Tour de France Stage 3 Wanze - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, 207km

[Publicus]

Fantastic ride by Vino. Very, very strong.

Good by Bertie, but STILL weaker than Andy on a stage that was equally tough for them.

Not sure how you can say that. Andy had better placement coming into the first major cobble section and then AC got caught behind the Schleck/Martin crash. I'd say him bridging to the Armstrong group solo demonstrated how strong he was. Tough luck with the mechanical at the end, but I'm not letting that take away from his day.

But better overall day from Andy, no doubt. But I don't think it was about strength.

 

[Big GMaC]

No, he is the BPC cyclingnews forums cancer.. Report his post and move on.

I know TFF, I have been here all year.

Reported. Several times

 

[patrick767]

No Contadors puncture wasn't fair either and yes, I'm not sold on cobbles in a GT. It's an exciting stage, but I don't think GT GC's should be settled by punctures (though of casue we don't know who will win by how much so it might not matter). Obviously it can happen even on non-cobbled stages, but the odds are much lower.

Agreed and then some. Jeers to the Tour organizers for today's stage. They created significant gaps between GC contenders for reasons that had little to do with riding prowess and much more to do with who punctured and where. The stage also took out a major GC contender in Frank Schleck. The organizers wanted the novelty of the cobbles and they got it, but at the expense of the riders.

Terrible stage. It shouldn't have been part of the Tour.

 

[scribe]

So based on the favourites:

A Schleck - 0
Contador @ .31
Menchov @ .40
Wiggins @ .40
Kreuziger @ 1.15
Armstrong @ 1.21

In spite of that late mechanical, the day could not have gone better for Contador. He can keep Menchov behind him on the mountains, he can grab a brotherless Shrek in the ITT (if not the mountains), he can gain time on wiggins in the mountains and everyone else is too far back.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Farrar finished the stage. Chapeau

 

[Mellow Velo]

Nick Roche 11th on GC...

Wiggins 14th, 1'49" down

Armstrong 2'30" down

 

[superconfex]

Geraint looks good in white

 

[El Imbatido]

In the event that a rider or riders suffer a
fall, puncture or mechanical incident in
the last 3 kilometres and such an incident
is duly recognised, the rider or riders involved
are credited with the same finishing
time of the rider or riders they were with at
the time of the incident.

From the official rules.Sorry for the format.

Well then that makes Vino look like a hero for dragging everyone to the finish then as AC will get the same time as him and Wiggins

 

[RhodriM]

Agreed and then some. Jeers to the Tour organizers for today's stage. They created significant gaps between GC contenders for reasons that had little to do with riding prowess and much more to do with who punctured and where. The stage also took out a major GC contender in Frank Schleck. The organizers wanted the novelty of the cobbles and they got it, but at the expense of the riders.

Terrible stage. It shouldn't have been part of the Tour.

Personally I like Grand Tours to be about more than just 2 TTs and 2-3 mountain stages.

 

[Parrot23]

Not sure how you can say that. Andy had better placement coming into the first major cobble section and then AC got caught behind the Schleck/Martin crash. I'd say him bridging to the Armstrong group solo demonstrated how strong he was. Tough luck with the mechanical at the end, but I'm not letting that take away from his day.

But better overall day from Andy, no doubt. But I don't think it was about strength.

Couldn't keep up with the puncture news, sorry.

Will have to see what Vino's explanation is.

 

[Big GMaC]

Banned.

I lol'd

 

[Francois the Postman]

It does count, I remember andy schleck flatting earlier in the year at 4k to go... and the announcers were making a big deal about how unlucky he was that it wasn't within 3k

Cool. Curious if Contador realized that then.

In which case Vino was actually a super on-the-ball team mate by dropping Contador and just setting the best time he could squeeze out of himself, accidental or not.

 

[cyclestationgiuseppe]

Where is the evidence that Contador had a mechanical? This has not be reported on Eurosport. It seems Vino would have waited for him if this was true.

Look, it's one thing to celebrate Armstrong having problem through no fault of his own, but you don't have to pretend AC had a puncture as well because he got dropped.

It has been reported on Eurosport....I have heard them say it numerous times....maybe you need to clean your ears or turn up the volume.

