Cycling Thread

[Spirederman]

Shocking day for Nibs and Quintana.

Losing nearly 1:30 on a stage like that is GC suicide.

Took their eye off the ball there, big time.

 

[Baz]

Shocking day for Nibs and Quintana.

Losing nearly 1:30 on a stage like that is GC suicide.

Took their eye off the ball there, big time.

Agreed. Plus Sagan put a monster effort in to recover from that puncture too. Contador & Froome will be lapping it up with that kind of gain already. It also throws Tejay into the mix doesn't it?

 

[Spirederman]

Agreed. Plus Sagan put a monster effort in to recover from that puncture too. Contador & Froome will be lapping it up with that kind of gain already. It also throws Tejay into the mix doesn't it?

I suppose he was always in the mix...

Talking about him with someone earlier on though. He'll probably stay in touch, then no doubt get swiftly dropped as soon as we see the first HC climb.

Sagan did really well to recover from that and chase back. Pretty sure he'll walk away from Paris in Green again.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Cav's poor sprint losing Tony Martin the yellow jersey dammit.

 

[Spirederman]

Cav went way too early.

 

[Super_horns]

Bit like last year it seems crashes are causing chaos early on..

 

[Baz]

Only caught the last climb today, and it certainly seemed like a big effort from Froome to gain the Yellow Jersey and to finish second in that race. A 36 second lead over Contador already wow. I did manage to see that nasty crash too, Cancellara's bike took some damage huh?

The cobbled stage tomorrow will throw some spanners in the works too.

 

[Veggie Legs]

Looked like a horrible crash, is it common for the race to be stopped in situations like that? I've never seen it happen before but I'm not a regular viewer.

 

[Baz]

Looked like a horrible crash, is it common for the race to be stopped in situations like that? I've never seen it happen before but I'm not a regular viewer.

I've not seen it happen before but then again I only really watch TDF.

 

[TimeyWimey]

FFS just give Tony the yellow jersey.

Cancellara has abandoned, broken bones in his back.

 

[Baz]

FFS just give Tony the yellow jersey.

Cancellara has abandoned, broken bones in his back.

No shock there he looked in awful pain and very shaken up yet he carried on like a trooper.

 

[TimeyWimey]

So the carnage from yesterday. Cancellara fractured vertebrae but carried on to finish, Kozonchuk fractured scapula and collarbone, Impey finished with a broken collarbone, Doumoulin broke his shoulder, Gerrans broke his wrist and Bonnet broke his neck. Whilst Ten Dam simply popped his dislocated shoulder back in and carried on.

So yeah, whilst I still take a lot of the sport with a pinch of salt, these riders are still absolute beasts.

As for today, looking for a Tony Martin breakaway on the cobbles. Would love him to take yellow and would love to see him do Paris Rouxbaix at some point. Don't think Sky would be concerned if he took yellow either.

 

[Baz]

So the carnage from yesterday. Cancellara fractured vertebrae but carried on to finish, Kozonchuk fractured scapula and collarbone, Impey finished with a broken collarbone, Doumoulin broke his shoulder, Gerrans broke his wrist and Bonnet broke his neck. Whilst Ten Dam simply popped his dislocated shoulder back in and carried on.

So yeah, whilst I still take a lot of the sport with a pinch of salt, these riders are still absolute beasts.

As for today, looking for a Tony Martin breakaway on the cobbles. Would love him to take yellow and would love to see him do Paris Rouxbaix at some point. Don't think Sky would be concerned if he took yellow either.

Agreed some nasty sounding injuries there. As for today the GC guys will just want to get through unscathed, Contador has said as much, and with it being a relatively flat stage you'll be looking at the sprinters to take victory here. So i'd be looking at the likes of Sagan, Greipel & Cavendish for today. However those cobbles will play havoc. Theres 13k of cobbles to navigate so it's going to be a fun day to watch.

 

[SUTSS]

There was a time a couple of years ago where you would back Cavendish for pretty much any sprint stage. Those days are gone sadly.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Tony Martin. Fuck yeah!

 

[Baz]

Tony Martin. Fuck yeah!

Can't believe nobody saw that coming. I have to give props to Geraint Thomas today for guiding Froome through that stage, and Thomas only finds himself just over a minute down, he's ahead of Nibali and Quintana at the moment awesome stuff.

 

[.V.]

Is there a nightly highlights programme this year?

 

[Cardsfan]

Is there a nightly highlights programme this year?

7-8pm, ITV4

 

[Veggie Legs]

And it's repeated the following day at 12pm.

 

[.V.]

Cheers.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Broken collarbone for Tony Martin and he has abandoned

 

[Veggie Legs]

Looked like a really innocuous incident as well, he must be gutted. Second yellow jersey to abandon this year, it's a been a bit of a curse.

 

[Super_horns]

Cavendish finally gets a win..

 

[Baz]

Cavendish finally gets a win..

Only took him 2 years haha. Great for Cav though, he's been pipped so many times during that baron spell.

 

[lordofthepies]

Only took him 2 years haha. Great for Cav though, he's been pipped so many times during that baron spell.

It's mainly because he crashed out in the first or second stage last year though.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Going to be close today. Fair chance of Van Garderen taking yellow, Quintana could also slice some time but probably no more than 10-20 seconds at best.

 

[Baz]

Going to be close today. Fair chance of Van Garderen taking yellow, Quintara could also slice some time but probably no more than 10-20 seconds at best.

Teejay should be in yellow by the end of today, however you never know in these team time trials. Sky have a solid unit so shouldn't loose too much time overall.

 

[Super_horns]

Sky 2nd to BMC so Froome keeps his lead.

 

[Baz]

Have to say I wasn't expecting Sky to pull out a time like that. Wasn't expecting them to only lose a second, which by the way they would have won by a few seconds if Roche didn't die a death at the last.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Froome just looks too strong, with a helluva team around him. Be surprised if Tejay bothers him too much. If there is a challenger still think it'll come from Quintana or Contador and hopefully we'll see a few big attacks this week, but it's a matter of just staying on his bike for Froome.