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

[Benotti69]

If that's what you think, you're watching the wrong replay.

nope just re-watched the eurosport last KM on the steephill website.

I believe Fararr recommends 'Transitions'

 

[Midnightfright]

Hushovd sat down with the jury at 1830. He told them that neither did anything wrong, but offered to take the full blame and not have Cav DQ'd since Cav is running for the green jersey.

http://www.vg.no/sport/sykkel/tour-de-france/2011/artikkel.php?artid=10096489

if that's true its very noble. Either that or he wants to move to Cavs team. U always got the impression they weren't too keen on each other.

 

[Boardslide]

if that's true its very noble. Either that or he wants to move to Cavs team. U always got the impression they weren't too keen on each other.

Cav's twitter:-

Just heard that Thor's offered to take the punishment solely. What a true gentleman. I reckon it won't change ****-all though. But thank you

 

[Midnightfright]

Cav's twitter:-

Just heard that Thor's offered to take the punishment solely. What a true gentleman. I reckon it won't change ****-all though. But thank you

All this bro love between the sprinters. I'm just waiting to here Cipollini voicing his disgust. I wonder what Farrar and his Garmin teammates will have to say about Thor possibly helping there green jersey rival out.

 

[The Sheep]

Watch out for Rojas for the overall green jersey.

He made the longest sprint today and wasn't slower than Farrar, and is the best climber of them all bar perhaps Hushovd.

He's a better climber than Hushovd tbh

 

[The Sheep]

Just heard van Poppel speak.

Marcato attacked to disrupt the sprinter trains. I love it. Just like they did in Switzerland. They almost succeeded, with the exception of the Garmin train ofcourse. I do like it that they try stuff like that.

In the TDS it was by accident, guess they liked it so much they're using it as a tactic

 

[Mambo95]

nope just re-watched the eurosport last KM on the steephill website.

I believe Fararr recommends 'Transitions'

Like I said, you're watching the wrong replay. They were relegated from the intermediate sprint, not the final one.

 

[Animal]

Nether really did much wrong. Sprinting like crazy, they veered towards each other. Cav basically kept them both upright leaning off Thor with his head. There was no "incident". the commissaires seem to be getting senile and power-crazed.

 

[jens_attacks]

happy for farrar,he deserved this win a lot.
not happy with the guys not putting the hammer on basso.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

saxo's mountain goats already saving energy

Did that last year, and people were saying "look how weak Astana's mountain guys are, they'll be no help to Contador". They won't make that mistake again.

Did Rojas ever win a bunch sprint?

Trofeo Deia and Volta a Catalunya stage 6 so far this season. But mostly 2nds and 3rds.

Who said Feillu couldn't sprint? Almost got that.

Well done Farrar, Garmin, Feillu, Rojas, Hinault.

HTC lost that 5km out. If Swift was on Thomas' wheel there...who knows. He really is building up a rep as big as Renshaws...

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Thomas is more in the Eisel position, if Swift and Boasson Hagen are behind him one of them has to be the final leadout. Thomas isn't yet a Hondo or anything, but looking like a very strong leadout engine alright.

it almost looked like velits and martin said to themselves "**** cav,im not gonna pull"

Well, both did pull, but if they did half-*** it or anything, good for them. If they really want to do a good GC they shouldn't be wasting energy here.

He very likely has a point today, but it strikes me that we have NOT A HAPPY CAVENDISH every time he doesn't win a sprint. Either he is the most frequently wronged rider on earth, he thrives on controversy, or he's a bit of a baby. At least he looked fast at the finish and managed to salvage as many points as he could.

Pretty much. "Cavendish doesn't win, acts like sore loser. So what's new?"

Watch out for Rojas for the overall green jersey.

He made the longest sprint today and wasn't slower than Farrar, and is the best climber of them all bar perhaps Hushovd.

Rojas is easily a better climber than Hushovd.

He was in the top 10 into Nice in Paris-Nice this year. He was 14th overall in the Tour de Suisse, beating people like Danielson and Hesjedal in Crans Montana, beating Klöden to Malbun, and 3rd to Serfaus, beating Christian Vande Velde from the same breakaway. Andy Schleck took 13 seconds out of him on the climb.

Other notable performances:
In the intermediate stage won by Rui Costa in the 2010 Tour de Suisse, Costa and Rojas were putting all the pressure on their breakaway companions in the climbs (Rojas eventually finished 2nd). That break contained Monfort, Casar and Danielson.

13th overall in Tirreno-Adriatico 2010, including being just outside the top 10 in Colmurano and Macerata.

Made it to sprint for 3rd in the Tourmalet stage in 2009 - which Hushovd didn't.

Made the top 10 - ahead of Leipheimer and Contador - on the top of the Puerto de San Isidro in the 2009 Vuelta a Castilla y León.

 

[Benotti69]

Like I said, you're watching the wrong replay. They were relegated from the intermediate sprint, not the final one.

i just bought a pair of transitions

 

[Boardslide]

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.

