Tour de France Stage 4: Lorient - Mur de Bretagne - 172.5 km

[Jamsque]

Farrar, Rojas, Cavendish at the intermediate sprint. Farrar just plain pulled away from Cav.

 

[PedalCastro]

Jeremy Roy sure enjoys his breakaways! Bozic beats Cav?!

 

[Archibald]

I'm sure you are correct that Cancellara was the mouthpiece rather than the evil genius, but my point wasn't about his cynicism in demanding that the race stop but the stupidity of the other riders (and their teams) in going along with it. I actually admire his cheek (or the cheek of his DS if you prefer).

I've always been fond of Bouet since he nipped in to take second.

knew what you meant, and not really aimed at you, but after reading a couple of similar posts it got the better of me to rant

Taaramäe another puncture :/

seriously, what tyre's are Cofidis using? they're rubbish!

Cavendish beaten in the int. sprint by both Farrar and Rojas

so much for his Venge then, eh?

 

[Fowsto Cope-E]

Farrar, Rojas, Cavendish at the intermediate sprint. Farrar just plain pulled away from Cav.

I thought I saw Fieullu in front of Cav, too.

 

[killswitch]

I thought I saw Fieullu in front of Cav, too.

That was Bozic.

 

[sportzchick]

I sometimes wonder if the posters here have ever watched a bike race before. This is how racing has always been. A break of four/five/six gets away in the first 30km, they ride hard for half an hour to pull out a gap, then they ride easy for the middle part of the stage, then they ride hard at the end once the peloton speeds up.

Behind them, the teams of the race leader and/or the favourites for the stage win ride on the front of the peloton to keep the break close and bring it back at the end. This is not new, this is not 'doing an HTC', this is not 'strangling the life out of the stage', this is bike racing. If you find it boring, don't watch, or at least don't complain every day that races continue to happen in the way they always have.

I also wonder if some have watched sport in general before judging by some of the comments

The teams are there to either win a stage/s or if they got someone good enough, work to win yellow/green/polka dot gurnseys and use the right tactics to do so - no matter how boring it may be to some. TACTICS PEOPLE!

Its like the idiots who bagged the Shlecks for the TTT yesterday - why would they be stupid enough to bust their guts on day 2 out of 21 or whatever on their clear weakness by so far its not funny when you have the best TT rider by miles to do most of the work

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I sometimes wonder if the posters here have ever watched a bike race before. This is how racing has always been. A break of four/five/six gets away in the first 30km, they ride hard for half an hour to pull out a gap, then they ride easy for the middle part of the stage, then they ride hard at the end once the peloton speeds up.

Behind them, the teams of the race leader and/or the favourites for the stage win ride on the front of the peloton to keep the break close and bring it back at the end. This is not new, this is not 'doing an HTC', this is not 'strangling the life out of the stage', this is bike racing. If you find it boring, don't watch, or at least don't complain every day that races continue to happen in the way they always have.

I disagree (obviously). The aim used to be to build up as much of a lead as possible to discourage a chase. And I'm not sure how you read into my post anything negative about the spectacle of it

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I sometimes wonder if the posters here have ever watched a bike race before. This is how racing has always been. A break of four/five/six gets away in the first 30km, they ride hard for half an hour to pull out a gap, then they ride easy for the middle part of the stage, then they ride hard at the end once the peloton speeds up.

Behind them, the teams of the race leader and/or the favourites for the stage win ride on the front of the peloton to keep the break close and bring it back at the end. This is not new, this is not 'doing an HTC', this is not 'strangling the life out of the stage', this is bike racing. If you find it boring, don't watch, or at least don't complain every day that races continue to happen in the way they always have.

You are simply wrong about this.

Of course, teams have always tried to pull back breakaways. What is different about the current era is that there are entire teams of very talented riders devoted to completely controlling every flat or flattish stage from beginning to end. This is one of the central reasons why breakaways are currently less likely to succeed than at any other point in cycling history.

We all understand that trying to control the breakaway's gap and pull them back in is a tactic as old as cycling. What has changed is the addition of super highly drilled, super highly focused, nearly monomaniacal sprinters teams. HTC are by far the most significant example. We are talking about a team which puts a guy who is on course for a GC podium at the Vuelta on lead out duty.

HTC did not invent this focus, they are the successors of the Cipollini train, the current incarnation of the trend.

 

[Frosty]

anyone want to srm track riders;

Roy, Jeremy [138] FDJ

OSS, Daniel [95] Liquigas

Borghini, Paolo [94] Liquigas

Vandborg, Brian [9] Saxo Bank

Knees, Christian [115] Sky

ElFares, Julien [155] Cofidis

Zingle, Romain [159] Cofidis

Buffaz, Mickael [152] Cofidis

Zeits, Andrey [69] Astana


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

Nice to see theyve fished Zeits out of the tropical Atlantic.

 

[Jamsque]

I think Farrar might win green this year. Obviously a lot can change but he is racking up some solid points in these early stages. I would expect Rojas to drop down in the more organized sprints but who knows, he could surprise everyone.

 

[luckyboy]

lol Carlton Kirby - "weren't they Caisse d'Epargne?"

 

[sportzchick]

I think Farrar might win green this year. Obviously a lot can change but he is racking up some solid points in these early stages. I would expect Rojas to drop down in the more organized sprints but who knows, he could surprise everyone.