 

[El Imbatido]

Crazy cyclist just got banned. Looks like all the reporting you guys did worked

 

[Moondance]

GC Men post stage:

3. EVANS Cadel 121 BMC RACING TEAM 14h 54' 39" + 00' 39"
6. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 14h 55' 09" + 01' 09"
8. VINOKOUROV Alexandre 9 ASTANA 14h 55' 31" + 01' 31"
9. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 14h 55' 40" + 01' 40"
10. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 101 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 14h 55' 42" + 01' 42"
13. MENCHOV Denis 191 RABOBANK 14h 55' 49" + 01' 49"
14. WIGGINS Bradley 31 SKY PRO CYCLING 14h 55' 49" + 01' 49"
16. KREUZIGER Roman 44 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 14h 56' 24" + 02' 24"
17. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 161 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 14h 56' 25" + 02' 25"
18. ARMSTRONG Lance 21 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 56' 30" + 02' 30"
19. LÖVKVIST Thomas 37 SKY PRO CYCLING 14h 56' 34" + 02' 34"
21. MARTIN Tony 115 TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 14h 56' 35" + 02' 35"
24. LEIPHEIMER Levi 25 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 56' 53" + 02' 53"
27. BRAJKOVIC Janez 22 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 57' 00" + 03' 00"
28. ROGERS Michael 118 TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 14h 57' 00" + 03' 00"
29. KLÖDEN Andréas 24 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 57' 01" + 03' 01"
32. SANCHEZ Samuel 181 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 14h 57' 04" + 03' 04"
34. KARPETS Vladimir 71 KATUSHA TEAM 14h 57' 05" + 03' 05"
35. MONFORT Maxime 116 TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 14h 57' 06" + 03' 06"
38. LE MEVEL Christophe 61 FDJ 14h 57' 12" + 03' 12"
41. CASAR Sandy 62 FDJ 14h 57' 14" + 03' 14"
43. GESINK Robert 195 RABOBANK 14h 57' 16" + 03' 16"
44. HORNER Christopher 23 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 57' 17" + 03' 17"
48. SASTRE Carlos 91 CERVELO TEST TEAM 14h 57' 19" + 03' 19"
49. BASSO Ivan 41 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 14h 57' 20" + 03' 20"
52. MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel 107 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 14h 57' 25" + 03' 25"
54. POPOVYCH Yaroslav 28 TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 57' 26" + 03' 26"
58. GADRET John 85 AG2R LA MONDIALE 14h 57' 30" + 03' 30"
60. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin 77 KATUSHA TEAM 14h 57' 33" + 03' 33"

Evans, Schleck have got some serious distance (for the 3rd stage), and behind them there are relatively few gaps.

 

[Kodiak]

great stage no matter who or what went down. Be interesting to see Andy talking about only his chances instead of how "they" will perform day to day now.

 

[sometriguy]

Cool. Curious if Contador realized that then.

In which case Vino was actually a super on-the-ball team mate by dropping Contador and just setting the best time he could squeeze out of himself.

I think that is why he was making a scene... it wasn't toward vino... it was so everyone knew something was wrong

 

[frizzlefry]

Where is the evidence that Contador had a mechanical? This has not be reported on Eurosport. It seems Vino would have waited for him if this was true.

Look, it's one thing to celebrate Armstrong having problem through no fault of his own, but you don't have to pretend AC had a puncture as well because he got dropped.

Dude, they showed the replay when he crossed the line, his tire was flat.

 

[hoolaparara]

Jeers should go to the hypocrite from saxo who stops a race when their guys are behind, then when one of theirs f*cks up the race by doing a face plant that puts more GC competitors behind than the day before they push ahead as hard as possible...

 

[auscyclefan94]

Oh happy days! Cadel owned the whole of BMC! He shold ride the cobbles!

They are playing Muse on sbs for the tdf! I HATE MUSE!

I am going to have to run another load of washing today as I have wet myself quite bad!

Good to stick it up Richarf Moore and Dan Freibe who bagged the hell out of BMC on the podcast! Who's laughing now [EDITED BY MOD]

 

[max_powers]

Versus booth backdrop curiously resembles the Radio Shack kit colors

 

[sublimit]

Geraint looks good in white

Give him a couple of years and he will cause serious damage.

 

[labratty]

Agree. Andy will be better off on his own, other than losing an important climber on his team. But the brothers don't work well together.

Andy will have to mark the others near the top on his own, but Cance will hammer the pace up to the base of the climb and Jens will bury himself from the base as long as he can. It is not ideal, but they are a couple of awesome guys to have riding for you.
The Sørensens have not been called on yet, they are going to have to do more now. but Saxo are not out of it yet.

 

[BroDeal]

Agreed and then some. Jeers to the Tour organizers for today's stage. They created significant gaps between GC contenders for reasons that had little to do with riding prowess and much more to do with who punctured and where. The stage also took out a major GC contender in Frank Schleck. The organizers wanted the novelty of the cobbles and they got it, but at the expense of the riders.

Terrible stage. It shouldn't have been part of the Tour.

Yup. Too random. It is sad that a rider like F. Schleck's season goal is destroyed by a crash that might not have even been his fault. Any GC hopeful could have crashed or punctured at the wrong time. Contador was lucky that his problem did not occur a few kilometers earlier.

I think the strade bianche is more fair than the cobbles.

 

[Roland Rat]

Contador saying he had a problem with his rear wheel and it gradually deteriorated over the stage.