Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 12: Aurillac > Villenueve-sur-Lot, 203.6km

[ashhutch1997]

Trek really messed up not bringing Milan IMO. He'd of cleaned up.
We joked about the quality of the Giro field but the sprint field was elite.

 

[kingjr]

Accepting the risk that Demare would try to plow him into the barrier? Sorry but this is some strange victim blaming. Demare's sprint was incredibly dangerous

Demare didn't "try to plow him into the barrier". He moved from his leadout man towards the barrier when he opened his sprint, as sprinters often do.

 

[red_flanders]

Wow, surprised about Cav. Thought he was just avoiding the Arkea guy slipping back.

Ok saw it again. He definitely could have just stayed on Girmay's wheel, and he definitely made a move which impeded the rider behind him. And dangerous enough to get flagged.

 

[Samamba]

With Alpecin having 2 guys out (apparently some riders not feeling 100% either), Intermarché probably being fine with a break to be 100% sure of the green jersey) and no other team really confident in winning a sprint (I mean if MOvistar does this again...) please tell me we might get a breakaway tomorrow...

 

[Samamba]

Ok saw it again. He definitely could have just stayed on Girmay's wheel, and he definitely made a move which impeded the rider behind him. And dangerous enough to get flagged.

It's a super clear DQ, if he does that to someone with less bike handling skills than Coquard he causes a big crash there. Absolutely no reason to do that, and not the first time he does things like that in his career.

Trek really messed up not bringing Milan IMO. He'd of cleaned up.
We joked about the quality of the Giro field but the sprint field was elite.

Yeah cause they could've just guesses they were gonna crash out Pedersen?

 

[mountainroad]

I can’t recall . . . He’s won 260 km races?

250km at Gent. He's only 24 and is just coming into his own.

I'm also observing that sprinters who do well in hard/uphill finishes (Sagan/Freire/Hushovd/etc) tend to have that skillset.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Looks pretty serious.

 

[Tim Cahill]

The wise Cyclingnews poster is already planning to troll unsuspecting infants by suggesting he would've easily beaten Pogacar and Vingegaard in this form, after he handily dispatches Orluis Aular and José Félix Parra in a tricky little uphill sprint at some random Murcian peach farm in 45 degree heat.

 

[DarkBlue]

Trek really messed up not bringing Milan IMO. He'd of cleaned up.
We joked about the quality of the Giro field but the sprint field was elite.

Pederson was a real challenger to Girmay for Green until his crash - he's still 7th on the Green Jersey standings and he quit 6 stages ago.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Now the most important thing, why do we have so many sprint stages? They made already 2 decisions that decrease the risk of massive crashes (1 - 8 riders per team; 2 - Tough first stages) but they still don't understand we HAVE SO MANY SPRINT STAGES!! WHY?

 

[Jagartrott]

Demare didn't "try to plow him into the barrier". He moved from his leadout man towards the barrier when he opened his sprint, as sprinters often do.

It shouldn't be normal for sprinters to move towards the barriers when there's another rider halfway beside them. The only reason to do so, is to block someone else, and in this case, nearly send them crashing at 60 km/h. Such a thing should not be tolerated.

 

[Ricco']

Now the most important thing, why do we have so many sprint stages? They made already 2 decisions that decrease the risk of massive crashes (1 - 8 riders per team; 2 - Tough first stages) but they still don't understand we HAVE SO MANY SPRINT STAGES!! WHY?

Not to speak only of the fact that transversing France from one side to the other requires to go through flat terrain, and that some flat cities also want to pay to have the caravan visiting them, flat stages also improve the chances of significant moves in the not so hard stages.

A stage like yesterday, put between two hard stages, would have the kind of action we were served or would it be breakaway territory?

 

[Tim Cahill]

If we didn't have flat stages we would've never seen that excellent chasm today, and as a poster remarked earlier we would miss out on all manner of chateaux.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Now the most important thing, why do we have so many sprint stages? They made already 2 decisions that decrease the risk of massive crashes (1 - 8 riders per team; 2 - Tough first stages) but they still don't understand we HAVE SO MANY SPRINT STAGES!! WHY?

