Tour de France Stage 2 Brussels - Spa, 192 km Monday, July 5 2010

[Publicus]

If everybody crashed, why was A schleck so far behind?

Crashed twice and lost his bike the second time. So he had to wait.

 

[luckyboy]

I want to see this. Is Chavenel their possible GC man? I know none of them are good climbers, but if they kill it this week?

He'll definitely keep yellow til Morzine-Avoriaz. Can't see them getting much time tomorrow. Depends on what goes on with all this other crap. Be great if he could keep it for quite a bit

 

[Publicus]

He'll definitely keep yellow til Morzine-Avoriaz. Can't see them getting much time tomorrow. Depends on what goes on with all this other crap. Be great if he could keep it for quite a bit

Frankly Saxo, RSH and Astana would love Quikstep to keep the MJ until the third week.

 

[auscyclefan94]

if levi crashed you would not be surprised if he pulls out toda or tommorow. Feel really sorry for Vandevelde. HE has had rotten luck along with garmin as a team.

 

[rides like a girl]

I want to see this. Is Chavenel their possible GC man? I know none of them are good climbers, but if they kill it this week?

I don't know much about Quickstep except sprinters...

Is 3+ minutes a big deal for LA, AC, and the rest to give to them? Can they maintain that lead in the mountains?

 

[luckyboy]

Frankly Saxo, RSH and Astana would love Quikstep to keep the MJ until the third week.

Yeah, it's a long shot to keep it over Morzine, but after that the next mtf is stage 14 or something.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I have got a headline:
"THE SPA BLOOD BATH"

Like it?

 

[Frosty]

I want to see this. Is Chavenel their possible GC man? I know none of them are good climbers, but if they kill it this week?

Be interesting to see how long he can hold it for. Looks like Quickstep will do an ag2r/nocentini and make keeping the yellow for as long as possible their new priority. Do the work early on the flat stages keeping the break at a safe distance, then let the sprinters' teams do the work later on. If he is on good form (seemed it today!) then he shouldnt lose much time up to station Les Rousse. The Avoriaz stage will depend on how early the attacking starts. If someone tries to blow the race on the climb before Avoriaz then he will be struggling to keep close enough, if he only loses time on the final climb then it will be a close run thing IMO.

 

[Cervelo77]

ChristianVDV: Going to the hospital with JD and Ty. We are all busted up. We didn't stand a chance at making it down the hill, many people crashed twice!

Zabriskie at least has a sense of humour:
dzabriskie: Is this what you want...is this not why you're here...

 

[Publicus]

Yeah, it's a long shot to keep it over Morzine, but after that the next mtf is stage 14 or something.

He's got a decent cushion on just about everyone of note. One of the GC guys can win the stage and not get yellow.

 

[ak-zaaf]

I have got a headline:
"THE SPA BLOOD BATH"

Like it?

This wasn't bad enough for that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Circuit_de_Spa-Francorchamps_fatal_accidents



HLN is making a list of injuries:http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1295/Tour-De-France/article/detail/1129149/2010/07/05/De-ellenlange-lijst-van-slachtoffers-valpartijen-2e-rit.dhtml

Google translate it if you want to know, they'll prolly update.

 

[Highlander]

Amidst all the complaining about the stage, we shouldn't forget that a team that specializes in the classics is holding 3/4 of the jerseys. This really shouldn't be a huge surprise as they ride these roads quite a bit in the spring and probably were more prepared for them than some of the other squads. Who knows, their management may have even realized the potential danger of the stage and made sure that the team was well-represented in the early break just in case.

 

[Barrus]

gesink did fall earlier.

You're lying, that was a tweet by Schlecklet

 

[Frosty]

Yeah, it's a long shot to keep it over Morzine, but after that the next mtf is stage 14 or something.

The next mountain stage is actually the next stage after Morzine, stage 9.

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/900/etape_par_etape.html

Its not a MTF but he would lose time there.

 

[Big GMaC]

I don't know much about Quickstep except sprinters...

Is 3+ minutes a big deal for LA, AC, and the rest to give to them? Can they maintain that lead in the mountains?

Last year he was 20th @34mins

And stage 15 to Verbier was 4 mins down on conti

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

Vino, I believe not.

Vino said that everyone from the team ended up on the road except for Noval and Grivko.
________
The cigar boss

 

[theyoungest]

Amidst all the complaining about the stage, we shouldn't forget that a team that specializes in the classics is holding 3/4 of the jerseys. This really shouldn't be a huge surprise as they ride these roads quite a bit in the spring and probably were more prepared for them than some of the other squads. Who knows, their management may have even realized the potential danger of the stage and made sure that the team was well-represented in the early break just in case.

They just wanted to win a stage. Saxo and Rabo (to name just two) have plenty of experience on these roads as well.

 

[luckyboy]

He's got a decent cushion on just about everyone of note. One of the GC guys can win the stage and not get yellow.

Yeah, depends when/if people attack though. Can't see someone wanting to take yellow that early though.

 

[Frosty]

Amidst all the complaining about the stage, we shouldn't forget that a team that specializes in the classics is holding 3/4 of the jerseys. This really shouldn't be a huge surprise as they ride these roads quite a bit in the spring and probably were more prepared for them than some of the other squads. Who knows, their management may have even realized the potential danger of the stage and made sure that the team was well-represented in the early break just in case.

Yes, possible. Being Belgian they would want to put a good show on anyway. I thought Chavanel might try a breakaway tomorrow given his decent record in Paris-Roubaix and the team's lack of a climber to wait around for.

 

[hfer07]

I want to see this. Is Chavenel their possible GC man? I know none of them are good climbers, but if they kill it this week?

Chavanel can hold the MJ for a while-if they go for the kill tomorrow & the rest of the week-I've heard the Alps aren't that challenging this year, so the possibility for SChav to remain in yellow for long time is there...

 

[Scirea]

Amidst all the complaining about the stage, we shouldn't forget that a team that specializes in the classics is holding 3/4 of the jerseys. This really shouldn't be a huge surprise as they ride these roads quite a bit in the spring and probably were more prepared for them than some of the other squads. Who knows, their management may have even realized the potential danger of the stage and made sure that the team was well-represented in the early break just in case.

Chavanel would have no chance getting home without the Swiss clown.

 

[The Sheep]

You're lying, that was a tweet by Schlecklet

Gesink said it himself in an interview

 

[van nelle]

Ok first of all I hope that everybody will be ok! Than I can understand waiting after huge dangerous crash, Fabian very clever, saved his team chances But big mistake from sprinters teams to get bullied into not sprinting - unbelievable. And the biggest embarasement are some riders comments and that strike attitude towards dutch and belgian fans who were overally fantastic - real shame for those riders not respecting them!

 

[ak-zaaf]

Anyone hungry?

 

[Publicus]

Watching the rebroadcast of the stage and they just finished showing the Delange crash. And the peloton is waiting for everything to come back together.

In some ways, I think that's what happened today on the latter part of the stage. Why they did not continue racing once everything was back together (though I guess it wasn't with VdV still off the back) is a good question, but I can understand them holding up things until everyone was back together.

**Also Phil said something that I think played into this: tire pressure. I don't know if everyone anticipated the heavy rain they received, so there tire pressure may have been really high. If so, that may have been the proximate cause of the crashes.

Just my opinion.