Tour of Britain 2011- 11th-18th September

[JRanton]

Sky didn't even place anyone inside the top 10


Stage Result

1) Hushovd
2) Boom
3) Benedetti
4) Bibby
5) Van Poppel
6) Barta
7) Neirynck
8) Koenig
9) Camano
10) Gerdemann

all same time

 

[Moondance]

Wow... van Poppel survived that Welsh hill? Wouldn't have expected that.

 

[Raceoftruth]

Heh.

So it's Boom/Tankink vs Thomas/Cummings.

http://www.tourofbritain.com/_ns_results/default.asp?stage=4&page=3

Think boom has this wrapped up now.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wow... van Poppel survived that Welsh hill? Wouldn't have expected that.

Boy v Poppel is overrated as sprinter and underrated in everything else.

 

[El Pistolero]

Man, that Ptolemy was a genius. Powning us 1800 after he died.

I wonder where he put Egypt on that map.

Although, I don't think that's a map of Ptolemy.

 

[Moondance]

I wonder where he put Egypt on that map.

Although, I don't think that's a map of Ptolemy.

It most certainly is from Ptolemy. Its from an famous 15th century edition of Ptolemy's Geographia.

 

[El Pistolero]

It most certainly is from Ptolemy. Its from an famous 15th century edition of Ptolemy's Geographia.

One of his worst maps then

 

[Moondance]

Boy v Poppel is overrated as sprinter and underrated in everything else.

To be overrated in anything one must be rated in the first place.

I do not think anyone rates Boy van Poppel. The apple fell very far from the tree. One can hardly wish for better cycling genes.

 

[El Pistolero]

With a name like Boy you're destined for fail.

 

[theyoungest]

I do not think anyone rates Boy van Poppel. The apple fell very far from the tree. One can hardly wish for better cycling genes.

His little brother is supposed to be the more talented of the two (I think). He joins Rabo Continental next year.

With a name like Boy you're destined for fail.

Karma-karma-karma-karma-karma-chameleon.

 

[Anonymous]

Think boom has this wrapped up now.

long long way to go. dont underestimate tomorrows stage, ive ridden most of it and its nasty. Its a shame the real nasty section across dartmoor comes in the first half of the day. Would be a much better route if they reversed it, running out from Exmouth, and finishing in Exeter with Dartmoor over the last 50km, would guarantee splits.

but, I think its fair to say Boom is now the favourite.

Theres also a very nasty sting in the tail on Friday. And Friday could be very very windy.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Boom was even dissapointed today that he couldn't beat Hushovd.

 

[Euskaltel!]

Wooo. It did look like Hushovd would win, he was up there on the climb and looked ominous. Cummings looks strong too, he was ahead of Geraint/Boom when they went past me (I was 10 metres down from the top). Biggest cheer of the day? Cavendish struggling up the mountain? Probably the local bus nearly stalling on the hill!

That was steep. I cycled in from Cardiff and went up the hill from the other direction, before going down it (top speed = 54kmh) and then straight back up it (at one point my speedo said 4kmh...) Ouch!

Tough climb, I didn't have the legs or the gears but I made it up =)

A HTC rider got off near the top!! I'll post a pic where you can see a Sky rider putting a hand back... They were joking about it all. Good atmosphere.

Oh and the last rider got a great cheer!! He even acknowledged it too, which was nice! I'll post some pics now, taken with a cameraphone unfortunately..

 

[Euskaltel!]

 

[Euskaltel!]

 

[Andy99]

Some pics of today, courtesy of velouk.net

 

[Andy99]

Euskaltel....there ya go...it was Bernie Eisel. WTF? oh and cheers for the pic of the bus

Thanks velouk.net.

 

[Andy99]

BOOM

THOR

Good riding by Ian Bibby again. I think it may have been Dave Millar who previously mentioned that he really ought to be on a higher level team.

velouk.net

 

[Euskaltel!]

That HTC rider was great To stop, get off your bike and start taking the ****... haha!

 

[Tank Engine]

just not tough enough for the brutality of the british climate

Sean Kelly would have had a field day with these conditions and parcours. Interesting how some of the teams have put more hard men in this year, Voigt for example (despite crashing out). A few teams learnt from last year that the race is tougher than it looks.

I remember the Welsh stage of the old Kellog's Tour in the year Robert Millar won. Sean Kelly attacked early going along the Wales/England border and took some of the early climbs (he went on to win the KoM). He got brought back and then Bob attacked on a climb just outside Hereford (I rode it from time to time in my student days, a long steady drag) and with some other guy (who won the stage) put 5 minutes into the peloton. Sean's attack maybe cost his team mate Martin Earley the race, since he pretty much wore all the mere mortals out.

Edit: Got a feeling that the A N Other who won that stage was in fact Gianetti.

 

[Tank Engine]

From the photo and the result of the last KoM it looks like Boom has decided who the main competition is, so it was definitely a good plan to send Cummings on the attack on the final climb. He's going be difficult to beat. I wouldn't give him a head start in a short TT. Still a few days left though.

 

[Sum_of_Marc]

Somebody needs to sign up Jonathan Tiernan-Locke! The Rapha Condor rider outclimbed everyone on the Caerphilly climb - would be awesome if he and/or Bibby got the chance to ride for a higher category team.

And Geraint Thomas really messed up the final turn in the sprint. He should have been on the stage podium, instead he lost a lot of his speed, and not even in the Top 10.

 

[Andy99]

Somebody needs to sign up Jonathan Tiernan-Locke! The Rapha Condor rider outclimbed everyone on the Caerphilly climb - would be awesome if he and/or Bibby got the chance to ride for a higher category team.

And Geraint Thomas really messed up the final turn in the sprint. He should have been on the stage podium, instead he lost a lot of his speed, and not even in the Top 10.

Agree with all of that. G way too hard on the brakes; lost all momentum.

As far as Bibby et al are concerned, thats the beauty of races like this - they can show themselves in the perfect shopping window...

 

[goggalor]

Such a shame we don't get to actually see the race live. Are there any highlights online at least? All I've seen is 10 second footage from the finishes. Why is it that every race in Britain has such crappy coverage? I thought maybe Cav/Sky/Wiggins would've done something about that by now.

 

[Andy99]

Such a shame we don't get to actually see the race live. Are there any highlights online at least? All I've seen is 10 second footage from the finishes. Why is it that every race in Britain has such crappy coverage? I thought maybe Cav/Sky/Wiggins would've done something about that by now.

Certainly the middle of those three you suggest. They've got no excuse.