IIRC the consensus is that organizers must create stages for riders who can't win stages with any type of obstacle because of Tradition.

 

[Netserk]

It shouldn't be normal for sprinters to move towards the barriers when there's another rider halfway beside them. The only reason to do so, is to block someone else, and in this case, nearly send them crashing at 60 km/h. Such a thing should not be tolerated.

If you make it illegal for Démare to launch in the lane his lead-out rider set up for him as soon as a rider from behind moves in that direction, you incentivise more riders to launch their sprint from far back along the barriers where you will have a crash if one of the sprinters ahead don't notice him.

 

[Netserk]

Not to speak only of the fact that transversing France from one side to the other requires to go through flat terrain, and that some flat cities also want to pay to have the caravan visiting them, flat stages also improve the chances of significant moves in the not so hard stages.

A stage like yesterday, put between two hard stages, would have the kind of action we were served or would it be breakaway territory?

Granon was between two flat stages?

And no, a harder first half of this stage to favour a strong break would not change yesterday's stage.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Not to speak only of the fact that transversing France from one side to the other requires to go through flat terrain, and that some flat cities also want to pay to have the caravan visiting them, flat stages also improve the chances of significant moves in the not so hard stages.

A stage like yesterday, put between two hard stages, would have the kind of action we were served or would it be breakaway territory?

No, you could have a hilly stage for the break without any gc action. They only know flat stages to give gc riders a rest.

 

[kingjr]

It shouldn't be normal for sprinters to move towards the barriers when there's another rider halfway beside them. The only reason to do so, is to block someone else, and in this case, nearly send them crashing at 60 km/h. Such a thing should not be tolerated.

It wasn't.

 

[saunaking]

Primoz going down before he hit Lutzenko. It looks like simultaneous crashes?

looked like he didn't react fast enough to avoid a braking uno-x rider

 

[saunaking]

He's only 24 and is just coming into his own.

No way! He looks like older IT guys who are the only ones who know the old tech like SAP and BW at my work!!

 

[Hugh Januss]

Ok saw it again. He definitely could have just stayed on Girmay's wheel, and he definitely made a move which impeded the rider behind him. And dangerous enough to get flagged.

He moved enough to get around the Arkea guy without really impeding Coquard. Agree about Demare who shut the door on someone he felt was moving faster that he was.

 

[Brullnux]

I mean, he is also beating Philipsen here... Philipsen who has an even record vs Merlier in sprints this season when they have faced each other a lot.

I would not say Bini is the best, for sure, (it is probably Milan in terms of pure power and speed would be my guess) and he would not have won 3 stages if Milan and Merlier were here. BUT I think going off this season he is probably a roughly similar level and can beat Milan and Merlier depending on situation.

I actually think Merlier is the fastest sprinter itw at the moment, but I agree, Girmay is sprinting very well. I don't want to diminish his performances, but I think it is true that this is an unusually weak Tour sprint field. You have one real a-tier name, someone who has established himself as an a-tier name, and then a big chunk of b/c tier guys.

However, and maybe it's just how Milan/Merlier were winning at the Giro, where they seemed to always be a bike length+ ahead of everyone else, I think are at a higher level than Girmay. Not by much, but Girmay is also obviously a much better climber than both so it evens out. Philipsen also seems a bit off it this Tour, for whatever reason.

 

[red_flanders]

He moved enough to get around the Arkea guy without really impeding Coquard. Agree about Demare who shut the door on someone he felt was moving faster that he was.

Have to disagree.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1811422470983053400

 

[RobertCrawley]

Jonas Rickaert, Soren Kragh Andersen and Yevgeniy Fedorov didn't make the time cut.

 

[Sciatic]

Jonas Rickaert, Soren Kragh Andersen and Yevgeniy Fedorov didn't make the time cut.

Illness going around?