Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 4: Redon - Fougères, 150.4 km

[spalco]

So now the riders are protesting. Against what, exactly? What changes do they want? Also, hasn't the roadbook been available for a long time? Why not make objections against the parcours then instead of now in the middle of the race?

They always do that, don't they? At best they find out the morning of the stage that the finish is unsafe (Monte Crostis).

 

[saganftw]

nobody reads the stage manual for flat stages, do you think they do recon like mountain dudes? i really doubt that so only way to find out if something is too bad is when its too late

 

[KZD]

Apparently, Alpecin is riding for Philipsen today. That sounds crazy to me, but I guess there's a reason why they brought him here.

They should ride for Van der Poel today as the finish is on the slightly uphill and he could gain more bonus seconds.

 

[Cagalitroso]

Watching the Tour at RTVE is pretty nice.

Day 1. Oscar Freire

Day 2. Purito

Day 3. David de la Cruz

Today. Ayuso

And Carlos and Perico are both likeable

 

[Eclipse]

On this page of this thread you’d moaned about Brian smith and Carlton Kirby.do you actually watch the bike race or are you just going to give us commentary of whatever British Eurosport say???

Is there anything else to really comment on >_>

 

[thiscocks]

God this 'protesting' is pathetic. If you dont like it then quit the race.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

On this page of this thread you’d moaned about Brian smith and Carlton Kirby.do you actually watch the bike race or are you just going to give us commentary of whatever British Eurosport say???

Would you rather we switched over to ITV (Ineos Television) who seem to think they are nine riders in the race (Team Ineos plus whoever wins the stage)?

 

[bambino]

nobody reads the stage manual for flat stages, do you think they do recon like mountain dudes? i really doubt that so only way to find out if something is too bad is when its too late

If that is true what you say (and I'm not sure it is), then the riders and teams have another reason to blame themselves.

ASO/UCI should engage some riders (under strickt NDA) to the desing work of stages - if they don't already.

 

[dgodave]

Maybe a good day for seeing some chateaux?

 

[sir fly]

Maybe a good day for seeing some chateaux?

There were some earlier today.
Religious architecture dominates the stage.

 

[Volderke]

nobody reads the stage manual for flat stages, do you think they do recon like mountain dudes? i really doubt that so only way to find out if something is too bad is when its too late

They did. All sprint teams carefully look at the last 10K. Philippe Gilbert said they carefully read the roadbook and concluded that yesterday's stage was dangerous. The CPA told it to ASO and UCI. ASO was willing to change the 3K rule for stage 3, but UCI rejected the change.

They always do that, don't they? At best they find out the morning of the stage that the finish is unsafe (Monte Crostis).

The problem is that many riders don't even know they will be in the Tour some months before. And they also don't know that the first 2 stages would be carnage. If the first 2 stages were OK in terms of crashes, nobody would strike after what happened yesterday.

 

[Carols]

Vanderveld on NBCSports just related that the riders Requested Prior to the start of le Tour that the 3K rule be changed to 5K. ASO AGREED and the UCI knocked it down. So the teams were proactive and the organizers agreed. The UCI was the hang up (as usual).

 

[JosefK]

Hoping no carnage on the intermediate sprint.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Apparently, Alpecin is riding for Philipsen today. That sounds crazy to me, but I guess there's a reason why they brought him here.

Merlier said after the finish that the plan for yesterday's stage was for them both to contest the sprint - a tactic which seemed to work ok. I remember teams being mocked previously for having the same strategy

 

[spalco]

Changing shoes in the middle of a TdF stage while continuing to pedal is impressive.

 

[sir fly]

Vandervfeld on NBCSorts just related that the riders Requested Prior to the start of le Tour that the 3K rule be changed to 5K. ASO AGREED and the UCI knocked it down. So the teams were proactive and the organizers agreed. The UCI was the hang up (as usual).

I'm really not sure about the safety zone.
It wasn't that long ago when 1k rule was in effect. 3k switch was welcomed and appropriate then.
Yesterday Roglič crashed well outside even 5k.
The line can't be indefinitely moved.

 

[topcat]

Yesterday, I got a sense that I should turn on the tv. Today, I don't have that sense. Off for a run, doing my bit for the global obesity epidemic.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Froome in the wind!

 

[spalco]

I'm really not sure about the safety zone.
It wasn't that long ago when 1k rule was in effect. 3k switch was welcomed and appropriate then.
Yesterday Roglič crashed well outside even 5k.
The line can't be indefinitely moved.

I mean, theoretically you could, but that would cheapen the race aspect significantly. Also, riders have fallen in the safety zone and broken a bone before.

But what you could do is decide on different perimeters by stage, you could make it a flexible line (decided before the stage starts) between 1 and 10 kms for example depending on how the stage finish looks.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Good to see Sagan up for this after yesterday

 

[spalco]

What's Cav doing the intermediate sprint for? I'd much rather he wins (a) stage(s) than even winning the green jersey.

 

[skippo12]

Froome in the wind!

If someone would have told me in 2012-14 that one day Froome would be a part of Greipel´s sprint train...

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Hoping no carnage on the intermediate sprint.

Cav but no carnage

 

[JosefK]

Cavendish re-evaluating TDF goals. Now will go for green jersey and GC.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

If someone would have told me in 2012-14 that one day Froome would be a part of Greipel´s sprint train...

If someone told me in 2010 . . .