I dont think many would complain if he did just quietly.......

 

[Fowsto Cope-E]

I think Farrar might win green this year. Obviously a lot can change but he is racking up some solid points in these early stages. I would expect Rojas to drop down in the more organized sprints but who knows, he could surprise everyone.

But if Rojas just keeps stivking on Farrar's wheel every sprint, he'll be on the podium every time.

 

[Publicus]

I also wonder if people have ever participated in a forum before. Not everyone is going to agree; some folks are going to get a bug up their a$$ about this, that or the other; and generally going to feel less or more strong about a particular point. And all of this is particularly heightened during lulls in the action (also known as sprinter's stages). Which irks some to the point of complaining. Which in turn irks into responding. And around and around we go until the action hots up and folks can focus on the race.

 

[Lanark]

You are simply wrong about this.

Of course, teams have always tried to pull back breakaways. What is different about the current era is that there are entire teams of very talented riders devoted to completely controlling every flat or flattish stage from beginning to end. This is one of the central reasons why breakaways are currently less likely to succeed than at any other point in cycling history.

We all understand that trying to control the breakaway's gap and pull them back in is a tactic as old as cycling. What has changed is the addition of super highly drilled, super highly focused, nearly monomaniacal sprinters teams. HTC are by far the most significant example. We are talking about a team which puts a guy who is on course for a GC podium at the Vuelta on lead out duty.

HTC did not invent this focus, they are the successors of the Cipollini train, the current incarnation of the trend.

It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The control of the peloton becomes bigger, more and more teams think there is little point in trying to get in a breakaway in the first week, the breakaway groups get lesser and lesser riders, so the control of the peloton becomes even bigger. Just another reason why they should make the teams in GT's smaller (6 men).

But it's true that the flat stages have become progressively more boring over the last 25 years.

 

[PedalCastro]

Carlton Kirby as a commisar!? Now THAT is a scary thought

 

[luckyboy]

wow that Skoda advert was cool

 

[sportzchick]

It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The control of the peloton becomes bigger, more and more teams think there is little point in trying to get in a breakaway in the first week, the breakaway groups get lesser and lesser riders, so the control of the peloton becomes even bigger. Just another reason why they should make the teams in GT's smaller (6 men).

But it's true that the flat stages have become progressively more boring over the last 25 years.

Like I said before - Id rather have a race play out naturally regardless of level of excitement then have manifactured, contrived 'excitement'

thats why its called sport

 

[goggalor]

That intermediate sprint was hard. It went uphill for the entire last kilometer, including the sprint itself. Cav's never been untouchable on those finishes. Tyler looks great though.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The control of the peloton becomes bigger, more and more teams think there is little point in trying to get in a breakaway in the first week, the breakaway groups get lesser and lesser riders, so the control of the peloton becomes even bigger. Just another reason why they should make the teams in GT's smaller (6 men).

But it's true that the flat stages have become progressively more boring over the last 25 years.

I agree with you on the team size issue. Make the teams smaller and you limit the ability of the sprinters teams to simply kill all uncertainty. It's also why I'm in favour of the race radio ban. Less precise information and more decision making by the riders will lead to more screw ups. They will be more likely to bring back a break too soon and allow time for another break and conversely they will be more likely to fail to bring the break back in the first place.

I quite like sprints. I'm not one of those people who wants to see them effectively abolished. I just want to get rid of the grim certainty that 99% of flat stages will end in a sprint, something which sucks much of the enjoyment out of a flat stage before the sprint itself.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Like I said before - Id rather have a race play out naturally regardless of level of excitement then have manifactured, contrived 'excitement'

thats why its called sport

It's all contrived. The Tour De France isn't naturally occurring. What sort of rules are in place will inherently influence the racing (along with other factors). At the moment, greater professionalism has led to greater specialisation and organisation which has led to enormous predictability on the flat. Boot out race radios (again, not naturally occurring objects) and make teams smallers and you undo quite a lot of the advances in team organisation.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Wow those British Europsort commentators are horrible

 

[sportzchick]

im strongly disgree with banning of radios due to safety reasons

you just want to change rules to spice things up - that is as contribed as your agrument right there

 

[Carl0880]

I agree with you on the team size issue. Make the teams smaller and you limit the ability of the sprinters teams to simply kill all uncertainty. It's also why I'm in favour of the race radio ban. Less precise information and more decision making by the riders will lead to more screw ups. They will be more likely to bring back a break too soon and allow time for another break and conversely they will be more likely to fail to bring the break back in the first place.

I quite like sprints. I'm not one of those people who wants to see them effectively abolished. I just want to get rid of the grim certainty that 99% of flat stages will end in a sprint, something which sucks much of the enjoyment out of a flat stage before the sprint itself.

I think the main difference to why they dont succeed is you only have 4 wildcard teams, the teams that want to be in the breakaway. Go to 16 automatic bids, give 6 wildcards to smaller teams, then you will have those 6 teams wanting to get in the break away, maybe an additional 1 or 2 teams sticking someone in it, then not only you have your bigger breakaway, then you also have less teams willing to chase.

IF you want ot cut back on size of team, then cut it to 8. I dont think it should go any smaller, then the cyclist be that much more tired and causing more concentration accidents towards the end. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Jamsque]

Phil and Paul say Wiggo weighed in at 69kg at the start of this race.