Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 13: Nîmes – Carcassonne, 219.9 km

[RedheadDane]

Kidnapping.
Isn't it obvious?

Getting Mads P. to do the dirty work now?

 

[sir fly]

Getting Mads P. to do the dirty work now?

Who could've thought, right?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Someone please tie Ala to Mads Pedersen's bike.

You want him to crash?

 

[BlueRoads]

I want him to rest, he's perfectly able to stay on his bike whether tied to Mads' bike or not. Just shouldn't have motorbikes around him. They can also have a nice talk.
"You goin' for the rainbows in autumn again?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Me too. What do you think about the curse?"
"Curse? Whatcha mean? This rope? Just a safety measure I was told."
"I mean the (Mads whispers) curse."
"Ah, you mean when you don't get any big results anymore and Marion turns to the next big French thing? No, I mean, she's happy with me and David just had a heatstroke, so I don't think-"
"No, I mean the curse!"
"Ah, that curse! Well, obviously it doesn't apply, right? I mean, I did get a few wins this seasons."
"But don't you sometimes ask yourself if you would have won more without the jersey?"
Julian glances at Mads from the side and then tries to tighten his shoes and stretch his back, but it's not easy with the rope wrapped around his body. Thinks Danes are weird after all.
Mads pedals on and tries to not get Julian into trouble. Thinks Frenchmen are weird after all.
"So, ugh, Cav, you think he will win today?"
"Maybe, but see, there's no hurry. Patrick says he still has at least five Tours in him, and there are hardly any records left to break, so, better not to get everything off his bucket list right now."
"Disturbs the narrative?"
"Disturbs the fun."

 

[RedheadDane]

"Danes are weird."
"Frenchmen are weird."
Appears that if anything, Germans are weird!

 

[titan31]

I think it's easiest for DQS to send at least 2 spoilers in the break if it's 13 dudes again.

Assuming Ala is too tired to get in the break again (and he should probably rest for Saturday's break imo) you'd imagine Asgreen or Ballerini are good options for this stage.

 

[hfer07]

Breakaway FTW

Wish there was the initiative from JB,EFC & INEOS to create some "chaos" against UAE

 

[Leinster]

Assuming Ala is too tired to get in the break again (and he should probably rest for Saturday's break imo) you'd imagine Asgreen or Ballerini are good options for this stage.

The non-selection of Cavagna and Lampaert continues to baffle.

 

[SHAD0W93]

The non-selection of Cavagna and Lampaert continues to baffle.

Who would you replace though? They’ve won 4 of 12, have done the most work, and a rider at 11th. You can argue 3 stages got away from them, 2, 3, and 12.

 

[movingtarget]

Think the break can take this one. Plenty of teams will be interested in this stage before they hit the mountains again.

 

[cellardoor]

UNLEASH THE ASGREEN

 

[wheresmybrakes]

If Cav wants to beat the record, him and his team don't want to waste chances of sprint stages. Two more after this with a lot of mountains after this one. He may not come back to the Tour again.

 

[Eclipse]

last day of work today so have to actually go in solely to return my laptop and can't watch... so selfishly hoping this is as boring as Prudhomme's route deserves

 

[Lequack]

News about Tony Martin. He really had no luck in this Tour.

Wounds on the knee and collarbone, knocked out teeth. "This was not my last Tour de France"
Tony Martin will not have the best memories of this year's Tour de France. Due to the fall, the German cyclist of the Jumbo-Visma team had to withdraw from the competition during the 11th stage. Despite numerous injuries, he is recovering and is thinking about starting in the next edition.

Source:

Rany na kolanie i obojczyku, wybite zęby. "To nie był mój ostatni Tour de France"

Tony Martin nie będzie najlepiej wspominał tegorocznej edycji Tour de France. Niemiecki kolarz ekipy Jumbo-Visma z powodu upadku musiał wycofać się z

eurosport.tvn24.pl

 

[jsem94]

I've taken a look at some wind forecasts and I don't think we'll see echelons. Wind mostly from W/NW, but not that strong. Around 4-5 m/s. Will be felt as slight to moderate head/side wind.

 

[Red Rick]

I've taken a look at some wind forecasts and I don't think we'll see echelons. Wind mostly from W/NW, but not that strong. Around 4-5 m/s. Will be felt as slight to moderate head/side wind.

Soooo sprint probably

 

[search]

Soooo sprint probably

Quickstep DS Steels yesterday said that it would be too long to control it. But well, yeah, could go either way, I guess. Massive breakaway or a sprint

 

[titan31]

Soooo sprint probably

Hoping for a breakaway instead of the a mass bunch sprint. Less boring imo

 

[Earns1985]

I've taken a look at some wind forecasts and I don't think we'll see echelons. Wind mostly from W/NW, but not that strong. Around 4-5 m/s. Will be felt as slight to moderate head/side wind.

Disappointing..
Prudhomme said during the presentation of the route that the route is especially designed with a lot of potenial echelon stages.
Seems that we will not see a single one this year..

 

[Netserk]

Soooo sprint probably

If the break is 8 riders or more (or just has the same quality as yesterday), headwind makes it harder to pull the bunch all day.

Disappointing..
Prudhomme said during the presentation of the route that the route is especially designed with a lot of potenial echelon stages.
Seems that we will not see a single one this year..

Yesterday we had the necessary wind and the right area, but the route nullified it.

 

[Aimar16]

How hard is the intermediate sprint? 2.89 is the odds that Matthews beats Cavandish. Hmm looks good

 

[Red Rick]

If the break is 8 riders or more (or just has the same quality as yesterday), headwind makes it harder to pull the bunch all day.


Yesterday we had the necessary wind and the right area, but the route nullified it.

I think headwind shold make sending a rider like Asgreen in the break a lot more annoying to deal with.

 

[will-10]

The non-selection of Cavagna and Lampaert continues to baffle.

After the Valence stage we can be sure there are no weak links in this selection. There's only eight spots...

 

[Eclipse]

Disappointing..
Prudhomme said during the presentation of the route that the route is especially designed with a lot of potenial echelon stages.
Seems that we will not see a single one this year..

Potential echelon stages is just code for we're hoping the weather bails us out on a bunch of uninteresting flat transitional stages.

 

[Leinster]

Disappointing..
Prudhomme said during the presentation of the route that the route is especially designed with a lot of potenial echelon stages.
Seems that we will not see a single one this year..

I feel like ASO are playing for crosswinds these days, and so they end up sacrificing days where they could actually put in an entertaining stage. The whole fun about crosswind stages in the past was precisely that they were so unexpected. You can’t make the wind show up.