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

[sportzchick]

Evans and ASchleck look really good

Cadel rarely rides on the cobblestones of the classics - doing a wow of a job I would go ape if he stole the stage from Cancellara

if he has a chance I think he should go for it

 

[Wergeland]

Contador is supposedly 1 min behind Canc, Andy, Evans and Thor.

 

[VeloCity]

Hesjedal looks completely exhausted. Great ride though.

 

[zapata]

if evans and schleck can get a minute on contador, it might be a bit exciting in the mountains after all. anyone seen basso?

 

[Ferminal]

Team Radioshack vs Engine.

I know who I'd vote for.

 

[scribe]

No, they are not that far behind Armstrong's group. Maybe 20 seconds, and Contador is riding strong to catch. He will be fine.

Go Cuddles! way to ride like a man!

These groups are very well organized to drill their splits. Gonna be touch to come together. If ryder can stay away from saxo, id be shocked.

 

[balkou]

Menchov is MIA, too.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Think we'll have to wait a long time to find out the damage.

Cadel up front = ACF meltdown.
Time to find something better to do, like watch the race.

 

[Cobblestones]

A lot of teams will regret not racing yesterday.

 

[palmerq]

is there any other astana guys there?

ryder is going well though.. maybe he can hold on....

 

[Big GMaC]

Any news on Menchov, Bosso, Satre?

 

[Rocksteady]

Go ryder. For vdv!!

 

[sportzchick]

Think we'll have to wait a long time to find out the damage.

Cadel up front = ACF meltdown.
Time to find something better to do, like watch the race.

do you have anything better to do than worry about one poster??? really!

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

if evans and schleck can get a minute on contador, it might be a bit exciting in the mountains after all. anyone seen basso?

They need plenty more than a minute, Andy's plenty down on Contador as it is.

 

[Kodiak]

teams are blown up.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

No, we don't get a proper overview.

It's hard to spot any riders when they only show the front

 

[Big GMaC]

A lot of teams will regret not racing yesterday.

Such as the Rabo Bus?

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Those time differences don't seem to fit with what happens on screen. Didn't Contador just come back to Armstrong?

 

[Anonymous]

Bruyneel is a complete ***, from the Eurosport feed:

<<
"55km - Not everyone is convinced that the cobbles are necessary. "I'd rather have had a team time trial than cobbles," said Lance Armstrong's team director Johan Bruyneel. "It's risky and there's a chance you can lose a Tour contender in the first week. Yet one thing is for sure, Lance normally tackles the cobbles better than Contador."
>>

Eurosport is not showing any gap to Contador.

Edit: Says Contador's group is 40 seconds back.

 

[sportzchick]

they are going to bunch together - dammit!

 

[Publicus]

Contador closed the gap to the Armstrong group.

 

[Anonymous]

Ha, suck it! Contador closed to Armstrong.

 

[balkou]

AC is with LA, and LA punctured

 

[Francois the Postman]

Looks like this stage is doing what it was meant to do then, create a small gap between AC and the most important rest. Making sure that he will have to attack in the mountains rather than control it from the point of arrival.

I was gonna write that I wasn't sure if Andy is gaining an advantage on Contador today, with his brother down, but in a bizarre twist it might actually be the best thing that could happen to baby Schleck: not being distracted by how Frank is doing when he is going uphill.

Bet this gap with AC will be much smaller than some had hoped for though, this kid can ride!

 

[Wergeland]

Lance punctured!