This is what Boonen had to say about that last corner, backs up what Cav said

"We went into the left-hand bend with about 600 metres to go very fast. I was right on Cavendish's wheel with Petacchi on mine. We came out of it really close to the barricades, but then some rider busted in at full speed and forced me to brake to avoid the worst. It's too bad for Ciolek, too.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-3/results

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Great win for Farrar. I'm old enough to remember Davis Phinney's Tour stage win, so it was great to see another American sprinter win.

 

[pedaling squares]

Don't care much for the decision to relegate Hushovd & Cavendish. Two guys battling a little for a wheel... if they're going to punish that minor skirmish they could find themselves pretty busy. I especially don't like this decision given that the most aggrieved rider ended up winning the race to the line. Why interfere when things took care of themselves?

Hushovd's offer is either very sporting, or he's flipping the bird to JV.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Congrats to Farrar. He's had a tough year emotionally, and it is nice to see an American win.

 

[luckyboy]

Torrenting the highlights now. Cav getting off to his customary slow start again?

Nice win for Farrar given the year he's had.

 

[nevada]

Don't care much for the decision to relegate Hushovd & Cavendish. Two guys battling a little for a wheel... if they're going to punish that minor skirmish they could find themselves pretty busy. I especially don't like this decision given that the most aggrieved rider ended up winning the race to the line. Why interfere when things took care of themselves?

Hushovd's offer is either very sporting, or he's flipping the bird to JV.

apart from being a poor decision it penalises Cav much more heavily than Thor.

 

[Tuarts]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Thomas is more in the Eisel position, if Swift and Boasson Hagen are behind him one of them has to be the final leadout. Thomas isn't yet a Hondo or anything, but looking like a very strong leadout engine alright.

For this tour perhaps he's 3rd wheel but look what happened over the Classics and at 2 stage races (can't recall, Tour of Romandie and Paris-Nice?), he was an absolute gun leading out whomever was Sky's designated sprinter. Never said he was at the Renshaw-esque level but he is certainly getting there. Who knows what his future holds, he's climbing has been progressing solidly as well, so 3-5 years time, he may have an entirely different role.

***

I don't understand the conjecture about this and the "accident". To my eyes (I haven't seen the replay ad naseum yet) the top 20 rider got through and the "gap" created from the first 6...so there's still 10-15 that lost the wheel...that's bad **** whoever lost it.

As for if the crash had any effect...it was 600m from the finish, anyone not at the front isn't going to win are they? Pettachi finished right at the back of the bunch, he couldn't have been affected unless is stopped still for 15 seconds. Swift lost his wheel so was mid pack, what other sprinters weren't there? Just Boonen so overall, of course it was a fair sprint. Garmin got the upperhand and they used it. Not ****ing up your train is part of a sprint too, which is what happened to HTC.

A sprint finish isn't a drag race, which some people seem to want, you don't get 4-5 team's trains lined up going side by side. Part of sprinting is positioning and Farrar, Fellu, Rojas all got it perfect today. Feillu had 2 team mates help him as well so it wasn't all Garmin plus hanger-ons.

I like these battles, now that Garmin have the confidence and first blood, the next few sprint stages should be even a better battle, especially with some of the lesser accomplished sprinters showing great form.

 

[Tuarts]

This is what Boonen had to say about that last corner, backs up what Cav said

"We went into the left-hand bend with about 600 metres to go very fast. I was right on Cavendish's wheel with Petacchi on mine. We came out of it really close to the barricades, but then some rider busted in at full speed and forced me to brake to avoid the worst. It's too bad for Ciolek, too.

I find this rather interesting, if they were on Cav's they'd have been right up there yet even if they did have to slow, how come they finished right at the back of the pack?

Agree with Intermediate sprint disqualification was wrong - it's the consistency Cavendish talked about at the Giro. Also speaking of consistency, if a team like Saxo or even HTC did something like what Cofidis did today wouldn't they get fined or disqualified, "wham, bam thank you mam"? I'm a fan of Rein, I hope he does well and glad he doesn't lose time but can't help but think "what if?" he wasn't on a French team...

 

[Boardslide]

I find this rather interesting, if they were on Cav's they'd have been right up there yet even if they did have to slow, how come they finished right at the back of the pack?

Because they then didn't go full gas to catch up:-

'I was fighting with Rojas into the last corner and kamikaze Feillu came flying in.

'I thought I was going to crash. I thought I was coming down. I was 40 metres behind coming out of the last corner with no speed whatsoever.

'I went full gas. I gained 40m and finished with the front four and I gained points - it just shows my form.'


ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersp ... arrar.html

 

[roundabout]

What did Cofidis do?

 

[Four Winds]

These sprint decisions are becoming increasingly farcicial. If it had been anyone else in the peloton would they even have noticed it?

Neither rider looked remotely peeved at the other.

I'm getting fed up with jerseys being decided by a bunch of old fogeys watching slow motion replays and lawyers in a courtroom.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

What did Cofidis do?

Took the mickey with the cars getting Taaramae back to the peloton.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I'm a big Cav fan, but he can have no complaints that Feillu took him out. That's sprinting. Cav took Freire (?) and another couple out during the 1st sprint last year. It happens.

The Hushovd incident decision is nothing short of a scandal though, and he has a right to feel victimised.

 

[Tuarts]

What did Cofidis do?

Taarmae had a flat and the whole team and car motorpaced him back.