Who's going to gain the most on the cobbles?

[sir fly]

It's about the GC contenders, obviously.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Mollema and Nibali (and Kwiat) to gain a couple minutes on the rest. 1 or 2 contenders to lose out massively - over 8 minutes

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I hope Talansky, Mollema and Kwia gains time or least one of them.

Van Summeren and Laneveld for Talansky

Vanmarcke and Boom for Mollema

Boonen (wtf) and Trepstra for Kwia

 

[Escarabajo]

Vino.

..................

 

[sir fly]

I apologize for omission of Kwia.
Be free to name him in posts, as it's already done.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Split between Mollema and Van gardren and voted for the latter.

He looks well up for a stab at GC and this will be a perfect opportunity to put some time into Froome.

I honestly think Van Garderen could be the suprise of this years TDF

 

[BeagRigh]

Split between Mollema and Van gardren and voted for the latter.

Genuine question: What's the thinking behind TJ? I'm not aware of him doing any cobbled, or even many one day, races and whilst I don't think his bike handling is bad he's not Nibali...

Aware he was Junior National Cross Champ. but that was when he was 14 his focus has changed a lot since then.

Anyway, in an obvious fan vote I went for Nibs.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Genuine question: What's the thinking behind TJ? I'm not aware of him doing any cobbled, or even many one day, races and whilst I don't think his bike handling is bad he's not Nibali...

Aware he was Junior National Cross Champ. but that was when he was 14 his focus has changed a lot since then.

Anyway, in an obvious fan vote I went for Nibs.

Nothing more than a gut feeling.

He has no track record or cobbles at all, but the amount of cobbles is fairly limited anyway. He did have a top 20 L-B-L but that was his best of the classics (I think).

He is in great shape and is an opportunist. He is largely off the radar of the big GC riders and this will be a rare opportunity to take risks where others don't want to.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Nothing more than a gut feeling.

He has no track record or cobbles at all, but the amount of cobbles is fairly limited anyway. He did have a top 20 L-B-L but that was his best of the classics (I think).

He is in great shape and is an opportunist. He is largely off the radar of the big GC riders and this will be a rare opportunity to take risks where others don't want to.

He has a decent group to help him: Burghardt and GvA.
This will be needed for sure.

 

[BeagRigh]

Nothing more than a gut feeling.

He has no track record or cobbles at all, but the amount of cobbles is fairly limited anyway. He did have a top 20 L-B-L but that was his best of the classics (I think).

He is in great shape and is an opportunist. He is largely off the radar of the big GC riders and this will be a rare opportunity to take risks where others don't want to.

Thanks, wasn't sure if I'd missed or overlooked something.

Unless he gets loads of time tomorrow I see him top 10 overall as I don't see him following the more explosive guys in the mountains.

 

[alspacka]

Nibali. He didn't eat all those pizzas for nothing.

 

[Anderis]

I think it's going to be pure luck. All you can do is to try maintain your position at the front of the peloton and hope any crash that's going to happen, happens behind you and that you can avoid mechanical in critical moments.

I don't think one GC contender will be able to drop another by simply attacking on cobbles, unless that another rider is not in a form to be in the top5 of GC anyway.

 

[MBotero]

Valverde and Kwiatkowski will get the most time over the other GC guys here.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Contador should do well. He looks strong and has the experience of the 2010 stage. It's not just the cobbles tomorrow but also the weather / wind where TCS should be good. Ultimately it will be the strongest at the front

 

[jens_attacks]

i have a feeling about garmin and talansky. i think he will gain the most
and i voted nibali too

 

[murali]

Kwiato. the only guy with real firepower to climb up in GC. this is also a targeted stage


i dont know whether TJ can follow the wheels of GVA.

 

[DenisMenchov]

Van den Broeck obviously.

 

[Jspear]

I think the most obvious GC candidates to pick would be Mollema and Kwiatkowski because of their teams. Next I could see Valverde and Nibbles doing pretty well.

 

[King Boonen]

Kwaitkowski.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Van den Broeck obviously.

Didnt he say cobbles don't belong in the tour?

 

[deValtos]

Zubeldia to board the Cancellara train all the way to the yellow jersey.

 

[maxmartin]

rain actually may spoil things make GC contenders less prone to ride full force

 

[dduff442]

rain actually may spoil things make GC contenders less prone to ride full force

They made the point on the GCN preview (here) that what counts here is power (as opposed to p/w ratio), meaning the bantamweight Froome is vulnerable. Add in the fact that anyone with outside GC hopes needs every second he can get and the only conclusion is that someone's going to have a right go tomorrow.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Zubeldia to board the Cancellara train all the way to the yellow jersey.

lol, that would probably make my day.

 

[xanadu]

Not a fan of cobbles myself, if it rains, and it may well do the entire race could be thrown into chaos. I like pain and suffering on the high mountains not on day five. Hearts and dreams will be broken tomorrow i just hope bones aren`t.