers have less power to control the attacks from strong guys.

 

[jaylew]

It sort of seems like anyone complaining about this stage is basically complaining that Froome didn't lose time.

I think more that a stage where a good chunk of GC contenders, and many other riders, hit the deck - largely as a result of the parcours - doesn't really belong in a three week race.

This. If a rider of which I'm not a fan had lost time, I'd probably be happy about it but still not want these types of stages in future Tours due to the random nature of the mechanicals and crashes. After all, next time it would likely be a rider I like. That said, that random factor does make stages like this fun (and somewhat stressful) to watch.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

The problem is that ASO wanted to give a taste of PR to this stage. Make it >250 with Arenberg in, it would become a massacre,

Thats not even realistic, cmon. 160-180 km with 20-30 km of cobbles is more than enough for one Tour stage.

2014 they finished right outside Arenberg, but didnt ride it. Im sure they could make a route to incorporate it tho.

Will never see a >250 km with cobbles


Weather and good support to keep it together was the factor here. Everyone had prepared great for this. Some had more bad luck than others.

Also the teams are half full with tiny climbers whereas in PR the complete team is full of big roulers who make it hard for the riders initially.

That should actually make the splits easier because teams with tiny climbers have less power to control the attacks from strong guys.

No one to keep pace up tho after the split when everybody looking at each other

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nibali disappointed me. I didnt see him the whole race.

Movistar did an absolutely AMAZING job today. Great, great performance all around, even with Rojas down and Landa crashing for no particular reason. Erviti was great, so was Amador, Valverde is the second best rider in the world and Quintana is obviously in some amazing shape.

 

[Finn84]

Majka crash and ran over by Naesen.

 

[Screecher]

Sagan leads Gaviria by 81 points. The fight for green is pretty much over before the mountains even began.

 

[bigcog]

Apparently been a lot of complaints about Bardet being motopaced back up to main group. I am shocked and wouldn't be surprised if the Badger was the motorcyclist lol

 

[djconnel]

If you didn't like that stage, you don't really like bike racing. Or else your expectations have been hopelessly poisoned by the EPO era.

As to whether that stage should have been in a Tour: I was staring at my phone for the last 40 km, mesmerized. That wouldn't have happened on either a flat stage or a stage ending in a long climb. Sure -- there's limits. Alley Cat stage, for example? But cobbles (and dirt) have been part of bike racing since the ordinary. There's a luck factor, but some riders always seem to have bad luck, while others rarely do, and luck is always a factor. Otherwise we'd neutralize all descents and cancel stages in the rain.

 

[movingtarget]

Bad day for Uran. Good save by Bardet. Dan Martin bounced back. Schizo day for BMC. Retained Yellow but all three of their climbers are out of GC contention even though Caruso did a great job in team support. Tejay was up and down all day like Bardet. The race is pretty much done for BMC as they will lose yellow now and the TT is too hilly for Kung. Maybe they can get Tejay or Caruso in a break later in the race and look for a stage win. Nice return for Degenkolb. Happy for him. All in all most of the GC quality remains in contention.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

 

[yaco]

Re:

Porte hasn't broken his collar bone apparently ????

https://twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/1018503620612927488

That's fantastic news - he can rest for a week or two and then prepare for the Vuelta.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Re:

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

French favoritism at play?

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Porte hasn't broken his collar bone apparently ????

https://twitter.com/ridemediaHQ/status/1018503620612927488

That's fantastic news - he can rest for a week or two and then prepare for the Vuelta.

He seemed to be in a lot of pain but that is good news for the Worlds as well.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

Yep, either he’s superhuman or a vehicle dragged him back.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Very disappointed for Porte. I’d like to see him get one crack at a GT without falling off or getting sick or whatever

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

Rules haven't mattered in cycling for a long time

 

[Leinster]

Re:

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

This is pure speculation. The cameras showed the moment when the Landa group caught Bardet and he was clearly alone at the time, with a team car fading into the distance ahead of him. If they wanted to cheat, then if ever there was a time to give him some shady assist, that was it.

 

[thehog]

Re:

Apparently been a lot of complaints about Bardet being motopaced back up to main group. I am shocked and wouldn't be surprised if the Badger was the motorcyclist lol

From whom? BikeRadar posters been complaining again?

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

I find it very difficult to believe Bardet wasn’t given a big hand by motos in the final there. There was obviously a reason we weren’t shown pictures from that group near the end. I wonder if anyone out on the road near the finish managed to get a photo or video, social media should tell us more in the next few hours.

Yep, either he’s superhuman or a vehicle dragged him back.

A vehicle piloted by 4 pale blue shirts, chasing a disorganised peloton. Once all the Quickstep and Trek riders were off the front, and all the GC teams had basically given up working by then, it was basically Movistar against, ummm, Lotto Soudal and Sagan?