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

[Bavarianrider]

Come on this year we have a few stages along the coast. Please some teams must try something here. What happended to this art?

 

[Bavarianrider]

Do you guys think Hushovd will go for green and sprint to the finish today. Or will he just stop pedaling after a leadout for Farrar?

 

[Jamsque]

Do you guys think Hushovd will go for green and sprint to the finish today. Or will he just stop pedaling after a leadout for Farrar?

I think the train will be Millar-Hushovd-Dean-Farrar. The only way Hushovd will sprint for himself is if he rides Dean off his wheel and ends up on his own.

 

[Punter]

The intermediate sprint should be interesting.

Assuming the obligatory 3 breakaway riders get clear there will be points up for grabs still. I doubt that Cav and Farrar etc will want to sprint for them given they have eyes on the stage victory but if one sprints the other will probably go as well?

I am thinking of a scenario where Hushovd, Gilbert and Goss sprint for the points with Goss and Thor working for their teammates later in the stage.

Feasible?

 

[Midnightfright]

I think the train will be Millar-Hushovd-Dean-Farrar. The only way Hushovd will sprint for himself is if he rides Dean off his wheel and ends up on his own.

Yes Thor may accidentally lose dean.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Come on this year we have a few stages along the coast. Please some teams must try something here. What happended to this art?

If the wind is not strong enough it doesn't help

The predicted wind is pretty soft anyway

 

[Carl0880]

I agree with many that Farrar looked like he had strong legs in that inter. sprint and in the TT yesterday. My dark horse pick though I will go with Feillu.

I will be interested to see if Boonen will get involve in this flat stage sprint, or he helps lead out Ciolek, and Boonen will go after sprint stages with more hills in it.

 

[Tuarts]

Battle of the trains!

Bole-Hondo-Pettachi
Goss-Renshaw-Cavendish
Dean-Hushovd-Farrar
Rojas-Ventoso
Bozic-Feillu
Ciolek-Boonen

Actually on that last one, I think they'll put their energy into Boonen on this stage, then realise that Ciolek is in better form and he'll contest from Stage 5 onwards.

 

[theyoungest]

Battle of the trains!

Bole-Hondo-Pettachi
Goss-Renshaw-Cavendish
Dean-Hushovd-Farrar
Rojas-Ventoso
Bozic-Feillu
Ciolek-Boonen

Actually on that last one, I think they'll put their energy into Boonen on this stage, then realise that Ciolek is in better form and he'll contest from Stage 5 onwards.

Ciolek? Form? Are we talking about three years ago?

 

[craig1985]

I'm undecided as to whether or not to stay up to watch this stage. I've stayed up until 2am for the first two, but I want to get up for an early ride, so I might call it night early and watch the highlights tomorrow or d/l the stage if it is interesting.

 

[Tuarts]

Ciolek? Form? Are we talking about three years ago?

Better form than Boonen

 

[auscyclefan94]

So has a break gone away?

 

[Frosty]

So has a break gone away?

Yes

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/300/journal_etape.html

Seems quite easy to get in a break these days at the tour. A hot one today with temperatures already up to 25C. Gentle north-easterlies should be replaced by a sea-breeze later on but at that time they do head away from the coast slightly.

 

[Anonymous]

Where do you get these type of pictures of the finish?

the tour roadbook. has various plans and maps.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Hot conditions today, should make it tough for the break though whichever team takes up the chase will be tired by the end of it.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The break:

Perez Moreno (EUS), Gutierrez (MOV), Bouet (ALM), Terpstra (QST) and Delage (OLO)

 

[spalco]

That highway exit/roundabout thingy 6k from the finish could be spectacular.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

The break:

Perez Moreno (EUS), Gutierrez (MOV), Bouet (ALM), Terpstra (QST) and Delage (OLO)

Quite a strong break - don't think they'll get much rope unfortunately

 

[Boleyn]

Quite a strong break - don't think they'll get much rope unfortunately

3:20 right now.

 

[sublimit]

That SRM data thing is up again with the google map.

http://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

 

[spalco]

That SRM data thing is up again with the google map.

http://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

Very cool, thanks.

Has Lars Bak given up or something or is that a bug?

 

[sublimit]

Very cool, thanks.

Has Lars Bak given up or something or is that a bug?

I'm not sure, maybe a bug or something has been unplugged.
Its kind of neat but it seems to freeze occasionally.

 

[Wergeland]

Apparently Swifty will sprint for SKY today. EBH will do the lead-out. EBH has said himself that doesn't feel like he has the top speed in his legs at the moment.

http://www.tv2.no/sport/sykkel/tdf/sky-vraker-boasson-hagen-i-spurten-3531919.html

 

[Frosty]

Apparently Swifty will sprint for SKY today. EBH will do the lead-out. EBH has said himself that doesn't feel like he has the top speed in his legs at the moment.

http://www.tv2.no/sport/sykkel/tdf/sky-vraker-boasson-hagen-i-spurten-3531919.html

Makes sense. On stage 1 i am pretty sure he was up with Hushovd for a while but then cracked finishing 20 seconds behind Gilbert(although this was changed to 6 seconds due to others being affected by the crash). I would have thought that if on top form he would have finished with Hushovd if not a bit in front. Still getting over his illness i guess

 

[Mambo95]

Very cool, thanks.

Has Lars Bak given up or something or is that a bug?

If you zoom right out, you can usually find a rider or two about 300 miles of the south coast of Ghana. That's where they end up when their GPS breaks (it's at 0 Latitude, 0 Longitude). Andrey Zeits is there at the moment.