Tour de France Stage 3: Olonne-sur-Mer - Redon (198 km)

[Jamsque]

Farrar
Feillu
Rojas
Hinault
Cavendish
Hushovd
Dean
Bozic

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

The Vacansoleil boys rock! Quickly becoming my favourite underdog team!!

Great win for Farrar!

How can a ProTour team be an underdog?

 

[Tuarts]

/\ /\ /\ /\ /\
Uh, Martin pulled from 4km to 2km, he more than earned his paycheck.



Vacan are a great lot, always aggressive. I love the tactic of one attack from 2km out and one sprinter, they used it in the Giro to great success.

Don't you mean Tour de Suisse?

 

[Maxiton]

Hushovd deserves a big mention. A couple of K's from the finish and he was already giving is face to the wind. Still managed 6th. But overall Garmin read that finish very well.1st Tdf win for Farrar also.

Hushovd proves to be a real team player and a true pro. Everything Garmin comes out on top.

 

[Anonymous]

The gap was created by that crash...

The win was created by having your three fastest riders bombing into the final turn at the head of the field. But you keep your little narrative if it works for you.

 

[hrotha]

Farrar
Feillu
Rojas
Hinault
Cavendish
Hushovd
Dean
Bozic

That would suggest not "everyone who matters" made it past the crash in a good position. Blimey.

 

[nesocip]

Blame for Cav's poor position goes to Eisel or Martin in my opinion. Martin looked totally shocked when Eisel swung off, and then did a half-hearted pull himself (not happy to be a part of the train?), so it was Renshaw alone with 1k to go.

Chapeau to Farrar, but also to Thor who in my opinion earned half of this win.

 

[max_powers]

Oh dear always someone feels attacked. Garmin did great, but they did have 90% of the competition eliminated thanks to that fall. Thus, they got it handed to them.

like having a fast train that just won the TTT on the front when it counted was only 10% of that win?

you make your own luck

 

[Jamsque]

Hard to tell riders apart on the overhead but it looks like Cav took a bump on the hip at the apex of the corner which pushed him wide and forced him to clip out, that was what caused the gap. Too many riders trying to occupy too small a piece of road, hard to say if anyone was really at fault.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Blame for Cav's poor position goes to Eisel or Martin in my opinion. Martin looked totally shocked when Eisel swung off, and then did a half-hearted pull himself (not happy to be a part of the train?), so it was Renshaw alone with 1k to go.

Chapeau to Farrar, but also to Thor who in my opinion earned half of this win.

That was Goss actually, Eisel and Martin did their job.

 

[hrotha]

To claim that the crash didn't make things easy for Garmin is ridiculous. Of course they did great to be leading the peloton by then, and no one's saying otherwise, but that doesn't change the fact that most of the opposition was gone. I mean, seriously. If you find this debatable, god helps us when something controversial happens during this Tour.

 

[Anonymous]

like having a fast train that just won the TTT on the front when it counted was only 10% of that win?

you make your own luck

Don't try to talk sense to him, he has his story and is going to stick to it.

 

[dlwssonic]

who thinks this is thors last day in yellow. its not surely cadels, if millar manages to hold on he gets it. everyone forgotten about him.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

To claim that the crash didn't make things easy for Garmin is ridiculous. Of course they did great to be leading the peloton by then, and no one's saying otherwise, but that doesn't change the fact that most of the opposition was gone. I mean, seriously. If you find this debatable, god helps us when something controversial happens during this Tour.

Most of the opposition was gone BEFORE the turn, because they were simply badly positioned. The 'crash' only mattered for the places 4-10.

 

[Benneth]

Cav not happy with Feillu.

 

[auscyclefan94]

1. HTC ****ed up the leadout. Doesn't seem as strong imo.
2. Martin, even though he was left on the front quite early made a very half-hearted effort in the leadout.

 

[KassyC]

How can a ProTour team be an underdog?

They might be a ProTour team, but they hardly get any coverage, and certaintly aren't a team people talk about much. I mean Eurosport don't even know de gendt has a broken collar bone. If it was HTC they'd know about it

 

[max_powers]

Don't try to talk sense to him, he has his story and is going to stick to it.

also a vulgar avatar

 

[Anonymous]

To claim that the crash didn't make things easy for Garmin is ridiculous. Of course they did great to be leading the peloton by then, and no one's saying otherwise, but that doesn't change the fact that most of the opposition was gone. I mean, seriously. If you find this debatable, god helps us when something controversial happens during this Tour.

What is being debated is whether anything was "handed" to a team that put themselves in the best position at the most crucial moment. Reducing a win to being caused by someone crashing when this is the TdF, corners before finish lines are well known hazards, and the best tactics are to have your strongest guys at the head of the pack right before going into that corner is what is ridiculous. Deal with it.

 

[Richeypen]

Blame for Cav's poor position goes to Eisel or Martin in my opinion. Martin looked totally shocked when Eisel swung off, and then did a half-hearted pull himself (not happy to be a part of the train?), so it was Renshaw alone with 1k to go.

Chapeau to Farrar, but also to Thor who in my opinion earned half of this win.

Just seemed like they had no plan B. It was obvious at about 4k to go that their train would end way way short of the line. Renshaw should have sat himself on Farrars wheel and used the Garmin train

 

[Jamsque]

Cav on ITV now. Credits his team for a great lead-out as always. Says Roman Feillu causes havok, claims Feillu took him out on the last corner. Says HTC were on the front too early so he fell back a bit and tried to slot in on Garmin's wheel. He went in to the corner with Rojas on one side and Feillu on the other, Feillu caught his rear wheel and he nearly went down.

He says he knows people will write him off but he knows he has great form and will come back.

NOT A HAPPY CAVENDISH.

 

[thehog]

Cav not happy with Feillu.

He does go on.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Felliu and Rojas nearly beat Farrar. interesting...

 

[jobiwan]

Cav on ITV now. Credits his team for a great lead-out as always. Says Roman Feillu causes havok, claims Feillu took him out on the last corner. Says HTC were on the front too early so he fell back a bit and tried to slot in on Garmin's wheel. He went in to the corner with Rojas on one side and Feillu on the other, Feillu caught his rear wheel and he nearly went down.

He says he knows people will write him off but he knows he has great form and will come back.

NOT A HAPPY CAVENDISH.

Best keep an eye on his Twitter then.

 

[dlwssonic]

he wouldnt be a happy bunny on his twitter.