Tour de France 2020 | Stage 11 (Châtelaillon-Plage - Poitiers, 167.5 km)

[Zinoviev Letter]

Looks like this group will be caught soon

They have to or it will be a very long day chasing. Way way too much horsepower to let just ride away

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

DQS should switch to putting an anchor / passenger in every group that goes after this one.

 

[roundabout]

No counter. Guess the previous group was more coincidence than a planned anti QS alliance

 

[titan31]

And B&B have Coquard. This is their best chance of winning a stage (still <1%) in the race.

Coquard has as much chance of winning as I do and his odds probably don't change by having a teammate in the break

 

[Breezy1985]

And B&B have Coquard. This is their best chance of winning a stage (still <1%) in the race.

ISN and B&B do have Martin and Rolland to play next week

 

[Volderke]

DQS should switch to putting an anchor / passenger in every group that goes after this one.

They will go full for the sprint and the green jersey today. I don't know if it's a good thing to not let a break go, though, because the intermediate sprint, with a hill just before that, looks better for Sagan. If I would be DQS, I would let a group go for the intermediate and try to pull everything back for the finish.

 

[thiscocks]

Formolo NS due to his crash yesterday. Broken collarbone

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

They will go full for the sprint and the green jersey today. I don't know if it's a good thing to not let a break go, though, because the intermediate sprint, with a hill just before that, looks better for Sagan. If I would be DQS, I would let a group go for the intermediate and try to pull everything back for the finish.

yes but if Bora and other teams are planning to soften them up so they can’t control the finale by making them chase strong attacks all day, their best way of dealing with that is to put an anchor in the attack sitting on all day

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

At the moment though it looks like the teams with durable sprinters have settled down at least until the climb before the intermediate sprint

 

[bob.a.feet]

Well yeah but I still don't really know why they're here i.e. what they're trying to do. Probably the least relevant team in the race so far. I think Neilands and Hermans have been in a couple of breaks without much success and that's about it.

NTT had a decent chance at a stage win before Nizzolo pulled out, B&B can say they're riding for Coquard (not sure why Rolland hasn't been after mountain points yet though), Direct Energie have at least had Cousin out there trying to do something.

Rolland was well placed on GC for a bit, though he's lost 17 minutes over the past two stages so he should be on the offensive in the coming days.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Are you a politician? ;-)

OT: Sprinters will all stay on board, but some may lose some positions are lose some punch.

No?

You asked if I saw it, and I don't recall....... ?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

We are talking 3-4% gradients here. It's nearly false flat.

Ewan and Bennett are the two best uphill sprinters in the world. They will properly prefer something harder than this final. It's impossible to drop them on an easy stage like this. What tend to put them in trouble are multiple hills/medium mountains.

The way the teams ride the stage, it is clear everyone believes in a bunch sprint.

So it was just hopeful thinking on my part, clearly

 

[Breezy1985]

Rolland was well placed on GC for a bit, though he's lost 17 minutes over the past two stages so he should be on the offensive in the coming days.

If the DS are doing their jobs properly we should see him Martin and Calmejane in the breaks assuming they are all fit enough

 

[Jagartrott]

I was joking. Politicians use very similar language to explain memory lapses.

 

[RedheadDane]

If the DS are doing their jobs properly we should see him Martin and Calmejane in the breaks assuming they are all fit enough

Now that would be a surprise!

29.08 › 20.09				Tour de France (2.UWT)
05.09	DNF			Stage 8 - Cazères › Loudenvielle

 

[happytramp]

Question for the more knowledgeable sprinting types... So, it's pretty clear Ewan's tactic is to always sit on Bennett's wheel, follow his sprint and them spring out from behind him.. He's done it in every head to head so far and will likely do it again today... Can't DQS do anything to combat this? Like leaving a team mate on Bennet's wheel to make it more difficult fir ewan to follow?

 

[BlueRoads]

DQS for Bennett. De Gendt for Ewan. Equality.

 

[Breezy1985]

Now that would be a surprise!

29.08 › 20.09				Tour de France (2.UWT)
05.09	DNF			Stage 8 - Cazères › Loudenvielle

I completely missed that one somehow

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Question for the more knowledgeable sprinting types... So, it's pretty clear Ewan's tactic is to always sit on Bennett's wheel, follow his sprint and them spring out from behind him.. He's done it in every head to head so far and will likely do it again today... Can't DQS do anything to combat this? Like leaving a team mate on Bennet's wheel to make it more difficult fir ewan to follow?

when DQS have a dominant sprint train they can get quite creative in preventing passengers, putting someone on their sprinters wheel or even having the sprinter sit up to let the lead out continue with a surprise gap. A couple of years ago the Giro sprints were basically a freelancing Bennett versus Viviani and train and they spent a lot of effort trying to keep Bennett off Viviani’s wheel. They don’t seem to have that kind of train dominance this time though and haven’t been trying to mess with Ewan

 

[sir fly]

What's De Gendt doing at the front whole day?
Doesn't he think about a breakaway coming days?

 

[yaco]

What's De Gendt doing at the front whole day?
Doesn't he think about a breakaway coming days?

Lotto Soudal only have 5 riders left in the race and want to sprint for Ewan

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Muhlberger having a fever?

 

[skippo12]

Muhlberger having a fever?

He is clearly suffering. Hope that he can finish the stage.

 

[tomorrow]

Muhlberger having a fever?

hope not, that could be serious problem for BORA

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Honestly, a good DS pulls him from the race at this point. Wearing three layers in 28° C...and doing sport whilst feverish is already a bad idea, let alone top sport.